The East Hampton Town Board and all appointed boards that have not already done so will resume meeting in person as of next week.
The town board will next meet on Tuesday, for an 11 a.m. work session in the main meeting room at Town Hall. It will hold a regular meeting next Thursday at 2 p.m., also at Town Hall.
The board has accepted public comment via telephone during its meetings throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Comment on public hearings will be accepted remotely only through April 15, unless Gov. Kathy Hochul extends an amendment to New York State’s Open Meetings Law authorizing any public body’s meetings to be held remotely by conference call or similar service, provided that the public has the ability to view or listen to the proceedings and that the meetings are recorded and later transcribed.
Should the governor not extend that amendment, official comment on public hearings will have to be made in person or in writing. The town board, however, is expected to continue taking comments by telephone as well as in person, Joanne Pilgrim, chief of staff to Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, said in an email on Monday.
On March 15, Mr. Van Scoyoc said he hoped that the state would make permanent the allowance of “hybrid” meetings in which the public could participate in person or remotely. On the same day, the supervisor rescinded a state of emergency declaration and accompanying executive orders, two years and two days after they were put in place in response to what was at the time a fast-accelerating public health emergency.
