Revolt By Trustees
The East Hampton Town Trustees have fired the first shot in a revolution to win back some of the authority the ancient body had when it governed the town in colonial times.
A one-and-a-half-page resolution passed last week seeks to place the Town Harbors and Docks Department under the control of the Trustees rather than the Town Board. It is so far the only action to come out of a 21-page draft "manifesto," which is being circulated among the Trustees.
The manifesto, which amplifies a four-page draft manifesto presented to the Trustees almost a year ago by Town Councilman Tom Knobel, seeks to give the Trustees authority to regulate all kinds of activity on the waterfront rather than the Town Board or Zoning Board of Appeals. Mr. Knobel is a former Trustee.
Test Case
The resolution, delivered to the Town Board on Monday by the Trustees' Clerk, Diane Mamay, was sent on as a test of what the Trustees hope to do in the future, observers said.
The resolution is expected to widen an existing breach between the Trustees and Supervisor Cathy Lester, herself a former Trustee. Ms. Lester said this week she thought it had been illegal, several years ago, when town law was amended to require Trustee approval over any changes the Town Board contemplated for public lands the Trustees owned.
She said she also would oppose the Trustees' expected attempt to take the lead away from the Town Zoning Board of Appeals in regulating waterfront and natural resource permits.
Referendum Needed
"I know it's in the wings," she said, adding that "any move to reduce the Town Board's authority cannot be done without a public referendum." John Jilnicki, a deputy town attorney, agreed.
Neither the current proposal nor the greater powers the Trustees are expected to seek before long were advisable, said Ms. Lester, because Trustees were elected officials, while members of the municipal agencies were appointed.
"Trustees would be subject to political pressure," she said.
The resolution, approved on Sept. 24, asks the Town Board to accept a major change: to allow harbors and docks jurisdiction to "become a division of the Trustees . . . with a separate budget under the control of the Trustees."
Called Common Sense
The four harbormasters and two bay constables operate under Town Board supervision, reporting to Supervisor Cathy Lester and the other board members. The issue is expected to come up when the board holds budget hearings, beginning on Monday.
Trustee Gordon Vorpahl, who drafted the resolution, said last week that the Trustees were not dissatisfied with the harbormasters or bay constables.
"Ninety percent of what they do now is on Trustee-controlled places," he said, adding that it was "common sense" that the Trustees should oversee their work. "I don't want to sit on the dock and tell Bill Taylor [senior harbormaster] what to do. I have no problem with what they do, but sometimes their priorities may not be the same as ours," Mr. Vorpahl said.
History Traced
John Courtney, the Trustees' attorney, said the legal basis for the Trustees' request was found in the Dongan Patent of 1686. It gave the Trustees royal authority to govern, and to create constables to enforce the law. Ms. Mamay agreed, saying that "a document that gives you regulatory authority gives you enforcement authority too."
It was understood that Mr. Courtney had prepared the 21-page manifesto now under consideration.
Mr. Courtney traced the history of the town bay constables from their status as independently elected officials to appointed ones, asserting that the "Trustees were left armless" when they began to function under the direction of the Town Board. Had the Trustees been more aggressive at the time, he said, they might have avoided the change.
Southampton Example
While the constables and harbormasters enforced Trustee regulations now, Mr. Courtney said, the Trustees wanted to assure there would be no conflicts in the future.
"It's history repeating itself," the head of the Southampton Town Trustees, Scott Strough, commented. In 1993, then Supervisor Fred W. Thiele Jr. made that town's bay constables a part of the Police Department. Although the Trustees sued, they lost.
Mr. Strough said the situations in the towns were not totally analogous, however.
"We have certain control anyway. All our policies [regarding shellfish grounds, docks, bulkheads, fish traps, et cetera] rest with the Trustees." This is not the case in East Hampton, where Trustees share oversight with town agencies such as the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Divided Duties
Mr. Strough said having the bay constables (Southampton does not have harbormasters) under the police was an uncomfortable situation. The Trustees had made a concerted effort to stay in close communication, he added, but the bay constables "find themselves in a position of wondering who to answer to."
Were the East Hampton harbormasters and constables to work under Trustee jurisdiction, they would be involved in a host of regulations, from those dealing with channel markers to speed limits, from shellfish laws to pump-out stations, dock inspections, and testing for water quality.
On Tuesday, Ms. Mamay, noting that the East Hampton Town Police have a marine police division, suggested that enforcement duties might be divided. The marine police could, she suggested, enforce boating safety and state navigation laws.
Montauk Matter
Mr. Taylor, the senior harbormaster, said this week that jurisdiction over the Montauk waterfront would be the biggest impediment to the Trustees' initiative. The Trustees do not own the public harbors or beaches in Montauk as they do elsewhere in town.
"Half my budget and half our people go to Montauk. How is it going to work with Montauk?" Mr. Taylor asked.
Ms. Mamay said she hoped the Town Board, which now controls what goes on in Lake Montauk and the rest of the Montauk waterfront, would adopt the same regulations the Trustees use in the rest of East Hampton Town.
As to a referendum to transfer authority, she said, "That's fine. . . . I'm not afraid of a referendum of the public. We're doing it for them."