Politics & Government

Town Hires Former Employee's Accounting Firm in Split Vote

Former finance employee Charlene Kagel's firm will help assist town's audit committee

The Riverhead Town Board hired an accounting firm led by a former town employee in a split vote during Tuesday's town board meeting.

East End Accounting Services will serve as an internal auditor for the town, and all work will be done by its president, Charlene Kagel, for $125 per hour, according to the approved contract. Kagel worked for the town under former finance administrator Jack Hansen, and is now the current treasurer of the Village of Greenport and former financial commissioner of Brookhaven Town.

Councilman George Gabrielsen and Councilwoman Jodi Giglio voted against the hiring, citing the potential conflict of interests in hiring the former employee. The contract was approved 3-2.

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Kagel's firm will not report to the town's chief financial administrator, Bill Rothaar, according to the Town Board, but rather to an formed by Supervisor Sean Walter, Councilman John Dunleavy and Jack Orben, a retired investment banker and former Industrial Development Agency member who lives in Aquebogue.


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