Port Jefferson EMS leadership turmoil prompts new election
The Mount Sinai-based emergency services agency was plunged into turmoil last month when members voted to remove board members and then elected new ones. Credit: Christopher Sabella
The Port Jefferson EMS will hold a new election as soon as this fall to choose its board of directors under the terms of a tentative settlement aimed at resolving a leadership dispute between competing factions of the ambulance company, according to a lawyer involved in the case.
The Mount Sinai-based emergency services agency was plunged into turmoil last month when members voted 4-1 to remove board members — including president Dean Marshall, treasurer Cynthia Harris and secretary Jason Spiller — alleging that they had not served enough hours as ambulance volunteers to qualify for the positions.
In their place, members elected three new board members — Karen Sullivan, David Chambers and Agnieszka Ulinski — and reinstated director Lisa Jaeger, who had been removed from the board earlier this year.
Marshall and other ousted board members filed a lawsuit last month in State Supreme Court in Riverhead seeking to be reinstated.
The proposed settlement outlines plans for a new election to be held two to three months after all parties agree to the deal, said Ken Auerbach, a lawyer for the new board members and other EMS members.
The settlement also would help determine who is allowed to serve on the board and who can vote in the election, Auerbach said Monday.
“My hope is that, from this point forward, everyone complies with the appropriate process and that the parties can go forward and serve the community in a positive way,” Auerbach said.
Joshua S. Sprague, a lawyer for the ousted board members, declined to comment Monday.
In a July 24 letter to State Supreme Court Justice Christopher Modelewski, who is hearing the case, Sprague wrote that the competing parties were "happy to report" that they were "in the process of finalizing and executing" the settlement.
For the time being, ousted board members will serve as the EMS board until elections are held, Auerbach said.
He added that Sullivan, Chambers, Ulinski and Jaeger agreed not to represent themselves as board members until new board members are elected.
Auerbach had said previously his clients believed the ousted directors' EMS memberships had lapsed because they had not accrued enough hours as ambulance volunteers. Members generally must serve at least 24 hours monthly as ambulance volunteers, Auerbach said.
The EMS has more than 100 volunteers, many of them students, officials have said.
Fewer than 10 volunteers qualify as ambulance company members with voting privileges, according to court papers.
In court papers, ousted board members said the July 10 votes to remove them and name new board members were illegal because the meeting was not properly advertised to the public.
They said in court papers the votes “caused severe and irreparable disruptions to the day-to-day operations" of the ambulance company.
Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.
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