Gilbride Leaves Sag Harbor Village Hall After 21 Years

Looking back on his 21 years on the Sag Harbor Village Board, first as a trustee and finally as mayor, Brian Gilbride said he has no regrets. “I’m pretty firm in my convictions,” Mr. Gilbride said Tuesday. “Could I have done things a little better? I’m sure the answer is yes, but would I have done things any differently? The answer to that would be no.” His response, even he admitted, is telling of his personality.

“Irrespective of what the issue was, you knew where he was on it, up front,” said Tiffany Scarlato, who served on the board for six years until 2010. Ms. Scarlato, who works as the Southampton Town attorney, said it was at the urging of Mr. Gilbride, whom she’s known her whole life, that she got involved in village government. “He’s a man of his word, and that’s something you don’t see that often these days,” she said.

Perhaps, in part, because he is outspoken, frank, and to the point, Mr. Gilbride, who turned 68 on Sunday, has seen his fair share of strife throughout his tenure on the board. Among the more difficult experiences were negotiating two recent labor contracts with the Sag Harbor Village Police Benevolent Association — relations between Mr. Gilbride and the village police have long been strained. Still, he said he is proud of the work he has accomplished, including negotiating with the P.B.A. that new hires have to pay 15 percent of their health insurance.

He is leaving the village in good shape, he said, stepping down on his own terms on Monday. Sandra Schroeder, who was a longtime village clerk, and his deputy mayor, was elected to the seat last month. “I held the line on taxes pretty good. I did not borrow money. I got some projects done,” the outgoing mayor said. In 21 years he never missed a meeting.

Looking back at Mr. Gilbride’s administration, Ed Deyermond, a current board member and former mayor, said yesterday that it had been a tough period. “He’s presided over a period of tremendous growth, without a doubt, and with growth comes problems,” he said. Mr. Gilbride’s most enduring legacy, he said, may be in one simple transaction. “Problems, issues, and even people come and go, but I think Long Wharf, and his obtaining Long Wharf, that’s going to be forever. That’s probably my biggest take-away.”

Mr. Gilbride rattled off a long list of other accomplishments, which included the opening of the village justice court in a meeting space at Village Hall five years ago, public restrooms that were made handicapped accessible thanks to county community development funds, and redesigning the village website.

“The last six years as mayor, it’s not just me, it’s the mayors before me who started certain projects that I got to complete,” he said. There was also the renovation of the John A. Ward Windmill with the help of fund-raising from the chamber of commerce, Save Sag Harbor, and the Sag Harbor Lions Club, and the acquisition of the beach at the windmill. Another project that came to fruition after many years of discussion was remediation of the Havens Beach drainage ditch with two grants totaling nearly $300,000. “That’s some of the stuff I can remember,” he said with a laugh.

When he first ran for mayor against Jim Henry and Michael S. Bromberg in 2009, he made promises that he said he has kept. “I didn’t want to increase debt in the village, and I didn’t do that,” he said. It is not a decision with which all agreed. “My view is it’s other people’s money. I try to take care of it the best I can,” he said, “and yet, I still got some things done.”

“I’m working for the public. . . . You don’t make everybody happy, but occasionally you make somebody happy.”

Mr. Gilbride’s public service goes beyond his time on the board. Village Mayor John Ward first hired him to work in Sag Harbor’s Highway Department in 1966, but he moved on to work for the Town of Southampton, eventually heading up its Sanitation Department. Two years after he was first elected in Sag Harbor, former Southampton Town Supervisor Vincent Cannuscio gave him his walking papers. He returned to Sag Harbor, then as a part-time superintendent of public works, a job he retired from in 2002.

Back in the late 1960s, he joined the fire department, rising to chief, a position he held from 1982 to 1985. In 2007, he made an unsuccessful bid for the East Hampton Town Board, running with on the Repubican ticket with Bill Wilkinson.

He was first elected to the village board, along with Ed Deyermond, in 1994, when he supported the firefighters who wanted to become trained divers following a drowning off Havens Beach. Peter Dougenis came under fire when he referred to the purchasing of scuba-diving equipment as “more fun and games,” according to articles that appeared in The Star in 1993. 

“One of the trustees wasn’t really willing to do anything for these guys who had put a lot of their time in. One of their comments was, ‘If you don’t like it, you should run,’ ” he said. So he did. Mr. Deyermond and Mr. Gilbride replaced Mr. Dougenis and Marshall Garypie Jr. “That’s what got me started. I’m really a quiet, private guy,” he said.

Mr. Gilbride served alongside five mayors: Pierce Hance, Bill Young, Lauren Fortmiller, the first female mayor in the village, Mr. Deyermond, and finally his predecessor, Greg Ferraris. The last was his favorite, he said, despite the fact that the two were in stark contrast with one another. “I can say this now having served as mayor. Until you do it, you have no idea what the job really entails.”

A lot has changed during Mr. Gilbride’s time on the board, both for himself and the village. “Back in 1994, we didn’t really talk a lot until the meetings, and now there seems to be a lot of interaction,” he said, referring to other meetings and constant calls he gets on various topics. “It was a much slower time back then . . . that is one thing that really stands out over the last 20 years. We are at, right now, just this whirlwind pace of everything that’s going on, especially building.” It will be the next administration’s biggest challenge, he said. 

He no longer works in the public sector, but has had a longtime position with the Emil Norsic and Son sanitation company in Southampton. Four years ago, Mr. Gilbride lost his wife, Georganne Gilbride. “There were many people that made that difficult time easier,” Mr. Gilbride said.

That is just one of the many reasons why Sag Harbor is so special. He often says that his own career in village politics speaks volumes about the type of place Sag Harbor is. “I consider myself an uneducated individual who is street smart,” he said. His father died when he was 10 years old, and he dropped out of Pierson High School at 16 to help support his family. He later earned two high school equivalency diplomas, one before he joined the Navy and another during his time in the military. “It shows you how good Sag Harbor is. . . . When you show initiative and that you want to do things and work on behalf of the village, this village is accepting of that.”

Mr. Gilbride feels a sense of pride to have served the community — a working class, factory town when he was growing up that has exploded with second homeowners — and he feels lucky to still call it home. “I have been fortunate enough to have been elected mayor three times. I’m humbled and honored.”

In retirement from the village board, Mr. Gilbride plans to spend even more time with his grandchildren. His granddaughter Casey plays field hockey in college. He made it to all her spring scrimmages and hopes to be there for every match this fall.