$100,000 Is Raised to Spay Deer

The Village Preservation Society of East Hampton handed the East Hampton Village Board $100,000 last Thursday, which it had raised to spay deer, a program it had suggested. Kathleen Cunningham, the group’s executive director, who was accompanied by Joan Osborne, chairwoman, and John McGuirk, president, told the board that, along with the $30,000 the board had appropriated, spaying would be able to take place this winter. The board authorized Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. to execute a contract with White Buffalo Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Moodus, Conn., that will do the job. 

“I’ve done a lot of fund-raising in my day, and I’ve never seen so much money come in so quickly,” Ms. Cunningham said. “I think you can take this as a vote of confidence” in spaying. Mayor Rickenbach thanked the group for its “very gracious check,” which he said “will go into the appropriate line item in the village budget process and be used specifically for that purpose.”

The number of deer that could be spayed with the money was not mentioned at the meeting, although some have estimated the cost at $1,000 per deer. Nor was the fact that culling is to go along with the program.

Ilissa Meyer of Equine Sport Science, whose husband is Dr. James Meyer, a large-animal veterinarian, criticized the program and questioned who was being hired to carry it through. They have spoken with other veterinarians in East Hampton Town and Village, she said, “who are very concerned about who you are going to bring in to do these experiments.” The mayor, noting the village was working with the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, said, “We’ll be as transparent as necessary.”

The village needed “to provide the public with the names and state license numbers of every veterinarian involved with this program,” Ms. Meyer said. That information was not yet available, Becky Molinaro, the village administrator, said.

Ms. Meyer asked that she and her husband be notified at least seven days before the program begins “so that we can inform the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets as to our recourse for what you are about to do.”

After the meeting, Ms. Meyer called spaying both “highly expensive and ineffective,” and said it would have no impact on revegetating the woodland or reducing ticks and tick-borne illnesses, both of which have been cited in support of a reduction in the deer population.

“The animals they’re going to be experimenting on cannot be used for food,” she said. “We have perfectly capable hunters that can do the same thing. . . . Why are you sending the money away? It can be used for food right here.”

Turning its attention to other matters, the board considered an amendment to village code regarding mass-assembly permits, which it plans to schedule for a public hearing. In addition to an existing provision requiring a permit for assemblies of more than 50 people, a separate permit would be required for use of village property for such things as parades, bicycle rides, or events on the beach. They would require security deposits to cover any damage to village property, indemnification of the village, and the ability to seek reimbursement for village personnel. There would be no application fee.

Further, Ms. Molinaro said, “It is at the discretion of my office that if a certain event warrants either public works or police presence, the applicant would be responsible for the additional costs.” She suggested insurance coverage of $1 million per person and $2 million per occurrence for property damage.

In other business, the board heard about a request that the speed limit of Mill Hill Lane be reduced from 30 to 25 miles per hour. The mayor added Meadow Way, which runs parallel to and feeds into Mill Hill Lane, to the discussion.

“We have a bifurcated speed limitation program within the footprint of the village,” the mayor said, noting that motorists driving east on Montauk Highway can turn left onto Toilsome Lane, which has a 25 mile-per-hour speed limit, or right onto Baiting Hollow Road, where the speed limit is 30. He suggested that the board propose an additional five-miles-per-hour reduction there to create uniformity on secondary roads.

A blanket limit of 25 miles per hour is prohibited under state law, said Linda Riley, the village attorney. Chief Gerard Larsen told the board that it had “to articulate a reason you want to lower the speed limit below 30.” The two speed limits, he said, resulted from truck routes, which were designated as 25-miles-per-hour zones. “We were trying to cut down bypasses,” he said, adding that Mill Hill Lane is used as a bypass to avoid the traffic light at Woods Lane. “It would make sense — it’s a real narrow road — and I agree also with Meadow Way. We could pick out more as we go.”

“Are we working toward a village-wide 25-mile-per-hour limit, going in the back door?” Barbara Borsack, the deputy mayor, asked. “It seems that way,” the chief answered. The board decided to schedule a public hearing on the matter.