Bill Taylor was elected to the trustee board in 2013 and is one of its two deputy clerks. Among his efforts have been two years spent closely following the proposed South Fork Wind Farm and tangling with the state to get a clogged tidal culvert at Accabonac Creek flowing again.
He has also tried to lobby state and county officials to greenlight a project to dredge the inlet to Fresh Pond in Amagansett. Separately, he has sought to make sure that dredge spoil is distributed where it can do the most good in protecting property. He has been an advocate for a townwide maintenance-dredging program, to take the responsibility from the county, giving the town the right to set its own priorities and keep troubled waterways open. With a town-managed dredge, out-of-town bureaucrats “can’t say, ‘I don’t have to listen to you,’ ” he said.
“It’s a chore dealing with them. . . . But they don’t have the local knowledge.”
He said that he sees a positive tone of understanding between Town Hall and the trustees. “We found that cooperation paid off,” he said, observing that the trustees were “at least the equal of the town board.”
He supports the town and county’s push for more adoption of low-nitrogen septic systems. On aquaculture, he urged measured expansion. “It’s something you can’t let get out of hand.” He also supports a town hatchery program to allow residents to grow their own oysters, both as food and for their water-cleaning abilities. “You get people interested in the environment. There are places where it’s really going to be useful,” he said.
Mr. Taylor grew up in Lake Ronkonkoma. East Hampton Town hired him in about 1988 as a senior harbormaster. Subsequently, the town board moved him into a position as waterways management supervisor. In an interview, he said that he was familiar with every inch of the coast. “I am trying to make sure everything stays as nice as it is,” he said.
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Another goal of Mr. Taylor’s is staggering the trustees’ terms in office. “It’s a big discussion,” he said. Another is to get more women on the board.