After the Suffolk County district attorney's office announced last Thursday that two people had been indicted following an investigation into alleged bribery and official misconduct at the East Hampton Town Building Department, the town issued a statement thanking the D.A. and stressing that the department has entered a new era.
The indictment alleges that Evelyn Calderon, a principal office assistant who was suspended without pay last spring, and Ryan Benitez, a building inspector who resigned in January, had accepted cash bribes from contractors in 2024 in exchange for expediting building permits and certificates of occupancy.
"For the past 18 months, this investigation has weighed heavily on our Building Department staff and on those who rely on the department's services," Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said in a statement issued by the town Thursday afternoon. "Through it all, our staff continued to serve the public professionally under very difficult circumstances, and I am grateful to them for that. Now that the district attorney's investigation has resulted in charges, we can more fully continue our work rebuilding the department under the leadership of Principal Building Inspector Richard Normoyle."
Distancing the current department leadership and staff from the indictments, the town said, "The conduct underlying these charges occurred during the tenure of the former chief building inspector. It does not reflect the way the Building Department operates today."
Missing from the town's statement was the fact that the former chief of the department, Joe Palermo — now East Hampton Village's chief building inspector — was the one who first brought concerns about suspicious activity to Councilwoman Cate Rogers in the late summer or early fall of 2024. The statement did not mention Ms. Calderon or Mr. Benitez, but included in an email to media was the D.A.'s press release and the indictment.
"The town is trying to use me as a scapegoat for their deficiencies in running the organization, especially the Building Department," Mr. Palermo wrote in a text on Saturday. "If you listen to the public, especially the contractors and attorneys, the place is still a mess."
After Mr. Palermo went to her, Ms. Rogers, the town board's liaison to the department, took the information and "immediately, meaning in the instant, went to Kathee and she immediately took action," she said by text on Friday.
The supervisor "immediately directed town officials to look into the matter," according to the town's statement. "That process brought serious issues to light, which town officials then brought to the district attorney’s office." The investigation was ultimately handled by the Suffolk County D.A. and the Public Corruption Bureau; the town was told not to discuss it or even to reveal that an investigation was underway.
Mr. Palermo, who had worked in the town department since 2016, first as an inspector, left on May 1, 2025, and was hired by the village. He was only months away from being able to retire from his town position with a full pension.
"I left because there was a lot of frustration," Mr. Palermo said Friday. "I wasn't looking to leave. . . . There was a D.A. investigation going on but I wasn't receiving any feedback. I was told by the D.A. and town to basically stand down, let everything play out so that any wrongdoings could be documented."
The anxiety was intense, he said.
As chief of the department, his signature was on every document. "I always think back to the fire that happened in Noyac, with that illegal rental," he said. (In August 2022, two sisters died in a house fire caused by an improperly installed outdoor kitchen; the house's smoke detectors were not functioning.) "I started thinking, if my signature ended up on a C.O. that was not correct, God forbid something happens. That made me very uncomfortable. You have to trust the people that work for you and that was lost."
The indictments last Thursday begin to bring a difficult chapter for the town to a close. "The Building Department is now under new leadership," the statement from the town says, "and with this matter no longer hanging over its work, the focus can now be on continuing to improve the department and the service it provides to residents."
"I'd be lying if I said their press release didn't bother me," Mr. Palermo said Friday. "I'll just say, when I left, they tried hard to keep me. They offered me more money. I said it wasn't about the money. I grew tired. I was tired of looking over my shoulder. If it means I have to work another year or two, it's okay now. It's well worth it."
Mr. Palermo's new boss, East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, was quick to praise him and to criticize the town's statement.
"Mr. Palermo is the individual who brought this misconduct to light and reported it to the town," Mr. Larsen wrote in a text. "To now suggest that he bears responsibility is not only unfair, it is a disservice to every public employee who does the right thing, even when it's difficult."
Mr. Larsen is running a primary campaign against Ms. Burke-Gonzalez and has made dysfunction at Town Hall, including in the Building Department, a key campaign issue.
"I say this as mayor, and this has nothing to do with my primary campaign, Joe is my employee, and this is just outright wrong," Mr. Larsen said.
"When employees see that speaking up leads to finger-pointing instead of accountability, it discourages integrity and drives good people away. We have seen a troubling pattern of turnover across multiple departments," he continued. "The tax receiver's office, the town attorney's office, the Police Department, Human Resources, and even the supervisor's own office. That level of instability does not happen by accident. It reflects a broader failure in leadership."
"Every employee deserves respect, support, and protection from their employer, especially when they act in the best interest of the town. He should not be the supervisor's scapegoat. He has my support every day and he is the ultimate professional," he added. "Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez owes Mr. Palermo a public apology and if she can't do that, she should resign from her position."
The supervisor took umbrage at this and at the notion that the town's statement had cast aspersions on Mr. Palermo.
"Jerry Larsen has spent months attacking the East Hampton Town Building Department, its employees, and their work, all while I have been unable to comment or defend them because of an ongoing criminal investigation that has now been brought to light," she wrote.
She accused the mayor of smearing town staff in various departments. "He has gone so far as to refer to public servants by name in campaign attacks, something that I have never done — and never will do." She added, "Moreover, I and my colleagues on the town board have an open door policy with any of our staff who wishes to come and speak with us about anything. It is that policy that quite literally led to the beginning of this investigation."
"Shame on Mr. Larsen for once again using our town workers as pawns in his campaign," the supervisor concluded.
For his part, Mr. Larsen vehemently denied he had criticized any employee and said he had instead attacked the supervisor's management of the department.
