Thanks to State Senate Bill 2021-S6331, signed by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo shortly before his 2021 resignation, the terms of office for the East Hampton Town Trustees are now staggered. In 2023, the five candidates receiving the most votes served four-year terms and the remaining four successful candidates served two-year terms. Trustee elections now proceed every two years but with fewer candidates up for re-election than the 18-odd names that were typically on the ballot in the past. All elected trustees now serve four-year terms.
This year, the four remaining incumbents elected in 2023 are all Democrats. They face four Republican challengers, two of whom ran for the office in 2023 and one of whom sought a seat on the town board.
Early voting continues through Sunday. Election Day is Tuesday.
John Aldred (D)
First elected as a trustee in 2017, John Aldred once worked at the New York Ocean Science Laboratory in Montauk, later co-founding Multi-Aquaculture Systems on Napeague and, in the late 1980s, launching the town's shellfish hatchery. He is at present in his second year as one of the trustees' two deputy clerks. He has taken a lead in promoting and monitoring the development of an independent nearshore fisheries study for the South Fork Wind farm.
"I have been involved as much as I can be," he told The Star. "It's soon to be completed, so in the next year, year and a half, we might have some conclusions. I'd like to see that through."
He has also been deeply involved in the trustees' two-year review of residential docks and other structures under their jurisdiction, which led to more uniform and comprehensive management in trustee bottomlands and waterways in December 2023. He assists the hatchery in seeding and oyster reef development, monitors mosquito breeding on the Accabonac marshes, and is involved in the trustees' horseshoe crab surveys in Northwest Harbor.
There is also "a lot of day-to-day that doesn't rise to the level of interest but is pretty important," he added of his work. "It occupies a lot of time."
David Cataletto (D)
A sixth-grade English and world history teacher at the East Hampton Middle School, David Cataletto was elected to the trustees in 2021. Through his work as a teacher, he has brought greater emphasis on education to the trustee board: He leads the middle school's Surfrider Club and its Do Good, Be Good community service club.
"Between those two clubs, I've been able to get my middle schoolers on board and learning about the important programs for the hatchery," he said, pointing to students' efforts to restore eelgrass beds to local waterways by gluing eelgrass seeds to shells before seeding waterways with them, and another recent endeavor, the seeding of Three Mile Harbor with thousands of clam and oyster seedlings. "We went in and reported what we did to the trustees, which was really enlightening for those students," he said, "and really important for them to see what goes on behind the scenes and that they can have a positive influence on our community."
He recently helped lead a beach cleanup in Wainscott, where members of the Do Good, Be Good club removed 50 pounds of trash, including plastics. He also leads in planning the annual Largest Clam Contest, which earlier this month saw its largest-ever turnout. A member of the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station Museum's board, he was instrumental in moving the contest from the grounds of the trustees' offices to the nearby museum, which offers more spacious grounds and the restored 1902 structure.
"I've been helping out with the horseshoe crab counts," he said, "and been busy with ponds, learning about how water quality is such an important issue, how we monitor, remediate, figure out what's working, and come up with solutions."
John Dunning (R)
A grandson of Sam Lester, a former town councilman, John Dunning is a commercial pilot and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation-licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
"I care about our town," he said, "and I want to be the best trustee I can be. I take wildlife and our wetlands and bottomlands very seriously. That's really the crux of it, taking care of what we have. Making sure the environment is good for generations to come is important to me."
The environmental degradation he has seen around the world through his work as a pilot heightens his concern for its conservation locally, he said. "I have witnessed the result when there's no control or protections, from the oceans of Rio de Janeiro, where the water is so foul you can't put a foot in it because it's contaminated with human waste, to all the plastics in the water in a lot of Central and South American countries. It's horrible."
One of the worst examples, he said, was seen on the way to a layover hotel in New Delhi. "They had a huge pile of tires on fire. It was absolutely hideous. We asked why the tires were on fire, and the driver said, 'We have to get rid of them somehow.' I was in disbelief that that was how they decided to get rid of used tires. I do know what happens" without strong environmental protection policies, he said.
This is his second campaign for trustee. "Some people think that being a Republican is anti-environment," he said. "I don't think that's the case. I consider myself a conservative environmentalist."
Tim Garneau (D)
A longtime Democratic Committee member, Tim Garneau was elected to the trustees in 2019. "I've always been very involved in the community," he said. He served as chairman of the town's Little League field relocation committee, which was in charge of building new fields to make room for the freestanding emergency room in East Hampton.
As a trustee, he has been involved in Cornell Cooperative Extension's horseshoe crab monitoring research project, engaging high school students and others here in compiling data that the D.E.C. uses to assess the status of the species in the area. "We've done very well," he said. "The numbers are great, we have a good team, I've gotten the community involved. It's a great way to get people into what the trustees do."
He is a member of the trustees' recently formed dredging committee. "We're using some of our wind farm monies in the right way to help," he said of the money the trustees receive from the South Fork Wind farm's developers in exchange for the easement allowing its export cable to make landfall at the trustee-owned beach in Wainscott. "There are a lot of different projects on the table, but I'm very committed to this committee."
The current trustee board is diverse, he said. "We're a pretty well-functioning board. Things like the Largest Clam Contest really bring out the awareness to the community as to who the trustees are and what we do."
"With all the things happening in the world, it's refreshing to be part of a local government."
Celia Josephson (D, WF)
Elected in 2023, Celia Josephson is the sole attorney on the trustee board. She joined the Whalen Filer law firm in Amagansett earlier this year, but has a background in environmental law.
"When I was living and working in Boston, I worked with the State Legislature, with the health care committee there," she said. "It was a joint committee to abate the huge lead-poisoning problem that they had there. I used to work for Legal Services, where class actions were brought to deal with environmental issues."
"Water quality is key," she said of the trustees' work. "It has been and it will continue to be." She spoke of the trustees' work with the Gobler Lab at Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. "What's great is we get a constant flow of data that we can evaluate for longer-term projects, to projects that have just been updated and initiated," she said. "Water quality also affects marine life, which is critically important -- oysters and clams, and hopefully bringing back the scallops."
"We have to be very nimble, because the impact of climate change is leading to changes in the waters that have never been seen before," she said. "That's a huge priority."
"I've thoroughly enjoyed it," she said of her first term. "I really appreciate the fact that all of the other trustees come from different backgrounds and bring their expertise to the group."
Kurt Kappel (R)
Kurt Kappel, who grew up in Springs and owns a construction company, was exploring the town's harbors by boat from the time he was 7 years old. He grew up on the water, fishing, clamming, and boating, he said. His grandfather owned the Shagwong Marina on Three Mile Harbor, and after graduating from college in Louisiana, he returned to East Hampton, where he has lived ever since. "Seeing it for the last 50 years," he said of the town's waterways, "I think I have a lot to offer. That's why I would like to be a trustee."
This is his second time running for trustee. "I do agree with some things they do," he said of the present trustee board, "and don't agree with other things." He spoke of his deep knowledge of how environmental conditions in the town have improved or worsened, and said that maintaining the public's access to waterways and beaches is crucial.
Michael Wootton (R)
Growing up in Syosset, Michael Wootton's family would vacation on a boat docked at the Montauk Marine Basin. He worked in banking in Manhattan for around 20 years, bought a house in Wainscott in the 1990s, and became a year-round resident around 2006.
A candidate for the town board in 2023, Mr. Wootton describes himself as an environmental advocate who has voted for Republicans and Democrats alike. "I get along with these folks," he said of some of the incumbent trustees. "I feel like I've got some skills to offer the town, and would like to get in there and do some work." The trustees' efforts to protect public access at the 4,000-foot stretch of ocean beach on Napeague popularly known as Truck Beach, which a New York State Supreme Court judge ruled is privately owned, "could have been handled better," he said.
He works with East Hampton Volunteer Ocean Rescue and is a triathlete, noting that the swim portion of the Mighty Montauk Triathlon was canceled this year and in 2023 because of elevated bacteria levels in Fort Pond. "Water quality is going to require a lot of work with the town and state, and maybe more education to the public."
In his campaign for town board, Mr. Wootton pointed to overdevelopment as a contributor to climate change and said he supported the initiative that resulted, earlier this year, in zoning code amendments that introduced new formulas to determine the maximum size of residential construction.
James Stark Vilar (R)
"As a 23-year-old lifelong resident of East Hampton Town, I am deeply committed to preserving the natural beauty, traditions, and community spirit that define our home," James Stark Vilar said in a statement provided to The Star. "Growing up here has given me a firsthand understanding of both the challenges our town faces and the importance of protecting the waters, beaches, and open spaces that sustain us."
He is running for trustee "because I believe it's time to bridge generations — combining our community's longstanding values with new energy, transparency, and forward-thinking stewardship. My goal is to ensure that the next generation inherits clean bays, resilient shorelines, and a local government that listens and acts responsibly."
He pledged to work to strengthen coastal protection, support sustainable shellfishing and habitat restoration, and uphold public access to beaches and waterways. "As someone who has lived, worked, and volunteered here my entire life, I understand what makes East Hampton unique — and I'm dedicated to serving the people who call it home."
