Update 4/30/2024
Today, the April edition of the Port Jefferson Village Voice was released. It contains an article about Lessing's contract with the Village.
I am opening this update with my "Author's Opinion" because I feel it is important that residents realize that it was highly unlikely that the Mayor, Trustees, Village Staff, and the Village attorney did not pick up on this issue concerning who could get food service at “The Turn” while reviewing the contract with Lessing. The Mayor only brought up this “error” after residents brought up the issue on social media yesterday, which leads me to believe that the Mayor is just trying to cover up an action that will most likely negatively affect her reelection campaign.
The Mayor does not discuss the fact that there is no longer a restaurant at the facility.
If you remember, the contract was presented to the Board of Trustees at a March 17, 2025, Board of Trustees Special Meeting. At this meeting, the contract was discussed and the Trustees voted on allowing the Mayor to sign the contract. Perhaps if the Mayor had not pushed such an important issue via a “Special Meeting,” the Trustees would have had sufficient time to conduct further research.
The Mayor's Comments about the issue:
In the article the Mayor states, " In the days following this event, there were some public complaints that the Turn would be open only to PJCC members. While the contract indicated such, it was deemed a “scrivener’s error” and is being adjusted through a subsequent agreement between the Board of Trustees and Lessing’s.
“Anyone who thought that Lessing’s would be asking for identification and proof of membership at the Turn or any Country Club offering is quite frankly mistaken,” said Mayor Sheprow. “Lessing’s is the most welcoming partner we could have ever imagined, and they are pursuing ideas and opportunities to build the relationship in real time.”
Original Post
Are you looking forward to enjoying a wonderful dinner while sitting on the deck of Port Jefferson Country Club or perhaps catching a quick lunch at the Turn? According to the lease, this is not going to happen, possibly for the length of the ten-year lease.
In Mayor Sheprow’s Facebook post (April 26 @ 10:54 am), she discusses the wonders of the new Lessing’s lease of the County Club, which states, “.......— to resurrect and reinvigorate our beloved Country Club social and hospitality services. I’m proud to say that’s a promise we made and delivered on.”
However, she fails to mention that the new 10-year lease states there will be no restaurant and that the Turn will serve members only.
According to the First Amendment to the License Agreement Between Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson and Lessing’s, Amendment 1 it states, “....There will be no à la carte restaurant operation inside the Clubhouse. The current restaurant space will be used to host member, resident, and private events.”
In addition, the lease amendment also states the following in Section 4 concerning the “Turn”. Lessing’s will operate the Turn “.... for the limited purpose of making food and beverage service available to Country Club members during normal hours at the Halfway House “The Turn.”
Blogger’s Opinion:
Here is just another example of the Mayor’s interpretation of the term “transparency.” Everything she said in her post is true, but as usual, she only tells the part that she determines the Village residents should hear. But, the true defination of transparency in a business or government context refers to being open and HONEST.
The Village is spending about 5 million dollars on the portion of the total bluff restoration project to protect the Country Club building (remember FEMA grant money is taxpayer money). That is a huge investment for a place where non-member residents will enjoy and use only on occasional events at the “sole discretion of the Concessionaire” (Lessing’s).
I personally believe we need to use this election to make some big changes to who will be representing our Village after the July election.
2 comments:
This is unbelievable. Maybe we village residents can chip in to provide daily limo service for club members to and from all their members-only activities!
LOL, but I sure do get the point. This is a 10 year contract. So the residents will pay millions for many years just to benifit a very very small percent that are members. Very sad. We need make big changes on who sits on Board of Trustees including the mayor and this June is the time to do it.
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