In what East Hampton school officials say would be the worst-case scenario in connection with the ongoing Sandpebble Builders lawsuit, they are considering an increase of about 47 percent, or $100,000, in next year’s budget for legal fees. The current figure, $213,000 — which, as always, must cover all legal expenses, not just the Sandpebble affair — would rise to $313,000.

East Hampton’s budget workshop on Tuesday was the first of the 2016-17 process. The administration  has not yet released a complete draft of next year’s budget nor announced any specific dollar decisions.

The good news at the workshop was that because about 20 teachers and staff members are planning to retire, the district will save nearly $422,000 on salaries, a decrease of about 1.3 percent. It will bring the regular payroll to about $32.17 million, which accounts for the bulk of the district’s tax levy.

Richard Burns, the district superintendent, and Isabel Madison, the assistant superintendent for business, said following Tuesday’s workshop the proposed increase in legal fees was based on the possibility that the pending lawsuit with Sandpebble could cost more than anticipated. The district has to be prepared, they said.

Sandpebble, which is based in Southampton, is suing the district for $3.75 million following a 2006 disagreement involving what the builder alleges was wrongful termination of its contract. East Hampton argues that it hired a different builder after the scope of the construction increased.

Legal fees in the dispute with Sandpebble had escalated to about to about $2.3 million by February of 2012, and yesterday, the district released an updated figure: approximately $2.8 million.

During the Jan. 19 school board meeting Mr. Burns said a trial date in State Supreme Court had not been set. Jury selection has been postponed twice, including once when a new judge was assigned to the case last May. In November, that judge adjourned the case to December or January pending the outcome of several subpoenas and other factors.

 “The court is still making a decision on some motions,” Mr. Burns told the school board in January. He did not have more to say this week.

In addition to reporting on the effect on the budget of retiring employees, Ms. Madison discussed other contractual costs, some of which are scheduled to decrease. For example, the amount the district contributes to the state’s teacher and employee retirement systems is expected to decrease by 7 percent. But stipends and overtime are projected to increase by about 16 percent, to about $2.34 million.

The cost of health benefits is expected to rise by 6 percent, a jump that could have been bigger but was offset by an increase in the contributions from employees and retirees. The district is anticipating spending more than $7.73 million on health benefits next year.

The cost of insurance for potential student accidents or injuries during sports or other activities will rise almost 12 percent to about $386,000. The district is, however, projected to spend less on auditing services and administrative fees for the Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

The school board’s next budget work session is scheduled for Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. in the high school technology room.

A high tide during Monday’s snowstorm caused floodwaters from Gardiner’s Bay and Accabonac Harbor to inundate Gerard Drive in Springs and also caused flooding along Napeague Meadow Road on Napeague, where the water was two feet deep in places. Both roads were closed that day but back to normal on Tuesday, according to Highway Superintendent Steve Lynch.

The repeated breach of the Gerard Drive causeways, which can cut off access for residents living on that peninsula, is of concern to the Springs Fire Department, Town Councilman Fred Overton, a founding member of the department, told the town board Tuesday. Board members agreed to look into potential solutions to prevent future flooding.

Following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the town applied for a grant that would pay for the reconstruction and fortification of problematic sections of Gerard Drive. The request is still pending. “We’re still optimistic that we will get that funding, even though it’s taken a long time,” Supervisor Larry Cantwell said at Tuesday’s meeting.

But though that work could prevent water from undermining the roadbed, it would not hold back rising waters.

  Years ago, Mr. Overton said, “there was always a small dune.” Whether the barrier simply eroded over time or was eaten away after a culvert was installed under a section of the road is unclear. “Some people want to blame the culvert for creating the problem,” Mr. Overton said.

 “Even on a regular moon tide the tide is right up to the road, if not in the road,” he said. “There are full-time residents there.”

 “I think it is climate change, sea level rise, that’s beginning to weigh on some of these vulnerable areas,” Mr. Cantwell suggested.

During another recent storm, the supervisor said, crews from PSEG Long Island responding to reports of power outages at the end of Gerard Drive encountered some problems. “They started working on it,” he said, “and they were literally taking waves onto their truck.”

Mr. Cantwell said that David Daly, the president and chief operating officer of PSEG, had worked closely with him to resolve the situation. When it looked as if electricity might be out for hours, PSEG gave the town contact information for residents whose power had been cut off by flooding. Town officials got in touch to ask those people if they wanted to be evacuated. None did, Mr. Cant­well reported, and crews soon got their power back on.

Mr. Lynch said this week that the Highway Department has payloaders, and the town has several other vehicles that can get through floodwaters. Also, he said, there is an off-road detour on Gerard Drive to get around one spot that consistently floods.

Since October, Compass, a real estate brokerage firm headquartered in Manhattan, has opened four South Fork offices  — an aggressive expansion that rivals the company’s recent growth in other markets.

“Of the top 100 agents in the country, half are in Los Angeles, New York, and the Hamptons,” the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Robert Reffkin, said. “We want to be a luxury brokerage firm in the largest cities in the world. The Hamptons are at the very pinnacle of high-end and luxury.” 

 The four new South Fork offices include its Bridgehampton outpost and an office soon opening in the former Peloton shop on Main Street in East Hampton. Compass merged with Strough Real Estate Associates in Sag Harbor in early January and is awaiting village approval for a black-and-white sign out front. A 3,900-square-foot Southampton office, on Nugent Street, will open next month. Mr. Reffkin said the goal is to be in the 30 wealthiest cities in the world in the next three years.

The growth of Compass, a combined real estate and technology company, has been swift. Since launching in New York City three years ago, it now has some 700 employees and agents, with offices in Washington, D.C., Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara, Calif. “We’re traditional in that we have brick-and-mortar offices and different in that we employ our own in-house engineers,” Mr. Reff­kin explained.

Though the company is valued at $800 million, Mr. Reffkin said $135 million had been raised in venture capital from a “diverse set of investors — including Goldman Sachs, 13 real estate developers, and seven New York billionaire families.”

Despite its rapidly expanding footprint of about an office each month in Los Angeles and the South Fork, Mr. Reffkin said, “Everything is local,” with the real estate business still based on local, hard-earned expertise. “We’re not focused on buying companies, just great agents.”

Ed Reale, formerly a real estate attorney and top sales manager at Brown Harris Stevens, joined Compass in October. Based in Bridgehampton, he is the region’s senior managing director.

Besides the company’s proprietary technology and  in-house marketing and public relations capabilities, Mr. Reale said he was drawn to a company where “culture is a top priority.”

“We’ve hired some of the best agents on the East End but we’re very selective about who is brought in because of the desire to have collaborative, cooperative, and ethical people working for us.” Mr. Reale said. So far, he said, Compass has hired “25 agents and counting,” with recruitment ongoing.

Nevertheless, its rapid expansion has come at a cost, with several lawsuits under way. Ashley Murphy, speaking for the company, confirmed that they were pending.

In November, Brown Harris Stevens sued both Compass and Mr. Reale, alleging that Compass had unlawfully poached its competitors’ employees and that Mr. Reale had violated a non-compete agreement.

In December, Saunders and Associates sought a temporary restraining order against Compass and three of its agents, alleging that Meg Salem, a former Saunders agent who had been a Compass recruit, had accessed a password-protected Saunders database and used it to obtain thousands of listings and other confidential material. Ms. Salem is no longer affiliated with Compass. 

Drawing a comparison to Google, Mr. Reffkin brushed off the potential for controversy, stating that “lawsuits are typical for successful companies entering new markets to get sued across every industry.”

Because new agents come to Compass without their previous listings, Mr. Reale cautioned that it was still early to assess the firm, with each agent tasked with building back his or her inventory. According to its website, Compass has 11 properties in the Northwest Woods area of East Hampton and eight in Montauk. Sag Harbor, Shelter Island, and Water Mill have one listing each.

“We’re very pleased with what’s happened so far,” Mr. Reale said, adding that he remains focused on the task at hand: “To continue to grow and grow sensibly and bring in more agents and do more business.”

—

This story has been updated. An earlier version indicated that Saunders and Associates had obtained a temporary restraining order against Compass.

Two Democrats hoping to run for the House of Representatives in November articulated nearly identical views on First Congressional District, national, and international issues at a forum hosted by East Hampton Democrats at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Amagansett on Feb. 3. Whoever wins the primary election on June 28 will face incumbent Representative Lee Zeldin, who intends to run for re-election.

Anna Throne-Holst, a former supervisor of Southampton Town, and David Calone, an investment banker, former federal prosecutor, and chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission who lives in Brookhaven, took turns in a collegial discussion moderated by Charles Hitchcock, a  former Democratic Committee chairman. 

But they came out swinging against Mr. Zeldin, a freshman Republican. “It’s so frustrating to see what Tea Party Republicans are doing to our country, putting the environment, the economy, women’s health, and the education system at risk,” Mr. Calone said in an opening statement. “The worst part is our congressman is at the head of the parade.”

Mr. Calone, who graduated from Harvard Law School, said Mr. Zeldin had voted against the Clean Power Act, submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency to restrict carbon emissions from utility plants. “We need a representative in Congress who understands our first job: preserve, protect, defend the environment,” he said.

In attacking Mr. Zeldin, Ms. Throne-Holst, who worked at the United Nations after earning a master’s degree in human rights and conflict resolution, said he “has a track record in Congress he’s going to have an impossible time defending in this district. We have a member of Congress who is a climate change denier, and we live on Long Island, where our economy is our environment.”

Both candidates spoke at length about the environment. Nitrogen loading in waterways, which promotes harmful algal blooms, is a grave threat to the district’s way of life, Ms. Throne-Holst said, citing her pitch to the State Regional Economic Development Council to develop affordable, on-site sewage treatment technology. As supervisor, Ms. Throne-Holst was a proponent of the partnership between Southampton, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and Suffolk County to establish a state Center for Clean Water Technology at Stony Brook University.

“We know that climate change is impacting us,” Mr. Calone said. “We need to make sure we have a member of Congress who’s working to fight climate change every day.”

Ms. Throne-Holst called for a regional plan allowing homeowners and businesses to implement renewable energy sources such as the Solarize Southampton effort introduced last year. “We have to deal with storm resiliency and energy independence,” she said. “We need to get away from being dependent on LIPA,” she said of the Long Island Power Authority.

“Climate-change resilience is at the very basis of how to plan for our future. It is going to fundamentally affect every one of our lives,” she said, complaining that it was “one of many things” Mr. Zeldin “isn’t even talking about.”

The candidates argued for measures to reduce income inequality, with Mr. Calone proposing healthy labor unions and greater exposure of students to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. The minimum wage should be higher, he said, with future adjustments tied to inflation. Ms. Throne-Holst agreed, adding that “we need to fundamentally reform how the school system is being financed in the entire country,” given the disparity between the quality of public education in affluent and poor communities. She urged universal prekindergarten and daycare. She also agreed that the minimum wage should be increased.

Asked about gun control, Mr. Calone referred to Mr. Zeldin’s vote last year against allowing debate on legislation that would prevent suspected terrorists from legally purchasing guns. “We need someone who will stand up to the gun lobby,” he said.”We need to reframe the debate,” he said. “Then, we will win.”

“We have to treat gun safety and gun control the way we’d treat a public health crisis, because that is what it is,” Ms. Throne-Holst said. “We talk about viruses that haven’t killed 300,000 people the way guns have in this country in the last decade.”

The candidates also took aim at the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which allowed unlimited political spending by corporations, unions, and individuals. Ms. Throne-Holst said, “Corporations can buy elections today. No one even has to be told who is buying, because of Citizens United.” It is the responsibility of Congress, she said, to ensure full disclosure of campaign spending, and she advocated for publicly funded elections. “I don’t think anybody should be permitted to put their own money in,” Mr. Calone agreed, urging a concerted effort on campaign finance reform.

With respect to foreign policy, both candidates advocated greater use of diplomacy, economic assistance, and a cautious approach to the use of force. “Absent imminent threat, there are other measures we can take,” Mr. Calone said. “If we pursue peace, war is always an option, but if we pursue war, peace is not.”

“We have to be part of an international solution that has a very clear sense of where we go in, how, and a plan for keeping people safe, making sure that if there is a change in government it works, and we are not leaving people to fend for themselves and get obliterated at the hands of their own people,” Ms. Throne-Holst said. Both candidates called for  taking in more refugees fleeing civil wars in Syria and other Middle East countries.

Mr. Zeldin is a member of the House Foreign Policy Committee and seeks to visit Iran.

Mr. Calone has received more endorsements than Ms. Throne-Holst from elected officials, including East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell and Peter Van Scoyoc, Sylvia Overby, and Kathee Burke-Gsonzalez of the town board. Other endorsements are from Southampton Town Councilman John Bouvier, State Assemblyman Steve Englebright, and Suffolk Legislators Bridget Fleming, Al Krupski, Rob Calarco, and Sarah Anker.

Those endorsing Ms. Throne-Holst’s candidacy include New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and five New York members of the House of Representatives, as well as Representative Steny Hoyer, the Democratic whip, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, and State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.

Jeanne Frankl, chairwoman of the East Hampton Democrats, said after the forum that they would consider whether to endorse one of the candidates at its next meeting. “We think it’s an important conversation, and a preparation for the big campaign in which the winner will have to have our support to beat Lee Zeldin.”

“We’ll be ready for it,” Mr. Calone said of the general election and an expected onslaught of negative advertising. “But elections are about incumbents. What kind of job has Lee Zeldin done for us? Anna and I agree, he has not done a good job at all.”

A group of environmental activists have admitted defeat, making a decision this week to withdraw a lawsuit filed last year against the United States Army Corps of Engineers in an effort to stop an $8.4 million sandbag sea wall project along the ocean in Montauk. Defend H20 said in a statement released Thursday that it believes "litigation had run its course" and that the damage to the beach has already been done.

The group pointed to a December ruling in federal court that denied its request to temporarily halt the Army Corps's downtown Montauk project. The judge cited what he said was the corps's conclusion that the project would not have a significant impact on the environment. His decision followed an Oct. 1 rejection for a temporary restraining order.

Defend H20 and its partners, individuals who joined the suit, said, "Sadly, construction has progressed to a point where the damages to the beach and natural protective features are too far gone."

The organization, led by Kevin McAllister, the former Peconic Baykeeper, said the project pointed to an overall policy problem. "The downtown Montauk shore-hardening project exists because of a failure to implement existing sustainable coastal policy and adhere to the law," its statement said.

The group also alleged that the Army Corps misrepresented facts and that officials disregarded the East Hampton Town code, the Local Water Revitalization Program, and federal and state coastal management laws.

Defend H2O said it remains steadfast in protecting and defending the beaches. "While the damages have been inflicted, the Montauk tragedy serves as a catalyst for having an honest conversation about rising seas, shoreline dynamics, hard structures, pumping beaches and coastal retreat in our region," the group said.

Update: Kenneth J. Morsch was identified as the driver of the 2007 Saab that crashed into the woods in Amagansett on Monday morning. He has been charged with driving under the influence of drugs and possession of a hypodermic needle, both misdemeanors. He will be arraigned at a later date.

Update, 10:15 a.m.: A driver who crashed his car into the woods off Old Stone Highway in Amagansett on Monday morning was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, East Hampton Town police said.

Although there was a report that the driver, a man whose name was not immediately released, was unresponsive after the crash, Sgt. Chelsea Tierney said that he was conscious when police arrived.

Sergeant Tierney said the man was driving south on Old Stone Highway when "he crossed over the center line a couple of times," hit a snow bank, drove into the woods, and hit a tree near La Foret Lane. Police were called at 7:50 a.m.

The driver, whose name was not released, received minor injuries. He was the sole occupant of the vehicle. The Amagansett Fire Department ambulance took him to Southampton Hospital. A police officer remained at the hospital with him.

Originally, 9:52 a.m.: A car crashed into the woods off Old Stone Highway in Amagansett on Monday morning, sending its driver to the hospital.

East Hampton Town police and the Amagansett Fire Department responded to Old Stone Highway, near La Foret Lane, for the one-car accident at about 8 a.m. The driver was reportedly unresponsive. However, police said the patient did not sustain any serious physical injury.

Police, who are continuing to investigate the cause of the crash, had the vehicle, a Saab crossover, pulled out of the woods at about 9 a.m.

No more information was immediately available.

The county Class A boys basketball semifinal here Tuesday promised to be a dogfight, and it was, with the third-seeded Phantoms of Bayport-Blue Point fiercely pressing the second-seeded East Hampton Bonackers throughout in a dogged effort to render nightmarish Bill McKee's team's dreams.

In the end, though, East Hampton, with the gym in an uproar from the opening tip, and with everyone in its lineup coming up big at one moment or another, prevailed 75-68 to set up a showdown Friday with top-seeded Harborfields for the county Class A championship at Suffolk Community College-Selden. Gametime is 5:30 p.m. following a B-C-D game at 3 between Bridgehampton and Southampton.

Regis O'Neil, usually content to rebound and score in close, scorched the nets from 3-point range in the first half on 5-for-5 shooting. By the break he had scored 21, and he finished with a career-high 27.

Brandon Kennedy-Gay, on the receiving end several times of hammer blows delivered by Bayport defenders as he twirled toward the hoop, shot 9-for-9 from the free-throw line, three coming when time had expired in the third quarter, which put his team up 55-51, and four in crunch time. He finished with 21 points.

East Hampton won despite the fact that Kennedy-Gay's fellow senior guard, Kyle McKee, because of early foul trouble had to sit for almost half the game, and Brandon Johnson, a strong presence underneath, fouled out with almost three minutes to go.

Playing with four fouls in the fourth, the scrappy McKee tipped in a Kennedy-Gay miss for 66-64 with 1:40 remaining, and in the final seconds bracketed a big defensive rebound with four swished free throws that extended the final margin from 3 points to 7.

"It was a helluva game," the elder McKee said afterward. "That first half was as good as I've ever seen us play. They came back with those three 3s in the opening seconds of the third, just as they did the last time we played them here, and it was a battle after that. We made the plays at the end, though. We were 11-for-14 from the foul line in the fourth quarter."

There is another new nature book in town. This time the town is the Village of Sag Harbor and the nature in the book is Sag Harbor’s birds in photographs, poetry, prose, and other jits and jots. The author-photographer is also local, Terry Sullivan, known more, perhaps, for his Irish ditties, poems and short stories, and his many years’ singing with Pete Seeger, while lately he is in a local American folk song group.

 Terry has joined the ranks of other recent self-made Long Island naturalists, including Dell Cullum of Amagansett, who recently put out a wonderful book of photographs on the wildlife and history of East Hampton Village’s Nature Trail.

 Terry’s appreciation of birds stems from his many years as a freshwater trout and saltwater striped bass fisherman. Early on, he was with another local nature writer and fisherman, Al Daniels, when an osprey kept diving at a popping lure until it finally hooked itself and had to be reeled in, soaking wet and unable to fly, and be rescued by Al and Terry along with other casting fishermen.

 The feeder outside Terry’s small house in northeast Sag Harbor has provided many hours of rapt attention to avian detail as well as a wonderful stage for his photography. That’s how a lot of people get deeply into the lives and souls of birds, by quietly observing them for hours on end. 

 (As I write this column on Monday afternoon I am trying not to be distracted by the juncos, white-throated sparrows, blue jays, and the tufted titmouse plucking seeds from the snow on a little shelf outside my bedroom window. But how can I not be distracted by these wonderful little creatures who take turns at the trough, fly away, come back, feed some more, fly away again, and so forth?)

One of the ways in which Terry became such an excellent photographer of birds both stationary and flying was by switching from an older camera to a Canon Rebel EOS T2i. I can’t help but think back on how the late Long Island naturalist and environmental activist Paul Stoutenburgh was able to sharpen his bird pictures by switching to a Leica.

The photos in “My Sag Harbor Bird Notebook” are as fine as any I have ever come across. They are displayed side by side with pithy anecdotes, poems, and apothegms, giving them contextual backgrounds. The word “Notebook” in the title is apt, because the book is spiral bound so the pages can lie flat, rather than partly curled at the inner edges as they can be in books with hard spines.

 There are lots of photos of crows, but what makes them extra appealing is a memory about the late Stuart Vorpahl’s preoccupation with crows, which started as a child in grade school and didn’t end until late in life. Stuart, it seems, once brought four pet crows to school and taught them how to peck at the windows from outside to the disconcertion of his teacher. He taught them how to speak — in basic Bonac, of course — and when with them Stuart became as much a crow as they became humans.

Several of the photos in Terry’s book are birds in flight. Ospreys diving, hawks chasing flying prey, great egrets taking off with massive white wings, and the like. Photographing a bird in flight is a bit of an art. As in hunting pheasants or ducks, for example, one has to lead them a bit, or you’ll only catch the tail end.

“My Sag Harbor Bird Notebook” is also a kind of primer, beginning with Terry’s first attraction to birds as a fisherman, how he got hooked, and how he is more likely to be seen today with a camera in his hand than a fishing pole. It is also proof of an adage that every human is a book in the making. Not an ebook, mind you, but one that you can hold fondly in your hands and go to sleep with at night.

We cannot leave out the publisher, Empire Science Resources, which did such a wonderful job. Where can you get this book? I already have one, but am told they will be available at Canio’s in Sag Harbor and the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center (SoFo) in Bridgehampton as of the publication of this review.

There wouldn’t be such a wonderful new book in print without the everyday support and hands-on oversight from the missus, Jeanelle Myers, who is also deeply involved with nature. Pretty good for a plumber by trade, don’t you think?

Larry Penny can be reached via email at [email protected].

Members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation voted last weekend to pursue growing medical marijuana and open processing and dispensary facilities for patients on their Southampton reservation.

According to news reports, the Shinnecocks hope to have the venture up and running by the end of the year, though the plan is subject to state approval. A majority also voted to hire Conor Green Consulting, a Chicago firm specializing in the medical cannabis industry, to help get the project underway.

Kelly Bennis, a tribal attorney, confirmed the vote, reporting that of 117 members who voted, 83 were in favor of the plan, while 34 voted against it. Neither Bryan Polite, the Shinnecock tribal chairman, nor their director of communications could be reached this week for comment.

The cultivation and distribution by prescription of medical marijuana products became legal in New York State at the start of 2016 under a new Compassionate Care Law. The law allows specially licensed physicians to certify patients with particular serious medical conditions as eligible for medical marijuana, which is provided in non-smokable forms. The drug has been shown to provide relief from pain, seizures, and anxiety.

Five companies have been issued state licenses allowing them to grow, process, and dispense marijuana. The Shinnecock medical marijuana operation, should it come to fruition, would join two others on Long Island, which have dispensaries in Riverhead and in Lake Success.

Under the state law, patients who have one of the designated “severe debilitating, or life-threatening conditions,” such as cancer, AIDS, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease, must be certified and registered with the state’s Department of Health in order to obtain a marijuana prescription.

The Sag Harbor Village Board took a break from proposed code revisions Tuesday night and instead discussed snow clearing and a law that would set appropriate times for leaf blowers and construction work.

The board proposed limiting the commercial use of leaf blowers and construction activity to between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Saturdays, construction would be allowed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nothing would be allowed on public holidays. As it now stands, all such activity is allowed seven days a week between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

The proposal is intended, Mayor Sandra Schroeder said yesterday, to limit landscapers and builders but allow homeowners to get their chores done.

It was met with some confusion. Jennifer Hauser, who had complained to the board in December about roof work and leaf blowing being done at a neighbor’s house on Thanksgiving, thanked the board for looking at the noise ordinance, but asked that members take more time over it, as she didn’t see much difference. She also asked that the times be further restricted. “I wish there were no people working on their lawns or construction on Saturday or Sunday,” she said.

The proposal does not specifically say that commercial leaf blowers or construction would be banned on Sundays, or that residential use would be allowed. Ken O’Donnell, a village board member, agreed there was a bit of a gray area, but said the village needed to let residents work on their properties on weekends, even though “it definitely seems to be a village where a lot of professional landscapers are doing the work.”

While the board agreed to table the proposal and re-evaluate, Ed Deyermond, another board member, said, “I can’t see supporting the prohibition on Saturdays. It’s too much.”

“I do agree we should have Sundays off,” Mayor Schroeder said yesterday. She is going to re-examine the proposal with legal counsel and bring it back to the board next month.

Mia Grosjean, a Henry Street resident, asked that the board remember that weekends are a chance for a respite, despite Sag Harbor having become a resort community. “It would just be great to say, ‘Ah, we don’t have all of this going on around us over the weekends.’ ”

Carol Olejnik, who lives on Main Street, introduced the discussion about the snow. Second-home owners, she said, manage to have their lawns cut every weekend, but their sidewalks are packed with snow. “I cannot walk all the way to the corner. I cannot walk to the pond because they can’t shovel the walk. My dog has to go out,” she said. “I’m 73 years old; I’m out there shoveling. I don’t understand why they can’t do it.”

Mayor Schroeder said this winter had been better than last when it came to compliance with a village law that makes it the responsibility of property owners to clear snow and ice from the sidewalks in front of their buildings. Snow and ice cannot impede traffic for longer than 24 hours after snowfall has stopped. The village took out an ad in The Sag Harbor Express again this year to make the point, she said. Enforcement has ramped up, too. Violators can be fined up to $250 or jailed for up to 15 days.

Still, “We can’t go door to door and drag people out and hand them a shovel,” the mayor told Ms. Olejnik.

Margaret Bromberg gave what has become her annual February report on the snow-covered sidewalks on her Hampton Street block. Concerned that students would be unable to walk up the block to the school, she reached out to each of her neighbors on the street to let them know of the law. They all got together and got the entire street shoveled.

She is still hopeful that the village will accept more responsibility in clearing the snow. “I’m hoping to age in place,” she said, pointing out that Sag Harbor is a walkable village most of the year. “This year’s better, I agree with the mayor . . . I think we have to keep talking about it.”

Ms. Bromberg also raised some issues with village snowplows leaving snow piled in crosswalks.