Unlike past contentious meetings of the East Hampton School Board, Tuesday night’s board meeting was replete with gold stars and green lights, with a positive auditor’s report, good financial news, and an encouraging presentation on the middle school’s test scores.

    Charles Soriano, the assistant superintendent, followed up last month’s report on the elementary school with the middle school report. Next month it will be the high school’s turn.

    Once again, Dr. Soriano cautioned the board and the audience against drawing conclusions from the scores. “School is more than just a couple of tests,” he said. “Data is an important part, but it’s not the only part.”

    The test scores for the middle school were higher than New York State’s scores, and generally in line with or above other local districts.

    The scores are measured on a scale of 1 to 4, from “not meeting learning standards” through “partially meeting learning standards” and “meeting learning standards,” to “meeting learning standards with distinction.”

    The 2011 sixth-grade English Language Arts test last spring showed 79 percent of the class passing, 12 percent of them at level 4, compared with the state at 56 percent passing and only 4 percent at level 4.

    Seventh-grade E.L.A. scores showed 73 percent passing, compared with 48 percent at the state level. Eighth-grade scores in the same subject were at 79 percent passing, compared to just 47 percent statewide.

    Compared with other local districts, East Hampton held its own. In sixth-grade E.L.A., where 79 percent of East Hampton’s 82 students passed, 27 sixth-graders in Montauk had 74 percent passing. Of 60 students in Sag Harbor, 80 percent passed. Out of 106 students in Southampton, 69 percent passed, and in Springs, with 55 sixth-graders, 85 percent passed.

    In grade 7 E.L.A., 73 percent of 123 students in East Hampton passed, 70 percent of Montauk’s 27 students passed, 68 percent of Sag Harbor’s 77 students passed, 52 percent of Southampton’s 93 students passed, and in Springs, 67 percent of 64 students passed.

    Grade 8 E.L.A. offered up the highest levels in the area. East Hampton’s 98 students in last year’s eighth grade had 79 percent pass, compared to 65 percent in Montauk, 66 percent in Sag Harbor and Southampton, and 56 percent in Springs.

    Mathematics scores brought more good news. In grades 6, 7, and 8, no students scored at level 1, compared with 8 percent or over on the statewide rankings.

    Grade 6 math test scores saw 86 percent of East Hampton students pass, compared to 89 percent in Montauk, 78 percent in Sag Harbor, 84 percent in Southampton, and 91 percent in Springs. Grade 7 tied with Montauk, with 93 percent of the students passing the test. In Sag Harbor, 69 percent passed, in Southampton, 77 percent, and in Springs, 86 percent.

    In eighth grade, with 99 students in East Hampton, 88 percent passed, compared with 91 percent in Montauk (34 students), Sag Harbor with 63 percent (70 students), 74 percent in Southampton (96 students), and 89 percent in Springs, with 56 students.

    “The school is, essentially, a $60 million dollar a year organization, and an organization of this size would usually have a P.R. person, but we don’t,” Dr. Soriano said. “So we would like to tell you, our kids are doing really well.”

    He mentioned again that it was “useful to look at comparative data, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.”

    Dr. Soriano also commented on what he perceives as a bad rap the district gets on its students’ performances. He acknowledged the poor test scores in last year’s third grade, but said, “I’ve been a school administrator for 22 years, with 10 years here in East Hampton. For some reason, there are some really stubborn myths about East Hampton’s performance. People have taken one piece of data and made it emblematic of the whole district, but that shouldn’t be the calling card of the school. Let’s stick with reality.”

    Also on Tuesday, Joseph Klimek, an external auditor from the firm Toski Schaefer, said the district remains in a solid financial standing, with a “very, very good audit report.”

    Isabel Madison, the district’s business administrator, added that the net interest rate this year on the tax anticipation note had dropped to .3 percent, which would save the district substantial money.

    Members of East Hampton Town’s Civil Service Employees Association union are to vote today on ratification of a proposed contract with the town.

    The town employees have been working without a contract since the start of 2011, and negotiations between the union and Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, who has maintained a tough stance on cost-cutting and trimming back the work force, have stretched on since March.

    According to Heath Liebman, the union president, “This was the best contract we can negotiate from this administration at this time.”

    A total of 54 jobs have been eliminated since last year, including 18 positions that were included in last year’s budget but remained vacant pursuant to a hiring freeze and 34 positions that were held by employees who availed themselves of a state early retirement incentive last fall, in some cases opting for that choice rather than risk being laid off. Two employees were laid off.

    Details of the proposed new union agreement have not been released, as negotiations will continue if the contract is not ratified.

    Mr. Liebman said Tuesday that at a meeting of the C.S.E.A. that night, he would describe for the members “what the atmosphere during the negotiations was,” and “the efforts made by the negotiating team, which worked on addressing areas of the contract that we believed needed to be addressed.”

    He said the union was aware of the economic pressures and the need to cut town government costs, as well as the Wilkinson administration’s efforts to right town finances in the wake of a $27.2 million deficit, and had taken those factors into account. “We’re trying to do the right thing; we’re your neighbors,” he said.

    Mr. Liebman noted that the pulse of national opinion seems to have swayed from the anti-union efforts by Midwest politicians to a focus now on protecting the rights of the middle class, emphasized by the Occupy Wall Street protestors.

    A new contract between the town and its union workers is expected to address a 1-percent wage increase that, Mr. Liebman said, should have been paid to employees since January, according to union rules that come into play when employees are working without a contract. The town has refused to institute the salary increase. In the union’s view, Mr. Liebman said, that violates contractual agreements.

    Len Bernard, the town budget officer, said yesterday that Vince Toomey, the town’s labor attorney, had suggested holding back the 1 percent. “In his opinion, it’s arguable,” Mr. Bernard said. “We have an opinion from our attorney saying that it’s something that could certainly go to a mediator.”

    He said that money for retroactive pay, to cover the terms of a final contract covering 2011 and beyond, has been set aside.

    The employees’ association has expressed its concern over the past year about the stance taken by the town administration toward its workers, especially in light of its vow to cut the work force, and recently endorsed Mr. Wilkinson’s Democratic opponent in this year’s election, Zach Cohen, and his Democratic running mates for town board.

    Last year, when presented with a letter from Mr. Wilkinson announcing the state early retirement program, which called the incentive “an important voluntary measure to help the town achieve necessary reductions in staffing and services before potentially turning to involuntary layoffs,” some employees eligible to retire who had not previously planned to stop working opted to do so, partly, some said, to help save others’ jobs. Another consideration was maintaining accumulated pension and health insurance benefits that may have been threatened under a layoff scenario.

    “You should give serious consideration to participating in this incentive given the likelihood that your position may be affected,” the letter to employees said.

    Kevin Maier, a former senior bay constable and 231/2-year town employee who had planned to work until full retirement age, said this week that he had retired last fall under the incentive program even though by doing so he forfeited about a third of the pension he would ultimately have received.

    “It was a very indecent situation,” he said. Mr. Maier applied for unemployment benefits, under the premise that he had quit his job unwillingly but “with good cause” given the threat of layoffs.

    He was initially denied, but earlier this year a judge agreed that the “evidence establishes the requisite climate of fear and uncertainty to create a voluntary leaving of employment with good cause.”

    Although the town argued that no particular positions had been targeted for elimination, the judge cited Mr. Maier’s efforts to ascertain his standing. A lack of information from Mr. Wilkinson, “who refused to talk to anyone, including the other members of [the] board,” according to the written decision, created “an atmosphere of uncertainty surrounding the claimant’s job security.”

    The town has appealed the ruling. Mr. Maier received several months of benefits before beginning a new job last spring.

    Another marine patrol employee, Frank Kennedy, who also retired under the incentive program rather than face a possible layoff, applied for and immediately received unemployment insurance benefits. In submitting his resignation last fall, he wrote in a letter to the Human Resources Department that he was “doing so under duress,” and said that he found that, “after 18-plus years of working for the town that this type of treatment is despicable, and possibly age discrimination.”

    The old Bulova building on Hampton Street in Sag Harbor has seen better days, and lots of them. The cornerstone was laid in 1881 for the red-brick industrial center — the Joseph Fahys Watchcase Factory — which helped revitalize Sag Harbor in the wake of the diminishing whale industry, hiring unemployed seamen and immigrants and providing some of the most modern working-man perks of the period.

    Today, the building is held up with scaffolding following a partial collapse in 2005, its windows boarded over, graffiti on its flanks, surrounded by weeds and other signs of neglect.

    But the aged edifice is about to get a new lease on life. Three years after village approvals were secured, Cape Advisors, a real estate and hospitality development company, has teamed up with the Deutsche Bank Commercial Real Estate Group and announced a $60 million investment to fully fund the development and rehabilitation of what will become known as the Watchcase Factory Lofts.

    Cape Advisors’ project, which features 65 lofts and townhomes on the 2.3-acre lot, along with a pool and spa facility and underground parking garage, had been under review by the Sag Harbor Zoning Board of Appeals for two years, and was approved in early 2008.

    There were also environmental concerns. Hazardous materials were dumped at the site from 1936 to 1981, causing its classification as one of three Superfund sites in Sag Harbor. Once the property was deemed safe enough to be removed from the Superfund list by the Environmental Protection Agency, the site was ready to be renovated. The village waived the need for a draft environmental impact statement from Cape Advisors. However, after Cape Advisors bought the property in 2006, there was an arduous approval process which included dozens of public hearings, with concerns that ranged from lighting to parking and traffic patterns.

    Once all the approvals came through, it was a question of coming up with the financing, the very year that financial markets took a beating.

    “We are extremely pleased that in these difficult economic times we were able to partner with Deutsche Bank in moving forward with this exciting project,” said Craig Wood, co-managing partner of Cape Advisors, in a press release. “This fall, over 30 years after the Bulova Watchcase Factory closed, we will begin construction to restore this historic building and fully integrate it into the fabric of the Sag Harbor community.”

    Cape Advisors plans to maintain the factory feel of the building, with high ceilings, large windows, and old beams.

    Mr. Fahys sold his plant to Arde Bulova in 1931, and the building continued to produce watchcases until 1975, with a brief interlude during World War II when Bulova made munitions for the armed forces.

    Over the past 30 years there have been several attempts to take over the building, including an offer from Patrick Malloy III, who owns several buildings in Sag Harbor.

    Mr. Wood said the company plans to break ground for the project in the next 30 to 45 days. Prices will not be set until Cape Advisors files an offering plan with the Attorney General’s office, probably sometime in the next three months.

    Beach access, code enforcement, job creation, land use, water protection, the size of government, the fishing industry, and the role of the town board were all touched on when the six candidates for East Hampton Town Board met with The East Hampton Star’s editorial staff last Thursday.

    The candidates — Sylvia Overby and Peter Van Scoyoc on the Democratic and Working Families lines, Bill Mott and Marilyn Behan, Independence Party, Richard Haeg, Republican and Conservative, and Steven Gaines, Republican and Opportunity Party — agreed on many points, including what they see as some of the most pressing issues facing the town, but they prioritized them differently.

    This week, a look at their top issues, views on the fishing industry, and thoughts on businesses and the town code. An article next week will address their comments on the role of the town board and the size of town government.

    To Mr. Mott the most important issue this election year is the ongoing battle over a stretch of Napeague ocean beach where private property owners have sued the town, claiming that they, not the town trustees, control the beach.

    “We can’t afford to have our beaches become privatized,” said Mr. Mott, who is finishing his sixth term as a trustee. If the town loses the suit “every hotel owner and waterfront property owner will want their private beach and it will snowball.” The question of noise, safety, and town control over the airport is secondary to this issue, he said.

    Mr. Haeg, Mr. Van Scoyoc, and Ms. Behan echoed Mr. Mott’s concerns.

    Beach access and access to public lands are of critical importance, Mr. Van Scoyoc agreed, “because that strikes at the core of who we are historically and culturally.” Land use is another top issue for him.

    “The present town board has been too lax” on the Napeague beach access matter, Ms. Behan said, and has not been “forthcoming in supporting the trustees.”

    The State Supreme Court “is going to dictate what happens and that’s going to set a difficult precedent,” said Mr. Haeg. “I’d like to see a settlement so we don’t get saddled with that.” In his opinion, however, “the biggest obstacle” facing the people of East Hampton is the difficult economy and the unemployment rate. “I will try to make jobs every chance I get,” he said.

    “The greatest problems we’ve always faced have been land use and jobs,” said Steven Gaines, who is running with him on the Republican ticket and is also on his own Opportunity Party line. “We’re held hostage to a 16-week program here.” Rather than depending on second-home owners to prop up the economy, he said, the town needs to encourage low-impact businesses — software companies, for example.

    “A lot of that falls under planning, land use, using our code effectively, making sure we’re compliant with the comprehensive plan, the local waterfront revitalization plan,” Ms. Overby said. Documents like those “have already told us who we are and what we want to be,” she said. “We can write legislation that would protect local businesses. We know what happens when chain stores come in; there are things we can do that have been talked about but ignored. I would like to be very active in promoting these shoulder seasons.”

    In Montauk, “we grow from 5,000 to 25,000 on any sunshiny weekend,” Ms. Behan said, but as important as tourism and tourists are, “I think it’s important we stay focused on what’s important to those people who live here all the time.”

    She returned to that theme several times. With the airport, too, she said it is important that visitors “use it under our rules.” And businesses, particularly in Montauk, should be allowed to be successful but “have to do what they do within the quality of life we all require.”

    “I’m not against business,” Ms. Behan said in talking about Montauk clubs that have drawn sharp criticism from residents for noise, overcrowding, and parking mayhem. “If they operate within the code, fine . . . but all of these violations, that’s not fair to residents. It’s not fair to other businesses.”

    “There are businesses that are operating within the code and then there are businesses operating flagrantly outside the code,” Ms. Overby said. “That’s the kind of thing that drives people up a wall. . . . We don’t want to close businesses down, but how do you compel them to come into the Planning Department?”

    The town board may need to change the laws governing such establishments, but “let’s also enforce the laws,” Mr. Mott said.

    “I think the board is very frustrated,” Mr. Gaines said. “I think we need new laws. . . . Those guys take the fines out of tip jars.”

    “There are any number of ways to address this problem,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said, suggesting, “Tow the cars parked illegally,” among other things. “We have to address the fact that many [of the problem businesses] are pre-existing nonconforming in residential zones and they should conform as much as possible to [rules of residential zones]. That is the whole crux of zoning.”

    The candidates also addressed the question of whether the existing code is strong enough to protect the town’s resources. “The codes need to be strengthened in some cases,” Mr. Gaines said. In terms of dark-skies legislation, for example, he said he is “all for making it stronger” and would in fact “do away with ornamental lighting. . . . When times are bad, the environment becomes a luxury issue, and it’s not and it can’t be because our environment is so fragile here.”

    “Road runoff and other types of pollution are affecting our watershed and harbors,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said. “We have this huge looming problem with our drinking water, especially in Springs,” where “we’ve been loading our ground with nitrogen.” Upgrading septic systems can be an onerous process, but he suggested that the town might encourage it through incentives like giving “a little on a setback somewhere else in exchange” for a septic upgrade.

    “If we started enforcing some of the codes that are on the books, that would be a step in the right direction,” Mr. Mott said, while acknowledging that short-staffed town departments are having trouble keeping up.

    Ms. Overby is concerned about aquifer protection and said the town needs to educate residents and develop good management plans. Keeping density in check is another way to achieve this, she said.

    Asked what could be done locally to increase revenue for the fishing industry, which provides year-round jobs and brings millions of dollars to the community, all of the candidates vowed their support, but with different approaches. “I grew up farming and fishing in Mattituck,” Mr. Haeg said. If elected he would be a vigilant lobbyer for the industry, he said. “I can make a phone call once a week until they get tired of hearing from me.”

    Among other things, each of the other candidates pointed to protecting and improving water quality as a way to support a vibrant local fishing industry. Mr. Mott said he would pursue a town-owned dredge, so that the town’s harbor and bay inlets could be dredged more often, allowing them to flush more readily and perhaps opening areas to shellfishing that are not open now. “We have uncertified waters — we can make them certified,” he said.

    “Dredging is one of those things that are value-added,” Ms. Overby said. While it might mean adding “more people to the payroll . . . the value added to the town is measurable.”

    Mr. Mott also spoke about the trustees’ flounder grow-out project and eelgrass plantings to improve water quality in shellfish beds.

    Mr. Van Scoyoc said that promoting “the production of seafood . . . relates to fishing quotas long range. Many of our finfish spawn within the local estuaries. Water quality and productivity of these fish are important for the industry.” He is “concerned about land uses that negatively impact those estuaries.”

    “Environmental concerns are primary” when it comes to the fishing industry, said Mr. Gaines, who also supports a more frequent dredging schedule. He pointed out that Montauk is the largest fishing port in New York State and the fifth largest in the country, yet, he said, the fishing industry “is a stepchild.”

    “Someone hasn’t been diligent enough to take care of it and look over it,” Ms. Behan said. “We’ve got some dead water in Montauk and nothing is going to live in it.”

    The town no longer has a full-time fisheries consultant. “We attend one or two [fisheries] conferences,” Ms. Overby said. “We need to have representation in state and federal conferences. Someone has to fight for East Hampton.”  

 With Reporting by Catherine Tandy

    If tears could put out a fire, the Amagansett Presbyterian Church’s Scoville Hall on Meeting House Lane would still be standing. Beloved by the congregation as the home of church suppers, rummage sales, and fairs, and used by many community organizations, Scoville Hall was destroyed by fire in the early morning hours on Saturday.

    The call came to Mark Bennett, the Amagansett fire chief, at around 3:30 a.m. For the next three hours, more than 100 firefighters from five districts — Amagansett, East Hampton, Springs, Montauk, and Sag Harbor — fought a losing battle with the flames.

    East Hampton Town police said the “structure was totally engulfed” when they arrived. The fire “had blown off the front door and side windows,” Mr. Bennett said. “It was a heavy fire load.”

    Meeting House Lane remained closed into Saturday afternoon, with crime scene tape and police at the nearby Main Street intersection.

    Although an aging electrical system is considered as a possible cause, the origins of the fire were still under investigation yesterday.

    The church’s pastor, the Rev. Steve Howarth, and his wife, Nancy, were in Stonington, Conn., on their way to a Massachusetts vacation when he received a text message about an unspecified fire on Meeting House Lane, the pagers traditionally used to contact firefighters having virtually been replaced by cellphones.

    Mr. Howarth serves in the Amagansett Fire Department as chaplain and firefighter, and it was in the latter capacity that he was alerted. He returned to Amagansett as soon as possible, taking the 7 a.m. ferry from New London, Conn. By the time he got to the site, the building had been gutted.

    “Needless to say, the church members are truly saddened by the loss,” he said on Tuesday. “Many of them have a lifetime of memories tied up with Scoville Hall. . . . Nonetheless, we are truly grateful for the response of the fire companies and that no one was hurt.”

    The building had significant ties to the community. It was the home of the Amagansett food pantry and a meeting place for recovering alcoholics, the Masons, and  the Church of the Nazarene.

     Touched by the outpouring of support and well-wishes, Mr. Howarth was grateful for the extra effort the Amagansett Fire Department showed by returning on Saturday afternoon to board up the hall’s windows. “That was truly amazing,” he said.

    The church’s elders have met with insurance adjusters “in the first step toward seeing what the future holds,” Mr. Howarth said, “so we can continue to use Scoville Hall as a community resource for years to come.”

    One who has “a lifetime of memories” of Scoville Hall is the Amagansett fire chief himself. “I went there for Sunday School, and my mother was a member of the church,” Mr. Bennett said. “I used to go see Santa at Scoville Hall.”

    Because of his concentration on the task at hand, Chief Bennett’s memories were put on hold while the fire was fought. When it became safe to enter the building, firefighters immediately proceeded to Mr. Howarth’s office and library at the back of the building, where they tried to save as many papers and personal effects as possible.

    “They brought out a crystal cross that my mother, Dorothy Bennett, had given to Pastor Steve before she passed,” Mr. Bennett said. “Then it all came back.”

    The building was dedicated in March  1925, as the church’s Parish House. In 1973, it was renamed in honor of the Rev. Clarence Beecher Scoville, who had guided the congregation from 1919 to 1943 and died in 1972.  Albert Warren Topping of Bridgehampton was the 90-foot-long hall’s builder. It was designed by H.S. Waterbury of New York City.    

    Alcoholics Anonymous, which met every morning at the hall, and the Church of the Nazarene, which met four nights a week, will now gather in the church itself, at the corner of Meeting House Lane and Main Street. The food pantry has moved to St. Michael’s Lutheran Church across the road from the Amagansett I.G.A.

    At the insistence of his congregation, the Howarths headed north to finish their vacation, but not before leading a poignant Sunday morning service. One of the church deacons, Ronnie Miller-Manning, described it.

    “It was very moving. Pastor Steve delivered a heartfelt service, full of emotion, that comforted us all,” she said. “Our congregation all filed out of church together to have a final prayer outside of Scoville Hall.”

    “I believe Pastor Steve was right in making us feel assured that out of this tragedy of losing our hall, something wonderful will arise. We trust God with absolute certainty.”

    At a League of Women Voters debate held Monday night at the LTV studio, in Wainscott, the Republican incumbent supervisor, Bill Wilkinson, and his Democratic opponent, Zachary Cohen, crossed swords over a number of issues. Among them were the East Hampton airport and the possibility of creating a new town manager job.

    Everything remained cordial until the final moments of the debate, when Mr. Cohen began brandishing e-mails about his involvement in the town’s finances, both past and present, which he has said refuted Mr. Wilkinson’s claim that his participation was both unwelcome and unauthorized.

    In his opening statement, Mr. Wilkinson stressed continuity in government, saying it was critical that the town maintain a sound financial footing, which he said his administration had created.

    “We’re in a precarious and delicate position,” he said. The deficit left by the McGintee administration, he said, “has affected all of us and will for many years to come. But we are establishing appropriate spending for a town of our size, trimming government, implementing voluntary separations, and, yes, through some difficult decisions, prioritizing safety, seniors, and security to ensure the welfare of our residents.”

    Mr. Cohen, who in 2010 served on the budget and finance advisory committee and has volunteered more than 1,000 hours of financial advice toward the unraveling of the budget problems, said that while Mr. Wilkinson had promised to do more with less, all he, Mr. Cohen, sees “is less. I don’t see the more. The Fort Pond House was taken away from the Boy Scouts, and is still for sale, a beach is threatened with privatization, the dump is closed on Wednesday. And last week, he decided to sell Poxabogue, which is well-loved and makes money. What do we have more of? We have more helicopter noise, more debt than was necessary, and loud nightclubs.”

    The candidates were asked to discuss transparency in government. Mr. Cohen said trust was the most important element, but that ultimately trust is earned. He added that information about the community preservation fund should be made available to the public  on the Internet.

    “You must always tell the same story to the same people,” he said. “It’s not just about having an open-door policy. The leaders of this town need to go out into the community and act upon what they hear.”

    Mr. Wilkinson countered that his actions speak louder than words. He has created Saturday work sessions, he said, that are held “not in a back room but in the main Town Hall.” He said his administration does post budgets, in accordance with “modern management,” which he first initiated as the director of human resources at Disney.

    With regard to the controversial stretch of beach on Napeague and the lawsuits from oceanfront-property owners there, the candidates agreed that it was of the utmost importance to maintain public access to the beach.

    “It isn’t just beach access,” said Mr. Wilkinson. “It’s also about the ability to drive on those beaches. There is nothing more indigenous then being able to drive on the beaches in Montauk.”

    Mr. Cohen echoed those sentiments, saying he was in full support of public-access rights, and that at “the end of the day,” he would make sure the beach in question remains public.

    Mr. Wilkinson went on to say that a resolution would be introduced at Tuesday’s town board meeting, and the issue would be “put to bed.” The next day, the board did pass a unanimous five-point resolution, pledging “full support to the aggressive defense of present pending lawsuits against the Town and the Trustees; and of future claims or attempts to wrest ownership, access, or control of the beaches from the public; including defense of the traditional rights of all user groups which comprise our community, including without limitation, pedestrians, quadrupeds, vehicles and fishermen.”

    As to the East Hampton Airport, varying dates and consequences of lapsed grant assurances were discussed, as was the possibility of gaining more local control from the Federal Aviation Association.

    Both candidates said the new control tower may increase safety significantly, as well as help reduce noise, but the question of whether or not the town should take F.A.A. money went largely unanswered.    

    Peter Kirsch, an attorney hired by the town who specializes in aviation law, has said that while federal money could pay up to 90 percent of capital improvements at the airport — a hefty weight off the shoulders of taxpayers — most federal laws would remain intact even if East Hampton turned down the grants.

    Mr. Cohen said it pained him to see “someone else suffer while someone else gets a benefit. We definitely want to minimize that.” He said the control tower was a good example of finding a “common ground,” as well as a bipartisan effort, but that a thorough financial study of the airport’s being self-sustaining without federal money should be strongly considered.

    Mr. Wilkinson praised Councilman Dominick Stanzione’s efforts to gather the “forces that be” to weigh in on the issue, and said the new control tower would have a positive impact on a 10-mile airspace surrounding  it, in regard to helicopters. The airport is a precious asset to the community, said the supervisor, and brings in more than “$12 million annually and providing more than 91 jobs.”

    Finally, when asked if the creation of a town manager position would be a helpful addition to town government, the candidates revealed they were in agreement that this was not the right model to pursue.    

    Mr. Wilkinson said that while he hasn’t dismissed the idea entirely, the town’s affairs are too tumultuous to be handed over to someone else mid-stream. As town supervisor, he explained, “You also become the C.E.O.,” and must oversee the police force, the lifeguards, the Parks Department, and all the rest. A town manager is not “an elixir by its own name,” he said.

    While Mr. Cohen largely agreed, he also offered an alternative, to eliminate the budget officer position and use that money for an administration assistant, allowing the town supervisor to research varying issues in depth with the additional help.

    The debate then devolved into an aggressive back-and-forth between the two candidates. Mr. Cohen began thrusting e-mail after e-mail of “evidence” into Mr. Wilkinson’s hands, which he said outlined his involvement with the town’s finances, and Mr. Wilkinson scoffed that Mr. Cohen shouldn’t mistake “graciousness for interest. Anybody that can’t entertain disparate thoughts shouldn’t be running town government,” he said.

    Napeague Harbor is the only tidal embayment tributary to the Peconic Estuary with an inlet on the South Fork that has never had any part of its surface waters closed to shellfishing because of bacterial pollution. And unlike all the others, it has two inlets, not one.

    One of the first accurate maps of the Peconics, charted by a British cutter in 1787, gives a clue to the evolution of the harbor in the ensuing 323 years. It started out with one very expansive opening to the northwest. It was more an open bay than a harbor with an inlet. By the time the United States Coast Survey maps for the Peconics were drafted in 1838, there were two inlets, an eastern and a western one, both emptying into Napeague Bay, which was is juxtaposed between Gardiner’s Bay on the west and Block Island Sound on the east.

    Jump to the 1940s and the west inlet has disappeared. Hicks Island is no longer an island but a tombolo peninsula and is residence to a thriving menhaden rendering factory owned by the Smith Meal Company which produced fish meal and fish oils. An aerial black-and-white photograph circa 1960 taken by the federal government shows a newly opened west inlet: Napeague Harbor was back to being served by two inlets. By 1838 the east inlet had become the larger of the two and in the post-1950 federal navigational charts of the Peconic Estuary, it is shown as the main navigation channel in and out of Napeague Bay.

    If we jump back more than 3,000 years ago, we might find that there was no Napeague Harbor, just a shallow waterway between the Peconics and the Atlantic Ocean. Sediments washing westerly along the north and south sides of Montauk and easterly from the Amagansett bluffs turned the waterway into a giant marsh. The cranberry bogs that still dot the Napeague peninsula here and there are testimony to that early marsh and bog stage, when iron-precipitating bacteria took the iron out of the water and created a layer of it — called bog iron — that stretched from the Walking Dunes in western Hither Hills to the Amagansett mainland.

    Sea level rose several feet in the ensuing 3,000 years (and is still rising). The wetlands were inundated, and Napeague Harbor was born. The scooping out of the harbor was not only abetted by rising seas, but also by northwesterly winds that swept the sand from its bottom and deposited it in the Walking Dunes at the harbor’s eastern edge. Sand is still being removed to the east and the underlying iron-rich sediments are being constantly exposed. When you look at a color aerial photograph of Napeague Harbor taken during the late 20th century and in this century, you see how red the waters appear. The redness is attributed not so much to the overlying water but to the bottom, which is owned by the East Hampton Town Trustees.

    Remnants of a long-defunct fish meal factory can be found on the eastern shore north of the end of Napeague Harbor Road. It is now largely covered by sand from newly forming dunes that in time will become a fourth walking dune lined up behind the others, all of them creeping in a southerly direction. South of Napeague Harbor, dune sand covered what used to be the south end of an ancient waterway, creating the Napeague isthmus along which Montauk Highway and the Long Island Rail Road tracks make their way to Montauk.

    The dune field between the ocean and the highway is forever changing as sand comes and goes. Pitch pines and some newly-introduced Japanese black pines have entered from the west and stabilized a large portion of the area, almost all of which is now included in the boundaries of Napeague State Park — former Smith Meal Company land — stretching from the ocean on the south to Cranberry Hole Road on the north. Much of the land south of the strip has been taken over by invasive species, in particular, by phragmites and Japanese black pines, but a small portion of it just west of Dolphin Drive, now referred to as South Flora, is particularly rich in native dune species and, of all things, lady’s slipper orchids. To my knowledge it is the only place in the world where lady’s slippers are found out in the open growing in dunes. Their flowers are whiter than they are pink.

    The vegetation on the north side of the park where it abuts Cranberry Hole Road is just as interesting. It consists mainly of integrating patches of bearberry (known locally in some quarters as “deer-feed”), heather, and several species of lichens all covering and stabilizing a very flat dune plain. Across it runs an old railroad spur that used to serve the fish meal factory, the last of several to close its doors in the late 1950s.

    The water table is only a few feet below and fresh groundwater continually wicks up to supply the bearberry and heather with enough water to keep them thriving. Trees don’t stand a chance, except for the pitch pines in little hollows, as the winds sweeping across from south to north in the summer and vice versa in the winter keep any from getting a toehold. This close-knit dune plain as far as I can tell is the only one of its kind in New York State, maybe in all of America.

    Save for a few McMansions that have begun to dot the landscape at the edge of the state park north of Cranberry Hole since the early 1990s, this habitat gem has remained very much intact and if not molested by man will remain so for future centuries.

    This election season, Stephen Grossman is taking on Republican incumbent East Hampton Town Justice, Lisa R. Rana, running on the Democratic party line, and offering a decidedly different vision of how the court system should be structured.

    An alumnus of Colgate University and New York University Law School, Mr. Grossman has worked as a public defender in Mineola but has spent the majority of his career, 30 years, running his own private practice, Stephen Grossman and Associates, in Sag Harbor.

    Mr. Grossman first ran against Ms. Rana in 2003, in what he called a “lackluster campaign.”

    “Justice Court is the most important court, because it’s where most people get their taste of what court is about,” he said. “Why do people have to give up a day’s work for a traffic ticket? It’s a waste of a resources. If I’m going to leave an imprint on this community, I’d like to create a court that could be a model, something we could be proud of.”

    His opponent, a second-generation East End native raised in Amagansett, is running for her third four-year term on the Republican, Independence, Conservative, and Opportunity Party lines. Ms. Rana is also the acting Sag Harbor Village justice, supporting Andrea Schiavoni in helping the fledgling court, which opened last December, run smoothly.

    Ms. Rana said this year’s election has been extraordinarily busy in comparison to previous campaigns. “It seems as though there have been a lot more political events occurring,” she said. “As a candidate, I try to go to as many as I can to give people opportunities to meet me. I don’t get a chance to interact with the public very often.”    

    Mr. Grossman said the court “could be run a lot better,” especially with regard to town code violations and with the scheduling of court dates. He said that while he would be happy to win and he wants people to vote for him, his biggest concern is that the court adopt his proposed changes.

    “I think there should be an emphasis on dealing with town code violations promptly,” he said. “In regard to the situation out in Montauk, I would bring everyone together and work it out, and not accept it. The town attorney has said correctly that there isn’t enough in these building code violations to get an injunction. But, if [the situation] is what they say it is, you move to ‘abate a nuisance,’ and get 50 affidavits. Be creative. Push the envelope to the edge. The town has to act on behalf of the citizens — they shouldn’t have to hire their own lawyer.”

    Ms. Rana believes that despite a 25-percent reduction in the clerical staff, including a Spanish-speaking clerk who left in December 2009 and another who chose to leave under the terms of a state retirement incentive in the fall of 2010, everyone has done a “magnificent job” in maintaining the court’s functionality.

    “Big changes are not fiscally prudent at this time,” she said. “We’re trying to keep our heads above water. We moved into this new facility and have the capacity to house a new judge if that time comes. We secured funding for court security without any cost to the taxpayers. That was a big step for us. We’ve done a lot with a little. I think we managed the transition into a leaner department pretty flawlessly.”

    With regard to the second courtroom, built for a future third judge, Mr. Grossman wanted to know why, with statistics showing that East Hampton is the third-busiest justice court in the state, no one works on Fridays.

    “It really disturbs me,” he said. Mr. Grossman also criticized the $80,000 put into the 2011 town budget to cover more part-time security staff.    

    Mr. Grossman also noted that the town justices make more than $75,000 a year, including benefits, but work what he called “half-time,” two weeks on and two weeks off.

    “It’s an outrage,” he said. “If the work requires two judges, than two judges should be there. The door clicks open at 9 a.m. and clicks closed at 3:45 p.m. It takes a while to get a trial, and it shouldn’t. I’m doing this because I think it should be done. I promise you it’s not about the court being user-friendly, it’s about wanting the court to respond to the needs of the community.”

    Ms. Rana remains confident of her reputation on the bench. “I’m a fair judge, and I run a professional courtroom. I really strive to be impartial and fair. I love my job. It’s a great opportunity to make a difference in this community.”

    Bamboo. Just the word can connote so much to so many: a serene Eastern ornamental, a sustainable building material, food for the endangered giant panda. But in East Hampton Village, and other nearby towns and villages, the inexpensive and fast-growing plant is often considered an invasive species and a noxious weed.

    Several Dayton Lane residents sent letters to Larry Cantwell, the village administrator, and communicated with Tom Lawrence, the village’s code enforcement officer, about the encroachment of bamboo onto their properties. Their letters were accompanied by photographs showing the extensive damage to walkways and driveways, especially at the residence of Uwe Kind, where a neighbor’s bamboo plants have been growing unchecked.

    “It’s spreading so fast, it’s like something out of a horror movie,” another neighbor, David DeSilva, said in a letter to the village.

    The issue of a possible ban on bamboo was discussed at last Thursday’s East Hampton Village Board work session.

    Bamboo is a favorite plant, worldwide, for screening. There are over 1,400 species in two categories — “clumping” bamboo, which tends to cluster and spread slowly, and the highly aggressive “running” bamboo, which is legendary for its sprouting ability. One type of bamboo was measured growing 39 inches in a 24-hour period.

    The evergreen grass also increases its numbers by using rhizomes, or runners, which are strong enough to pierce through hardy plastic liners and likely to pop up in a neighbor’s yard.

    Sag Harbor Village recently drafted a proposal to ban bamboo entirely, including tendering notices to owners to remove what is already growing on their properties or face fines or even two weeks in jail.

    One option discussed by East Hampton was limiting bamboo to no less than 10 feet from a neighbor’s property line. “East Hampton Village has asked the village attorney to draft up some options about regulating or possibly outlawing bamboo,” said Mr. Cantwell.

    “We’re not planning on closing,” said Murphy Davis, the artistic director of the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, which will allow its lease to run out at its current location in May of 2013.

    Mr. Davis and Tracy Mitchell, the theater’s executive director, broke the news to the Sag Harbor Village Board on Tuesday night. “We felt it was our responsibility as a village entity,” Mr. Davis said. The current lease will see the theater through its 2012 season next summer, but after that the organization will be searching for a new spot for its stage productions, workshops, comedy performances, movie nights, and more.

    The Bay Street Theatre has occupied the space on the wharf for 20 years, renting from Malloy Enterprises, which is owned by Patrick Malloy III. The lease was temporarily renegotiated last year for three years, but after that, said Mr. Davis, it’s time for the theater to find a more permanent home.

    The yearly rent for the not-for-profit theater is holding at around $200,000 a year, but with the slowed economy, Mr. Davis said, it is harder to meet that goal without a major capital campaign each year.

    “Having a permanent place that the theater owned would be a great help to our capital campaign,” he said. “We just need to find an alternate space in Sag Harbor.”

    He pointed out that the theater brings “an enormous amount of income into the town. We have 150 to 300 people per night” during the season. “Those people want to eat, to shop, to see the sights.”

    There has been an offer to Bay Street from Mark Epley, the Mayor of Southampton Village, to take over the lease on the Parrish Museum building. Mr. Davis acknowledged the generosity of the offer. “We are certainly keeping all of our possibilities open,” he said. “But our goal is to stay in Sag Harbor. We love this town and love being a part of it.”