“It’s amazing,” Francis Bock, the clerk of the East Hampton Town Trustees, said on election night at Rowdy Hall in East Hampton, where he and fellow Democrats watched as the Suffolk County Board of Elections’ unofficial result had all of the nine seats going to Democrats or Democratic-endorsed candidates. “I just can’t believe it.”
This does not mean there will no arguments among the trustees, Mr. Bock said. “I still expect discussion amongst the board,” he said. “I know that we have some board members who are not always going to agree.” Nonetheless, “I think it’s going to be good, I really do.”
A trustee’s term spans two years. Evaluating and choosing from among as many as 18 candidates is no easy task, and Mr. Bock is among those calling for staggered elections for the trustee board, so that fewer candidates will stand for re-election simultaneously. “That’s priority number one for me,” he said on election night.
How the election schedule would be altered remains to be seen, but Mr. Bock said on Monday that one way would be to award four-year terms to the four or five candidates winning the most votes. Voters could select the trustees’ clerk, or presiding officer, separately from a vote for the other trustees (the trustees at present choose the clerk themselves, by nomination and majority vote).
Citing New York State town law, Mr. Bock said that his understanding is that the town board would have to adopt a resolution on the terms for trustee elections, which would then be put to voters in a referendum.
Because the Veterans Day holiday fell on Monday, the trustees will hold the first of two meetings this month tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.
