
The second vice chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Hampton Bays Volunteer Ambulance Company said she would resign last month after an investigation by Southampton Town officials found two suspicious gasoline purchases she made using the ambulance company’s credit card last year.
Margaret Lamparter’s resignation will take effect April 1, officials said. While she is resigning from the board, she will continue to volunteer for the company.
She did not answer numerous requests for comment this week.
In addition, an "overlapping investigation" found that Alexander Papajohn, the chairman of the board, purchased a television for his personal use with an ambulance company credit card.
The investigation, led by Southampton Town Attorney James Burke, found that Mr. Papajohn had purchased two televisions at P.C. Richard & Son for approximately $180 each. One of the televisions was given away in an ambulance company fundraising raffle. At the time Mr. Papajohn had offered to pay for the second television however he was critized by ambulance volunteers for not paying sales tax, according to Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman.
Mr. Papajohn has since reimbursed the company for the cost of the television including sales tax, according to Mr. Schneiderman. No additional action was taken.
Mr. Papajohn, likewise, did not answer multiple requests for comment.
Mr. Burke conducted the six-month investigation after ambulance volunteers questioned Ms. Lamparter’s credit card usage, he said. The town conducted the investigation because the Town Board oversees the budget and finances of the Ponquogue Avenue ambulance company, which responds to approximately 1,600 emergency calls annually.
Mr. Schneiderman said last week that the allegations proved false, noting that the investigation didn’t show anything other than the two gasoline purchases—which officials couldn’t say for sure were not for company use. “There was an allegation that the card was used to put some gas in a vehicle,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “I can’t say that was for ambulance purposes or not.”
“It is somewhat disputed as to whether all of the gasoline purchases were done for district purposes or not, even though the vehicle used was a district vehicle,” Mr. Burke wrote in an email this week.
Mr. Schneiderman added that it was not unusual for ambulance volunteers to put gas in the company’s vehicles while on duty.
Ms. Lamparter, who has served as a member of the ambulance company since 2013, decided to resign from the board immediately following a series of meetings between town and ambulance officials, the last of which was held nearly a month ago, according to Mr. Burke.
Mr. Schneiderman attributed Ms. Lamparter’s resignation to personal reasons. However, Mr. Burke said that the accusations made against her may have played a role in her decision to step down.
“I would say it’s a possibility of it,” Mr. Burke said. “She has some very strong supporters and some detractors.”
Mr. Burke explained that the company’s board of directors will hold a special election to fill Ms. Lamparter’s seat; however, he was unsure when that would occur.
He also added that the town is currently seeking bids to perform an outside audit of the ambulance district finances, a practice that could be extended to all of the ambulance districts serving the town.
“While I personally have great respect for the volunteers who dedicate their time and effort by answering emergency calls in the middle of the night, obviously, proper procedures and rules must be adhered to,” the town attorney said.
How you trust that person in a house? I worked for a utility and was bonded. TRUST
It sounds like it'd result in savings, but in reality it costs more money than it saves us.
Seems like a malicious way to harm drug users, not a means of saving tax dollars.
The Hampton Bays School Board now has one vacancy after Chris Catz, sentenced last week for stealing more than $16,500 in loose coins from his former employer, formally resigned from the board last Thursday, August 21.
Mr. Catz stepped down after being sentenced to a three-year conditional discharge last week for stealing money from Verizon Communications. He was terminated from his post after the thefts were discovered.
Now ...more that he is considered a convicted felon, Mr. Catz could no longer serve on the School Board, according to New York State Public Officers Law.
A former Hampton Bays Board of Education member is expected to plead guilty Friday to second-degree grand larceny, a felony, for stealing nearly $55,000 from a scholarship fund that he helped create more than a decade earlier to honor the memory of his best friend, who was killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Warren ...more Booth III, a lifelong resident of Hampton Bays who is employed by the Hampton Bays Water District, will be taking a plea deal on Friday, explained his lawyer, James F. Vlahadamis, a founding partner at Vlahadamis and Hillen LLP in Hampton Bays.
Hampton Bays Fire District officials broke their silence this week in an effort to justify the sharp pay increase received by their district treasurer, crediting her compensation to an increased workload.
http://www.27east.com/news/article.cfm/Hampton-Bays/51068/Hampton-Bays-Fire-District-Commissioner-Defends-Treasurers-Salary
Christine Kenny, the wife of current Fire District Commissioner Kevin Kenny, was appointed to the position of treasurer in 2009 and had a starting salary of $31,400, according to budget data provided by the fire district last week in response to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request previously filed by The Press. The next year, 2010, she was paid $57,000—equivalent to an 81.5 percent salary increase.
Fire district officials rejected the original FOIL request, stating that they were not obligated to provide the salaries of district employees—a violation of state law.