A cocktail party fund-raiser to help elect Tommy John Schiavoni to the Southampton Town Board will be held in Sag Harbor on Sunday evening from 5 to 7. Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. will be the special guest at the Back Page, behind Page at 63 Main restaurant. Admission is $100 per person and includes hors d’oeuvres and cocktails.

Mr. Schiavoni is a Democratic candidate for town board, running with Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, a member of the Independence Party who received the Democratic nomination in his bid for re-election, and Councilwoman Julie Lofstad.

Running on the Republican ticket is Councilman Stan Glinka and Thea Dombrowski-Fry.

The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons and the East Hampton Group for Good Government have invited the public to a Democratic Party primary debate on Monday at 7 p.m. at the East Hampton Library.

Voters will have an opportunity to hear and ask questions of three contenders who would like to run for election to the East Hampton Town Board in November: Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, an incumbent seeking re-election, Jeffrey Bragman, an attorney and first-time candidate, and Zachary Cohen, who lost a 2011 bid for supervisor by just 15 votes. The East Hampton Democratic Committee endorsed Ms. Burke-Gonzalez and Mr. Bragman, and Mr. Cohen petitioned successfully to force a primary. It will take place on Sept. 12. The deadline to submit applications for absentee ballots is Sept. 5.

The candidates will make opening and closing statements and answer questions submitted by the sponsoring organizations and the audience. Estelle Gellman, co-president of the League of Women Voters, and Arthur Malman, chairman of the Group for Good Government, will moderate the debate and LTV will film it for Channel 20.

The two candidates who receive the most votes in the primary will run on the Democratic Party line against the Republican and other candidates in the general election, on Nov. 7.

An effort to encourage East Hampton Town business and residential property owners to replace septic systems that release untreated effluent into the environment with one of four wastewater treatment systems recently approved by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services will begin tomorrow, when applications for rebates will be accepted. 

“We’ve had a lot of inquiries; there’s a lot of interest,” Kim Shaw, the town natural resources director, said yesterday.

In an effort to reduce the nitrogen pollution in surface and drinking water that comes from septic waste, East Hampton has instituted the rebate program and adopted a law, to take effect in January, requiring low-nitrogen waste treatment rather than traditional septics for new construction, reconstruction, and major renovations.

Property owners with maximum annual incomes of $500,000 will be eligible for rebates and, for residential sites, the money may only be applied at a primary residence. Those within designated water protection districts, or whose income is within the income limit for affordable housing set by the county, could receive rebates covering the full cost of a new system, up to $16,000, with removal of an old one. Eligible property owners outside the designated water protection areas could receive rebates of up to 75 percent of the cost, or $10,000.

The water protection districts include all of East Hampton Town’s harbor protection areas surrounding ponds and harbors. Wainscott Pond is included, as well as the following priority areas: the downtown, dock area, Ditch Plain, and Camp Hero in Montauk, the Three Mile Harbor and south Hog Creek watersheds, the East Hampton Village business center, the densely developed neighborhoods of Springs, and a Sag Harbor water quality priority area. 

All four of the county-approved systems, made by three different manufacturers, treat waste by using biological processes to convert nitrogen into a gaseous form that can be released into the atmosphere, thereby avoiding nitrogen’s being released into the ground where it seeps into drinking and surface waters. 

Engineers and contractors familiar with the systems who have county endorsement will be able to help select and install the system that best suits a specific site. Several other systems are expected to be added to the approved list shortly, after pilot studies on their efficacy are completed.

The money for the town rebates will come from 20 percent of the community preservation fund, which voters approved last year for water quality improvement projects. The fund, which gets money from a 2-percent real estate transfer tax, had originally been intended only for land preservation. 

East Hampton Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, who sponsored the rebate legislation, said Tuesday that it is estimated that up to $5 million will be available for rebates through the end of this year; a similar amount could be available in 2018. This estimate is based on average C.P.F. income over 10 years. While other water quality improvement projects to be funded from the same pool are getting underway, the price tags are comparatively low for those being initiated immediately, Mr. Van Scoyoc said, leaving money for the rebates. “I doubt we’ll have to turn anybody away,” he said.

East Hampton’s rebate program will become part of a regional push to eliminate inadequate septic systems, particularly near bays and ponds. While the county is providing outright, upfront grants for septic system replacement, property owners participating in the town program will have to have the work done first and request reimbursement.

Mr. Van Scoyoc suggested that those eligible for rebates who do not have money available could make arrangements with contractors to get the work done in anticipation of the town rebate. “We wanted to see how that would work out,” he said. Mr. Van Scoyoc, the Democratic candidate for town supervisor in November, said the board could discuss revising the program in the future, if need be.

“The town’s septic rebate program is a significant step toward improving our local ground and surface waters. And with the adoption of the strictest standards in Suffolk County, we’re on track to make significant improvements in water quality,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said.

  Applications for the rebate can be obtained from the Natural Resources Department or downloaded from the town website at ehamptonny.gov. Once approved, property owners must have the system’s replacement done within six months and submit proof before receiving the money. As with any septic system installation, County Health Department approval will be needed.

Under the county’s Reclaim Our Water initiative, property owners may be awarded up to $11,000 to pay for low-nitrogen septic systems. In addition, low-interest loans are available. The county began accepting applications for its grant program in July. Information is posted on a website dedicated to the program, reclaimourwater.info. 

While the use of the recently approved types of septic treatment systems, being called “innovative, alternative onsite wastewater systems,” is new here, the technology has been used throughout the country and worldwide for decades. 

Environmentalists have long pressed for the prohibition of antiquated septic technology. The town’s requirement for their use in new construction or substantial renovation or rebuilding, to take effect in January, will for the first time impose a higher standard.

Two of the four approved systems are made by Norweco, an Ohio-based company established in 1906. Another system, the Orenco Advantex AX20-RT, has been used worldwide since 1981, according to Angela Bounds, a marketing manager of the company, based in Oregon.

The fourth approved system, the Hydro-Action AN Series, has been manufactured for close to three decades. James Conley, a sales manager at the Indiana company, said thousands are in use throughout the country. “It’s definitely not new technology,” he said. The systems work on the same principle as the technology used in municipal wastewater treatment plants since the early 1900s, he said, only modified 

for smaller units for residences.

Estimates provided by the county, and information about vendors for all the systems, show installation costs ranging from $13,439 to $16,919, when the units are installed using existing leaching methods, with costs from just over $16,000 to $19,792 with a new leaching structure, and up to $23,578 with the additional installation of what is called a pressurized shallow drain field for leaching. Costs also may vary according to site restraints. Additional fees for engineering design and permits range from $2,500 to $5,200, depending on the firm selected. 

All of the systems have external control panels and require continued access to lids at ground level that allow inspection and annual maintenance. Electric is estimated to cost from $57 to $266 a year. Neither the town nor county program will cover the expense of restoring landscaping that may be affected by the installation.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the East Hampton Town Anti-Bias Task Force condemned the attacks by white supremacists that took place on Aug. 12 and 13 in Charlottesville, Va.

". . . [W]e as residents of the Town of East Hampton believe that the attack in Charlottesville by white supremacists and neo Nazis is an attack on us all. No matter your political party, religion, ethnic background, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race, or familial status, robbing our community of its sense of security and well-being is a domestic act of terrorism and is no less a threat then if it were performed by any hostile force, foreign or domestic," the task force said.

The statement also thanked East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, who on Tuesday condemned the violence in Charlottesville.

"East Hampton is a welcoming community and we welcome all of good will to enjoy, in safety, this very special place," the task force said.

The anti-bias task force is an advisory committee appointed by the East Hampton Town Board. Audrey Gaines is its chairwoman. It holds meetings on the second Wednesday of each month at 4 p.m. in East Hampton Town Hall on Pantigo Road.

Southampton Town

Work Session Canceled

The Southampton Town Board’s work session this morning at 10 was canceled. The next regularly scheduled work session will be next Thursday at 10 a.m. in the town board meeting room in Town Hall.

New in Code Enforcement

Steven Troyd, a 28-year law enforcement veteran, has been hired as the new head of code enforcement for Southampton Town. He will start in September.

The town is taking a new approach in addressing overcrowded housing and quality of life issues with this new full-time position. Supervisor Jay Schneiderman has said that the ordinance enforcement division suffered from a lack of daily supervision and oversight.

As announced earlier this year, Mr. Schneiderman put Diana Weir in the position of director of housing and community development to address the lack of affordable housing. The town also recently launched Southampton Online Solutions, an online complaint portal that residents can use to log and track concerns.

At the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Troyd supervised the New York Metro gang task force and oversaw investigations on child exploitation and narcotics. He has experience in emergency management, gained during Sept. 11 and Superstorm Sandy.

Suit Over PSEG Poles

Southampton Town is joining the Town of Brookhaven in a lawsuit against PSEG-Long Island for erecting 79-foot poles along County Road 51, a 10-mile stretch of road that runs between a rural area of East Moriches in Brookhaven and Riverside in Southampton, in the spring. In a statement this week, Southampton officials said the road has the highest elevation on the East End with “breathtaking vistas of the North Fork.”

Brookhaven Town claimed PSEG failed to adequately follow the State Environmental Quality Review Act. County Road 51 is home to Long Island’s largest white cedar swamp and sits on the edge of 50,000 acres of preserved pinelands.

Southampton Town filed a motion to intervene in New York State Supreme Court to join Brookhaven’s action. The goal is to have PSEG remove the poles and bury the lines underground. The suit claims there is a precedent to bury the lines, as that was done on an 18-mile stretch south of County Road 51 between Riverhead and Shinnecock Hills in the 1990s.

Party for Jay at Sebonack

A cocktail party fund-raiser for the campaign to re-elect Jay Schneiderman, the Southampton Town supervisor, will be held on Wednesday by the Friends of Jay Schneiderman. The $250 per person event will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton. Hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Friends of Glinka Fund-Raiser

The Friends of Stanley J. Glinka, a Southampton Town councilman, will host a celebration of summer on Monday in Bridgehampton to introduce Mr. Glinka’s running mate, Thea Dombrowski-Fry. The two will speak about their plans for Southampton’s future at the campaign fund-raiser, to be held at Elaia Estiatorio at 95 School Street from 6 to 8 p.m. Tickets, at $125 per person, include an open bar, appetizers, a light buffet, and valet parking.

The East End’s representatives in Albany, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, are jointly sponsoring a law that would require the Long Island Power Authority to provide public notice of its intent to install new above-ground electric transmission lines, before determining the project’s environmental significance.

The power authority’s service provider, PSEG Long Island, caused an uproar in East Hampton when it began installing a six-mile-long high-voltage transmission line between East Hampton Village and Amagansett, without, according to local officials, fully informing them of what was planned. Most recently, large metal transmission line poles were installed in Eastport without community involvement.

“A mistake can happen once,” the lawmakers said in a joint press release. “However, when LIPA/PSEG LI excludes the public over and over again, it is intentional. PSEG LI has no interest in transparency, public outreach, or the community character of the people it serves.”

“The NYS Department of Public Service had promised us a ‘thoughtful approach to aesthetics and adequate advance notice of proposed projects,’ ” the legislators stated, “and that ‘the outreach process [would be] sufficient for affected communities to fully understand the magnitude of the project, be aware of alternatives, and have a meaningful opportunity to provide input.’ Instead, they abdicated their responsibility to the public.”

Early notification would allow the public and municipalities to weigh in on a project’s potential impacts to the community and environment before it is slated to begin.

Eight years after facing a financial deficit that required issuing bonds totaling $22 million to balance its budget, East Hampton Town has achieved Moody’s Investors Service’s highest bond rating — Aaa. On Monday, as the town prepared to issue $3.4 million in bonds for various capital projects, Moody’s upgraded the rating from Aa1, citing “sound, conservative management.”

East Hampton, a Moody’s report says, “is expected to maintain a solid financial position due to its conservative budgeting and strong financial management practices with limited future borrowing planned.”

“It certainly marks a remarkable recovery for the Town of East Hampton’s finances,” Supervisor Larry Cantwell said at a town board meeting on Tuesday. The town,  he noted, went from “$22 million deficit financing eight years ago, to an almost $30 million surplus” today. That surplus has been built up in various budget funds and now reflects 36 percent of the town’s revenues.

“This recognizes that the town has fully recovered from the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. It’s been a team effort,” said Len Bernard, the town budget officer, in a press release. “Not only have we returned the town to its pre-2009 rating, but we have surpassed that with Moody’s highest rating possible.”

“The town’s remarkable recovery from its deficit in 2009 is a direct result of the hard work of the town’s finance team, the town board’s commitment to this financial recovery, and the dedication of its many employees,” Mr. Cantwell said in the release.

Under recent budgets adopted by the town board, capital spending requiring new borrowing has been kept at a minimum, allowing an overall reduction in debt each year. 

The rating, according to Moody’s, takes into account a “moderate debt burden with rapid debt retirement and a sizeable, growing tax base characterized with strong wealth and income levels.”

“That Aaa is a remarkable achievement,” Mr. Cantwell said. He cited a “disciplined financial approach” and “sound financial management,” thanking his fellow board members, the town’s financial staff, and others for the success.

The favorable bond rating will enable the town to earn low interest rates on its debt, saving money.

Following through on its agreement last month to allow expanded research in Wainscott Pond, with the goal of developing remedies for its degraded water quality, the East Hampton Town Trustees heard an overview on Monday night of the protocol that will assess the water body.

Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, who has conducted water-quality research for the trustees for the last four years and more recently for a group of property owners on Georgica Pond in East Hampton, told the trustees that “this study is to come up with a comprehensive assessment about the watershed, the ecosystem, and the flow of water and nutrients into the water body.” That, he said, would allow development of a remediation plan.

A study of Wainscott Pond would follow the trajectory of his research at Georgica, which was started for the trustees but significantly expanded thanks to funding from the property owners’ group, the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation. That study has produced a large body of data, he said. “I see Wainscott Pond working in the exact same way.”

Property owners around Wainscott Pond have similarly banded together, raising $179,000 to fund the expanded research that Dr. Gobler said was essential to combating the harmful algal blooms that have afflicted both ponds, as well as Fort Pond in Montauk and other water bodies across Long Island. That figure will fund a full calendar year of research, he said.

To date, little is known about Wainscott Pond’s watershed or ecosystem. “Until we have data and information, what we might do could solve all of the problem, or none of the problem,” Dr. Gobler said. “We need more information to move forward.” 

A telemetry buoy has been placed at the pond’s center to continuously collect and transmit data such as temperature, pH, and levels of chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen, and blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria. That data can be seen at somas.stonybrook.edu/gobler.

Dr. Gobler further proposed the collection of water samples from the shoreline and via a non-mechanized vessel from multiple locations in the pond to quantify nitrogen, phosphorous, algae, fecal coliform bacteria, and enterococcus levels. Sediment samples will be taken to measure organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorous content. The bottomlands’ composition — sand versus mud, for example — will be assessed. This, he said, “has a lot of implications for movement of water, but also cycling of nutrients.”

The Town of East Hampton is holding an online auction to sell surplus property. Bids can be submitted until Sunday on the auction site aarauctions.com, with payment due by 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Items must be picked up by next Thursday.

Among the items for sale are a 2013 Kawasaki Jet Ski, cars and trucks, trailers, mowers, and lights. They can be seen on the auction site, and an in-person preview of them can be arranged by calling Lisa Valcich at the town purchasing office.