After several years of postponements, the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals heard an application on Nov. 1 to revoke a certificate of occupancy for a non-operating gate flanked by two stone columns, located on a cul-de-sac at 17 Beverly Road in Springs.

    Tom Preiato, the town’s senior building inspector, claimed that the C. of O. was issued in error, since the East Hampton Town Planning Board never approved the construction of the gates on a private road, which is required by town code. The East Hampton Town Architectural Review Board did not approve it either, which was also necessary. In addition, Mr. Preiato noted that the gates are accessory structures on land that is separate from a principal structure. Finally, and perhaps most important, there is disagreement as to the ownership of the property where the gates stand.

    Lee Auerbach and Linda Levin-Maduri received an okay in February 2009 from the late Don Sharkey, then the town’s chief building inspector, to build the gates at the entrance of the cul-de-sac that led to their driveway. The couple purportedly acquired the land from the Hampton Bays United Methodist Church in June 2000, on a tax deed to Heaven Properties, L.L.C. However, Lance Pomerantz, a title examiner, said the sale was void, and that Eric Pearl and Jill Davis, who own the house next door to the Auerbachs’, are the rightful owners of the section of Beverly Road where the seven-foot-tall gates stand.

      Mr. Preiato told the Z.B.A. that “the C. of O. was offered under a different tax map. The ownership — I haven’t been shown a clear title. In the chronology of deeds from the title examiner, I’m not showing Heaven Properties, the applicant, as the owner. Therefore, any approvals or lack thereof, I feel a void.” Even if Heaven Properties owned both the Auerbach and Pearl lots, he said, the gates were still problematic. “I don’t feel that this gate, with its column and accessory structures, should be there,” he said. “I’m making an attempt to do it properly.”

    Mr. Pearl also addressed the board. “It wasn’t a neighborly thing, to build a gate on the road in the front of my house,” he said. “It is on our property. We had more than one person do the title research.” Mr. Pearl submitted letters from immediate neighbors who are opposed to the gates for reasons related to emergency-vehicle access, child safety, and aesthetics.

    Jeffrey Bragman, counsel for Mr. Pearl and Ms. Davis, said the question of ownership would “have to be worked out in the courts,” adding there was clear evidence that it belongs to his clients. “This gate, which is in the roadway, should have gone to the planning board as the acting board of review,” said Mr. Bragman, “The alleged owner . . . should have gone to the planning board. It did not.  And it should have gone to the A.R.B. for approval, and it did not.” He noted that “there was a false start in the A.R.B. At one point it was issued, and then rescinded.”

    The A.R.B. granted a permit for the gates in May 2008. After Mr. Bragman informed the board’s attorney of the “misrepresentation,” it was rescinded.

    Mr. Pearl told the Z.B.A. that “seven of the neighbors were against it. The Auerbachs and another family were for it.”

    “Building that gate there, cars drive up to it, stop at the gate, figuring it’s someone’s driveway, and then they back up into my driveway, which is unsafe,” he added.

    There was support for the gate from neighbors who live next door to the Auerbachs, at 18 Beverly Road. But “regardless of what neighbors have given permission, it doesn’t play into it at all,” said Mr. Preiato. “We’re code-driven. I don’t like the gate or not like the gate. I personally have no feeling about the gate. I have a feeling about my job. I have a feeling about bringing the code to fruition.”

    “I’m not asking for the gates to be torn down,” the building inspector concluded. “But I am asking for the gates to be put there legally. And I don’t know how that can be done quite easily, because it’s not a piece of property that lends itself to a structure.”

    The Sherrill farmhouse and acreage, owned by the same family since 1792, is an excellent site for an East Hampton history center, Prudence Carabine believes.

    An 11th-generation member of a local family, Ms. Carabine has been involved in the creation of a farm museum nearby, on the former Lester-Labrozzi farmstead site, which is owned by East Hampton Town.

    Now, she said earlier this week, she hopes to see the Sherrill property, at the foot of Springs-Fireplace Road and its intersection with North Main Street, also preserved.

    Originally home to the Sherrill Dairy, the site includes separate properties containing the historic house, a smaller house built later by the late Sherrill Foster, and three acres of the original pastureland.

    “Dairying was a big deal out here,” Ms. Carabine noted. “There were 16 dairies between East Hampton and Amagansett.” Artifacts preserved and recently obtained from the former Tillinghast Dairy could be displayed there, she suggested.

    Ms. Carabine presented the idea last week to the town’s community preservation fund committee, which evaluates proposed purchases earmarked for open space and historic preservation. “The reception was very enthusiastic,” she said. She also spoke about it to the town board at a meeting last week.

    Mary Morgan, one of a pair of siblings who inherited the property, was on hand, and said she would like to see the sale occur. The property has been on the market. Some buyers have indicated interest, but none who would preserve the site as is.

    Stephen Sherrill bought the house from the Conklin family in 1792, according to a deed that the Sherrill family still has, Ms. Carabine said. Other records the family has retained, such as Revolutionary and Civil War-era letters and other papers, offer a valuable glimpse into history, she pointed out.

    The Sherrill house is one of 29 in East Hampton that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Generations of the family added on to it, or made changes, “and those renovations are clearly visible,” Ms. Carabine said.

    She can picture a museum space downstairs, showing a house typical of circa 1850, and an upstairs space in which visiting scholars might reside. With the second house on the property, and the farmland, there could be an organic garden, Ms. Carabine said, with the potential to process the produce, or make traditional foods, in the kitchens.

    The Sherrill site “would be a sister” to the farm museum already being planned. “North Main Street is an area that has a great deal of historic value,” Ms. Carabine said, an area where locals — “people who weren’t wealth” — settled. “There is a lot of history there that has just never been told or developed.”

    A committee appointed by the town board, of which Ms. Carabine is a member, is working on the Lester-Labrozzi farm museum. A house there will be set up as a typical farmstead would have been in the years between 1900 and 1930, “because that’s the age of that farmhouse when it was last renovated,” Ms. Carabine explained.

    The grounds will be used for outdoor public events or as a park. Councilwoman Theresa Quigley has suggested it become the home of the East Hampton Farmers Market, which now operates seasonally in the parking lot of Nick & Toni’s restaurant across the street, but the legality of a commercial use of the land, purchased with preservation fund money, is unclear.

    Right now, Ms. Carabine said, the committee is working with town officials and staff to evaluate what repairs and updates need to be completed on the house and barn, “to try to move forward so that next year at this time, we will be able to open, and have rotating exhibits and activities on the property.”

    East Hampton voters have a choice among six candidates for two town board seats when they go to the polls in a week and a half, thanks to the East Hampton Independence Party’s decision to field its own nominees for those spots rather than endorse larger party picks.

    The Independence candidates, Bill Mott and Marilyn Behan, the Republican nominees Steven Gaines and Richard Haeg, and Democrats Sylvia Overby and Peter Van Scoyoc met with The East Hampton Star’s editorial staff on Oct. 13 to discuss their platforms, their plans, the state of the town, and a range of other subjects. An article last week offered insight into their top issues as well as their comments on the fishing industry, business, and the protections or shortcomings of the town code. This week, a sampling of their discussion about the role of the town board, their reasons for running, and the size of town government.

    The Republican candidates had praise for how the current administration has worked to improve East Hampton’s finances, making tough decisions to tighten the town’s belt.

    “We’re back from disaster, but we’re not out of the woods,” Mr. Haeg said. The belt-tightening “is not a fun thing to do. None of us are going to like it,” but it has been necessary, and because of it, he said, “this is the second year of holding the line with taxes.”

    A question about the appropriate size of government and the depth of the public’s interest in tax cuts brought answers both practical and philosophical.

    “We have 22,500 people living in this town, and when this administration started, we had a bigger government than some towns with 80,000 people,” Mr. Gaines said. Through early retirement, layoffs, and attrition, there are now 51 fewer town workers. “Of course it’s unpopular, but there was a $25 million deficit.” Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, a Republican, “was handed a dirty job,” he said. The community preservation fund “had been raided, bonds had been downgraded. One of the sad things was cutting some jobs.” Even so, he said, “We still have a pretty big governmental administration per capita.”

    There is a “bit of an arrogance factor on the town board,” Mr. Mott said. The town is being “run like corporate America,” and not everyone likes that. “Yes, we have to cut the budget, but it’s not always the bottom line that matters.” Later, he added, “We’re all going to work on cutting the budget, that’s a given, but you also maintain the town.”

    Ms. Overby said it is important to look at the value of the services government offers versus what it costs residents when they need to pay privately for services such as leaf pickup, which the town no longer offers. “We have a higher percentage of retirees, and we have to be conscious of them,” Ms. Overby said. In some cases, “the value of the service is better than the out-of-pocket expense. . . . A cost-benefit analysis doesn’t take a huge chunk of time or money.”

    But Mr. Haeg said it is important to “prioritize the services we can give up, as opposed to the services we need as a community.” The town needs “the police, the lifeguards — there are other programs that we really need. The town board has done an excellent job in sorting things out and getting a sustainable working government,” he said.

    “Most will agree that health and safety are what government should provide for the community,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said. Yet, he pointed out, the town cut fire marshal positions, meaning that “children in our schools are no longer able to get fire prevention instruction and education.” And with so much talk about year-round jobs, he said, “if you minimize government, you downsize jobs as well.”

    Mr. Gaines said, “If we’re not in tremendous debt, then yes, we can look very carefully without raising taxes about some of the services we can put back or people we can rehire. But I’m not sure that’s the case right now.”

    At the same time that services are being cut to save money, “we’re selling our assets at a loss,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said. He was critical of the town board’s decision to sell Fort Pond House in Montauk last year and its share in the Poxabogue Golf Center in Sagaponack, which it co-owns with Southampton Town, this year, both times without first holding a public hearing. He characterized both offerings as “short sales.”

    “Maybe they were a bit hasty in their decisions,” Ms. Behan said, adding, “I do believe [Wilkinson] had a difficult job going into it. He had to do some difficult things. Do I like how he implemented them to the public? No. He was not informative enough. He kept things quiet and didn’t explain anything enough — that’s his biggest fault.”

    Later, she added, “The town board has to realize we’re employees of the people. They pay us. . . . It’s imperative that they be heard.” Board members should take their concerns, research possible solutions, and “report back to the people who hired us.”

    “The broadest possible discourse is really important,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said. “Do not discuss something like the airport without amplification,” he added, referring to a recent discussion of the airport that was held at the Montauk Firehouse. “That should have been in Town Hall, not Montauk.”

     “The town board’s behavior toward people who come before it is asking what their qualifications are to get up and speak. You stand up because you’re concerned and you have something to say,” Ms. Overby said. She sees a reluctance on the part of the current administration to hold public hearings and take public opinion into account, and pointed as one example to the board’s decision to sell Fort Pond House. At public meetings “not one person I saw was in favor of that. I was surprised they didn’t listen.”

    Ms. Overby also believes the town board has failed to involve the professionals in the Planning Department in decision making and has not looked for guidance to the professional planning studies that have been commissioned and adopted over the years. “The town board is making decisions without consulting these documents or these professionals,” she said.

    The candidates, all of whom would be new to the town board, talked about how they would approach the job if elected.

    Mr. Haeg, a former Suffolk County detective and private investigator and a decorated Vietnam War veteran, said, “my whole entire life I have been involved with the public and listened to them compassionately. . . . I intend to do that as a board member.”

    Mr. Mott, who is completing his sixth term as a town trustee, said he has “a common-sense approach.”

    Ms. Overby, who served on the town planning board for seven years, described herself as “passionate about my community, dedicated, and fair.” As a planning board member and chairwoman, she said she “always made sure the public and the applicants were heard. There were no time limits; we were very silent.”

    “Fair, compassionate, and intelligent,” was how Ms. Behan said she hopes to be viewed. And, she said, she wants people to know “I’ll listen to them.”

    “I’m an independent thinker and not part of anybody’s specific administration,” Mr. Gaines said. “I don’t have set feelings about the way things should be. . . . I speak what I think and feel.”

With Reporting by

 Catherine Tandy

    In the final days leading up to the election, Zach Cohen, the Democratic candidate for town supervisor, is faced with defending his involvement with East Hampton’s finances once again as Republicans make campaign fodder of a Sept. 30 letter from the Office of the State Comptroller asking him to stop referring to himself as a financial analyst for the comptroller’s office.

    In his campaign literature, Mr. Cohen is described as “a financial analyst for business and government, including all members of the current town board, the Villages of East Hampton and Sag Harbor, and the Office of the State Comptroller.”

    “We are aware of no relationship between you and this office, either as an employee or independent contractor, for the provision of services as a financial analyst,” Steven J. Hancox, a deputy comptroller in Albany, states in the letter to Mr. Cohen. While Mr. Hancox acknowledged that Mr. Cohen submitted information to the office as a “private citizen,” he said that calling himself a “financial analyst” to the office was “an exaggeration and misleading.”

    Mr. Cohen said he suspects the deputy comptroller is not aware of the level of involvement he had with Albert Eid, a principal examiner from the comptroller’s office with whom Mr. Cohen worked (through extensive meetings as well as e-mail exchanges) on untangling the financial snarls of the town’s budget.

    Mr. Cohen served on the town’s budget and finance advisory committee and went on to conduct his own review of town finances on a volunteer basis. While he said that he can understand the deputy comptroller’s point of view to some degree, he insists that he never meant to indicate that he was anything other than a volunteer.

    “Who would take that statement at face value?” he asked. “I couldn’t have contractual agreements with all those institutions. The assumption is when you say, ‘I’m a financial analyst,’ you’re a professional. But if you say, ‘I’m a golfer,’ people assume you’re an amateur.” He holds a master’s in business administration from the University of Chicago and did doctoral work in mathematics.

    Mr. Cohen provided to The Star more than 145 pages of documented correspondence, not only with Albert Eid, but also with the outsourced auditors Nawrocki Smith, the town board members Theresa Quigley, Dominick Stanzione, and Julia Prince, and State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., among others, bearing out his assertions that his involvement had been sanctioned and appreciated.

    On Jan. 15, 2010, Ms. Quigley wrote an e-mail not only to Mr. Cohen but also copying the town budget officer, Len Bernard, and Supervisor Bill Wilkinson. She thanked him for his “tenacious focus on helping solve our financial morass,” and said “I am confident that with you, Scott [Wilson], Len, and the town attorney’s input, we can move this forward.”

    On July 29, 2010, Mr. Eid told Mr. Cohen that upon his retirement in September of that year he would let him “know who the person is so you can maintain contact with someone from our office.”

    The Wilkinson administration provided plenty of e-mail correspondences as well. In an e-mail yesterday, Mr. Bernard said that Mr. Cohen “had no relationship with them [the State Comptroller’s Office] (including when Al Eid was leading the 2009 audit), except for Cohen sending them a bunch of paper unsolicited.”

    Mr. Bernard provided copies of an e-mail chain from earlier this year in which David Tellier, a partner at Nawrocki Smith, questioned Mr. Cohen’s characterization of his involvment with the comptroller’s office.

    And on June 1, 2010, Ira McCracken, chief examiner for the Office of the State Comptroller, responded to Mr. Cohen’s accusations that Nawrocki Smith had botched some of the figures in the audit of town finances rather severely.

    “As you know when we certified the debt we worked with Nawrocki Smith and we had no issues with their work,” Mr. McCracken wrote. “I don’t think you should be concerned with Mr. Cohen’s criticism of Nawrocki Smith. Also, just as Al said, there is no truth that he worked with people from our office.”

    Mr. Cohen maintains that he never intended to mislead anyone. Jeanne Frankl, the chairwoman of the East Hampton Town Democratic Commitee, responded to Mr. Hancox on Oct. 19 with a letter stating that Mr. Cohen’s “extensive services as a volunteer to help straighten out East Hampton’s finances in 2009 and 2010 were well known in the community.” In the letter, which Mr. Cohen provided to The Star, she said “we had not imagined the statement referred to would suggest that he was a paid employee or consultant to any of the various agencies, including the local comptroller’s office. . . .”

    Mr. Cohen has since edited the language in his brochure to avoid any further misinterpretation.

    “Not that many people have the skills to say ‘I’m a financial analyst,’ ” he said. “But I happen to have those skills. I knew I could do this for my community and I did.”

    Local politicians and some from farther west played to a packed house at the Montauk Fire Department on Sunday at the Concerned Citizens of Montauk’s meet-the-candidates forum.

    Angie Carpenter, the Republican running for Suffolk County executive, and incumbent County Legislator Jay Schneiderman and his Republican opponent, Cornelius Kelly, each spoke but the focus that day was on town issues.

    East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, a Republican who lives in Montauk, started his speech by touting his administration’s successes, including on that list the promotions of two Montaukers in the Police Department, Town Police Chief Edward V. Ecker Jr. and Lt. Thomas Grenci.

    From the audience, Edward Porco of Montauk asked Mr. Wilkinson if he was sincere in his effort to preserve the quality of life in Montauk. “Are you really concerned about the people in Montauk? How far are you willing to go?” he asked.

    In the last two years, Montauk has seen an influx of new nightclubs such as the Surf Lodge, Ruschmeyer’s, the Crow’s Nest, Solé East, and Sloppy Tuna that many have complained are creating an out-of-control party scene. During this year’s political campaigns, the current town board and town supervisor have been accused of turning their backs on the hamlet and refusing to enforce the laws.

    The supervisor said he has instructed the town’s Ordinance Enforcement Department to issue tickets daily for code violations. The affluent, young, and out-of-town crowd that patronized the Surf Lodge is at least a peaceful one, he said, “It’s hard for people to get into fights when you’re drinking mojitos.” Of the violations, he said, “I’m not happy with it. I’m working my tail off on it. I want Montauk to be as sweet as it has been since 1949.”

    The Surf Lodge was cited 640 times between June and September of this year for zoning violations related to a boutique, an outdoor awning, and a food truck that is parked on its premises. Mr. Wilkinson told the crowd that the town had recently reduced 400 tickets to 200 and levied a fine of $100,000. In a follow-up on Monday, he stressed that the deal was not final and must still be agreed to by the attorney for the Surf Lodge and an East Hampton Town justice.

    Pat Gunn, an assistant town attorney and head of the town’s division of public safety, said that the numbers Mr. Wilkinson cited were not accurate. “The case is still pending, no reductions have been made, no plea has been taken, and no fines have been levied,” he wrote in an e-mail message on Monday.

    Mr. Wilkinson said he would like more time to get the town’s finances in order, as it’s taken up most of his first term to right the ship. “Albeit, the ship is still listing,” he added, noting that he treats the town finances similar to his own. “If I can keep residents here, I can keep generations to come here,” he said.

    Cost-benefit analysis is his game, he said, and noted that when the television show “Royal Pains” filmed around Montauk several weeks ago it was a royal pain, but one that poured $266,000 into the local economy. “The town needs to create low-density, high-tech areas in the community. We have to reach out to the film industry,” he said.

    Zach Cohen, his Democratic opponent, started by saying that he’s noticed that Montauk is very different. “It has a lot more character and is a lot more fun,” he said. He added that he once owned a successful restaurant that employed 180 people. “Our success came from listening to what the client wants, which is different from a corporate background,” he said, alluding to Mr. Wilkinson’s career at Disney.

    He pointed out that Mr. Wilkinson said he would try to do more with less. “But I don’t see much more,” he said. He also doesn’t buy the excuse that nothing can be done about certain things. His management style, he said, would be more open. He would not be in favor of hiring a town manager but might look into someone who would act as a general manager, he said.

    Steven Gaines, who is running on the Republican ticket for town board, seemed to draw favor with those members of the crowd who serve on the Montauk and Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committees when he said he would not banish such committees. He would like to rework the community preservation fund so that the money in it would targeted toward environmentally sensitive sites.

    “This is a group that nobody fools around with,” he said, remarking on the size of Sunday’s crowd. Montauk is often considered the step-child of East Hampton, he said, “but not anymore.”

    Sylvia Overby, who is running for town board, said if elected she would be an advocate for the people of East Hampton Town and for local businesses. She said sometimes the public interest is neglected and projects are pushed through too quickly. “The more local our business, the more money stays in the area,” she said.

    When she was asked later what she thought about changes to the town’s dark skies lighting legislation, she said that the 2006 law is working just fine and that she sees no reason to change it. She will work to preserve the community’s character, she said.

    Peter Van Scoyoc, a Democratic town board candidate, said that it does not make sense to try to right the town’s finances by selling off public property. “The environment is our biggest commodity; it’s why people come out here. A bad day in Bonac is still better than a good day in Levittown. If you elect me I will serve team East Hampton,” he said, making a reference to the “Team Wilkinson” advertisements that Republicans have been running.

    Richard Haeg, a Republican running for town board, praised Mr. Wilkinson for the job he’s done and said he would like to follow him into the game.

    Marilyn Behan of Montauk, running against him on the Independence ticket, told the crowd that she would work vigilantly on the housing code, and work to create jobs, keep skies dark at night, provide affordable housing, and protect the environment.

    “We need a town board that can work together,” she said, and added “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.”

    During a question-and-answer period later, Ms. Behan was asked if she would be in favor of accepting money from the Federal Aviation Administration for East Hampton Airport. She said that after studying all the information on it she thought it would be foolish not to.

    Her running mate, Bill Mott, pointed out how important second homeowners and tourists are for generating revenue in this seasonal community.

    From the audience, Beverly Bond asked the Democratic town board candidates if any of them had been in Fort Pond house, which the current administration has put up for sale. Democrats have decried the decision in campaign literature and advertisements.

    Mr. Cohen had said earlier that he would remove the for sale sign from it, but he admitted that he had not been inside Fort Pond House, which the town condemned not long after deciding to sell it. “I didn’t say I was going to open it. I said I would take the for sale sign off.”

    Ms. Overby said she had been inside it when it was first purchased and Mr. Van Scoyoc said he had not.

    Incumbent Highway Superintendent Scott King and his opponent, Stephen Lynch, both said they would try to reinstate the leaf-pickup program, which Mr. Lynch noted should have been put to a vote by the people rather than being decided by a few on the town board. Mr. King said he would like to be reelected so he could continue the service he has been providing.

    Mr. Lynch said the town’s roads are falling apart, and that the current practice of micropaving over badly damaged roads is not a good one. “If we keep going like this we’ll end up with a big deficit,” he said.

    In the county races, Ms. Carpenter was the first to speak. A Suffolk County treasurer and a former county legislator, she told the crowd that her experience owning a business makes her more suited to the position than her Democratic opponent, Steve Bellone, the Babylon Town supervisor. Mr. Bellone was unable to attend Sunday’s event.

    Government, she said, needs to run more like a business. She said the county meets a bi-monthly $3.3 million payroll, something she said is tough to comprehend until someone actually sits with the checkbook. Her experience as a businesswoman and treasurer makes it easier for her, she said, adding that “It brings understanding and expertise to a whole new level.”

    Ms. Carpenter spoke with dismay about companies that are relocating off Long Island. “Small businesses need to be nurtured. Small businesses need to be protected,” she said.

    “I’m hoping to do for Montauk what Montauk deserves,” said Mr. Schneiderman, who lives in the hamlet. He told the crowd that he is running on his past record, and said he hoped he had earned people’s continued support despite the fact that at the county level the deck is often stacked against him.

    His opponent, Cornelius Kelly, who lives in East Quogue, said he jumped into the race because things need to be changed. He said the county’s finances are in disarray and tax increases are starting to appear as a horror show. “We need to get spending under control,” Mr. Kelly said.

    He also spoke, as Mr. Schneiderman often does, of getting the East End its fair share of tax revenue. He said the area generates more revenue than others on Long Island and receives less. He was asked by an audience member what he will do to close the county debt, and said he would initiate strong negotiations with the unions, and look into health care and pension costs that, he said, were out of control. “It’s a tough fight. My loyalty will be with the taxpayers,” he said.

    Several rounds of cutting are reflected in East Hampton Town’s tentative budget for 2012, a $65.6 million spending plan that would for the second year in a row lower taxes for both town and village residents.

    The continued belt-tightening since 2010, prompted by the need to get back on financial track in the wake of a $27.2 million deficit, has manifested most significantly in staff cuts, as well as changes in residential services and the functioning of town departments.

    The 2012 budget calls for staff and service cuts enacted this year to be maintained, including the discontinuation of the leaf-pickup program and the Wednesday closing of the Springs-Fireplace Road recycling center.

    It eliminates over $1 million budgeted this year for the operation of the scavenger waste treatment plant, anticipating that the town will stop operating the plant itself and instead lease it out to a private entity. The budget also anticipates revenue from the sale of East Hampton’s 50 percent interest in the Poxabogue Golf Center to Southampton Town.

    At Justice Court, the elimination of two positions after workers departed prompted a decision by the two town justices earlier this fall to close the court office to the public one day a week so that the remaining staffers could catch up on paperwork. Those who have business with the court cannot complete it any longer on Tuesdays.

    Justice Lisa Rana noted, however, that salaries for court officers to oversee a new security system at the entrance to the court building had been added to the departmental budget, an inclusion that she called “really significant.” However, the town’s model court program for students has been eliminated.

    Dave Browne, the town’s chief fire marshal, was unavailable for comment this week, but in recent months has regretted his department’s inability, given its  current staffing, to continue to offer fire safety programs in the schools.

    One of the most visible and much-discussed belt-tightening measures has been the abolition of the Highway Department’s roadside leaf-pickup program. Many residents spoke out at hearings last year to oppose its elimination, saying they would rather be taxed for a townwide service than pay landscapers for help clearing fallen leaves. The program was suspended in 2010, formally eliminated this year, and not funded in next year’s budget.

    The Highway Department staff has been reduced by 30 percent, its superintendent, Scott King, said Tuesday. From a high of 41 workers, plus office personnel, in 2001, the staff has gone to 27 highway workers and three office staff.

    “With the generous amount of time off that they get, it means we’re understaffed,” Mr. King said. “The workload has increased for everybody. We can’t get as much done.” For instance, he said, he would like to accomplish the repaving of between 4 percent and 6 percent of the roadways in the town each year, but is now able to do only 1 or 2 percent. “We have had to change priorities,” he said, such as not clearing drains before a big rainstorm, repainting equipment, or carrying out “aesthetic” tasks such as mowing.

    In the proposed 2012 budget, the Highway Department is one of three entities, along with East Hampton Airport and the Sanitation Department, where the anticipated appropriations for next year include an amount taken from a fund surplus. In this year’s budget, $1.1 million for road paving, which would have been included in the amount to be raised by taxes, was eliminated, with the sum taken from the department surplus instead.

    “I have a concern over the amount they spent, because I need it for equipment and infrastructure,” Mr. King said. A surplus could avoid having to raise additional money for capital expenses, such as large-equipment purchases. “I’ve been keeping this place together with bubblegum and duct tape for the last three years,” said Mr. King.

    According to the tentative budget, the state comptroller has advised that surplus money not used for annual expenses should be maintained at “reasonable levels” and otherwise used to reduce the tax levy. The town has a policy of maintaining a 20-percent surplus in each fund and, according to the budget message, the surplus appropriations in the highway and sanitation funds move the totals closer to that level.

    The Highway Department’s surplus, anticipated to be 37 percent of the department’s budget at the close of 2011, would be at 26 percent at the end of next year, or $1.4 million, under the proposed budgeting.

    For the Sanitation Department, the proposed 2012 budget applies $1.1 million of surplus as a revenue, which would leave $2.5 million, or 43 percent of the department’s overall budget, as a surplus at the end of next year. Use of $400,000 from the airport fund surplus next year would go toward running a seasonal airport control tower.

    However, Councilman Pete Hammerle warned at a recent town board meeting that relying on surplus money in a particular annual budget to pay for an ongoing expense can create problems when that is no longer possible, meaning taxes must be increased to pay that expense.

    “We’re surviving; we’re getting by,” said Pat Keller, the head of the Sanitation Department, which has 10 fewer employees than it did in 2009. Full-time salary costs have dropped from $1.5 million to $1.1 million this year and a proposed $933,069 in 2012.

    The recycling center is closed now every Wednesday and several more holidays during the year, and the household hazardous-waste pickup program, which was offered twice a year at both Montauk and East Hampton, now occurs once annually at each site.

    The “home exchange” area at the East Hampton center, where reusable goods could be deposited and picked up, has been closed, although Mr. Keller said that was largely the result of safety concerns and a lawsuit against the town after a woman cut herself there. “We’re managing,” Mr. Keller said. But, he added, “I don’t think we could operate with any less.”    

    In the Human Services Department, 11 employees retired last fall under a state retirement incentive program. Money for their positions, along with those of all of the youth-services staff, was eliminated.

    The town’s after-school program for youngsters was abolished last year. Families were referred to an independent program, Project MOST, for which a fee is charged.

    The adult day care program, which had operated at both the Montauk Playhouse and in East Hampton, is now offered only in East Hampton. Families and individuals seeking counseling, which the town had offered, are sent to the Family Service League. An agreement allowing that agency to use a town building was also designed to ensure that town residents would have access to certain services.

    Councilman Dominick Stanzione, the board’s liaison to Human Services, pointed this week to a recent report by an outside accounting firm hired to conduct a review of how that department had been functioning, as evidence that there was room for improvement and cuts.

    Other services offered by the department, such as in-home services and transportation for the handicapped, continue as before, he said, with a higher degree of efficiency.

    The amount budgeted for salaries in the Parks and Recreation Department, as well as buildings and grounds, has remained largely stable since 2010 and is not proposed to change significantly next year.

    Tom Ruhle, the head of the Housing and Community Development Department, said making do with a staff smaller by one has been made easier because no new affordable-housing initiatives have been recently introduced, thus lightening the department’s workload. But, he said, he hopes that next year’s budget will allow the replacement of a second staffer, who retired this fall. “We will be crippled if that position is not refilled,” he said.

    Certain federal housing and other programs that the department implements, such as the Section 8 affordable housing vouchers, set specific standards that must be met. “You have to meet deadlines,” Mr. Ruhle said. “There’s not an option to do less work.”

    With the economy limiting the number of applications being submitted to the Town Planning Department, Marguerite Wolffsohn, the department head, said, a pared-down staff is at present able to process applications and work on long-term studies or other projects assigned by the town board, such as providing comments on proposed legislation. Four vacated positions have been left unfilled.  In the future, should submissions to the department for site-plan approvals and other permits increase, long-term planning projects may have to be put on hold.

    “It’s difficult, but we’re making it work. We want to do our part to comply with the town’s need to cut costs,” said Tom Preiato, the town’s senior building inspector. “Everyone is picking up the slack.” The full-time salary line for the Building Department has dropped by almost $100,000 since 2010, largely because no one was appointed to replace the late Don Sharkey as chief building inspector. Mr. Preiato is acting chief, but has not yet taken the Civil Service test for that post. The test is only offered occasionally.

    In the Ordinance Enforcement Department, “We’re doing more with less,” Betsy Bambrick, the department head, said this week. The staff of officers has gone from six full-timers, plus one working part-time, to five full-time officers; full-time salary spending for the department was $411,484 in 2010, and is proposed to be $276,312. Savings are also a result, Ms. Bambrick said, of a departmental reorganization, placing both Ordinance Enforcement and Animal Control under a public safety division headed by a town attorney, Patrick Gunn, with Ms. Bambrick serving as head of both departments.

    The town board will have one work session before the hearing on the budget, scheduled for Nov. 10. Whether the budget will be discussed at that session has not been announced. Board members, who received copies of the budget after its Sept. 30 submission by Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, have not commented on it in public session.

    According to state law, the board must adopt a preliminary budget by Nov. 15 and a final budget by Nov. 20. Should the budget be passed as proposed, the tax rate for town residents would be $26.58 per $100 of assessed value, a decrease of 2 percent — a savings of $2.32 for those with a house with a $500,000 market value, and a savings of $8.12 for owners of a $1.8 million market-value house.

    Village residents, who are not taxed for all of the town services, would see a 9.3 percent tax decrease next year under the proposed budget, at a rate of $11.10 per $100 of assessed value — a $46 savings on taxes for a $500,000 house and a $161 savings on an $18 million house.

    As the demonstrators of Occupy Wall Street braved the record cold this weekend, Occupy the Hamptons relocated its general assembly to a hallway in the Long Wharf shops in Sag Harbor, rather than meet outside by the village windmill as they had done previously.

    On the agenda was Bank Transfer Day, which falls on Saturday. Members of the group plan to express their solidarity with others all over the country by ending their associations with large banks.

    Bank Transfer Day’s mission, according to its Facebook page, is to “re-invest in our local communities through the transfer of funds from ‘big banks’ to credit unions.” It is not affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, but it seems that many of the “99 percent” support its agenda and are, in fact, way ahead of it.

    Encouraging one another on Sunday to close their big-bank accounts and transfer the money to smaller institutions, those in attendance traded stories of mysterious charges on otherwise paid-off bank credit cards, leading to exorbitant late fees and a subsequent delay in closing the account. They were encouraged to report any such instances to the proper authorities. Almost 68,000 people are scheduled to “attend” Bank Transfer Day through Facebook, and Occupy the Hamptons facilitators expressed hope that Saturday’s events would go smoothly and without incident.

    During the proceedings, a letter was read from a local shopowner who identified herself only as Dawn. She expressed disappointment at not being able to support the Occupy group in person but said she could not afford to hire any employees and must keep her store open seven days a week to get by. She wrote about her efforts to educate customers who offer to pay with credit cards: she must pay the bank 5 percent on each credit card transaction, she said, which  greatly affects her bottom line. She encouraged the group to join the Use Cash Movement, which aims to deprive large banks of the monies they receive from credit card and debit card fees.

    The suggestions to shop local and use cash received unanimous support.

    One of the 50 demonstrators highlighted various educational films given to him by Occupy Wall Street participants. One film in particular, “The Secret of Oz,” which proposes that economic solutions can be gleaned from the beloved Hollywood film “The Wizard of Oz,” won Best Documentary 2010 at the Beloit International Film Festival. The Occupy group plans to make the films available for viewing, most likely through a lending library-type system.

    In addition to organizational issues arising as the Sag Harbor group grows larger, a proposal to consolidate the varying Occupy groups across the state was introduced. There are more than three on Long Island alone. One large Occupy New York State group may evolve into a spokes-council, or committee of representatives, as more and more join in support. This will appear on the local agenda next week for further discussion, but there is a distinct possibility that Occupy the Hamptons will continue as an independent offshoot. Alexis Hormanski, a frequent visitor from Connecticut, saw the distance as a major drawback. “I think everybody wants to have their individuality,” she said.

    Speaking as a visitor, Ms. Hormanski said there were unique issues affecting the Hamptons, especially economic concerns. “The Hamptons really are old money and [they’re] all so divided,” she said. “You have the more affluent in one area and you have the average person, the so-called middle class that’s no longer in existence, in the other part. That’s where I have difficulty, because I’m an outsider and I can see it.”

    The group itself highlights this on its Web site, which declares, “Occupy the Hamptons: Where the 1 percent vacation.”

    When asked about the proposal to consolidate, Tori P., who declined to be identified further but was one of the many facilitators, expressed similar hesitation. “My only concern for it is how it’s going to be organized, obviously because of location. Would we, our small group, maintain our autonomy?” She also expressed apprehension about the effectiveness of a spokes-council. “We all worry that specific people who are not part of an affinity group or work group may not have their opinion heard or their ideas,” she said.

    Occupy The Hamptons continues to meet each Sunday at 3 p.m. on Long Wharf.

    After an hour of testimony and cross-examination in a non-jury trial on Oct. 26, East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana dismissed all charges against an Amagansett brother and sister who make their living on the bay. The State Department of Environmental Conservation had cited Kelly and Paul Lester this summer with violating fishing and fish-selling regulations, but Ms. Rana ruled it failed to prove its case.

    Richard Massio, a D.E.C. enforcement officer, had issued two summonses to Mr. Lester on July 8, one for fluke in excess of the daily trip limit, the other for fluke in a carton without a tag bearing the information required. On the same day, Ms. Lester was charged with operating a roadside stand where shellfish were offered for sale without a proper permit. They pleaded not guilty on Aug. 18.

    On the steps of East Hampton Town Justice Court before the non-jury trial, Daniel G. Rodgers of Riverhead, the defendants’ attorney, accused the D.E.C. of abusing its power. Although he did not use the Dongan Patent, the 326-year-old royal decree that guaranteed East Hampton settlers the right to fish “without lett or hindrance,” before the bench, Mr. Rodgers told a group of his clients’ supporters that it was “still as valid and active today as it always was.”

    “This is not about gold coast bankers, it’s about baymen who fish from small wooden boats with nets. It’s about a way of life that will not be regulated out of existence. It’s been 20 years, almost to the day, that Calvin Lester was regulated out of business. So, today we stand and fight.”

    Mr. Rodgers was referring to Calvin Lester, his defendants’ late father. Using ocean seines to catch striped bass, Mr. Lester’s stock and trade, had been outlawed by the D.E.C. in 1991.    

    Karen Seidler, the prosecutor, laid out the state’s case, questioning Officer Massio. He testified that he was on patrol when he spotted Ms. Kelly’s coolers and a for sale sign in front of a house on Abraham’s Path, East Hampton. He knocked on the front door and, when no one responded, he said, “I went around to the back door and saw . . .1 gentleman cutting flat fish.” Neither Kelly nor Paul Lester was there at the time.

    When he got closer, he said he noticed the fish cartons, and was told by Louis Arceri, the fish cutter, that the fish were Mr. Lester’s. Each box contained 70 pounds of fluke, properly tagged and to be sent to Gosman’s in Montauk, together adding up to the 140 pounds then allowed per day. However, he said, two other boxes, which were not tagged, were found to contain fluke, as did a basket from which Mr. Arceri was taking fish to cut.

    Officer Massio confiscated the fish from the untagged box and the basket, took them to Stuart’s Fish Market in Amagansett, as allowed by law, and sold them for $202.75. He testified that Mr. Lester showed up at Stuart’s during the transaction. Officer Massio told him confiscating the fish was necessary as “evidence.” He said Mr. Lester reported that his sister was not home because she had gone to find the tags for the confiscated fish, 50 pounds of fluke, which had been caught by another member of the family, James Lester.    

    During cross examination, Mr. Rodgers claimed that  Officer Massio’s search of the fish boxes was illegal. The officer admitted that nothing on the outside of the boxes indicated there were fluke inside, which might have justified the search. In addition, he said, the required vessel trip report on hand was not a “completed document” because it had not been signed. 

     Officer Massio further testified that he had not actually seen Mr. Lester with the confiscated fish, nor Ms. Lester sell any shellfish. He defended the charge against her, however, saying an offer to sell was the same under state law as a sale. In answer to another question during cross-examination, the officer said he had surmised the coolers containing oysters and clams for sale were Ms. Lester’s because he assumed they were in front of her house. Mr. Rodgers informed him that the house was owned by Diane Lester, Kelly’s mother. 

    Stuart Vorpahl, a commercial fisherman and former East Hampton Town Trustee, was called as a witness to support Mr. Rodgers’s contention that the regulation requiring trap fishermen to land their catches already boxed and tagged was unrealistic.

    After his successful defense, Mr. Rodgers said the D.E.C.’s enforcement division was the only agency he knew that routinely acted as police, prosecutor, and judge. He also told the Lesters’ jubilant supporters that Ms. Lester had state and town shellfishing permits, and that she operated a scallop-shucking shed that was inspected by the Suffolk Health Department.

    “This was not about health and safety. It was about money — fines in the many thousands of dollars.” Mr. Rodgers said the D.E.C. tried to help balance its budget with a saltwater fishing license, but had failed. “So now they’re balancing the budget on the backs of people who fish from the beach in little wooden boats.”

    He added that in confiscating the basket of fluke, Officer Massio had actually taken the fish Ms. Lester had planned to cook for dinner. “We are sending them a bill.”

    The current board of nine East Hampton Town Trustees has faced serious threats to its autonomy from both nature and residents of oceanfront property. Both have taken, or sought to take, beaches that the trustees are sworn to protect for the public.

    The trustees have drawn their line in the sand by defending their autonomy in State Supreme Court, and through strict adherence to their own rules in reviewing applications for shoreside structures as well as use of the town’s bottomlands.

    The trustees, Diane McNally, presiding officer, Stephanie Talmage-Forsberg, deputy clerk, Tim Bock, Joe Bloecker, John Gosman, Lynn Mendelman, Billy Vorpahl, Bill Mott, and Kayla Talmage, have also pushed for maintenance dredging of inlets and for the use of dredged sand to rebuild beaches. Mr. Vorpahl, who was appointed to the board when Norman Edwards Jr. died, is not running for office this time around. Nor are Mr. Mott, who is seeking a seat on the East Hampton Town Board, and Ms. Talmage.

    Trustees serve two year-terms and all nine trustee positions are up this year. Newcomers seeking the position this year are three Republicans, Kevin Byrne, Nat Miller, and Sean McCaffrey, and on the Democratic ticket Ray Hartjen, Nanci LaGarenne, Sima Freierman, John Chimples, Rona Klopman, Sam Kramer, Loretta Sears, Stephen Lester (a former trustee), and Deborah Klughers.

    This article introduces the non-incumbents, lists their reasons for running, and examines their primary concerns. In general, the Republican challengers seemed of a mind with their incumbent counterparts stressing the protection of beach access. The Democrat challengers voiced support for trustees protecting beach access, although a few saw the need for a change in the trustees’ administrative approach, and a loosening of the board’s strict doc-

trine. One Democrat would like to

increase the board’s educational role.

    Ray Hartjen of Springs said, “If I got in I’d help expedite applications. It took a neighbor six months to have his application processed. In that time, every bit of wave action was washing away his property.” Mr. Hartjen said the process was slow and needlessly expensive for applicants. 

    “It’s time for a change, and if I got in and got some momentum I would assign the same type of camera to trustees, and a video system, so that when we discussed something we’re not passing around a cellphone.” Mr. Hartjen added that he would work to have sand dredged from the mouth of Accabonac Harbor placed on eroded beaches to the “end of Springs-Fireplace Road.”

    Sima Freierman ran the commercial shipping dock at the Inlet Seafood company in Montauk for a number of years. She is well acquainted with fisheries issues. “I’ve sat on town and county committees. I’m not green to the politics that go into it. I would come to it in a proactive way. What that means is I would make a tour of properties [whose owners were applying to the trustees] with an eye to how they interrelate to the ecosystem, make a thorough inventory of what’s taking place. We should know what to expect will happen and not wait, ask where we can we head this off.” As an example, Ms. Freierman said the lawsuit brought against the trustees by oceanfront property owners on Napeague might have been avoided — “Why did it get to the point that a state judge has to decide a question of access?” she asked — a question on the minds of other Democrat candidates.  

    John Chimples is a filmmaker and a resident of Montauk, where the trustees have no authority, although their marine sewage pumpout boat operates in Montauk Harbor, and where eroding beaches are a primary concern. Mr. Chimples said he grew up in Philadelphia, and started surfing in southern New Jersey, where a series of jetties “destroyed the beaches.”

    “I worry about hardened structures. It will becom e more and more an issue as erosion encroaches on people’s land.” Mr. Chimples has been on the board of directors of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk and the hamlet’s citizens advisory committee. “I think the trustees do a good job of protecting and nurturing the culture here. I want to expand my reach and make as much of an impact as possible to protect what I love.”

    Nanci LaGarenne serves on the Freetown Neighborhood Advisory committee and has fought the construction of a condominium complex and sewage treatment plant in the neighborhood. She said she was an activist, although not one who was looking for a “political career.” She said she was “passionate about safe drinking water and about beach access.”

    Rona Klopman was critical of Ms. Mendelman for having an alleged “conflict of interest” in matters regarding dredging in Three Mile Harbor. The Mendelman family owns and operates marinas in the harbor. She also faulted Mr. Gosman for “sleeping” in meetings. “I don’t know why he’s bothering to run.” Ms. Klopman also criticized the current board for ignoring people concerned about erosion at Lazy Point. “I began seeing people coming from Lazy Point and shunted aside. The trustees were not helping.” She said the trustees should have a liaison to the town board who regularly attended meetings, and she said she thought trustee meetings should be televised.

    Ms. Klughers of Springs has a background in marine and environmental studies. “I would bring good environmental stewardship to the table, and I would push to buy a dredge to make sure maintaining inlets was done in a timely basis.” She said she was not an environmental zealot. “I would look at the people and the economics, too.” Ms. Klughers said the trustees had an important role in educating the children of East Hampton and that she would work to improve the board in this area. Ms. Klughers films public meetings for LTV. She said her work has kept her well informed.

    Mr. Kramer is a lawyer from East Hampton who specializes in litigation. “You only litigate as a last resort. No way that should have become a lawsuit,” he said, referring to the controversy over beach driving and parking on Napeague that led to homeowners suing the trustees two years ago. “If I had been in the room, I would have done anything not to go to court.”

    Mr. Kramer said the current trustee board stressed the body’s autonomy too much. “There are other forces out there. You’re not going to carry the day if you rest on ‘we are the trustees.’ What if someone with $50 million says to [fellow oceanfront dwellers] let’s try something different?” [Please see related comment below]

    “I’m not running to be the board’s lawyer, but they should have at least one trustee who understands what they’re doing. I’m worried in dealing with the town, the [State Department of Environmental Conservation], and other entities the board deals with, where to press the buttons, how far you can go, and where it’s worth fighting over. Ninety-eight percent of all litigations wind up getting settled.”

    Mr. Kramer described himself as a quick study and protective of baymen and their ability to make a living. He served on the East Hampton Town Planning Board for a couple of years. “I’m not a one-issue candidate.”

    “I’m third generation out here,” said Ms. Sears, who lives in East Hampton. “I love the outdoors, the beach, fishing. I love the tradition and want to keep this place the way it’s meant to be.” Ms. Sears said that during the winter months she rented David Talmage’s house. Mr. Talmage served as trustee clerk at one time. She said the Talmage library had books of old town records. “It fascinated me.”

    Striking a similar note was Mr. Miller, a bayman from East Hampton who tends three traps, gillnets, and fishes for scallops during the winter months.

    “When people talk about the beach — I grew up on the beaches. If I don’t do it, who’s going to?” he said of protecting public access to the beaches. “I married out here and want to have our kids here. Seeing all the development, if one domino falls, they all will fall,” he said, referring to the beach-access lawsuit.

    “It’s why the beach suit is so important. It’s got to stop now,” he said of encroachment on public beaches by private interests. “Some people see the trustees as a political stepping stone. I don’t. I’m the one who knows where that sand flat is. It’s a different kind of outlook,” Mr. Miller said.

    Mr. Byrne, who lives in Springs, is a case worker with the County Department of Social Services. At first, he said  his interest in running stemmed from the beach access issue, but after attending trustee meetings it grew. “With my work, I see a lot of every town and every hamlet farther west. It’s made me appreciative of East Hampton. I think being a case worker would help in the fieldwork involved with the trustees, working with the public. I would hit the ground running.”

    He said he preferred the soft approach to erosion control, “but I understand if there’s imminent danger, I would not be reluctant to mininmize risk. It’s what I do for a living.” Mr. Byrne disagreed with the criticism that the board delayed the application process. “The biggest delays I see are when people don’t submit what they are asked to. When the trustees have what they need, they act.” Mr. Byrne said he would like to see better enforcement of trustee regulations by the town’s code enforcement office, “with penalties that make people accountable.”

    Sean McCaffrey, a candidate on the Republican side, said he was strongly influenced to run by his late father, Jim McCaffrey, who served as trustee clerk, or presiding officer. “I know what’s happened to these lands and would like to be a part of trying to keep them. My dad worked hard to keep the trustees a separate form of government. I’d love to be able to help. There’s always somebody trying to erode them.”

    In the final days leading up to the election, the East Hampton Town Republican Committee and its top candidates had more than three times the amount to spend as the East Hampton Democrats, reporting $60,111 in their various campaign accounts on Oct. 24 compared to the Democrats’ $20,015.

    Between Oct. 4 and Oct. 24, the Democrats’ campaign committee, Campaign 2011, raised nearly $17,500 with the bulk of the money, $10,471, coming from individual donations. The largest infusion — $5,000 — came from the East Hampton Conservators, a political action committee that is endorsing the Democratic slate. The other top contributor was the Bistrian Cement Corporation of East Hampton, which gave $1,000. Campaign 2011 also received $500 from David Doty of Wainscott, the Conservators’ treasurer, Carey Lovelace and Judith Little of Amagansett, Jeremiah Mulligan of East Hampton, and Ted Sann of Sagaponack.

    Additional contributions came from Barbara Claflin of East Hampton, who gave $300, and Jacqueline Lowey, Ralph Ergas, and Robert Hoguet of East Hampton, Debra Marino of Amagansett, Rose Daniel of Manhattan, and Toni Ross of Wainscott, who each gave $250.

     The East Hampton Town Democratic Committee reported $2,850 in contributions, all from individual donations. The largest were from Harry Kamen of Wainscott and Edwina Von Gal of East Hampton, who gave $1,350 and $500 respectively.    

    While the East Hampton Town Republican Committee only raised approximately $5,200 in contributions during the filing period, Supervisor Bill Wilkinson’s personal committee, Wilkinson for Supervisor, raised nearly $27,000.

    The biggest contributions to the East Hampton Town Republican Committee came from Stanley Arkin of Amagansett, who gave $1,000, the Bistrian Gravel Corporation and Bistrian Cement Corporation, which each gave $1,000, and Reed Jones of East Hampton, chairman of the town planning board, who donated $400.

    Wilkinson for Supervisor had a closing balance of $37,799, raising $26,785 in contributions, with $19,185 donated from individuals and $7,600 from corporations.

    The largest individual contribution of $2,000 was given by the family of James Abernathy of East Hampton and New York, followed by $1,000 donations by Thomas Sennefelder and Julie Stavola, both of Montauk, Randy Altschuler of St. James, who narrowly lost his challenge to Representative Tim Bishop last year, and Sam Gershowitz of Southampton. Mr. Wilkinson’s committee received $1,000 contributions from the Bistrian Cement Corporation and the Star Island Yacht Club of Montauk.

    Additional $500 contributions came from Kathryn Ciccariello and Thomas Ciccariello, Kenneth Walles, and Joseph Bloecker, all of Montauk, and from Donald Schrage, Richard Haeg, and Marie Duryea of East Hampton, as well as Len Bernard of Amagansett.

    Additional corporate donations came from Marshall Prado and Sons, Gosman’s Restaurant and Bar, and Uihlein’s Marina and Boat Rental, all of Montauk, as well as Ryan Schmitter Production and Schmitter Mini-Max Inc., of East Hampton, and Mike DiSunno and Sons of Amagansett, all of which donated $500.

    Richard Haeg, Republican candidate for town board, raised $520 for his own political committee, Friends of Richard Haeg, but spent more than $3,000 on print and radio ads and $2,976 on campaign mailings, leaving him with a closing balance of $1,661.

    Steven Gaines, another Republican candidate for town board, raised $1,100 for his committee, Gaines for East Hampton, and spent $3,606 on print and radio ads, leaving him with a balance of $522.

    Wilkinson for Supervisor was responsible for the most significant contributions to the political committees of both Steven Gaines and Richard Haeg, giving each $500.

    As for reported expenditures, the Republicans outspent the Democrats between Oct. 4 and Oct. 24 by more than $7,300, dropping over $36,000 on various expenses. The Democrats spent $29,355.

    Wilkinson for Supervisor reported approximately $11,500 in spending, with nearly $10,500 going to print and radio advertisement as well as campaign literature.

    The remaining expenses were contributions to other Republican candidates including Suffolk County Legislature hopeful Cornelius Kelly, who received a $100 donation.

    The East Hampton Town Republican Committee reported $15,535 in spending, with about $10,800 going to print and radio advertising as well as campaign literature. There were also three refunded contributions to Philip White of Bridgehampton, Doreen DiSunno of East Hampton, and Lisa R. Rana of Amagansett, Republican incumbent town justice, totaling $1,300.

    Campaign 2011 laid out an impressive $28,328 in those three weeks, with more than $14,000 spent on print and radio advertising and an additional $13,000 used on postage.

    The Democratic candidates, including Zach Cohen for supervisor, Sylvia Overby and Peter Van Scoyoc for town board, and Stephen Grossman for town justice, did not set up their own campaign committees.

    Lisa R. Rana, Republican incumbent town justice, did not file reports for this cycle.

    While the East Hampton Independence Party and Independence town board candidate Bill Mott did not file for this cycle, Marilyn Behan, the other Independene town board candidate, did. She raised $3,600, $2,850 of which was given by individuals.

    Major contributors included Maureen Murphy and David Yudelson of Montauk, who gave $1,000 and $500 respectively, and Ali Wojtusiak and Josephine Wojtusiak, who each gave $200.

    Ms. Behan’s committee also received $700 in corporate donations from two Montauk businesses, $500 from Uihlein’s Marina and $200 donation from Montauket Hotel Inc.

    Lastly, the East Hampton Conservators raised $6,160 in the first three weeks of October, but focused the majority of their efforts on mailings designed to raise awareness of local environmental issues.

    The environmental PAC received $1,000 donations from Jonathan Rose of Amagansett and Peter Morton of Los Angeles, as well as $500 contributions from Sheldon Harnick of East Hampton and Michael Longacre of Sagaponack.

    In addition to their $5,000 donation to Campaign 2011, the East Hampton Conservators spent $5,655 with Mullen and McCaffrey, an advertising and public relations firm in East Hampton.

    The Conservators also spent $2,440 on voter registration reminders, mailings, and other print materials to spread the word on the PAC’s most pressing environmental concerns such as beach privatization, increased housing densities, and the suburbanization of East Hampton.

    For those who want to keep a close eye on the campaign finances as the election grows near, voters should know that any donation which exceeds $1,000 must be reported within 24 hours of receipt, meaning that citizens can check up on any late-breaking contributions that may have come in after the filing date of Oct. 24 and up to Election Day. Financial disclosure information can be found on the New York State Board of Elections Web site at elections.state.ny. us/DisclosureReports.