High Profile: Charlie McArdle, Hamptons Valet

Charlie McArdle has a love/hate relationship with the Hamptons. He loves living here but hates the traffic. He says he isn’t alone, and as the superintendent of highways for the Town of Southampton, he is in a position to hear about how others feel about the traffic.

“That is probably the number one complaint I hear,” says McArdle, who lives in Hamptons Bays and owns a valet company and a security company, two businesses that require him to constantly be cognizant of the traffic.

A resident of Hampton Bays since becoming a police officer in Southampton in 1988, McArdle, 60, who has four adult children and a granddaughter he adores, formerly was a police officer in New York City and says he jumped at the chance of coming to the Hamptons when a position opened.

After retiring from the police department as a detective in 2005 and also from his position as Southampton Police Benevolent Association president, he opened CM Security Consulting Inc. and Peoplepool Valet Inc., both of which work with special events throughout the Hamptons. He was elected superintendent of highways in Southampton in January. Since that time, he has pushed for ways to change traffic patterns to help alleviate what he considers a drain on quality of life in the area that he loves.

“Fall is the best time here,” McArdle says, with a touch of nostalgia in his voice, “still beautiful, but the crowds have diminished a bit. Since I’ve moved here, the biggest change is the amount of traffic. Every square inch of space is being built upon. The quality of life has diminished because of the traffic.”

Some would consider his comment a bit rich as he owns two businesses that depend on that constant stream of traffic. Both of his businesses are involved with the many special events that call the Hamptons home.

“I do probably 300 events a year,” says McArdle, whose clientele is largely word of mouth. His company handles security, valet parking, permits and transportation.

“I started the business in 2000 because my children were in Catholic school and we needed the extra money,” McArdle explains. “A lot of times, police work security as a side job. The difference is that we’re fully bonded and insured.”

He says that while working security, he’d notice that often the valet parking wasn’t particularly professional. So, he started the company with his own children. Today, he hires around 150 local kids for his business.

“Ninety percent of the valet companies were from out of state,” McArdle explains. “You have to have a relationship with the locals, the store owners, the landowners, if you want to be successful. As a police officer and detective, I had those relationships. I am able to do valet parking without disturbing the neighbors [living] around the event, which is important.”

One important aspect of his security business is making sure there is no gate crashing.

“The last thing you want is gate crashers,” McArdle says. “You want to be sure who is inside the event is exactly what is said on the guest list. That is why volunteers don’t make for great security. As soon as their particular job is done, they’re making a beeline for the party, so you can’t count on them. Volunteers are necessary, but they can’t be counted on for more than whatever they’ve agreed to do.”

McArdle says he has had some strange requests and some even stranger spur-of-the-moment necessities.

“I had to send some workers into the water at low tide to help get boats off of sandbars,” McArdle says.

While he may have to ask a lot of workers, the one thing that is a pet peeve is workers who don’t understand that they’re not part of the guest list.

“You eat before you come,” McArdle says. “We are very strict. No sitting down on the job and no social media. Our job is to make sure things run smoothly, period.”

He also is particularly concerned that he is respectful of the neighbors who live around the event.

“People are here for an annual event,” McArdle says. “Next time, I could be working for your neighbor and taking your quality of life into consideration.”

McArdle says he doesn’t worry about competition because there is enough work for everyone. It is that wealth of work that circles back around to traffic. Although he is hiring locally, he has to take into consideration the traffic patterns. While most events are around four hours, he pays his staff for five hours to account for the hour of travel time.

“I have to get my staff there on time,” he says. “That is just part of professionalism. Most of the events I work are fundraisers and the locals aren’t going to these. They are just being inconvenienced by them.”

He says that saving people time by altering traffic patterns can mean more time at home, at the beach, with family. In his elected capacity he has tackled traffic using cones, blinking lights and other measures to alter traffic patterns.

“We have officials who talk about taxes not being raised, but they don’t take into consideration that the tax savings is at the expense of quality of life,” McArdle admonishes.

 Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.