Jun 28, 2016 1:57 PM

Southampton Town Trustee Scott Horowitz has filed a complaint against Trustee Bill Pell for slapping him on the back during a work session last week—a gesture he found neither friendly nor gentle.

The incident occurred on June 15, when the Trustees were in a heated argument about what some said was a lack of communication over a decaying whale in Moriches Bay, near Eastport, that the bay constables and two Trustees helped tow in and dispose of.

After taking a verbal beating from his colleagues for not first reaching out to Trustees Bill Pell or Eric Shultz before taking action, Mr. Horowitz argued back.

“There’s no glamour. There’s no glory. There’s no extra money. There’s no prize. There’s no benefit,” Mr. Horowitz said. “It was two guys springing to action to help people asking for help,” he said of himself and fellow Trustee Bruce Stafford. “You know what you should say? ‘Guys, thank you. Thank you for helping out.’”

Mr. Pell then got up out of his seat, walked past Trustee President Ed Warner Jr. and, according to Mr. Horowitz, slapped him on the back four times.

“That’s what you want,” Mr. Pell said.

He went on to say that a text message to the rest of the Trustees saying a dead whale was off the coast, and needed to be brought in, would have been enough.

A week later, Mr. Horowitz—who can be heard crying “ouch!” on an audiotape of the meeting—filed a complaint with the Southampton Town Human Resources Department, terming the back slaps hard enough to qualify as “abuse.”

“Elected officials and people who work in Town Hall should be able to do their job free of intimidation,” Mr. Horowitz said later. “It’s an upsetting situation.”

“The town has a policy against this type of behavior,” he said. “Employees and elected officials should be able to provide services to the public without having to endure this type of abuse.”

Mr. Pell, who said he had not seen Mr. Horowitz’s complaint as of Friday, said he had just been patting him on the back and saying, ‘Good job.’

“I did not slap him hard,” Mr. Pell said. “It was a tap, because he said nobody ever says, ‘Thanks.’”

Mr. Pell did say, however, that Mr. Warner had to duck when he went to tap Mr. Horowitz on the back.

At least one Trustee rejected that characterization.

“It was no freaking tap,” Mr. Stafford said. He added, “Let’s just work together. It isn’t good for the Trustees.”

Following the incident, Mr. Pell said he was still upset that he had not been involved in the Trustees’ discussion to open the Mecox cut, a decision made at a meeting he did not attend, although Mecox Bay is among the water bodies he is specifically responsible for as a Trustee.

Because the altercation was between two elected officials, rather than town employees, it is not known what the consequences of the human resources complaint could be at the town level. Town Attorney James Burke said on Tuesday that he had not reviewed the complaint, but that he does not think a Trustee could lose his elected position over such an incident.

“They really are an independent board,” Mr. Burke said. “The constituents can fire them by not electing them.”