Government

Seeking to speed up the process of developing a sewage treatment system for East Hampton Village, the village board on Friday hired a new consultant to oversee the project.  

Voter information tables will be scattered across East Hampton and Southampton Towns and on Shelter Island on Tuesday, which is National Voter Registration Day. 

Proposals to create property maintenance requirements for East Hampton Village landowners, to allow the construction of cellars that extend beyond the exterior wall of a residence, and to establish the position of "village constable" will receive public hearings before the village board on Oct. 15.

More than 75 percent of people who responded to a wireless infrastructure poll conducted in East Hampton Town last month described network coverage where they live as poor or nonexistent. 

The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered Dune Resorts and Ocean Bay Management, hotel management companies based in East Hampton, to pay $210,000 in back wages and penalties for violating terms of the H-2B guest worker visa program in 2017 and 2018.

The southern pine beetle infestation that has killed thousands of pitch pines in East Hampton Town since 2017 is continuing its destructive march, with thousands more dead and dying trees identified this year.

East Hampton Town has asked a state judge for permission to re-argue its case against digging at a local sand mine, after the State Department of Environmental Conservation allowed the mine to create an artificial lake by digging deeper into groundwater.

Upon expiration of Federal Aviation Administration grant assurances this month, the town will regain control over the airport. It could allow its operation to continue as-is, enact restrictions or curfews on air traffic such as the elimination of commercial flights, close the airport and reopen it with new restrictions in place, or close the airport permanently and put the site to a new use. 

Is Lake Montauk a "holdover" habitat for striped bass, an otherwise migratory species? The question was explored at a meeting of the East Hampton Town Trustees in July, and on Monday the trustees agreed to consider a donation toward the estimated $225,000 cost of a two-year study. While Lake Montauk is not under trustee jurisdiction, said Jim Grimes, "our interest in fisheries very much is."

A town board discussion about amending the town code governing ethics turned into a furious argument among members on Tuesday, largely over a May 7 event that honored pandemic frontline workers and food pantry staff but drew criticism from the town's board of ethics.

Two years after East Hampton Town banned the intentional release of balloons, the town board will hold a public hearing on amending the town code to ban the sale or distribution of gas or helium-filled balloons.

A panel of three federal appellate judges last week reaffirmed a 2019 decision by United States District Judge Joanna Seybert dismissing all claims against the town and the federal government in connection with erosion caused by the jetties at Montauk Harbor.