Kessler-Mottel’s letter of recusal from review of Chappaqua Crossing

UPDATE: Monday, March 29, 2010

Preceding the town board’s discussion of its receipt of Summit Greenfield’s final environmental impact statement for the Reader’s Digest property, now Chappaqua Crossing, town board member Elise Kessler Mottel’s recused herself from any discussion of, or vote on, the matter.  Her statement is reprinted here.  At the conclusion of Kessler Mottel’s statement, Supermvisor Barbara Gerrard commented that although she understood Kessler Mottel’s decision, “It is definitely our loss and the town’s loss to not have your counsel on this.”

I have delivered a letter to Supervisor Gerrard regarding Chappaqua Crossing, and I would like to make a public statement regarding the contents of this letter.

As many of you may know, separate and apart from my duties as a member of the New Castle Town Board, I am employed as Special Counsel to a law firm in Manhattan specializing in real estate law. 

It has just come to my attention that my firm is representing the sponsor of a condominium offering plan in which one or more of the principals of the Sponsor is affiliated with Greenfield Partners, LLC.  As the public knows, Greenfield Partners is one of the developers of Chappaqua Crossing, a project currently before this Town Board. 

As soon as I discovered the relationship between my Firm and Greenfield Partners, I filed a disclosure statement with the New Castle Board of Ethics.

I wish to disclose to the public that I am not a partner of my firm and that I have not performed any legal work for the Sponsor or Greenfield Partners or any person or entity affiliated with Greenfield Partners.  Even though I have not heard from the Board of Ethics regarding my disclosure statement, I am recusing myself from participating in any further discussion of the Chappaqua Crossing project in my role as a Town Board member and from voting on the project.

I have concluded that recusal is necessary to avoid any possibility that my employment could influence my judgment or taint any decision or vote on the Chappaqua Crossing project. 

I have a responsibility to my firm and a responsibility to the Town.  My firm and the Town each have responsibilities to Greenfield Partners that are vastly different and somewhat irreconcilable.  As a public official, I must perform my duties solely in the public interest, and I take this charge very seriously.  By recusing myself, I will avoid any possibility that my ability to make impartial judgments on any basis other than the public good could be compromised. 

Elise Kessler Mottel

March 23, 2010

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