Editorials

   By a 3-to-2 vote, the East Hampton Town Board further consolidated power in the town budget office in the name of budget restraint early this month. Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, who led the party-line vote, explained that eliminating the town personnel officer would save $170,000. Len Bernard, the budget chief and Mr. Wilkinson’s appointee, will now be the only town official sharing hiring, firing, and, presumably, disciplinary matters with the supervisor. That’s not a good idea.

   What is unfortunate about the Montauk Ronjo (now the Beach House) controversy is that it has happened at all. The fact that it has points less to politics, as Supervisor Bill Wilkinson calls it, and more to a judgment gap in Town Hall in which flawed decisions can be made casually.

   There were congratulations to go around at an April 3 East Hampton School Board meeting at which it was announced that the district would be able to put its 2012-13 budget to voters while staying within a state-mandated 2-percent cap on the increase in the tax levy. Numerous cuts, especially to personnel, have resulted in a $62.8 million spending plan that stays within the cap. Voters are expected to look favorably on these results when they go to the poll on May 17.

   Work has been under way this year on the South Fork to clear debris from streams in the hope of increasing the population of alewives, an oceangoing fish that spawns in freshwater. These efforts are extremely important, not just for the species, but for improving the overall health of our treasured ecosystems.

   Once again, East Hampton Town officials are hearing a plea to use the community preservation fund, which has swelled to $23 million, to save a historic property. This time, the request is to save a homestead at the north end of North Main Street in East Hampton, which has been in the Sherrill family since 1792.

   In making a point about what he sees as the inadequacies of the East Hampton Town Ordinance Enforcement Department at a town board work session on March 20, a Springs illegal-housing activist raised a question that needs an answer: Is the department working to its full potential?

   Summer swimming season is a couple of months away, but something crossed our minds the other day that might be worth considering — in-season ocean safety courses for adults tailored for those from away.

    East Hampton’s public beaches are well served by outstanding lifeguards. A crack ocean-rescue squad can rapidly reach others in distress when called. A junior lifeguard program each year trains scores of kids in being safe around the water. And yet, despite all this, there remain blank spots on the miles of beaches where there are no lifeguards.

   For some years now, climate scientists have been trying, without much success, to get public officials in low-lying coastal areas to begin planning to meet the challenges of rising sea level. Although their warnings are not new, a report from a nonprofit organization — and a nifty associated interactive Web site — may help focus attention on this looming if slow-motion disaster.

   A move by the East Hampton Town Board to take on the seasonal problem of huge outdoor crowds at some bars and restaurants is welcome, but support should come with several caveats.

    As things stand, the town code is vague about how outdoor patrons of places such as at Cyril’s on Napeague and the Surf Lodge and Sloppy Tuna in Montauk should be counted — if at all. Regulations govern how much parking must be provided based on interior space, but give little guidance when the masses assemble for drinks under the open sky.

   State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.’s interest in taking up the question of whether local governments can regulate chain or “formula” stores is welcome, and East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson and Councilwoman Theresa Quigley should drop the huffiness and be willing to consider the possibility. East Hampton should not some day look and feel like anywhere else in strip-malled America, and it is up to town officials to see that it does not.

   For the first time, the veil has been pulled back on what the Federal Aviation Administration would and would not do in the matter of noise control at and around East Hampton Airport. In a detailed response to a request for clarity from Representative Tim Bishop, the agency said it would not pursue legal action once certain “grant assurances” expire if the town decided to impose what it calls “reasonable” restrictions there.

    The announcement Monday that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had given final approval to the designation of the Montauk Lighthouse as a national historic landmark was more than welcome news: It gives the Light, which stands on an eroding Montauk bluff, priority status in seeking federal grants and aid should it be damaged in a hurricane or other storms.

   A plan supported by East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson to privatize four tennis courts at the Terry King park on Abraham’s Path in Amagansett has drawn considerable opposition, as well it should. Now, with new information about the prospective private operator’s plans, reasons for rejecting it are underscored.

   A number of fed-up Springs residents are demanding that the Town of East Hampton do more to eliminate overcrowded and illegal houses. Their request for increased enforcement of laws already on the books is reasonable.

   What to do about East Hampton’s septic waste treatment plant on Springs-Fireplace Road has become a source of political division and tension in Town Hall.

    Treatment ended there last year after the state cited it for environmental violations. Bringing it into compliance with discharge regulations could be very costly.

   If the woods seem a little quieter than they were 10 or 20 years ago, consider this: There may be fewer birds here because the white-tailed deer have all but eliminated the understory on which many species relied for food and cover. Some researchers say there are more white-tailed deer afoot in North America now than at European contact. This is an environmental crisis.

   The New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, says the illegal trafficking of prescription drugs is epidemic on Long Island. This week, he announced legislation that would create a database intended to slow the rate at which narcotics end up on the street.

   An unfortunate inequality is built into New York State’s new 2-percent tax-levy cap, which is becoming clear as school districts struggle to keep within that limit while local governments appear to be facing somewhat less immediate stress.

   According to informed sources, people are starting to go out to lunch more often. This is good news for the local economy, at least as one out-of-town restaurateur of our acquaintance sees it, particularly if lunch-goers happen to be good tippers. This is probably also true in other areas of the service sector, where in most cases a gratuity in hand goes directly back into circulation. If there is a more expedient way to get dollars to where they are needed most, short of outright charity, we don’t know what it is.

   In a Minnesota courthouse on Dec. 15, a man with a handgun opened fire, wounding a county attorney and a bystander. Just over a week ago in Middletown, N.Y., a man walked into another courthouse and began blasting with a shotgun, stopping only when security officers shot back, killing him.

   Confusion increased at East Hampton Town Hall this week with the three-person Republican majority on the town board apparently ready to sell four of the seven condominium units the town owns on Pantigo Place to a lowball bidder. The deal would unload the condos, which house key town departments, at a price well below the fire-sale offer the majority had favored earlier.

   Way out West, in Sonoma, Calif., a debate we have been keeping an eye on is continuing about making it difficult for “formula” retailers to move into the area. The Sonoma City Council has been kicking around a draft ordinance that would subject stores that are part of chains with more than 10 outlets to additional permit review. City leaders had rejected a proposal for a temporary moratorium on such operations late last year.

   Now that East Hampton Town Highway Department Superintendent Stephen Lynch has settled in at his new post, it has become apparent that no further action will be taken on allegations that one of the department’s employees acted improperly in using a town truck to remove political signs put up by Mr. Lynch’s opponent before the November election. Letting the matter go gives the impression that East Hampton Town government has descended into a politically lawless operation in which what one does matters far less than who you know — or support.