Government

Two pumpout boats owned and operated by the East Hampton Town Trustees were in particularly heavy use this summer, especially the one based at the Star Island municipal marina in Lake Montauk. The coronavirus pandemic, the trustees maintain, is behind the surge in boating activity, as well as boaters’ eschewing of showers and other public facilities at marinas in favor of those on board. 

The Suffolk County Department of Public Works is making its way along Springs-Fireplace Road in a $7.3 million reconstruction project. The project extends from the North Main Street-Three Mile Harbor Road intersection north to Woodbine Drive. Its goals include improved roadway surfacing, the alleviation of flooding and ponding during rainstorms, and easier maneuverability for pedestrians and cyclists and is expected to be finished by the spring.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic Party's nominee for president, has announced his support for Nancy Goroff, the Democrats' candidate in New York's First Congressional District.

A State Supreme Court justice upheld an expanded permit for the Sand Land mine in Noyac, awarded by the State Department of Environmental Conservation in 2019. The permit has been tied up in litigation ever since.

Making his first bid for elective office in East Hampton Village, Jerry Larsen, the village's former police chief, was the high vote-getter in the three-person race for mayor on Tuesday, winning in a landslide against Barbara Borsack, the deputy mayor, who has been a member of the village board since 2000, and Arthur Graham, a trustee since 2017. 

Land use trends, traffic, pollution, and future growth potential were among the matters considered when the East Hampton Town Board was updated on an ongoing evaluation of issues affecting the Springs-Fireplace Road corridor. 

Since its implementation last year, the Suffolk311 call center for non-emergency inquiries has received over 110,000 calls from residents across the county, 91,661 of them between March and September of this year.

Jerry Larsen was elected East Hampton Village mayor on Tuesday, bringing to a close a campaign that was unusual both for its length and frequent conflict among the top-line candidates.

Deputy Mayor Barbara Borsack and Trustee Arthur Graham came in second and third, respectively, when the absentee votes were counted. 

With hours to go before the polls close, Jerry Larsen, a candidate for East Hampton Village mayor in Tuesday's election, has signaled that he intends to contest the results of the election and ask that all ballots, voting machines, and objections to ballots be impounded.

In a watershed moment this week, the Southampton Town Board voted unanimously Tuesday in support of the Graves Protection Act and the Shinnecock Hills Building Moratorium. 

Groundwater contamination in the hamlet of Wainscott was not caused by a 70.5-acre former sand and gravel mine in that hamlet, according to a new determination by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

A second public hearing on community choice aggregation, a program that allows a local government to procure electricity and/or natural gas on behalf of its residents, businesses, and municipal accounts from a provider other than an area's traditional utility, will happen during the East Hampton Town Board's meeting next Thursday.