Riverhead Town settles disciplinary action against its former top planning official

The disciplinary action taken by Riverhead Town last year against its former top planning official has been settled.

The Town Board Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution ratifying authorization for the supervisor to execute a stipulation with Building and Planning Administrator Jefferson Murphree. The resolution did not mention the employee by name, identifying him only by an employee number.  

The resolution was amended prior to the vote to correct an error in the employee number listed by the resolution.

After casting his vote to approve the resolution, Supervisor Tim Hubbard said he had a “brief statement to read.” He then read aloud the following statement:

“The parties have resolved their dispute and the charges have been withdrawn in exchange for Mr. Murphree’s agreement to retire within one year,” Hubbard read.

A copy of the settlement agreement referenced by the resolution was not made available at Tuesday’s meeting and no other details about the terms of the settlement were disclosed. It is not clear whether the settlement agreement requires the town to make any additional payments to Murphree beyond the salary he will be paid until his retirement.  (Editor’s note: RiverheadLOCAL has submitted a request for a copy of the agreement pursuant to the State Freedom of Information Law. The town attorney’s office said Wednesday afternoon they would need an additional 20 days to respond to the request.)

Murphree’s attorney, Gerard Glass of Babylon, said he is “limited” to the statement read by the supervisor at Tuesday’s board meeting and could make no further comment.

Former Supervisor Yvette Aguiar signed disciplinary charges against Murphree last March 21, accusing him of incompetence, neglect of duty and insubordination. He was suspended without pay for 30 days. The action was approved by the Town Board the following day. 

After the expiration of 30 days, Murphree’s pay was reinstated. His annual salary in 2023 was $137,766.  However, Murphree’s suspension remained in effect until he was directed to return to work as of Nov. 22. 

Murphree’s disciplinary hearings, which were made open to the public, started in April 2023. Proceedings were halted for months by a lawsuit filed by Murphree seeking to obtain documents previously undisclosed by the town. The lawsuit was dismissed; a court order stated Murphree did not have a right to obtain documents, a process known as discovery in court proceedings, in a Civil Service proceeding. Murphree argued in the lawsuit that the charges brought by Aguiar were “politically motivated” and that he was “being made a political scapegoat.”

When Murphree returned to work, it was in a reduced role in a newly reorganized department. He no longer has supervision of the town’s building and planning department and works under the direction of Dawn Thomas, the administrator of economic development and planning, a new position created by the town after Murphree’s suspension. Murphree retained his Civil Service title and the salary and benefits package he had prior to the disciplinary action under his existing contract of employment.  

The disciplinary proceedings remained ongoing, though a scheduled date for the continuance of the hearing on Dec. 7 was canceled. No other dates were thereafter announced.

Murphree, of Sag Harbor, was hired by Riverhead in July 2012 to fill a then-newly created position of building and planning administrator. Prior to joining the Town of Riverhead, Murphree was the director of environmental planning at VHB, the planning firm that was working for Riverhead at that time on updating the land use plan for the Calverton Enterprise Park. Before his employment with VHB, Murphree was a planning official with the Town of Southampton for 13 years.