Southampton Town Board meeting starts in private

The Southampton Town Board began Tuesday’s 6 p.m. meeting by going immediately into executive session to discuss an unspecified personnel matter.

Nearly 90 minutes later, after the sparse audience had left, the board emerged and began the meeting by taking two resolutions off the agenda. Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said the resolutions to promote police officers James Cavanagh and William Kiernan to the rank of sergeant -- the annual pay is $128,898 -- would be tabled “to another date.”

There was no public comment from Throne-Holst or any member of the town board on the action.

The board did vote, 5-0 without comment, to promote Sgt. Michael Zarro to lieutenant, at an annual salary of $141,916.

In other action, the town board voted to pay First Coastal Corp. of Westhampton Beach $19,950 to install beach fencing for the Tiana Erosion Control District, and to open the community center in Flanders this summer for use as a farmers market.

There is no supermarket or large grocery store in Flanders. The days and hours the farmers market will be open have not yet been set, and the town is applying to the state to allow the market to accept nutrition funds for  women, children and infants  and senior farmers market nutrition program checks.