Below is a Statement by the Trustees of Tuxedo Park. It is our understanding that this Statement was to be put on the Village website; however it has not appeared as yet. It is time that Mayor McFadden's sole control of the website is stopped, but that is another topic.

Statement of Trustees
"As authorized by the Board of Trustees at its meeting held February 21, 2007, the Village has entered into a Settlement Agreement with John Lindsay and Peter Regna providing for the withdrawal by Messrs Lindsay and Regna of the complaint filed by them against the Village and the issuance by the Board of Trustees of a statement setting forth the conclusions of its investigation of certain actions by Messrs Lindsay and Regna and the Village's Planning Board/Board of Architectural Review in office at the time. The statement provides that Board of Trustees views such actions of Messrs. Lindsay and Regna to have been taken properly and in good faith. The statement of the Board of Trustees is attached as Exhibit A to the Settlement Agreement and should be read in its entirety. The Settlement Agreement was approved by a majority of the Board of Trustees, with Trustee Hansen and Mayor McFadden abstaining."

Editorial Comment by Jake Lindsay
The Mayor is inserting his personal spin on the Settlement Agreement.  On the Village Website, dated 2/23/07, he says “I would like to share my excitement with the community.” I find this statement extremely disingenuous when he has fought every attempt to settle the lawsuit. Mayor McFadden and Trustee Hansen voted against the Trustees when they hired attorney Donald Prutzman to represent the Village, yet it was Prutzman who brought this lawsuit to resolution for the Village. The Mayor refused to be part of the Settlement, claiming he did not know what documents the Attorneys reviewed, even though he has had a year to do the same review. Now he wants to sign an out-of-court Settlement that eliminates the facts of the case. Peter Regna and I remain willing to engage in appropriate settlement discussions and we encourage the Mayor to make a realistic effort to settle this lawsuit instead of posting his unilateral proposals on the Village Website. To the best of my knowledge the Village is still funding Mayor McFadden’s legal defense, despite the settlement with the Village.
Following is the Settlement referenced in the Statement above: 

Copy of Settlement - Exhibit A
       The Board of Trustees and Village residents Jake Lindsay and Peter Regna are pleased to announce that they have resolved the defamation of character lawsuit against the Village that Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Regna filed in September 2006.  In view of the issuance of this joint public statement, Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Regna have agreed to withdraw the lawsuit against the Village.  All parties agree that this resolution is in the best interests of the Village of Tuxedo Park and are pleased that Tuxedo Park residents and taxpayers will not further be burdened with the expense and disruption of this lawsuit.
       The lawsuit arose from an item in the agenda for the January 18, 2006, Board of Trustees meeting and a subsequent “From the Mayor’s Desk” column on the Village website.  Those items concerned the decision by the Planning Board/Board of Architectural Review in October 2001 to allow an application by Jake Lindsay to the Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) for approval for sewer main extensions to serve three existing lots on Lookout Mountain Road, and its subsequent action in 2004 to defer consideration of the portion of the application by Tuxedo Partners, LLC for sewer main extensions to its proposed subdivision because of a moratorium of the DEC.  Peter Regna served as Chairman of the PB/BAR at the time and Jake Lindsay served as a Trustee and Deputy Mayor until June 2003. 
       Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Regna asserted in the lawsuit that Mayor McFadden wrongly implied they had acted improperly as public officials in connection with the approval process for the sewer main extensions to the Lindsay lots and the Tuxedo Partners proposed subdivision, and that those statements impugned the integrity of Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Regna and damaged their professional and personal reputations.  The Mayor and the Village denied the material allegations of the lawsuit and denied that they defamed Mr. Lindsay or Mr. Regna 
       Through this public announcement, the Board of Trustees wishes to make clear to the Tuxedo Park community that, after investigation, it sees no reason to believe that Mr. Lindsay or Mr. Regna acted improperly in any way in connection with the approval process for sewer main extensions for either the Lindsay lots or the Tuxedo Partners subdivision.  The Board of Trustees has, with the advice of counsel, recently reviewed the circumstances of the respective applications.  There were changes in circumstances during the more than two-year period that elapsed between the approval of the Lindsay application and the deferral of that portion of the Tuxedo Partners application including, among other things, deterioration in the Village’s compliance with its DEC wastewater permit.  In the opinion of the Board of Trustees, the changed circumstance as well as differences between the projects themselves explain the PB/BAR’s actions on these different applications and the PB/BAR had good reasons for taking the actions it did.
       The Board of Trustees views the actions of Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Regna and the PB/BAR that are the subject of the statements at issue in the lawsuit as having been taken properly and in good faith and that any suggestion to the contrary would be regrettable.
       Jake Lindsay, Peter Regna and the Board of Trustees all concur that official actions of the Village of Tuxedo Park should reflect the respect participants in Village governmental processes are owed and that political discourse concerning the Village of Tuxedo Park, including expressions of dissent from official actions, should be constructive and conducted with due civility.   

back to top