Community Corner

Reimondo Ruminates on Leaving Chief's Job

The chief left his job May 2 when the town swore in a new chief, Sean Cox.

As East Hampton officials Thursday welcomed a new police chief to town, Town Council Chairwoman Susan Weintraub made a brief statement on the change, reaching out to former Chief Matt Reimondo, who attended the swearing in ceremony for the new chief. Weintraub hinted at Reimondo’s tumultuous last few years here, and casted the blame for that tumult squarely on the town’s former manager.

“Police chiefs, government officials and media across the state all agree that the actions taken by the former administration were unprecedented,” Weintraub said. “You rode through the political landmines with courage and honor and the community rallied in support and did what no one thought was possible. In the entire country, you are probably the only police chief that was elected by the people in a landslide victory.”

Following the swearing-in of Chief Sean Cox, Reimondo, 50, spoke briefly about his plans for life as a civilian. He said that while he will likely go back to work in some capacity, he doesn’t plan to do so immediately.

“I’m going to relax,” Reimondo said. He has a few “pans in the fire,” he added, but friends have advised him to take upwards of a year off, in part to get used to a life out of police work and out of the limelight.

Reimondo has worked here for 28 years, his entire professional career as a policeman. Leaving a job after that long, he said, is “like losing someone,” a loss from which he’ll need to adjust.

He’s looking forward to putting behind him the controversies that have plagued his tenure in recent years, issues that have been difficult for him personally, as well as for his wife and children, he said. 
Those issues seemed to hit a crescendo in 2010 when the town’s former manager, Jeffrey O’Keefe, eliminated the chief’s job and laid off Reimondo. The chief’s supporters helped Reimondo wage a referendum battle to get his job reinstated and Reimondo won that fight in a landslide in November of 2010.

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Around the same time and after that battle, Reimondo also undertook an investigation into sexual harassment complaints against O’Keefe. The former chief also sued the town and won a settlement as a result.

He decided, in January of this year, to take an early retirement offer from the town, but was quickly hired back to serve as interim chief while officials searched for Reimondo’s replacement.

One of Reimondo’s last acts as chief recently was to suspend one of his sergeants, Michael Green, for showing up late to work one day last year. Green and the chief also have had a tumultuous relationship. Green took over running the department during Reimondo’s absence in 2010 and Reimondo named Green as a defendant when he sued the town after he was laid off.

Green is in the midst of a 15-day unpaid suspension, his second in two years.

But the hiring of a new chief isn’t likely to bookend all of the controversies related to Reimondo’s tenure here. A former councilor is suing the chief and the town in federal court, alleging Reimondo and some of his officers violated her 14th Amendment rights during the time she and others sought to restructure the department.

And at least one of the female police department workers who sought the chief’s help in filing a sexual harassment complaint against O’Keefe is still pursuing her claim through the state’s Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.


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