Matthew Kapell, the son of former Greenport Mayor David Kapell, said he overheard a conversation in Village Hall last month that he perceived as “malicious” and “threatening” to his father.
Kapell read a letter to the Greenport Village board at last night’s meeting, stating that he was in Village Hall on March 27 meeting with the building inspector when he had the “unpleasant experience of overhearing a conversation” in the next room between Village Clerk Sylvia Pirillo, Trustee Julia Robins, and a man whose voice he didn’t recognize.
“They were discussing birth and death certificates when I heard what I recognized to be Trustee Robins’ voice say: ‘Why isn’t Dave Kapell’s name here?’ I did not personally see who made the statement, so on my way out I confronted Ms. Pirillo,” Kapell wrote. “By this time Trustee Robins had left the room. Ms. Pirillo denied making the statement herself and declined to confirm who did. She asserted that they were talking about birth certificates and that she, Ms. Pirillo, ‘would never say anything like that about your father.'”
Kapell added that it is well known that his father was not born in Greenport, “nor is he dead,” he said. “His name has no relevance to the maintenance of birth and death records issued during his term as mayor because only the village registrar has authority over them. The only conclusion one can draw is that the reference was to a death certificate and that the remark was gratuitous, malicious and threatening.”
Further, he said his family has been “subjected to many malicious acts and threats over the years. As such, I am extremely sensitive to incidents like this and take them very seriously.”
Robins said she has “nothing but the utmost respect” for Dave Kapell and “considers him to be a notable part of Greenport history.” She said she’d been reading over Pirillo’s shoulder and meant the remark to be a compliment reflecting her respect for Kapell.
Kapell then asked why it took her three weeks to respond to him.
“There’s a lot of emotion here,” Robins said. “It was not meant in any way to be malicious, and that’s all I have to say on the matter.”
Kapell asked Robins if she was “denying, on the record, that there was a discussion of death and birth records.”
Robins said she was looking at names she recognized over the course of Greenport’s history and asked if “Dave Kapell’s name was there. I consider Dave Kapell one of the important people in Greenport.”
On another note, Kapell asked Robins if she’d told Pirillo that if village building inspector “Eileen Wingate throws me under the bus, she will never get a raise.” The board voted last night to give Wingate a raise.
Both Robins and Pirillo denied that statement was ever made.
“I have reason to believe otherwise,” Kapell said.
Dave Kapell did not comment on the issue.
