The East Hampton Village Board accepted the resignation of Sarah Amaden and appointed Jason Tuma to fill her seat when it met on Friday.
Ms. Amaden, a political newcomer when she was elected in June 2022, wrote to the board in August that she could not devote the time required to fulfill her duties owing to a travel schedule and other personal reasons. She was instrumental in the passage of Skip the Stuff legislation passed in 2024, an effort to limit plastic waste generated in large part by takeout food orders that was advocated locally by members of the Surfrider Foundation’s Eastern Long Island chapter. Ms. Amaden also established the committee tasked with building a new playground in Herrick Park, and was named liaison to the East Hampton Village Foundation’s Herrick Park playground subcommittee in August.
“We’d like to thank Sarah Amaden,” Mayor Jerry Larsen said at the start of the meeting. “This is her last meeting. She’s resigning to do more fun things. . . . We’re going to miss you, Sarah. You’ve just done a great job.” Ms. Amaden’s resignation was effective as of Tuesday.
Later in the meeting, the board, by resolution, appointed Mr. Tuma, effective yesterday. In a separate resolution, Mr.
Tuma was appointed the village’s liaison to the East Hampton Fire Department and museums, also effective yesterday.
Also a newcomer to government, Mr. Tuma, a Montauk native and graduate of East Hampton High School, has lived in the village since 2013.
Friday’s meeting saw another goodbye, this one to J.P. Foster. By resolution, the board authorized a separation agreement with Mr. Foster, who retired on Friday with the rank of Public Safety Dispatcher 3, or lead dispatcher. Mr. Foster managed the 911 system for East Hampton, and retires after more than 35 years with the village. He is at present in his 13th year on the East Hampton School Board, his 12th as its president, and is also chairman of LTV’s board of directors.
Mr. Foster is a Republican candidate for town board, seeking to unseat either Councilwoman Cate Rogers or Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte, who are up for re-election on Nov. 4.
“It’s a good day for J.P. It’s a sad day for the department,” Chief Jeffrey Erickson of the village’s Police Department said. “It’s been a pleasure to work for you, and I thank you personally for all you’ve done for the village and this community.”
Adam Fine, the school district’s superintendent, added that Mr. Foster “has always been the voice of reason and balance. His commitment to East Hampton is unmatched. He was a mentor to me when I became superintendent and even as principal.” The safety of students “has always been paramount to J.P.’s decisions,” he said. Mr. Foster “has always been the voice that says, ‘I don’t care how much it costs. You can’t put a cost on the lives of our students and staff, and we should do it.’ And we have done that.”
A proclamation was read, recognizing and honoring Mr. Foster “for his extraordinary service, leadership, and unwavering dedication to the betterment of our village, our schools, and our community.”
“I’d like to thank the board for always being very supportive of me through the years,” Mr. Foster said. “I travel often around the county, and people wish they had what we have here as far as support from their board, as far as support from their departments.”
EpiPens in Cop Cars
In other news from the meeting, the board approved the use of epinephrine auto injector pens in cases of anaphylactic reactions, training courses at $35 per police officer, and the purchase of two adult and pediatric epinephrine auto injectors at approximately $600 plus the cost of storage equipment.
“This is a great new program that we’re going to be one of the first agencies in Suffolk to implement,” the mayor said. There had been an ambulance call, he said, for a woman experiencing an anaphylactic reaction, which can be caused by an insect sting or by certain foods, medications, and even latex. Police arrived but “there was nothing for the police to do because they didn’t have this medication in their car. Eventually, the paramedic got there, he had the medication, and everything worked out great.”
Later, the woman’s daughter-in-law asked the mayor why police vehicles were not equipped with the medical device. “I didn’t know we could carry them in the police cars,” he said. He was told about last year’s amendments to the 2019 Gio’s Law, named for Giovanni Cipriano, a Lynbrook boy who died in 2013 after going into anaphylactic shock, which clarify that all counties can opt to carry the medical device in police vehicles. Suffolk County was the first to opt into the program. “We’re going to implement it as soon as possible,” the mayor said.
The medicine is expensive, Chief Erickson said, “but in the grand scheme of things, that’s nothing if somebody, God forbid, needs it. As far as I know, we’re going to be the first agency on the East End to do this.” Two police vehicles will be equipped with the device, “so we’ll always have two doses of medicine out there.”
“Our police cars have oxygen, defibrillators, major first aid kits, Narcan, and now they’re going to have this drug,” the mayor said. “They’re the first people to be on the scene in most cases, and it’s good that they have the ability to help.”
With Reporting by Christopher Gangemi
