“Oysters do a fantastic job of filtering our water,” Bob Tymann of South Fork Sea Farmers explained to the Sag Harbor Village Board last week while displaying a slide showing algae, nitrogen, and other contaminants entering an oyster and coming out clean. The bivalves are like mini wastewater treatment plants, each adult filters 50 gallons a day. 

The East Hampton Town Justice race to replace Lisa R. Rana, who, after 20 years on the bench, is retiring, pits David Filer, running as a Democrat, against Brian Lester on the Republican ticket. Both men are fathers, both boast of family ties tracing back to East Hampton’s earliest settlers, and both have had long careers in the law.

Wastewater management, renewable energy, housing, traffic, and migrants were among the topics addressed in Monday’s debate between candidates for the Suffolk County Legislature’s Second District, hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork. Manny Vilar of Springs, the chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee and a retired state parks police officer, is the Republican candidate. His Democratic opponent is Ann Welker, a Southampton Town trustee.