Nissequogue village undergoes shake-up as longtime official retires

A longtime Nissequogue village official has retired, prompting changes on the board of trustees.

Kurt Meyer, who has served on the board since 2014, and was most recently the deputy mayor, has retired from the role. He said he is moving to Florida.

"I felt it’s a good time to step down from the board and leave it to some of the younger people," Meyer said in an interview. "There have to be changes now and then. You can’t do things forever."

The village is on the north shore of Smithtown, overlooking the Nissequogue River, and was recorded as having a population of 1,564, according to 2020 U.S. Census data.

Meyer, 75, was appointed in 2014 following the death of sitting trustee Lawrence Kenney. Meyer, who moved to Nissequogue in 1988, had been chairman of the village’s planning board for eight years and a member of the village’s volunteer fire department. Kenney and Meyer were friends. Meyer said he felt an obligation to perform the job well to honor his friend’s legacy.

"You want to be able to do a good job and have him look down and say, 'A good person replaced me,’ " Meyer said. "I tried to observe and make sure everyone on the board understood everyone’s positions."

Village Mayor Richard Smith said Meyer has been "a great friend, and a great adviser."

"I would always turn to him either at the board or off-hours for advice and to bounce ideas off of him. He was a very trusted confidant," Meyer said.

Russell J. von Frank II will succeed Meyer as deputy mayor. He is a two-term trustee who has served on the board for four years and is a former chief of the village's fire department.

He said he enjoys the general nature of the village and wants to "see it be able to stay that way." He added that he does not support overdevelopment and wants to protect the village's green and rural aesthetic.

The village has minimum 1-acre requirements in its R-1 residence district and 2-acre requirements in its R-2 residence district, according to the village code.

"When the village was formed, people wanted a half-acre or quarter-acre of zoning, and I’m glad the village officials back then said, ‘No, we don’t want that population density,' " von Frank said.

"I don’t want to see people bulldozing properties, I’d like to keep it green, and I’d like to keep it rural," von Frank said.

X. Cristofer Damianos, an owner of Damianos Realty Group in Smithtown, will fill Meyer's vacancy. He was appointed to the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency in 2022, Newsday has reported.

Damianos could not be immediately reached for comment.