Lawsuit payment gets attention at village meeting

Lawsuit payment gets attention at village meeting

WATKINS GLEN--During an at times contentious Watkins Glen board of trustee meeting, Danielle Matthews, wife of former Watkins Glen Police Sergeant in Charge Brandon Matthews, spoke to the board regarding her and her husband's recently settled lawsuit against the village and Mayor Luke Leszyk.
Danielle Matthews spoke following a statement Leszyk made regarding the $93,000 settlement the village reached and how it was less than the $3 million the Matthews' originally sought.
"Don't sit there and act like we asked for a bunch of money to get away from this when the reality of things is that two lawyers were communicating with each other and that is how that happened...The reason we settled was for our children...You're making it sound a different way than it is, do not say we asked for $3 million and that was it," said Matthews. "That is not how that conversation went at all."
Leszyk went into detail regarding the lawsuit for the first time publicly during the meeting when he was directly asked about it during the public participation time.
Leszyk explained the details of the settlement and said while insurance was set to cover any attorney fees in regards to the lawsuit, it would not cover the cost of the termination hearing that would be required to end Matthews' employment. The village was advised the cost could exceed $90,000.
"The first complaint filed by the Matthews family sought $3 million from the village and myself," Leszyk said. "The Matthews' settled for $93,000 which is roughly 3 percent of (what they originally sought). Of the $93,000, $63,000 was paid by insurance."
While the settlement ended the civil dispute, Matthews was indicted on charges late last year including eight counts of perjury and one count of official misconduct.
Leszyk was pressed by a member of the public regarding the language of the settlement and the fact that there was no admission of wrongdoing.
When asked if he had done anything wrong, Leszyk responded, "I did nothing, no."
The board also held a public hearing on the lottery system that will be used for short-term rental applications. The board also passed a different resolution that dictates 84 total short-term rental permits will be allowed for the village with 59 coming from renewals and 33 from new applications. A total of eight applications will remain on the waiting list after a random selection process.