The East Hampton Town Democratic Committee feted its own during a holiday party at the Palm restaurant in East Hampton on Friday, honoring retiring Justice Catherine A. Cahill for her 20 years of service to the town and saluting a number of committee members for their work on this year’s campaign.

       Among the crowd of 95 guests were Supervisor-elect Larry Cantwell, Councilwoman-elect Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, and Steven Tekulsky, who was elected to take Ms. Cahill’s place on the bench.

       Andrew Harris of Montauk, a committee member, was named the Democrat of the Year, in part for his “countless hours and effort to the tasks of fulfilling the duties of a committeeman as well as bringing new energy and vitality to the Montauk Democratic community.” Betty Mazur, the committee’s vice chairwoman, got a nod for her “tireless management of the Democrats’ get-out-the-vote project year after year,” and Christopher Kelley, chairman of the campaign committee, was proclaimed “Major Domo Campaign 2013.” Both have the T-shirts to prove it.

       Also at the party, Arlene Coulter, another committee member, announced the creation of a new student internship in memory of the late Phyllis Madan, a member of the Democrats’ executive committee.     

       If all goes according to plan, solar panels could be cropping up next year on a number of vacant parcels owned by East Hampton Town.

       On Tuesday, the town board, acting at the request of Councilman Dominick Stanzione, agreed to seek bids from solar contractors to lease as many as 14  town-owned parcels, from Wainscott to Montauk. Mr. Stanzione said the project was the first step toward realizing a far-reaching objective adopted last summer by the town’s energy sustainability advisory committee, to which he is the liaison.

       The goal is to reduce the town’s energy consumption by 20 percent over the next decade. Leasees would pay the town an annual fee and make a profit by selling the electricity generated back to the Long Island Power Authority. 

       The program is being offered in conjunction with LIPA, which wants to expand solar power production on the island by 100 megawatts in the coming years through its Clean Solar Initiative, Mr. Stanzione said. LIPA has targeted the five eastern towns for up to 40 megawatts, with individual projects limited to 3-megawatt solar arrays.

       The Sag Harbor Village Zoning Board of Appeals, which has spent the better part of the past three years reviewing an application to expand the Harbor Heights gas station on Route 114, announced at a work session on Monday that it needs a little more time before making a decision.

       After a 90-minute review of the plan, which seeks variances for the reconstruction of the existing building there into a 718-square-foot convenience store, the addition of gas pumps, and landscaping along neighboring property lines, the board agreed to schedule another work session, tentatively set for Jan. 10 at 2 p.m., at which it expects to hammer out a decision. It is to be formally adopted at the board’s Jan. 21 meeting.

       “It’s difficult because there so many weird, esoteric considerations,” the board’s chairman, Anthony Hagen, said yesterday. “We have had so much material thrown at us, some of which is not relevant.”

       Over the years, the project, proposed by the property’s owner, John Leonard, has been scaled back considerably. It now requires only three variances, but opposition has remained fierce, with neighbors and other Sag Harbor residents arguing that the expansion would over-commercialize a residential neighborhood and mar a gateway to the village.

       Mr.  Hagen said the Z.B.A. had yet to take a straw vote on whether it will come down in favor of or against the application, or somewhere down the middle. “We’re still jelling,” he said.

       The East Hampton Town Republican Committee looked to a familiar face for its new leader when it elected Tom Knobel as its chairman on Dec. 11.

       Mr. Knobel, a former town councilman and trustee, was the committee’s vice chairman. He will replace Kurt Kappel, who stepped down after a two-year term. Mr. Knobel previously served eight years as the G.O.P. chairman before giving up the post in 2005.

       The committee will elect a vice chairman in the coming weeks, Mr. Knobel said.

       “I’m stepping up to provide both continuity and consistency,” said Mr. Knobel. Although the next town election will not be until 2015, Mr. Knobel said “the big Congressional race will certainly draw a lot of attention.”

       The First Congressional District seat is now held by Representative Tim Bishop, a Democrat. State Republican Senator Lee Zeldin has already announced that he will challenge the six-term incumbent in 2014. Mr. Zeldin ran against Mr. Bishop in 2008.

       “We have to attempt to turn people out and alert folks to the way things should be run in Washington,” Mr. Knobel said.

       Although Republicans lost their majority on the East Hampton Town Board, saw their majority shrink on the trustees, and lost the only other two contested elections, for town justice and assessor, Mr. Knobel refused to categorize the 2013 election, in which the party failed to field a supervisor candidate, as a failure.

       “Our clerk candidate and highway superintendent candidate flat-out won, and we split the council race,” Mr. Knobel said, referring to Carole Brennan and Steve Lynch, Republican candidates who ran unopposed and were cross-endorsed by Democrats and the Independence Party for town clerk and highway superintendent, and Town Clerk Fred Overton, who won one of two seats on the town board.

       The Republican cause was hurt when County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, a former supervisor, expressed interest in running for his old job again, but then changed his mind last spring.

       “He waffled about his interest in being supervisor. He indicated he wanted it and then he didn’t,” Mr. Knobel said. “We would have loved to have a supervisor candidate. That colors the whole thing.”

       The race for supervisor was further complicated when the Democratic candidate, Larry Cantwell, declined a last-minute Republican effort to cross endorse him.

       “That part was interesting. I have not seen a whole lot of political candidates who refuse cross endorsements,” said Mr. Knobel.

       A hearing on an application to install 12 AT&T antennas on the face of a 180,000-gallon oil tank at P.C. Schenck and Sons at 60 Newtown Lane drew alarm from neighboring property owners after a lengthy presentation at Friday’s meeting of the East Hampton Zoning Board of Appeals.

       The antennas as well as six cabinets housing telecommunications equipment on a concrete pad on the ground require setback variances from the village code. They are intended to increase coverage for AT&T’s cellphone subscribers. It is proposed to locate them 23 feet from one property line, where the required setback is 100 feet, and between 20 and 33 feet from the easterly line, where setbacks range from 40 to 44 feet. Though they would extend no higher than the oil tank itself, a variance is also required for their height.

       Along with John Huber, an attorney for the applicant, a team of consultants provided detailed testimony about the project. As a public utility, Mr. Huber said, the applicant is entitled to bypass some of the criteria for variances. He said the facility would be installed in the least visually obtrusive manner.

       The proposed antennas, in four groups of three, would be painted to blend with the fuel tank, Erin Echevarria of Hauppauge-based VHB Engineering told the board. She displayed photographic simulations and asserted there would be no significant impact. The facility would be unmanned and remotely monitored, she said, so there would be no sewage generated and minimal traffic.

       Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, asked Mike Patel, of Tectonic Engineering in Newburgh, N.Y., if the installation would make noise. Mr. Patel said the equipment generates heat, as personal computers do, but added that the cabinets’ manufacturer measures 65 decibels at five feet, which he likened to the conversation he and Mr. Newbold were having.

       One criterion for a special permit, Mr. Newbold said, “is whether the proposed use will cause disturbing emissions or electrical discharges,” mentioning the proximate businesses, residences, and the East Hampton Middle School. “I know if I were a resident nearby I’d want more information about that,” he said.

       Mr. Huber also summarized language in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which he said “pre-empts state and local government regulation of the placement, construction, and modification of wireless service facilities on the basis of environmental effects of radio frequency emission, so long as the facility complies with the Federal Communications Commission regulations. This site will comply.”

       With that, he introduced Stephane Guillabert, a radio frequency engineer representing AT&T, David Collins of the Pinnacle Telecom Group in Cedar Knolls, N.J., who testified that the radio frequency energy fields at the site would be only 3.1 percent of what the F.C.C. allows, or the equivalent of that produced by a refrigerator, and Michael Lynch of Lynch Appraisal of Huntington, who said the installation would not have “any deleterious effect on surrounding properties” or their value.

       Christopher Minardi, a board member, asked if there would be a need for additional sites for such equipment, and was told by Mr. Guillabert that “there is always a need for a new site due to the growing demands of the customers.” 

       Mr. Huber noted that cellphone service here is limited by the lack of tall structures. A lattice tower near East Hampton Town Hall and the steeple of the East Hampton Presbyterian Church are used for antennas. “There is indeed a need for enhanced coverage in the community,” he said. “The primary goal is always to find the most architecturally consistent way to do it.”

       Some took a different view. Arthur Purcell of Barns Lane told board members they should consider that the proposed site is near residential properties both on his street and on Huntting Avenue, as well as near the middle school.

“There are still some questions about the possibility that there could be some radiation coming forth from this structure,” Mr. Purcell said. “We already live on the site with the oil tank there, and that’s a major concern for some people. . . . I think an oil tank and a cell tower adjacent to the Long Island Rail Road raise some questions.”

       Toni Ann Warren, representing the owners of 66 Newtown Lane, a complex of shops and offices, asked if AT&T would  sell some of its antenna space to Verizon or T-Mobile, and if that would increase the emanation of radio frequencies and the consequent need for more cooling fans. “Is this an opening for an increase in the size of antennas once you give this variance?” she asked. Noise from the fans is a concern for the businesses and offices at 66 Newtown Lane, she said.

       The proposed antennas, she said, would be at the same height as 66 Newtown Lane’s second-floor windows, which are operable. “There are a lot of studies that claim health issues and carcinogens. . . . We have second-floor offices; we have a second-floor middle school. What’s that going to do to our kids?”

       Finally, Joseph Lambiase, who recently purchased the property at 19 Barns Lane, said, “I’m going to be the lucky one that’s going to hear these fans go on and off.” The applicant, he said, “must meet minimal setback of 100 feet. . . . If this was very important to them, they could . . . make other arrangements. They don’t need to jam it right on a property line.”

       Mr. Lambiase also asked if the oil tank was triple-walled. The answer was that it is believed to be a single-wall tank, and Mr. Guillabert said the antennas would be welded to it. During installation, Mr. Lambiase argued that “if they were able to break that tank, which is possible when you’re welding . . . that area would be completely wiped out. It would be worthless. I don’t know why the community needs to take this risk.” If the need is legitimate, he said, “Put a triple-wall tank in and a fire-extinguisher system built into it. I am completely opposed.”

       Mr. Newbold asked Mr. Huber to return to the Z.B.A. on Jan. 24 to answer the concerns expressed. He also ssaid the Z.B.A. would have its engineering expert review the testimony.

       The composition of the East Hampton Town Trustees will remain largely unchanged following Tuesday’s vote. Unofficial results indicate that all seven of the incumbent trustees were re-elected. With absentee ballots yet to be counted, however, the winners of the final two positions on the nine-member board are yet to be determined.

       Diane McNally, the trustees’ clerk, was easily re-elected, with an unofficial tally of 3,131 votes. Stephanie Forsberg won 3,490 votes, Stephen Lester received 3,431 votes, and Timothy Bock, 3,045 votes. Nathaniel Miller won 2,965 votes, Sean McCaffrey received 2,836 votes, and 2,669 voters cast ballots for Deborah Klughers.

       All but Mr. Lester and Ms. Klughers ran on the Republican, Conservative, and Independence tickets. Mr. Lester ran with backing from the Democratic and Independence Parties, and Ms. Klughers ran on the Democratic and Working Families tickets.

       As for the remaining two seats, yesterday, pending a count of absentee ballots, the unofficial count had Brian Byrnes, on the Democratic and Independence ticket, winning 2,492 votes, and Dennis Curles, running with Republican, Conservative, and Independence Party backing, with 2,438. Brian Pardini, also with the Republican, Conservative, and Independence Party backing, was just 7 votes behind Mr. Curles, with 2,431 votes. Afton DiSunno, a Democrat, was within striking distance with 2,360 votes.

       Yesterday, Ms. McNally expressed relief at Tuesday’s outcome and called the result an affirmation of her colleagues’ efforts. As the present term concludes and with the town still addressing Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath, “what we’ve been doing to reaffirm trustee policies, although it caused a little angst to people, once they understood what was going on they supported us across the board.”

       Ms. McNally referred to the trustees’ assertion of their jurisdiction over the bottomlands of town waterways, and their move last spring to condense the 90 moorings set aside for large boats within an area of Three Mile Harbor, which angered some boat owners.

       “As an incumbent, you’re seeking confirmation that what you’ve done for your community is right. We’re all pleased and honored that we are adequately representing the people that voted for us,” she said.

       As the clerk, Ms. McNally holds a full-time position on the board and is effectively the face of the body, which has overseen the town’s common lands since the Dongan Patent of 1686 granted it that authority. “Being in that position,” she said of her role, “it’s great to represent my colleagues in a way that hasn’t cost them their position in the town.”

       The state of the town’s shorelines, Ms. McNally said, will remain an important issue on which trustees will assert their jurisdiction. The body has sought to prevent, with limited success, rock revetments from being constructed on beaches, and often clashes with beachfront property owners who erect fencing and other erosion-control structures. “I’m very interested to see how the new town board handles that,” she said.

Contractors and homeowners who for years have avoided paying dump fees by leaving building debris and household castoffs in the woods along Town Line Road and Merchant’s Path, north of Montauk Highway in Wainscott, might want to think again: Someone may be watching.

The East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday agreed to let Highway Superintendent Stephen Lynch purchase low-cost video cameras that they hope will catch illicit dumpers in the act.

“There’s some feeling that this is a dumping area,” said Councilwoman Theresa Quigley.

“There needs to be a concerted effort that this is no longer a no-man’s land,” said Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc.

The board also gave the go-ahead for the Highway Department to make signs announcing that the area is under video surveillance to thwart would-be scofflaws.

Supervisor Bill Wilkinson suggested the town “try to engage a private-public partnership to clean it up” that would involve enlisting the aid of Boy Scouts, high school students, and other community groups in a clean-up day.

“I’d also like to see violators do some community service,” said Mr. Van Scoyoc.

Zachary Cohen, chairman of the town’s nature preserve committee, said cameras would probably also record a large number of motorcyclists taking their bikes along trails in the area.

Mr. Wilkinson said the cameras might have yet another use.  “We’ll get a deer count, too,” he remarked.       

       The East Hampton Aviation Association, the group that has vociferously defended East Hampton Airport against what it says are unreasonable efforts to limit its use and even shut it down, last week asked the East Hampton Town Board to delay a hearing on the airport capital plan until after the administration of Supervisor-elect Larry Cantwell settles in.

       Gerald Boleis, the association’s president, made the request in a letter to Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson dated Nov. 9. It requests that the hearing, originally set for next Thursday, be postponed “until at least February 2014 to provide the new administration an opportunity to review the plan prior to the public hearing.”

       The move might appear to be an olive branch to airport opponents, but Mr. Boleis said yesterday that it was simply in recognition of the slow pace of the political process.

       “Realistically, nothing is going to happen between now and the end of the year,” he said. “Whatever resolution they do now, the board could change next year.”

       The current Republican majority on the board has been friendly toward the airport and could reasonably be expected to pass a capital plan to its liking before turning off the lights and passing its office keys to the new Democratic majority.

       Mr. Cantwell said during the campaign that he doubted accepting Federal Aviation Administration grants would have an impact on town efforts to impose reasonable restrictions on the airport. Fred Overton, who will be the lone Republican on the new board, supports seeking federal funding. Incoming Councilwoman  Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who like her fellow Democrats, Sylvia Overby and Peter Van Scoyoc, has expressed concerns about the airport, said she would favor holding off on seeking additional F.A.A. funding until the town is assured it will be allowed to clamp down on noisy helicopters and other annoyances. That could result in a majority that could block efforts to obtain federal grants.

       Airport opponents have expressed fear that if the town moves to accept additional grants from the F.A.A., efforts to impose a curfew and limits on the type of aircraft that can use the airport will be in vain.

       Mr. Boleis disputed that notion, saying that the shutdown of the federal government was still having ripple effects. “Even if the town asked the F.A.A. for money, the government is not going to be writing a check between now and the end of the year,” he said.

       A unanimous town board in 2012 adopted an airport master plan and requested F.A.A. funding for the construction of a deer fence around the airport, he recalled.

       “It’s been two years and nothing has been done. It is disappointing, but we think nothing will happen [next Thursday] either.”

East Hampton Town

Town Vehicles Up for Grabs

       East Hampton Town has placed a number of vehicles for sale online at auctionsinternational.com,  where bids will be accepted through Dec. 2.

       The cars and trucks include pickups, dump trucks, former police cars, and more.

Deer Project Collaboration

       With a 3-to-1 vote on Tuesday, the East Hampton Town Board opted to participate in the Long Island Deer Project, a collaboration between the Long Island Farm Bureau and the United States Department of Agriculture to reduce the deer herd in the five East End towns. The town expects to join East Hampton Village in allowing a deer-killing effort to be undertaken; the cost to each municipality is expected to be $15,000.  Town Councilman Dominick Stanzione, who has advocated for the town’s participation, was absent from the vote; Councilwoman Sylvia Overby voted against the resolution, saying additional information was needed.

New York State

Grant for Fuel Facility

       Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced last week that East Hampton Town and Village have been awarded $400,000 from the state’s Local Government Efficiency Grant Program for construction of a new joint fuel facility, which will replace and relocate aging facilities.

       A town-conducted feasibility study had concluded that a joint facility would save money through a reduced per-gallon cost for fuel, allow for state-of-the-art inventory control and billing, and reduce environmental impacts. The facility will be equipped with a generator and safety measures to ensure the site is operating according to local, state, and federal requirements for toxic and hazardous materials.

       The Local Government Efficiency Grant Program, administered by the New York Department of State, provides technical assistance and competitive grants to local governments for the development of projects that will save money and improve municipal efficiency through shared services, cooperative agreements, mergers, consolidations, and dissolutions.

      While the East Hampton Town clerk waits for delivery of a vault to store town records, to be placed in or adjacent to the new Town Hall building that opened four years ago, a storehouse of official records is moldering in the basement of the old Town Hall.

       Abandoned and left shuttered, unheated and uncooled, the old building, which had occasional mold problems that were quickly dealt with when it was occupied, has become so infected with mold that employees, after going there to fetch files, have complained to Ed Michels, the town’s safety officer, of headaches and sinus problems.

       Mr. Michels said this week that the chief fire marshal, Dave Browne, has been asked to inspect the building and consider posting keep-out signs.

       While the building was still in use, its courtroom was sealed off and condemned due to a leaking, crumbling ceiling.

       The building has been targe ted for an overhaul and renovation to create a “European office landscape” — an open floor plan accommodating numerous town departments that would be moved from their present sites, including the nearby Pantigo Place office complex — using a $536,425 New York State Local Government and Efficiency Program grant awarded to East Hampton in June. The grant rewarded efforts from 2010 to 2012 under Supervisor Bill Wilkinson’s administration to reduce and reorganize the town staff and to establish better financial controls.

       The open work space design envisioned for the renovated old Town Hall is “intended to provide a more collaborative and humane work environment,” according to the grant application submitted to the state by the town, and “a more conducive work environment [that] will create greater work flow efficiencies and positively impact employee confidence levels.”

       Mr. Wilkinson, whose two terms in office conclude in six weeks, did not respond to questions this week about how the mold problem in the building might affect the renovation plan.

       According to Carole Brennan, the assistant town clerk, who will take office as town clerk in January succeeding incoming Councilman Fred Overton, the historic records contained in a vault on the main floor of the old town hall building are intact.

       With a larger vault accessible to the clerk’s office at its new site, in which the majority of the town records could be stored, she said she would be better able to serve members of the public seeking historical information.

       The town recently announced the receipt, with East Hampton Village, of a second state grant, for $400,000, to be used for a joint fueling facility for official vehicles.

       In a press release, Mr. Wilkinson credited the town’s chief auditor, Charlene Kagel, and grants administrator, Nicole Ficeto, for the successful application. “This is an example of how municipal governments can cooperate through a shared services model that benefits the taxpayers of both jurisdictions.  As you know, this now totals over $900,000 in Local Government Efficiency Awards this administration has received in 2013 alone and is a clear template for future administrations to follow,” he wrote.