On Tuesday night, the East Hampton School Board announced that it would not interview applicants for its open board seat and unanimously appointed Deme Minskoff, a middle school parent, to fill it. The position had remained vacant since Patricia Hope, board president, resigned in early July.

Tuesday night’s meeting was a long one, with the legality of the board’s earlier intention to hold private interviews with the candidates for the board debated. A different legal issue surfaced later in the night with regard to the district’s standing committees.

After Ms. Hope’s resignation, the board had considered whether to hold a special election, keep the seat vacant, or appoint someone. The decision to appoint someone was in early September and the board expressed interest in candidates who possessed a “financial background, including accounting, municipal finance, and budgeting.”

On Friday afternoon, Kerri Stevens, the district clerk, had reported that Charla Bikman, Stephen Grossman, and Ms. Minskoff had submitted paperwork for the open seat by the Oct. 1 deadline. Ms. Stevens also said the board planned to meet on Monday at a closed, or executive, session to conduct interviews. By Monday morning, however, the interviews had been cancelled.

Jonathan Heidelberger, an attorney with Frazer and Feldman, a Garden City-based firm, the district’s new counsel, addressed the aborted board intention to interview the candidates privately. “In the 40 years that I have been practicing, we can’t think of any boards that conducted them in public. They’ve uniformly conducted them in executive session,” Mr. Heidelberger said. “However, there is a growing sense of a need for school boards and other municipal governments to be transparent in their actions. Our recommendation would be that any discussion, any interviewing, any deliberation with regard to appointment of a successor should be conducted in public.”

Jackie Lowey, a board member, explained that initially the firm had advised it to hold the interviews in executive session; Mr. Heidlelberger eschewed that advice on Tuesday. She also noted that Sag Harbor, when recently faced with a similar situation, had held interviews in public.

As for the three East Hampton candidates, she said, “I know all of the candidates who ended up applying. We could do it over coffee. I already know them. The implication was that the board didn’t want to do it in public.”

“We know all three of them,” J.P. Foster, the board president, concurred. However, he wondered if the board was legally obligated to do interviews. “Absolutely not,” Mr. Heidelberger said.

“It’s taken a lot of our time and derails you from what’s the business at hand,” Mr. Foster said. “I’d like to move forward and don’t feel the need to have an interview. I’d like to move to appoint someone today. I don’t have trouble doing it in public, either.”

“I’d like to get it over with,” Liz Pucci, a board member, agreed.

At that point, Mr. Foster said he wanted to nominate Deme Minskoff. “All in favor?” he asked. A response did not occur until later in the meeting, when Ms. Stevens read a prepared resolution stating that Ms. Minskoff’s term would begin immediately and last until the annual district election on May 15. The motion, submitted by Richard Wilson, was quickly seconded by Wendy Geehreng. It received unanimous support. Ms. Stevens noted that Ms. Minskoff would be sworn in via telephone yesterday morning.

“Deme is far and away the best candidate,” said Ms. Lowey. “We would be lucky to have her on the board.” Mr. Foster thanked the other members of the public for stepping forward. However, he said, “You want to move along and get business done. That’s where you want to be.”

Ms. Minskoff is a member of the East Hampton Middle School PTA. A request for Ms. Minskoff’s résumé, in addition to the applications submitted by Mr. Grossman and Ms. Bikman, was not fulfilled by deadline.

“The process was terrible. There was no process. They said they were going to interview you. They never interviewed anyone,” Mr. Grossman said early yesterday. “I don’t know if the outcome would have been different, but the process is important. It’s a sad day, not because I didn’t get appointed, but because the process was a sham.”

Following an outside inquiry, Mr. Heidelberger updated the board on its committee policies. Though the district’s committees don’t take formal actions, and merely make recommendations, Mr. Heidelberger said “that’s public business, and it has to be an open meeting.” As such, he noted that minutes must be kept. This reverses the current policy of not making minutes available from committee meetings. 

The district has athletics, audit, facilities, personnel, and policy committees, with three board members serving on each. The board calendar lists each committee meeting, with most occurring during the school day. The public is able to attend.

Other topics were raised earlier in the meeting. Robert Tymann, the assistant superintendent, made a presentation concerning the district’s recent performance on state tests.

“We’re two to three years behind other districts in implementing the Common Core. We’re working very hard to catch up with other districts,” said Mr. Tymann, noting that East Hampton generally compares itself to Hampton Bays, Montauk, Riverhead, Southampton, and Springs, which he described as districts facing “similar demographics and similar hurdles.”

Bengt Hokanson, a father of two children in the district, described homework assignments as “ditto sheet learning.” He also questioned the district’s reluctance to begin foreign language instruction in younger grades. “Why not start a volunteer Spanish as a foreign language program, taught by the people who live here, the Latino community,” he asked. “What an opportunity, right? Half the community speaks Spanish.”

Richard Burns, the superintendent, briefly updated the board concerning its ongoing lawsuit with Sandpebble Builders. The multimillion dollar contract for school construction projects dates back to April of 2002. “It’s at the discretion of the judge,” Mr. Burns said, noting that deliberations could begin as early as December. “There’s been a strong request for this to be done as soon as possible.”

In other news, the board accepted the retirement of Kenneth Kobarg, a computer technician, effective Nov. 4. Ashley Pite was appointed to replace an elementary teacher on leave from now until Dec. 19 at a per diem rate of $262. In addition, Kylie Tekulsky was appointed to a .8 part-time English as a second language teaching position from now until June 30 at an annual salary of $48,332.

The board also approved a girls high school volleyball team trip to the Horseheads Classic Tournament later this month. The district will pay the $325 entry fee. 

Finally, the board approved a 19-student trip to Nepal during the February break. William Barbour, who teaches social studies at East Hampton High School, will serve as a chaperone, as students work with the group BuildOn, a nonprofit organization that builds schools around the world.

The cost of the trip is estimated at $102,000, which will largely be offset by fund-raising and private donations. Already, the group has raised $76,000. It will hold a tag sale at the East Hampton Middle School on Saturday, with doors opening at 9 a.m. Donated items can be dropped off at the school on Friday afternoon. 

The board will meet next on Oct. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Looking ahead to Nov. 5, an education forum is planned at 6:30 p.m.

“I just can’t wait to get to work,” Htun Han of Hamptons Realty Group in Amagansett said last week, “because one day is different from the other. There are so many things to learn in real estate.” Every day is a challenge, said Mr. Han, even after more than three decades of experience.

On Wednesday, Mr. Han will mark a rare accomplishment in the South Fork’s competitive and sometimes volatile world of real estate. That day is his 30th anniversary in the same location, at a business he launched with Peter Garnham in 1984 under the name Garnham and Han.

Mr. Han had already traveled many miles and through a great diversity of experiences when he and Mr. Garnham started the business. A native of Rangoon, the city now known as Yangon, in the country of Myanmar, formerly Burma, he left for England soon after graduating from college. An eight-year association with the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, followed, “but I was just affiliated with them,” Mr. Han said. “I spent all the time at a government lab on the eastern coast of England.”

Mr. Han studied fisheries, particularly fish farming, “which was what brought me to this area.” Arriving in the late 1970s, he expected to quickly find work in that field, but a faltering economy made that a difficult proposition. He was offered, and accepted, a position at the New York Ocean Sciences Laboratory in Montauk, where he replaced Bob Valenti, who had left to establish Multi-Aquaculture Systems at Promised Land in Amagansett. At the lab, Mr. Han worked with Anthony D’Agostino, who was experimenting with blue lobsters, and George Noyes, who worked with shellfish. “I was in charge of finfish,” Mr. Han said.

It was not to last. In the 1978 campaign for governor of New York, Hugh Carey defeated Perry Duryea Jr., “who was our patron,” Mr. Han said. Funding was eliminated, and “the lab died over?night.” But Mr. Han and his wife had grown attached to the area and wanted to stay. “It was not easy finding a job in the late ’70s. So I decided to change career and came into real estate in 1979.”

For five years, Mr. Han worked for Jack Douglas Realty in East Hampton. “I worked my way up to becoming the East Hampton office manager,” he said, before partnering with Mr. Garnham.

One of a few remaining independent real estate offices in the Town of East Hampton, Mr. Han is happy to be “local, small, and nimble,” taking pride in a large number of sales to first-time homebuyers. “The compensation may be a tad lower,” he said, “but the satisfaction is a lot greater in selling to local families.”

“We always figured that if you did the right thing all the time, even if it lost you a deal, it would come back to you some way or another,” Mr. Garnham, who left the business around 1994, said of Mr. Han. “That was the principal that we ran on, and Htun still does.”

Mr. Han’s is a business that certainly has its ups and downs, “but isn’t that so in most aspects of life? One has got to know how to go with the flow and roll with the punch,” he said. Over the last 35 years, the financial crisis that began in 2008 was “the most severe, the deepest, and the longest lasting.” An average loss of 30 percent in value, he said, has yet to be regained. “There are certain bright spots, and Amagansett and the Lanes is one area that’s doing quite well,” while “real estate remains the best investment, bar none.”

Mr. Han has also served the community as a member of the Amagansett Ambulance Squad, now in his 29th year. He is less active than he used to be, he said, owing to the economic downturn. “It reached a stage where I had to put in a lot more effort to earn a living. In the meantime, quite a few new recruits have come on board, allowing a few old-timers among us to start slowing down. But I’m still an active member, and I still have deep feelings for the ambulance and want to see it remain successful.”

Mr. Han, a Buddhist, has often returned to his native country, in part so that his daughter, who was recently married, would be “well grounded in the proverbial roots,” he said. “Burma is on the way out of the self-isolation it put itself in and it’s now joining the world’s ranks.” He encourages travel to Myanmar before its old-world attributes disappear.

Back in Amagansett, he reflected on 30 happy years in what he called the three spheres of his life — family, work, and the ambulance squad. “A lot of times they intersect, but I manage to compartmentalize these aspects of my life,” he said. Of his work, he said that real estate has afforded him both continuity and daily challenges. “Having good people around me helps a lot,” he said. “I’m looking forward to many, many more years, still being in the business and serving clients.”

“I can say with all honesty, I think he’s probably the best person I’ve ever met,” Mr. Garnham said. “In the real estate business, that’s rare indeed.”

Two men were injured after one of them fell on the other at a construction site on North Haven Monday afternoon. 

One man fell out of a window on the structure's second floor and onto another man at a work site at 6 Sunset Road. The Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps was called just before 12:10 p.m.

The man who fell was taken in a private car to the hospital, while the man who broke his fall was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital. The medevac helicopter landed at Havens Beach in Sag Harbor Village. 

Southampton Town police also responded. No further information was immediately available. 

Fire destroyed a Sagaponack barn believed to be at least two centuries old in the early morning hours Sunday, days before a wedding was to take place on the property, at Hedges Farm on Town Line Road.

At 1:15 a.m. when Bridgehampton Fire Department volunteers were dispatched to the fire, at 602 Town Line Road near Parsonage Lane, the barn was already engulfed in flames. A glow in the sky could be seen from Montauk Highway in Sagaponack.

Chief Gary Horsburgh said firefighters brought the blaze under control quickly, though they remained on the scene until about 4 a.m. Chiefs initially called for the East Hampton and Sag Harbor Fire Departments to assist, but then canceled the help.

Only the frame of one portion of the building remained, along with a lot of debris, including what appeared to be old iron farm equipment.

Chris Hansen, a Southampton Town fire marshal, said the fire probably began after a large tree branch fell on a primary electrical wire, taking it down. Power lines ran about 10 feet from the barn. The primary wire, which has high voltage, fell on the wooded barn, igniting the flames. The tree branch, about eight inches across, was found on the ground, entangled in the wire.

“What caused it to come down, I don’t know,” Mr. Hansen said. He has deemed the fire accidental.

The barn, which he said was about 970 square feet, was used strictly for storage. There was no one in it at the time of the fire. “There was a great deal of machines in the barn, but nothing was running,” Mr. Hansen said.

He was told that the barn dated to the mid-1800s, but Julie Greene, an archivist and curator at the Bridgehampton Museum, believes it could be much older. She said her research showed it was built around 1730 and was known as  the Jared Hedges barn. The property remains in the Hedges family today, on file with the Southampton Town Assessor’s office as Hedges Farm L.L.C.

According to The Knot, a wedding website, a wedding was to be held at the site on Oct. 11. The bride is a member of the Hedges family. The fire is not expected to interfere with the nuptials. 

This was the second major fire in Sagaponack in two weeks. On Sept. 15, a centuries-old house on Sagg Main Street was destroyed. Police are investigating that fire as arson.

Following what the clerk of the East Hampton Town Trustees called a “bureaucratic nightmare,” the Suffolk County Department of Public Works began dredging the west channel of Napeague Harbor yesterday, a project the trustees said was both unnecessary and liable to damage the shoreline.

As part of the work, the county is to remove the tip of Hicks Island, which the trustees and Lazy Point residents fear will leave the shoreline vulnerable to northwest winds and waves. If the channel is dredged again, the trustees’ clerk, Diane McNally, told her colleagues at a Sept. 23 meeting, “we are going to have continuing erosion to the shoreline, a more dangerous launching ramp, and the northwest winds are going to be coming straight into that harbor with no protection at all.”

At that point, Ms. McNally had already drafted a letter to East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell explaining that previous dredging of the channel, last completed in 2004, had “contributed significantly to the changes in this area and waterway, including erosion of the shoreline, the undermining of the launching ramp, and closure of the east channel.” The letter was sent the next day.

In 2013, the town included the channel on a list of priority dredging projects sent for the county, according to Supervisor Larry Cantwell, who was not in office at the time. It was his understanding, he said Monday, that the trustees both knew of and agreed with the request for dredging. The town board passed a resolution on May 1 of this year authorizing the county to dredge a navigation channel in the harbor.

According to Ms. McNally, the trustees were not aware of the May 1 resolution, and feel that their concerns and reservations about the project and where the 15,000 to 18,000 cubic yards of dredged sand are to be placed “have not been completely addressed.” The county “will only communicate with one entity,” in this case the town’s Natural Resources Department, Ms. McNally said, and “therein lies a major problem.”

The county should not have scheduled the dredging “until all aspects of the project were in place,” she said in a letter to the supervisor last Thursday.

In a special trustee meeting on Monday, Kim Shaw, director of Natural Resources Department, allayed the trustees’ concerns slightly, pledging to seek appropriate modifications to the project.

A primary concern of the trustees is placement of the dredge spoil. They assert the right to relocate it in front of vulnerable areas on trustee-managed land.

Ms. Shaw said, however, that the State Department of Environmental Conservation, a permitting agency for the dredging, does not authorize placement of sand below the mean high water line. And, according to a 2012 report by Land Use Ecological Services “the northern shoreline of Lazy Point to the north of the intersection of Shore Road and Lazy Point Road (to the west of the existing boat ramp) has receded by 165 feet between 1970 and 2010,” leaving a limited area in which to place the sand.

“Any other placement would be in the water, incompatible with D.E.C. regulations,” Ms. Shaw said.

She was hopeful, however, that county Public Works officials would modify the project as it proceeds to stockpile dredge spoil at the east and west ends of the dredging site, with the trustees committing to relocate the spoil, at their expense, in front of vulnerable houses and at a road end off Shore Road where erosion has been severe. The trustees agreed to commit up to $25,000 for that effort.

Ms. Shaw also said that the launching ramp itself is responsible for erosion to the west and should be modified or relocated. “It’s very clear that water is hitting that and scouring, building up on the east side. That launching ramp has got to have some modifications. It’s in the wrong place.” She said that future requests to the county should include relocating the ramp. “It’s not the dredging, it's the way the water is hitting that structure,” she said.

 With regard to opening the east channel, Ms. Shaw recommended the trustees support a study of its feasibility and efficacy. “Do the analysis before we say, ‘Forget this, offer that,’ ” she told the trustees. “It’s not an easy fix. If we allow the west side to close, you’re going to see degradation of water quality. . . . This year, keep that water flow going and do the analysis. It’s a step in the right direction.”

Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman agreed with Ms. Shaw’s suggestion. “Maybe not for navigation, but water flow,” he said of an opening of the east channel. “Once you have more volume you allow to pass through, it will slow down the flow rate of water coming in and out,” lessening erosion.

William Hillman, chief engineer of the Suffolk County Department of Public Works, did not return a call seeking comment.

At the conclusion of Monday’s meeting, the trustees remained unhappy with the situation but resigned to its inevitability. “The project, as proposed, we still don’t stand behind 100 percent as modified,” Ms. McNally said. “But we’re going to continue to press for more modifications to the permitting process.”

Ms. Shaw said on Tuesday that she believes county officials will accept the proposed modifications. “It’s not an outrageous proposal, and as long as the cost is not borne by them I think they’ll be agreeable,” she said. “I’m hopeful, that’s all I can say.”

Upgrades to septic systems or neighborhood wastewater systems are warranted to address problems on a number of properties in East Hampton Town where improper treatment of sewage is contributing to ground or surface water pollution, a town wastewater consultant said Tuesday.

Pio Lombardo of Lombardo Associates, who authored a draft town wastewater management plan, said during a presentation on Tuesday that the consultants assessed all of the 20,058 developed lots in the town, using information about their size, location, soils, date of construction, and more to make conclusions about the state of each property’s wastewater system and its potential contribution to environmental pollution.

Of those 20,058, Mr. Lombardo said, he took a closer look at about 7,500, including those in various watersheds. So far, the review has identified problems that should be corrected on at least 1,760 properties.

Bacterial contamination due to the proximity of wastewater and private well water systems was identified on 960 properties and needs correction, Mr. Lombardo said.

In addition, neighborhood treatment systems have been suggested to solve various wastewater issues on the 656 properties in the East Hampton Village business district and in Montauk’s Ditch Plain, Camp Hero, downtown, and dock areas.

Further study of the Hook Pond, Georgica Pond, and Fort Pond watersheds is needed before determinations may be made about the need for action on the 3,545 properties in those areas, Mr. Lombardo said yesterday.

The manner in which individual property owners will be notified of the conclusions about their wastewater systems has yet to be decided.

What could be required of property owners — and how the work would be done and paid for — will be a matter of town policy, Mr. Lombardo said.

He recommended first that the town enforce an existing requirement for periodic inspection of wastewater systems. At the least, Mr. Lombardo said, inspections should be required when a property changes hands.

“We’re suggesting, at a minimum, the ones that need to be upgraded are the ones that are causing contamination to groundwater.” In such cases of bacterial contamination, he said, fixes to a private septic system could likely be accomplished for $10,000 to $15,000. The cost of more extensive system upgrades to address nitrogen and phosphorous releases, which could be needed particularly in watershed areas, could be up to $40,000, Mr. Lombardo said.

“In general, the capacity of East Hampton watersheds to process human impacts without severe adverse impacts has been exceeded due to nitrogen, phosphorous, and bacterial contamination,” the consultant said.

But overall, the conditions in the town as far as wastewater and pollution are not bad, by comparison to other areas, he said.

Addressing the “equity issue” about who shoulders the cost for work that will benefit the community as a whole by safeguarding clean water will be a “community decision,” Mr. Lombardo said. There are a range of scenarios, he said, from having individual property owners pay for required work to having the town contribute a percentage or pay the full cost.

Mr. Lombardo said he advises against communities relying on federal or state help or grants to cover the costs of water quality protection projects. But, he said, various funding strategies could be explored, including pursuing a revision to the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund law that would allow a portion of the revenue from a 2-percent real estate transfer tax to be used for water quality and wastewater management projects.

The consultant’s full report is posted online at ehwaterrestore.com.

A number of properties have several potential problems related to wastewater systems, such as legal issues or impermeable soils. A table in the consultant’s report summarizing “Wastewater Needs by Sub Study Area” breaks them down by type of problem, and its total of 4,326 properties with “wastewater needs” does not reflect the number of individual sites in the town that need wastewater system upgrades, as some sites are included in several categories.

Issues and recommendations about specific areas will be addressed by the consultant at numerous upcoming meetings with the town board and various community groups.

The next related town board discussion and presentation will take place on Oct. 14 at 10 a.m. at the Montauk Firehouse, and focus on wastewater issues in Montauk.

The consultant recommended establishing a townwide comprehensive wastewater management plan advisory committee and subcommittees to focus on specific neighborhoods to work with him and with town officials on developing a plan for how to implement needed changes. It should address legal and financial issues, he said.

Projects should be prioritized, he said. Further study of watershed areas could take a year or two, said Mr. Lombardo, as could establishing and testing model projects using underground “permeable reactive barriers” that could be used to filter pollutants away from surface waters. The installation of neighborhood wastewater treatment systems could be accomplished within five years from a decision to move forward with them, he said.

 

Police are seeking the public's help in identifying a man who burglarized two restaurants on Labor Day weekend and made off with about $20,000.

East Hampton Town and Village police detectives are investigating burglaries at Nichol's on Montauk Highway in the village, which was burglarized in the early morning hours on Aug. 31, and at La Fondita on Montauk Highway in Amagansett the next morning. Approximately $15,000 was stolen from Nichol's and about $5,000 was stolen from La Fondita, according to Village Detective Steven Sheades.

"Right now, it appears that they are connected," he said Friday morning.

Through Suffolk County Crime Stoppers on Friday, police released still images from a surveillance camera. The man is seen wearing a mask with an opening around his eyes, a T-shirt, and what appear to be gloves while he rummaged through an office and a dishwashing area at Nichol's.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest. Police have asked anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-220-TIPS.

WITH REPORTING BY T.E. MCMORROW

Thanks to improved water quality observed in recent surveys, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced on Wednesday that it will open approximately 88 acres of Northwest Creek in East Hampton to shellfish harvesters  during the cold-weather months.

The area has been reclassified from "uncertified," or closed, to "seasonally uncertified." With the improved classification, it will be legal to take shellfish there between Dec. 15 and April 30.

Northwest Creek is one of four water bodies reclassified by the D.E.C. this week. The agency reclassified approximately 52 acres of Mattituck Creek and 13 acres of Wickham Creek in the Town of Southold. The former is now designated as certified from Jan. 15 through April 15, the latter certified from Dec. 1 through April 30. Approximately 150 acres of Great South Bay in the Town of Babylon are now designated as seasonally certified from Oct. 1 through May 14. Shellfish can be harvested in those waterways during the specified periods.

According to a D.E.C. release, recent water-quality surveys showed reduced levels of fecal coliform bacteria in these water bodies during the colder months.

Diane McNally, clerk of the East Hampton Town Trustees, announced the reclassification of Northwest Creek to her colleagues at their meeting on Tuesday. She told the trustees that orange markers have been placed at the seasonal closure line. The area will again become uncertified if the markers are not in place, she said.

Update, Oct. 2, 11:30 a.m.: The driver of a Volkswagen Beetle that rammed into the back of a tractor-trailer on Route 114 in East Hampton Friday evening escaped without injuries, though the car was destroyed.

Judith Berger, 70, of East Hampton was driving on Route 114 just north of Stephen Hand’s Path at about 5:50 p.m. when she hit a 2001 Mack tractor-trailer that was stopped on the side of the road. Ms. Berger told East Hampton Town police that sun glare impeded her vision.

It was unclear why the truck was on the shoulder, though another truck was stopped on the opposite shoulder, and the two drivers may have been talking.

East Hampton Fire Department Chief Richard Osterberg Jr. said his department disabled the Volkswagen’s electrical system, put down Speedy Dry oil absorbent to soak up leaking fluids, and assisted with traffic control. An East Hampton Village ambulance also responded.

Ms. Berger refused medical attention. The driver of the truck, Peter Choi, 55, of Flushing, was not injured.

No tickets were issued. 

Original, Sept. 26, 7:01 p.m.: A car rammed into the back of a tractor-trailer on Route 114 in East Hampton Friday evening. The driver, an elderly woman, was not injured, according to police on the scene, but shaken after her car was destroyed. 

The woman's Volkswagen Beetle struck the tractor-trailer, which appeared to be stopped on the shoulder when it was hit, just north of Stephen Hand's Path, at about 5:50 p.m. Significant sun glare was reported at the scene.

The East Hampton Town police, the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association, and chiefs from the East Hampton Fire Department responded to the call, but no injuries were reported.

With Reporting by David E. Rattray

With the bay scallop season approaching and predictions of healthy harvests in Napeague and Three Mile Harbors, Nat Miller, an East Hampton Town Trustee and 13th-generation bayman, warned his fellow trustees at a meeting on Tuesday that “half of it’s going to walk away through illegal practices.” Poaching was “spiraling out of control,” he said, because enforcement of regulations was insufficient.

The trustees have been well aware that the culprit or culprits who breached and uprooted an 8,000-square-foot scallop sanctuary in Napeague Harbor last fall, one of two shellfish sanctuaries in town waterways, were never identified.  The sanctuaries, created in 2009 in an effort to reseed waters with bug scallops after a die-off in the mid-1980s, are legally off limits to commercial and recreational fishing.

  Furthermore, much of the work of the East Hampton Shellfish Hatchery, where millions of clams, oysters, and scallops are spawned and transferred to town waterways each year, is being squandered, Mr. Miller said. “It’s tax dollars that are walking away.”

The taking of oysters measuring less than three inches is prohibited. But, Mr. Miller said, commercial and recreational harvesters were violating the law. Commercial fishermen are allowed five bushels of oysters a day, he said, “But a lot of people have the mindset, ‘If I don’t take these two-and-a-half-inch oysters, someone else is going to take them. If this person is going to take seven bushels of scallops, I have to take seven bushels, because this is what I do year-round.’ This attitude is getting worse and worse and worse. Either we do something, or we get rid of all the laws.”

Instead of getting rid of regulations, however, Mr. Miller said penalties for violations are far too low. The shellfish hatchery staff and enforcement officers do great work, he said, “but there’s not enough of them, and they’re spread too thin.” Sean McCaffrey, a trustee, added. The trustees considered both a request that the town board stiffen penalties and hire a bay constable, who would work independently of Marine Patrol, to police the waterways.

Ed Michels, chief of the town Marine Patrol, said yesterday that more personnel would help with enforcement, but defended his department’s efforts and said that while the bay constable has been phased out, harbormaster is a higher position in criminal procedure law and performs the same duties. “There is no shortage of marine enforcement by having harbormasters instead of bay constables,” he said.

In addition to code enforcement of matters pertaining to boating, beaches, nature preserves, and parklands, the department has performed over 1,000 checks relating to shellfish and fin fish this year, resulting in 33 summonses issued for taking shellfish without a permit, in uncertified waters, or out of season, he said.

“I think we’d all like to have morepeople,” Mr. Michels said of government departments, “but these guys are working, and we’re getting the best we can get, I believe.”

“We have to make the other entities within the town that we work with aware of just how important this is,” Diane McNally, the presiding officer of the panel, said. “We’re just spinning our wheels unless we address it.” She suggested a meeting with Mr. Michels, Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, Chief Michael Sarlo of the Police Department, and John Jilnicki, a town attorney, at which the trustees would make recommendations about penalties and greater enforcement.

“You’re going to have to make an example of someone,” Mr. Miller said. “Put the word out. Put some boats in the water.”

In other action, the trustees voted to extend the closure of Georgica Pond to all shellfishing, including crabbing, for another 21 days. Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, was first detected in Georgica Pond in July. The restriction can be lifted if water sampling determines that the algal bloom has dissipated.

Stephanie Forsberg, the trustees’ assistant clerk, advised her colleagues that Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University, who is testing water quality in conjunction with the trustees, would like to conduct tests both before and after they open the pond to the Atlantic, which is traditionally on or around Oct. 15. Her colleagues agreed.