Should meditation qualify as an “accessory use” to a retail store?

    The question arose at Tuesday evening’s meeting of the Sag Harbor Zoning Board of Appeals. Timothy Platt, the village’s building inspector, had ruled it a violation of the Vajravarahi Meditation Center’s certificate of occupancy.

    The not-for-profit center leases space, including a retail book center, at 122 Hampton Road (Route 114), in a nonconforming, pre-existing building in a residential neighborhood. It received a certificate of occupancy in 1999.

    Mark Catalano, a lawyer from East Hampton, represented the center. Chuckling over its pronunciation, he settled for calling it “V.M.C.” as he addressed the board, which included a new chairman, Anthony Hagen, and a new member, Tim McGuire. Gayle Pickering resigned her seat last month.

    Before Mr. Catalano began to make his case, Michael Bromberg, a board member and former chairman, told him, “We’ve already made this determination.” The zoning board, it seemed, had overturned the ruling. Mr. Bromberg cited Yoga Shanti, a yoga studio that sells retail products, and another case where a store “taught knitting to further the sale of yarn . . . are meditation practices furthering the sale of books?” he asked. In this case, the answer was yes.

    The building inspector’s foremost concern was apparently parking; a number of tickets have been issued. Mr. Platt, according to Mr. Catalano, asked the center to get a certificate of occupancy as a religious institution.

    Jonathan Glynn of Sag Harbor, the only resident who spoke on the matter, addressed both issues. “I am on the board of my synagogue,” he said, and “this is not a religion.” He said he’d bought a number of books at the center, and that Gen Nordin, the Buddhist nun who teaches there and runs the bookstore, had explained what he’d read in a class. “Let me tell you, you need some guidance for this,” said Mr. Glynn.

    “At least half of the space is books,” Mr. Catalano told the board, with “20 titles, candles, and other products.” The back of the building is set aside for classes, discussion, and meditations, he said, adding that the organization has other locations but this is its only retail center on the East End. Gen Nordin teaches at some of the other centers, he said, but the books and CDs used in the classes are sold only in Sag Harbor.

    The announcement that the board had overturned the building inspector’s ruling brought applause from the room.

In light of extreme-weather events in 2011 and 2012, it is essential that residents take a more proactive and self-reliant approach to future storms. That was the message from Bruce Bates, the Town of East Hampton’s emergency preparedness coordinator, when he addressed the Amagansett citizens advisory committee on Monday.

The Red Cross cannot comprehensively address an Islandwide emergency, Mr. Bates said. Given the minor havoc Hurricane Sandy visited on the South Fork relative to western Long Island and Queens, that agency must direct its resources toward areas of greatest need.

That is why East Hampton High School was the only shelter established here during the Oct. 29 storm. “You can imagine on these conference calls with the other county emergency managers — they were going crazy trying to get shelters open,” Mr. Bates said. “The Red Cross does a great job, but they have limited resources. They have to do the best they can as far as filling the perceived need but not wasting their resources. That means if they can get one facility in the Town of East Hampton open that it is anticipated is going to allow more than the projected number of occupants, that’s what they’re going to do, rather than open two smaller facilities.”

“Getting assets and resources out here is difficult, at best,” Mr. Bates added. “It seems that when supplies are heading east, they seldom get past Yaphank or Riverhead.”

Last summer, Mr. Bates said, he met with the Red Cross’s director for emergency services, and they agreed to establish a shelter management and operations training program for town employees and anyone else who was interested in order to have a larger pool to draw from locally during emergencies.

“If we can’t get enough assets from the American Red Cross, the town would like to have enough available bodies to open these shelters on our own,” he said. That program, Mr. Bates said, is on a temporary hold given the Red Cross’s ongoing post-Sandy operations. “It’s still the ‘Wild West’ in other locations, but that will be out here and I will get that word out directly to the associations. If you’re interested, it’s available.” Also, he said, “It might not be the same shelter that opens every time. It might be area-specific.” For that reason, he urged all residents to monitor WLNG, LTV, and the town’s Web site.

“There’s a good chance that a lot of our residents are going to lose electricity, phone service, cable. That’s why we’re looking for everybody to have redundant sources of receiving information,” he said, asking all attendees to keep a battery-powered radio and spare batteries on hand. “Short of Armageddon, WLNG is almost always broadcasting.”

Another way to help is to minimize calls to emergency personnel. He cited inquiries from second-home owners during a crisis situation. “There is a good time and a bad time to ask certain questions. If they aren’t truly emergency questions or [concerning] fear of life and limb, we suggest that you, your friends, and family limit the amount of calls to the emergency dispatch centers or the town or village police.”

Mr. Bates also expressed some frustration that many of the town’s senior citizens are largely unknown to emergency personnel. “If you have friends or family members that either have special needs — perhaps they’re on oxygen, or dialysis — or are just an older person that lives alone that might need to be checked on, we’re encouraging everyone to speak with these people and suggest that they contact the town human services and put their name and phone number in there.” That goes for everyone else, he added. “Not all of Amagansett is here. You’ve got friends, family. Get this word out there. Make sure you have your supplies. Check your batteries, your radio, your staples. Do you have a flashlight?”

“We are not going to succeed in a big mission like this if we don’t have the public as partners. We’re going to try our best to meet every need of the residents of the Town of East Hampton, but if you folks, collectively, aren’t prepared for yourself, then we’re in a world of hurt.”

East Hampton Town

Calling Wireless Companies

    Hoping to prompt wireless communications companies to expand their coverage, eliminating dead zones in East Hampton, as well as to raise revenue for the town, perhaps, by leasing public sites for antennas and other equipment, the East Hampton Town Board is developing a request for proposals from the industry. Councilwoman Theresa Quigley has been pushing the effort.

    At a meeting last week, Peter Wadsworth, a member of the town’s budget and finance advisory committee, said that the group, in conjunction with Councilman Dominick Stanzione, has spent a number of months delving into the topic and has provided a summary of the issues to the board. The group, he said, supports the development of a “comprehensive plan for the town” on wireless communications, “that all carriers have access to.” There should be a “level playing field” for all the companies, Mr. Wadsworth said. The town adopted a wireless master plan in 2001, Arthur Malman, another member of the advisory committee, said. Ms. Quigley asked that the committee review the request for proposals.

To Examine Salaries

    Councilwoman Quigley has proposed forming a compensation committee to examine the salaries of non-union town employees such as town department heads.

    At a meeting on Jan. 15, she said that the town should have a system for regular analysis of salaries. Department heads’ salaries were last examined, she said, in 2001 and 2002, and were regraded at that time. “None went down,” she said. She looked to Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, who worked in the human resources section at Disney, for knowledge of how such an analysis is done.

    Mr. Wilkinson said that the process would begin with defining the responsibilities associated with particular jobs. During the previous procedure, he said, “there was no internal equity analysis” to compare one position to another.

    Ms. Quigley balked a few weeks ago at resolutions approving department head salaries that have already been set in the 2013 budget. She has raised questions, in particular, about the salary given to Kim Shaw, the Natural Resources director, as a restructuring of that department and her duties did not take place as had been anticipated.

    “I was blindly approving salaries for people, I have no idea based on what,” Ms. Quigley said.

At the Life Saving Station

    A new Web site, at amagansettuslss.org, provides information about the former Amagansett United States Life Saving Service station and documents its restoration. A committee is raising money for the restoration of the building, which is owned by the town and has been moved to its original site off Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett, near the ocean beach.

    An East Hampton contractor, Ben Krupinski, has been replacing exterior doors and windows at no cost, and a monetary donation from John and Anne Mullen will pay for stripping and painting, Councilwoman Sylvia Overby reported recently to the town board. Ms. Overby thanked the family of the late Milton Miller, who had suggested memorial donations to the life saving station project.

    According to a resolution passed by the board, inmates in a vocational training program at the county Sheriff’s Department will do interior demolition work at the station.

Housing Authority Board

    At an organizational meeting on Jan. 10, the East Hampton Housing Authority Board of Commissioners re-elected its slate of officers to their positions.

    David Lee will continue as chairman, Barbara Jordan as vice chairwoman, Patricia Keegan, treasurer, Patricia Gilchrest, secretary, and Arthur Goldman will continue as a member at large. Catherine Casey is the Housing Authority’s executive director; she was hired in May to replace Maureen Murphy, who retired.

    The authority owns and manages three apartment complexes comprising 93 affordable rental apartments that provide housing for more than 200 East Hampton Town residents — the Avallone Apartments in Montauk and the Accabonac Apartments and Springs-Fireplace Apartments in East Hampton.

    The monthly meetings of the authority’s board of commissioners are open to the public. The next meeting will be held at 3 p.m. on Feb. 7 at the Housing Authority office in the Fishelson Building at the Accabonac Apart

    The New England Fishery Management Council’s scientific and statistical committee met yesterday in Newburyport, Mass., to decide how deeply to cut the quota of Georges Bank cod. The committee’s decision could have a big impact on the Montauk charter and party boat industry.

    Stock surveys undertaken in the spring of 2012 and again as recently as December appear to show that the two primary cod populations, the Gulf of Maine stock and the Georges Bank stock, are in “poor” condition, according to a report released by the council last week.

    A summary of the report states that the two peer-reviewed surveys indicate that the Gulf of Maine stock is at extremely low levels. The surveys also determined that the Georges Bank stock, which descends into waters fished by Long Island-based boats during the winter months, is in bad shape. Last week’s council report stated that the last above-average year for Georges Bank cod was 1991. Until the spawning stock gets above about 50,000 metric tons, “rebuilding will be slow.”

    Atlantic cod are a species of “groundfish” that are strictly regulated by the New England council. The dip in cod populations is not being blamed on overfishing, but fishermen will likely lose quota anyway.

    Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said that low levels might also be explained by the way the council’s surveys were conducted. The New England council manages 18 separate stocks of 13 species of groundfish.

    “Are the stocks moving because of changes in ocean temperature? They may not be in the traditional areas where the Bigalow surveys,” Ms. Brady said, referring to one of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessels. “If they are not surveying in places where cod are, it skews the data. Fish are not random creatures. A quarter of a degree in temperature and they move. So, why are they doing random sampling of a nonrandom species?”

    Ms. Brady said that cod had been the one species of groundfish that commercial fishermen with the appropriate licenses could fish for.

    The council’s science and statistics committee is expected to recommend cutting the “allowable biological catch” for Georges Bank cod in half from 5,103 metric tons last year to 2,002 metric tons this year. Quota cuts will surely hurt the recreational cod fishery as well. Last year’s recreational cod season was miserable, with very low landings.

    However, the 2009 through 2011 seasons were some of the best in recent memory. On Monday, anglers aboard two of Montauk’s Viking fleet of party boats were catching an average of seven to eight cod each, with some cod in the 20-to-25-pound range. Orla Reville of the Viking fleet said the fishing had already surpassed last season’s dismal catch.

    In the southern New England management zone, where Montauk-based charter and party boats fish, cod must be at least 22 inches long, but there is no bag limit.

    Pat Fiorelli, a spokeswoman for the New England council, said yesterday there would be further deliberation tomorrow by the council’s groundfish committee. The regulatory response will likely be decided upon during the four-day meeting of the full council on Wednesday.

    “I’m not sure what the council will do. I have not heard that they might shut it down entirely. There’s been no official discussion of that,” Ms. Fiorelli said.

    The long, winding road that the Beach House, a Montauk summer hotspot for the young and hip, has journeyed, may be coming to a close — or just beginning, depending on what happens at Tuesday’s meeting of the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals.

    At 7:30 p.m. the board is scheduled to hear an appeal of a July 2012 determination by Tom Preiato, the town’s head building inspector, that the Beach House’s poolside bar is illegal under town code. Mr. Preiato added in that determination that “I also noted the creation of a retail shop in what was once a shed. This also lacks the necessary approvals.”

    The building inspector found that the bar was catering to the public, “without benefit of a site plan approval and/or a building permit,” rather than to guests of the resort only, its approved use.

    The Beach House, owned by Chris Jones and Lawrence Siedlick, is in downtown Montauk on the site of the old Ronjo. Mr. Jones painted the totemic figures outside in gold, appropriate since the establishment proved wildly popular last summer in its first season.

    Oceanfront homeowners in Bridgehampton and Sagaponack voted on Saturday to approve a $24 million beach renourishment project in an effort to protect approximately six miles of shoreline from further erosion.

    The referendum came after over two years of discussion, initiated by a group of residents who approached Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst with the idea of forming a special taxing district to jointly protect their properties. Many of them, they said, had spent tens of thousands of dollars annually to rebuild the dunes in front of their houses with sand, snow fencing, and hay bales; they said the joint project would be a positive for all residents of the town. There are five town-owned beaches within the six-mile stretch.

    After a series of public hearings last year, followed by Superstorm Sandy, Southampton Town Trustees pushed for a quick vote. The storm caused severe erosion to the coastline and structural damage to many of the properties within the two taxing districts.

    In Sagaponack the vote was close, with 32 in favor and 24 opposed. Twenty-five of the hamlet’s 81 eligible residents did not vote. In Bridgehampton, 43 were in favor and 25 opposed, with only 68 votes cast of the 121 who were eligible.    

    Southampton Town will issue the $24 million bond, to be repaid by the 141 property owners within the special taxing district over a 10-year period. The total assessed value of their properties is about $1.8 billion. The town’s share of the project is about $1.5 million.

    Tim Kana, a coastal expert, was selected to design the renourishment project, which will match the look of the existing beach, a factor that was critically important to the property owners, said Jeff Lignelli of Bridgehampton, the spokesman for the Bridgehampton Beach Erosion Control District. First Coastal Corporation of Westhampton, a firm led by Aram Terchunian, will partner with Coastal Science and Engineering in the beach restoration.

    Mr. Terchunian, a coastal engineer, explained at a hearing in August that about 950,000 cubic yards of underwater sand would be taken from miles offshore and placed closer inland, with the windblown sand eventually creating a wider, more protective beach and dunes. His firm has had successful results with that approach on Fire Island, at Shinnecock Inlet, and at West Hampton Dunes, he said. Gary Vigiante, the mayor of West Hampton Dunes, confirmed its success at the hearing, saying, “It has worked incredibly well.”

     “What was initially a more proactive project became urgently needed following the storm,” said Ms. Throne-Holst in a release. “It’s likely they’ll have a wide, protective beach within the year.”

    Working capital small business loans are still available to small businesses, agricultural cooperatives, and private, nonprofit organizations who have unpaid bills and lost business due to Hurricane Sandy. The Small Business Association loans have a cap of $2 million for physical damage and economic injury, and are also available to homeowners associations and planned unit developments.

    The deadline to apply for a Small Business Association disaster loan is Feb. 27 for physical damage and July 31 for economic injury. Applications can be completed online at disasterloansba.gov/ela, at a New York State Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster recovery center, whose locations are listed at fema.gov, or a business recovery center, which can be found at sba.gov. The first payment for a disaster loan will be deferred for five months from the date of issuance. More information can be requested by e-mail to [email protected].

    A 14-day extension to FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program has also been announced. The program enables eligible survivors from Hurricane Sandy who cannot return to their houses, to stay in participating hotels or motels with the cost of the room and taxes paid directly to the hotel by FEMA. The new checkout date is Feb. 24, when the federal agency promised to work in coordination with state, local, and voluntary agency partners to assist applicants’ transition to more suitable temporary or long-term housing. More information on New York’s disaster recovery can be found on their Twitter or Facebook pages.

    “I wish they would do more,” said Sagaponack Village Mayor Donald Louchheim on Monday after a glance at proposed deer legislation drafted by New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.

    The village trustees had been asked for feedback on the proposed law, which would increase deer-hunting opportunities on the East End. Board members looked over the draft at their meeting on Monday.

    Remarking on the proposed reduction of bow hunting from the current 500-foot setback from a dwelling, farm structure, school building, playground, factory, or church to 150 feet, Lee Foster, the village’s deputy mayor and a strong proponent of culling, said that “bow hunters should be allowed on your front porch.”

    The law would also allow towns to eliminate current restrictions on hunting on Saturdays and Sundays, and would do away with the need for a permit from the Department of Environmental Conservation as well.

    “I would like to herd the deer into one place and send in a fleet of helicopters with automatic weapons,” said Mr. Louchheim. Ms. Foster offered to read the draft in its entirety, and said, “If there is something more I can add, I will.”

    Mayor Louchheim confirmed, “We are in favor of looking at some more aggressive measures,” and board members agreed.

    Mr. Thiele explained on Tuesday that the draft law was drawn up in response to “a population explosion of white-tailed deer” in the towns of East Hampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Southold, and Southampton, each of which would decide for itself whether to adopt it. The numerous herds “threaten public health, public safety, personal property, and the environment,” the law says.

    The assemblyman said the proposal began as part of a deer management plan for East Hampton, and that all five towns have since supported it.

    The question of who was put in charge of installing a new telephone system at East Hampton Town Hall and why it has taken two years and counting to complete the job prompted biting remarks from Supervisor Bill Wilkinson and Councilwoman Theresa Quigley over the pace of progress and sharp criticism for a town employee and fellow board members.

    The board agreed in February of 2011 to replace the town’s outdated phone system, voted on a plan to do so that November, and by December 2011 had processed a purchase order for the required equipment. Then the project was put on hold to explore the possibility of a new vendor, Bob Pease, the town’s network system administrator, told the town board on Tuesday. Nevertheless, the installation was to be complete by last July.

    Mr. Wilkinson wanted to know the source of the delay. “I never get a satisfactory answer on what is happening,” he said.

    Mr. Pease, who appeared at the board meeting along with Jeanne Carrozza, the town’s purchasing agent, and Hatch Peffer, a strategic account manager for Optimum Lightpath, attempted to explain the delay.

    A firm called Mac Source Communications, which offers business communications and telecommunication system designs and installation, was hired last February to network the town’s telephone infrastructure. The new system will allow all calls made to Town Hall to go to a centralized number so callers can access any department through the central routing system. The plan was expected to save staff time and monthly service charges. It will be able to leave and retrieve voice messages for anyone that works in the town’s offices.

    Work began in April. Since then, Mr. Pease told the board, two employees were fired from Mac Source and two new people were hired and trained in their place. And then Hurricane Sandy roared in and further delayed the delivery of equipment such as new telephones and fiber connectors. They were eventually delivered in November.

    Lightpath, a firm that develops fiber optic networks, was hired by the town to complete an engineering design for the new phone system. The company toured town offices to identify and locate the circuits required to connect the new phone system, but could not locate them, Mr. Pease said. The town is still waiting on that component of the system.

    “Ask me if I give a damn,” the supervisor said. “This was due to be delivered in July. . . . Lightpath wasn’t involved until August. Something was broken and we even gave you an additional three months,” Mr. Wilkinson said to Mr. Pease.

    As manager of the project, Mr. Pease should have more information, Ms. Quigley said, but Mr. Pease countered that he was not the manager of the project.

    ‘What do you know about business, Peter? I’ll tell you I have no respect for your background in business or anything else.’

— Supervisor Bill Wilkinson

    “I’m not in charge. Nobody dictated to me that I was in charge of this project. I’m in I.T. [information technology] not phones,” he said.

    “This exemplifies how lopsided and out of control this town is,” said Ms. Quigley. “Are we supposed to be managers of this department too? Why do we have heads of departments? From the town perspective you’re saying that you weren’t in charge of this project?” she asked.

    As Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc sought to answer some of the questions about the system, Mr. Wilkinson leaned back in his chair and said to him, “What do you know about business, Peter? I’ll tell you I have no respect for your background in business or anything else. Let me talk to you about business.”

    Things don’t get done, Mr. Van Scoyoc said, “Because we spend a lot of time talking about silly things like this.”

    “I feel as if I’m in high school,” Councilwoman Sylvia Overby said as the arguing continued.

    After a woman in the audience said it seemed more like grammar school, Ms. Quigley said to Ms. Overby, “I feel as if I’m in grammar school because that’s your level of intellect.”

    Ms. Quigley suggested putting Ms. Carozza in charge of the project and asked for daily conference calls between all parties until the work is done.

    “I’m beyond this, work it out,” Mr. Wilkinson said at the end of the conversation. “To be honest, in the world I come from everyone in this room would be gone. Eight months on one project, I take no prisoners.”

    Sharon McCobb, a member of the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals, failed to win reappointment last Thursday when a resolution supporting her did not get a majority East Hampton Town Board vote.

    Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, who introduced the resolution, and Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc voted for her reappointment. Supervisor Bill Wilkinson and Councilwoman Theresa Quigley voted no, and Councilman Dominick Stanzione abstained. There was no discussion of the matter.

    Ms. McCobb, a fitness trainer and organizer of the I-Tri youth triathlon program, has continued to attend zoning board hearings since her term expired at the end of 2012.

    Later in the meeting, Mr. Wilkinson offered a resolution appointing Karen Benvenuto, a real estate broker and director with Brown Harris Stevens in East Hampton, to the zoning board. It was supported only by Ms. Quigley.

    Mr. Stanzione abstained during the vote for Ms. Benvenuto, which appeared to irritate Mr. Wilkinson, who paused a roll call to ask him why. Mr. Stanzione explained that he wanted more time to think about it.

    “You interviewed her,” Mr. Wilkinson said.

    “Yes, I did interview her, and I actually interviewed a couple of other people. I haven’t made my mind up. Another couple of weeks isn’t going to kill anyone,” he answered.

    “It’s going to kill any efficiency that this board is going to produce,” Mr. Wilkinson said.

    “I’ll take another week,” Mr. Stanzione said.

    “You’ll take a week of politicking; that’s what you’ll do,” Mr. Wilkinson said.

    According to a biography posted on the Brown Harris Stevens Web site, Ms. Benvenuto cut her teeth in East Hampton Town real estate in the 1980s with the conversion of the Beachcomber Motel in Montauk to a 92-unit co-op. Following that, she and her husband, a builder, developed and sold more than 100 houses in the area. She is on the board of directors of the Lion Head Beach Association and an adviser for Hamptons Free Ride, an advertiser-funded shuttle service.

    Separately, Ms. Overby presented a resolution to appoint Lee White as the zoning board’s vice chairman. A vote on the change failed 3-to-2. Don Cirillo, a former East Hampton Republican Committee treasurer, will remain the Z.B.A.’s vice chairman. Ms. Overby and Mr. Van Scoyoc are Democrats; Mr. Wilkinson, Ms. Quigley, and Mr. Stanzione are Republicans.

    Separately, Roy Dalene was reappointed to the license review board and will remain its chairman by a 3-2 vote, and the board appointed Richard Gherardi as a new member. Mr. Dalene had yes votes from Ms. Overby, Mr. Van Scoyoc, and Mr. Stanzione. A counter-resolution offered by Ms. Overby to reappoint Robert Ortman to the board was defeated 2-2, with Mr. Stanzione abstaining.

    The reappointment votes were bookended by a sharp exchange between Ms. Quigley and the board’s two Democrats over nominations to fill two open seats on the license review board.

    Ms. Quigley had introduced a resolution naming Carlos Perez and Daisy Bowe to take the seats. While Mr. Stanzione again abstained from taking a position, Ms. Overby and Mr. Van Scoyoc voted no.

    Mr. Stanzione’s delay apparently irked Mr. Wilkinson, who asked, “How long is it going to take you to decide? We’ve gone through this for months.”

    Ms. Overby interjected that she did not know Mr. Perez or Ms. Bowe, which drew Ms. Quigley into the exchange.

    “This is getting to be an embarrassment. I sent around these names . . . two weeks ago,” Ms. Quigley said. She said that Mr. Perez and Ms. Bowe were “minority members of this community.”

    “Right now I am embarrassed to be a member of this town board,” Ms. Quigley said.

    “You are appointing two white men and you are not appointing a Latino man and an African-American woman,” Ms. Quigley said.

    Mr. Van Scoyoc responded that he was not “looking at it that way.”

    “Well you should,” Mr. Wilkinson said.

    Later in the ongoing back-and-forth Ms. Quigley said, “It’s high time we stopped putting whites onto every single board. It’s high time.”

    Mr. Van Scoyoc described Ms. Quigley’s view as “kind of like a racist way of looking at it,” which led to emphatic objections from Mr. Wilkinson and Ms. Quigley.

    Ms. Overby pointed out that the license review board under Mr. Wilkinson had not had new members since 2010. “You took no action to appoint someone,” she said, adding that she objected to Ms. Quigley bringing race into the discussion. “I find that objectionable,” she said.

    “This is an affirmative action request on the part of this board to consider inclusion and diversity in decision making in this town,” Mr. Wilkinson responded.