East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell released a tentative $77.7 million budget for 2018 on Friday, which is a 3.5-percent increase over this year's spending plan and would result in increases in the tax rate of less than 1.5 percent.

 The proposed tax increases remain below the New York State-imposed cap. If the budget is approved it would result in a 1.42-percent increase in the tax rate for most town property owners, and a 1.23-percent increase for residents of incorporated villages.

The budget includes a 6-percent increase for law enforcement and public safety, as well as an increase in programs for the elderly and for transportation. In a budget message, Mr. Cantwell noted that the town had recovered from a $28 million deficit in 2009 and now estimates that it will have a $34 million surplus at the end of this year. The budget allocates $2 million of that surplus to the town's community housing opportunity fund for affordable housing and $1.5 million for other future capital projects, such as the construction of a new senior citizens center or sand replenishment on the beaches.

Mr. Cantwell, in his message, attributes the budget increases to three major factors: an increase in employee salaries of almost $1 million, attendant increases in health benefit premiums, also of approximately $1 million, and payments next year on existing debt that will total $785,510.

The salary increases, he noted, result from 2-to-3-percent raises under union contracts, along with the addition of three full-time employees: an account clerk at the East Hampton Airport, an officer for the Marine Patrol division of the Police Department, and a Building Department clerk to work on digitizing town records.

The town has reduced its debt by $20 million over four years, earning it a Aaa credit rating from Moody's Investors Service, the highest it awards, and a first-time achievement.

The town board will review the tentative budget, and revisions may be made before the public is invited to comment at a hearing, which has not yet been scheduled. A vote to adopt the 2018 budget will take place in November.

A Springs man was among those injured in an accident involving a United States Army Reserve Humvee at a festival in Farmingville on Saturday. The Humvee was on display, parked on an incline, and unoccupied when it rolled into a crowd of people.

Suffolk County Police Sixth Squad detectives are investigating what caused the accident at the Long Island Bacon Bash at the Pennysaver Amphitheater at about 5:10 p.m. The Humvee somehow slipped out of gear and rolled approximately 30 feet and struck a woman. Suzette Lamonica, 46, of Brookhaven was pinned between the vehicle and a food trailer. She was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, where she was admitted for treatment of what police said were serious leg and arm injuries.  

The Springs man, Richard Gherardi, was inside the food trailer. The 30-year-old was burned by cooking oil, police said. He was also taken to Stony Brook for treatment, but police did not release the extent of his injuries.

Two women experienced minor injuries and refused medical attention at the scene, according to police.

The Humvee was impounded for a safety check. Detectives are asking anyone with information about this incident to call the Sixth Squad at 631-854-8652. 

Police in Southampton Village are asking beachgoers to think twice before going into the water due to the recent storm activities.

Over the past week, Southampton Village police received three 911 calls for swimmers in distress at the beaches, including one that ended in the drowning of a 46-year-old man. Earlier in the week, a police officer saved a swimmer in distress at Cooper's Beach.

On Sept. 16, about 12:30 p.m., village police received a 911 call that there were two swimmers struggling in the ocean off Cooper's Beach. The female swimmer made it back to the beach, but the male swimmer did not. A group of beachgoers went into the water and pulled the man, Timothy Allen Osborne of Singapore, out. Police performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him and he was transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at approximately 1:21 p.m. 

There is a high-surf advisory in effect for Long Island through 6 Wednesday night at the very least, and a high rip current risk remains in effect through late Tuesday night, the National Weather Service said. Surf height is 6 to 10 feet.

East Hampton Town lagged behind the rest of the East End in income from the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund through the first eight months of the year.

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said in a release yesterday that revenue from a 2-percent tax on most real estate sales had declined 13.7 percent in East Hampton from the same period last year. Regionally, community preservation fund income for 2017 was up nearly 4 percent.

Southold Town led the pack, with a spike of 27.4 percent. Shelter Island followed with a 12-percent increase. Southampton's figure jumped by 11.3 percent, and Riverhead's by 3.4 percent.

Through August, East Hampton Town's preservation fund income was just under $17.3 million; it was $20 million for the same months in 2016. Southampton took in $38.4 million between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31.

Since the preservation fund was established in 1999, it has taken in more than $1.2 billion for land purchases and historic preservation.

Senator Charles Schumer, the Senate minority leader, has called on Congress to quickly pass the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act, which he said would help combat the rise in toxic algae found in Long Island waterways. Left unchecked, said Mr. Schumer, a Democrat, these toxic blooms could contaminate Long Island’s drinking water and damage economies dependent on fishing and recreation.

The bill, co-sponsored by Bill Nelson, a Democratic senator from Florida, provides funding as well as a research and response framework to combat blooms of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, throughout the United States. Starting in 2019, it would authorize $22 million per year for five years to help conduct research on harmful algal blooms and continue an interagency working group to advance the understanding of hypoxia, or low oxygen, and harmful algal blooms. The bill also requires that the task force submit to Congress a scientific assessment of harmful algal blooms in coastal waters and freshwater systems at least every five years.

Mr. Schumer said that this funding should be used to help combat the rise of algal blooms on Long Island. “If we pass this plan, we will help protect marine life, bays, estuaries, and drinking water while continuing to seek out new dollars and resources exclusively for Long Island,” he said in a statement. “These toxic blooms not only threaten our ecosystems and public health, but also hurt the local economy by closing beaches and limiting recreational activities. Waterways throughout the country, including those on Long Island, need access to the resources this bill provides in order to research and respond to toxic algae more effectively. That’s why I am making a push to get this legislation across the finish line and spread more dollars and researchers to Long Island to fight the blooms.”

Because of factors including aging septic systems, the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in waterways throughout New York has increased in recent years, promoting the growth of harmful algal blooms. Scientists also point to manifestations of climate change including warmer temperatures and more spring rainfall, both of which promote the growth of algal blooms. According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, red tides and cyanobacteria have severe impacts on human health, aquatic ecosystems, and the economy.

The Long Island Clean Water Partnership has reported that over the past four months, harmful algal blooms have appeared in every bay and estuary on Long Island. Hypoxia was documented in 21 locations across the Island, and cyanobacteria blooms were documented in 15 lakes and ponds. Mr. Schumer said that this increase in toxic algae has the potential to put ecosystems, drinking water, and recreational activities, like boating and swimming, at risk.

For about 50 Springs School students, weekends from here on will be about being happy, not hungry. On Friday, Blessings in a Backpack, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger, opened a chapter in Springs. During a ceremony at the school, with Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming in attendance, the chapter was honored as the first for the nonprofit on the East End.

Blessings in a Backpack, which began in Kentucky in 2005 and now serves more than 92,000 students in 47 states, will provide Springs School children who qualify for free and reduced lunches with a bag of food to take home on the weekends, a time when they are often hungry.

The local chapter was made possible by donations from residents and a $3,500 gift from United Healthcare. Debra Winter, the district’s superintendent, who championed bringing this initiative to Springs, having successfully started a chapter in Longwood, her previous school district, said she was moved by the community’s mobilization to help launch the program. The superintendent had introduced the idea to the public on July 23, when she announced the school’s fund-raising goal of $7,000. To date, $10,000 has been collected, which will secure food for about 50 children for every weekend during the 38-week school year, she said.

On Friday, 38 brown bags filled with food stood on a table outside the front doors of the school, and later that afternoon they were distributed to children in need of extra nourishment. Each pack contained two dinners, two lunches, two breakfasts, and two snacks.

Eric Casale, the school’s principal, thanked United Healthcare for its generosity and announced that Stefany Gomez, a registration clerk at the school, and Cindy Realmuto, a teaching assistant, were appointed co-chairwomen of the program. Their duties will include overseeing and budgeting the food shopping, organizing student volunteers to pack the bags each week, and asking food purveyors for donations.

The inaugural 38 bags were packed by students in Kristy LaMonda’s functional-academics class, sometimes known as a life skills class. The teacher put together a laminated step-by-step instruction manual on the proper techniques of packing canned and packaged goods, which her students followed, she said. Students will also help with grocery shopping once a week.

Trish Ewald, a Blessings in a Backpack employee, said on Friday that about 20 percent of school-age children in Suffolk County have been found to have returned to school on Mondays without having their nutritional needs met over the weekend, significantly affecting their neural development and emotional well-being.

A nationwide evaluation of the program conducted by a market research company showed that 59 percent of children fed through it said they found it easier to concentrate at school, 60 percent saw a decrease in behavioral issues, 78 percent felt cared for by their community, and 60 percent of children reported that their school attendance drastically improved.

Angelo Zuffante, a regional manager with United Healthcare, said that his company contributed not only to help children in need, but also to possibly offer health care to families in Springs who might be without insurance. Facilitating the opening of a Blessings in a Backpack chapter in the hamlet was “a win-win for United Healthcare,” he said, adding that it is important for it to be known that even East Hampton has a pocket of people who need help.

Mr. Thiele, in addressing those gathered on Friday, gave his personal reasons for supporting the food program: “My daughter, who just graduated from college, has started working as a nutritionist. She suffers from lupus, so proper nutrition has also been very important in our family.”

Ms. Fleming, meanwhile, said the East End’s long history of agriculture makes the fact that children in the area go hungry seem even more incongruous.

She grew up in Montauk, where her father, William Carew, practiced law. Now, she is the supervisor of the Legal Aid Society’s East End bureau, overseeing attorneys in 11 village and town justice courts. Her name is Cynthia Darrell, and, after 18 years of service with the Legal Aid Society, she says love of the job, and the search for justice, keeps her going.

In May, Ms. Darrell replaced Sabato Caponi, who became the chief operating officer of the society’s Suffolk County Criminal Division. Speaking on Tuesday of the organization’s role in the justice system, she said, “It is not just to deal with the criminal charges. It is the well-being of our clients in general.”

Beyond offering indigent defendants attorneys to handle criminal matters, for which the society is widely known, it also has lawyers who specialize in immigration law. The status of undocumented residents facing criminal charges is an area where a holistic approach is required, she said.

 Increasing numbers of deportations have changed the way the society now handles even standard, low-level criminal charges. When a judge asks defendants if they are citizens, society lawyers instruct their clients not to reply. The wrong answer could trigger a detainer request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

It is an evolving legal landscape, she said, particularly since, in immigration courts, the mere suspicion of having committed a crime can be enough to trigger deportation. “The answers from yesterday may not be the answers tomorrow, which may not be the answers five years from now,” she said.

  To illustrate another aspect of her work, Ms.  Darrell referred to narcotics crimes. She said that if the accused was of the mind-set to get treatment, the best approach might be to get them into in-house treatment, “to get them out of their addiction.” The Riverhead and Southampton Town Justice Courts have drug divisions, which offer such alternative approaches.

The one thing no attorney wants to experience, she said, “is when you hear your client is not coming to court because they have died from an overdose.” She said the Legal Aid Society’s “main goal is rehabilitation, not punishment.” Mentoring young attorneys is a part of   Ms. Darrell’s position that she finds gratifying. She described a recent jury trial in East Hampton Town Justice Court. James Arceri had been accused of hitting a bicyclist on Cranberry Hole Road in Amagansett in 2014 and driving away. His attorney was Matthew D’Amato, who is regularly assigned by the society to East Hampton Town Justice Court. Since it was only Mr. D’Amato’s second trial, Ms. Darrell offered counsel on pre-trial motions and strategized throughout the process.

She and Mr. D’Amato believed the prosecution’s case had a fundamental flaw: Two people at the scene had seen the biker go down, but did not know the cause of the spill. They had not seen Mr. Arceri’s pickup truck strike the victim. Having made this information clear, the jury came back shortly after being sent out with a not-guilty verdict. Mr. D’Amato had already won his first trial in East Hampton, so this was his second. 

Other defendants who may benefit from an inclusive approach are troubled military veterans, Ms. Darrell said. In addition to the special drug court, Southampton Town has a veterans court to which East End defendants can have their cases directed.

“My father was a lawyer. He inspired me to become a lawyer,” Ms. Darrell said. Losing him to cancer was a painful moment in her life, she added.

Her husband is Trevor Darrell, an East Hampton attorney with Fleming and Darrell. The couple have two sons, 10 and 12, and she is the secretary of the East Hampton Middle School PTA. The family also has two adopted dogs and a cat. “It’s a balancing act, but it is all good.”

Acknowledging that private practice would prove much more lucrative, Ms. Darrell said of the Legal Aid Society, “I would have left a long time ago, if I didn’t love it.”

What is expected to be a yearlong project to raise the Long Island Rail Road trestles that cross North Main Street and Accabonac Road in East Hampton Village will begin next month, the village board was told on Friday.

Hector Garcia, a railroad official, told the board that the trestles, which are often struck and damaged by trucks, would be raised from 11 to 14 feet high with the installation of new bridge structures. The track bed will also have to be raised, he said. Retaining walls will be constructed, on L.I.R.R. property, on either side of the tracks.

The work will mostly be confined to the construction areas, he said, but the L.I.R.R. will need access to some residential properties east of the trestles in order to reach its property.

Clearing of vegetation along the tracks will commence next month, Mr. Garcia said, “and then they start prepping the area for the retaining walls.” That work will not affect traffic except during delivery of materials, he said, “but there shouldn’t be any major disruptions.” It will happen on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. “We don’t anticipate overnight or weekend work for the wall construction,” which would span October to around May 2018, he said.

The trestles will be installed next fall, and that work will be more disruptive, Mr. Garcia said. It will consist of removal of the existing trestles and tracks, regrading of land, and installation of new support infrastructure. “All that has to be done at the same time,” he said. Each trestle replacement will take about 10 days, he said, and work will be done around the clock. The roads will be closed during construction.

The trestle over North Main Street will be replaced first, Mr. Garcia said, and all work will be completed by November 2018.

Board members questioned the L.I.R.R. officials on the overnight construction periods and the aesthetics of the new structures. “What kind of noise are we talking about?” asked Barbara Borsack. “We have a lot of residents who live on those tracks — I’m one of them. The idea of being awake for a month or more, listening to that noise, is disconcerting. Is that going to keep us up all night?”

Apart from the crane that will set the new structures on their bearings, noise will be limited, responded Paul Jones, the L.I.R.R.’s principal engineer for structures. “Setting the bridge is the easy part,” he said.

In each 10-day period, “the majority of that work is grading the track back down to the crossing so that you get the proper profile,” Mr. Jones said. There will be little excavation, and no pile-driving, he said. “It’s about 1,000 feet of retaining wall, so there will be noise, but we’re very cognizant” of sensitivities to noise, he said. “This is not our first job in a residential community.”

“If it costs them a little more to do it over a longer period of time and be less disruptive, I think we’d prefer that,” Ms. Borsack said.

Likewise, board members said that the L.I.R.R. should heed its desire to preserve the village’s character, regardless of cost. Of chief concern was news that the new bridges would be concrete. “Would you be thinking of mixing any color in with the concrete so it might match the current abutments, which are quite dark?” Arthur Graham asked.

Due to the relatively modest scope of the project, none of the 17 vendors solicited were willing to consider coloring the concrete, the officials said. The concrete is mixed in a vat, Mr. Jones said. “They don’t just have the railroad job; they have the railroad’s job, Job B, C, D, etc.” Adding color to the vat would render the concrete unusable for other jobs, he explained. One vendor quoted a ninefold increase in cost to color the concrete, he said. Staining the concrete after construction could be explored, he added.

Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach asked the officials to “get whatever pertinent paperwork relates to that specifically, to the office of the village administrator. Allow us to cull that information,” after which village officials will consult with state officials, possibly including Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. 

A less controversial component of the project is the renovation of the station building on Railroad Avenue. The L.I.R.R. is working with Robert Hefner, the village’s director of historic services, on a plan to restore the structure to its original look. New amenities such as WiFi, charging stations, new lighting, and digital signage will be added, Mr. Garcia said. That work will begin next year.

The L.I.R.R. officials pledged to take the board’s concerns to their superiors and return with a plan that addresses them. “You’ve been class proponents,” the mayor told them. “Working together on some of these fine issues, we can come to some resolution. But more importantly, you’re a compliment to your profession.”

In the meeting’s other transportation-related news, Scott Fithian, the superintendent of public works, told the board that the State Department of Transportation issued a permit last Thursday for construction of a roundabout at Buell and Toilsome Lanes. The work will commence in about two weeks.

Also at the meeting, the board voted to prohibit parking at all times on the east side of North Main Street between the intersection with Main Street and the railroad trestle.

Becky Hansen, the village administrator, told the board of plans to add three parking spaces to the lot shared by Village Hall with the Dayton, Ritz, and Osborne insurance agency. It was determined, after a recent repaving and drainage improvement project that resulted in the loss of one space, that parking there is inadequate, she said. Because the lot is in the historic district, the proposal requires approval by the design review board.

According to an informal survey conducted by the Springs School District, its students endure especially cramped quarters when compared to those attending neighboring schools. According to a report on the survey, which was presented during a school board meeting on Monday, each of its current 743 students receives approximately 84.4 square feet of space. By comparison, each middle schooler in East Hampton has 293 square feet, while every Amagansett student enjoys 396 square feet of real estate.

The news was no surprise, as overcrowding in the Springs School is well documented and much discussed, as well as the driving reason behind the district’s building expansion plan, which first surfaced as early as 1999. It is not simply a matter of elbowroom, as the school’s principal, Eric Casale, explained on Monday, but a matter of safety and compliance with state standards. As enrollment numbers continue to rise, the principal said the school is constantly forced to push the limits.

Mr. Casale, Christine Cleary, the assistant principal, and Kevin Walsh, a representative of BBS Architects and Engineers, which is designing the expansion, made Monday’s PowerPoint presentation. Its purpose was to illuminate the problematic student-to-square-footage ratio and, moreover, to introduce the school board and the public to the sum of $17.9 million, which is the projected cost of the capital improvement project. A bond referendum, seeking voter approval of that figure, is to be scheduled in early December.

In actuality, the bottom line of the latest expansion plan was $22,963,298, Mr. Casale said, but the school has approximately $5 million in reserve, which it would use toward the total. For Springs homeowners, the cost of the expansion is estimated to mean an approximate $172 increase in annual taxes for houses assessed at $600,000, a $230 increase for those assessed at $800,000, and $288 for those around $1 million.

Mr. Casale pointed out that the $17-million-plus figure could be reduced in the future if the school receives a water quality improvement grant it has applied for to cover the expense of installing a state-of-the-art, nitrogen-reducing septic system, as well as state aid. The principal also said the district would welcome private donations, adding with some levity, “We’re not averse to naming the gym after you if you’d like to donate.”

At the meeting, Mr. Walsh, of BBS Architects, reviewed the construction details, which included infrastructure upgrades such as replacing roofs and windows, as well as the installation of the new, eco-friendly septic system. Seven additional classrooms are slated to be built and a new gymnasium with lockers and 250 bleacher seats. There would be 17 small group instructional spaces added, each of approximately 330 square feet, which would be a massive improvement from the current nine cramped spaces in the school, Mr. Walsh said. Additionally, new science and technology rooms would be constructed, while the art and music rooms would be renovated.

Outdoors, larger multi-purpose playing fields would be built, vehicle entry for drop-offs and pickups would be reconfigured to allow a smoother flow of traffic, and 190 parking spaces would become available.

The expansion would add approximately 23,800 square feet to the institution. With the school’s projected enrollment in 2022-23 listed as 795, the added space would translate to approximately 122 square feet per pupil, about 40 square feet more than students have now.

A cafeteria was not in the expansion plan as the school believes it will be too costly to build and maintain.

Mr. Casale urged the public to go to the Springs School website to watch the presentation. There also will be a community forum at the school on Saturday, Oct. 7, at 10 a.m. The board is scheduled to pass a resolution on Oct. 16 for the referendum in early December. It is hoped that construction will begin in July 2019.

It’s no easy feat to encapsulate a 25-year history in a single conversation, but during a busy Thursday Steve Haweeli, the president of WordHampton Public Relations, gave it a go.

Seated in his humble office in Springs, with the chatter and laughter of three employees coming from the next room, Mr. Haweeli began at the beginning.

He had been bartending in New York City and freelance writing on the side when one day he happened upon another calling. “Someone asked me if I had ever written a press release, and I said, ‘What’s that?’ ” Mr. Haweeli said. “It was for a $5 lunch at a place called the Red Caddy on Houston, and I got a hit from New York Newsday.”

That was April 1991. The next month, he and his wife at the time left their apartment in Williamsburg, which was not the hip neighborhood it is now, for the South Fork.

“There comes a time in a man’s life when he needs to decide if he is going to be a bartender for the rest of his life,” Mr. Haweeli said. “And there is nothing wrong with that; it’s exciting, but it can wear you down.”

His restaurant days did not end in Manhattan. He had a bartending stint at Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton, where he worked when he started WordHampton. In 1992, Nick and Toni’s became his first client.

“I saw there was a market for this service, and I loved it,” Mr. Haweeli said. “And I still do. So we started with restaurants.”

Working out of his basement with just one other employee, within the first year WordHampton landed a number of other local restaurants as clients, including Estia and Bostwick’s. Although client lists thickened and people began to recognize the WordHampton name, five years later a curious college student flipping through a Yellow Pages phone book was surprised to learn there was a PR firm in her hometown.

“I thought there was no way there would be a PR firm in East Hampton, two miles from my house,” said Nicole Castillo, who is now the company’s executive vice president. “I was prepared to drive at least to Riverhead, but lo and behold there was WordHampton.”

Ms. Castillo, who had been home for winter break, was hoping to begin her senior project — to interview and write a paper about a public relations professional. After completing the assignment and graduating a few weeks later, in February 1997, she was hired by Mr. Haweeli as his second full-time employee. Six years later he asked her to become a partner.

“I thought it was a good opportunity to grow with the company, because at the time Steve was hoping it would get bigger,” Ms. Castillo said. “To expand the reach and get into a real office, those were the kind of aspirations that he had at the time.”

Not only did the firm eventually outgrow the basement and move to its current office on Three Mile Harbor Road, but because of the unique nature of the seasonal market here and the media attention it attracts, once the team proved itself successful with restaurants, it expanded its reach to also represent businesses in the construction, architecture, real estate, retail, and service industries. Its specialties now are the hospitality, medical, real estate, and lifestyle businesses.

“We had a knack for restaurants and we spoke the restaurant language, which helped us with the media,” Mr. Haweeli said. “It was a hot industry then because restaurants were beginning to grow out here, but just from being out here other clients began to approach me.”

Because of the breadth of their clients, Mr. Haweeli said WordHampton wears two hats in the PR industry. “If you do things across different sectors, you are called a generalist firm; if you just do restaurants, you are called a boutique hospitality firm,” he said. “We’re a little bit of both.”

Despite WordHampton’s small-town roots, the local firm, which briefly had offices in Riverhead and Manhattan, has made a name for itself on a regional level. Not only has it won countless awards and developed clients across Long Island and in Manhattan and Connecticut, it also started the popular Hamptons Restaurant Week and Long Island Restaurant Week, which are now award-winning campaigns. Participating res­taurants offer prix fixe specials during each week, providing an incentive for customers to try a new spot or visit an old favorite while also bringing new business to the restaurants at less busy times of the year.

While awards are proof that hard work pays off, Mr. Haweeli and Ms. Castillo claim to “laugh hard too.” After 20 years, they continue to learn from each other and tweak their systems as they build the company.

“It’s been a blessing that I could find something I enjoy doing and that I don’t feel like I had to settle,” Ms. Castillo said. “It’s a learned industry and the more mileage you have, the more you realize how to make it work and how to make every moving part work.”

“I’m happy to keep growing, but I’m happy with where we are right now,” Mr. Haweeli said. “We have good people and great clients. I’m happy to just run a good company, day in and day out.”