Montauk will celebrate Earth Day on Saturday with a cleanup from 10 a.m. to noon starting at the Montauk Movie, where bags and gloves will be dispensed. Hosted by the Concerned Citizens of Montauk and the Group for the East End, the festivities will continue at 11:30 a.m. through 1:30 p.m. at the Montauk Playhouse Community Center with a program on everything you ever wanted to know about birds. There will be crafts for kids and materials for making bling-laden birdie gift bags.

    For adults, a free program on how to prevent deer from wreaking havoc on your garden will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Fort Pond Native Plants in Montauk, where Matt Stedman will lecture and provide a survival guide.

    Two hikes will take place, weather permitting, led by student interns who have been trained in Concerned Citizens of Montauk programs. The first will meet at the trailhead at Big Reed Pond at noon on Saturday. If you have the stamina, the second will start at the trailhead of the Walking Dunes on Napeague at 2 p.m. Directions and other information can be found at CCOM-Montauk.org/events.

    Also in Montauk, the East End chapter of the Surfrider Foundation will have a cleanup at Ditch Plain Beach on Saturday starting at 9 a.m. Participants will meet in the parking lot near the East Deck Motel.

    “We need lots of help to pick up trash, debris, and other stuff that is littering our beaches,” a release said, going on to point out that doing so offers a fine opportunity to spend time with friends and family. “At the end of an hour or two, you will feel good about cleaning a special part of our coastline.”

    As part of its Earth Day celebration, the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton is seeking volunteers to help clear beach debris that may be dangerous to birds and marine life on Saturday morning from 8:30 to 9:30 on Long Beach in Noyac.

    Southampton Town will hold its annual Great East End Cleanup on Saturday and Sunday, with residents asked to select a property such as a public park, beach, roadside, or trail to help clean up.

    In Sagaponack, bags will be available at Sagg Main Beach at 9 a.m. Saturday, or volunteers can bring their own. A pointed stick would be a good idea, too, according to Sagaponack Mayor Donald Louchheim, who will participate with other village board members.

    The John Jermain Memorial Library’s budget vote and trustee election will be held on Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and is open to all registered voters in the Sag Harbor School District.

    The proposed 2014 budget is just under $2.29 million, an increase of $71,633 over this year’s approved budget, with $60,450 of that increase to be covered by taxpayers. That represents a difference of about $5 per year for the average homeowner, according to the library.

    The total includes $905,000 in debt service related to the restoration and expansion of the library. Other increases cover rises in health and unemployment insurance costs as well as in utilities and other day-to-day operations. The library is also planning expanded programming for families and senior citizens and is paying for new digital resources and climate-controlled storage for rare local materials and artifacts, according to its newsletter.

    Three candidates, whose election is assured, are running for three spots on the library’s board of trustees. They are Linley Whelan, who has served one three-year term and is seeking a second; Nick Gazzolo, who is active in a number of other village organizations and has a background in business and marketing, and Alison Bond, an editor, writer, and literary agent. Mr. Gazzolo and Ms. Bond will be first-time trustees.

    The library has a limit of two consecutive terms for its trustees and the two leaving the board, Carl Peterson and Carol Williams, have met their term limits. “They have just done great things for us in the six years they’ve been here,” said Catherine Creedon, the library’s director.

    Voting on Tuesday will be at the library’s temporary location at 34 West Water Street. Absentee ballots will be available at the school district office at Pierson High School until the morning of the vote.   

    Sag Harbor Village’s police chief, Tom Fabiano, pleaded yet again with Mayor Brian Gilbride on Tuesday evening to reconsider eliminating one officer from the force. The proposed village budget does away with the job. Should that in fact happen, said the chief, it would affect not only his department but “people that live, visit, go to school here, boat or drive here, have an event here, have a medical issue, fire, or criminal matter.”

    The budget was not on the village board’s agenda that night, and at press time a budget hearing had yet to be scheduled. The deadline for acceptance of the budget is May 1; the next village board meeting is not until May 14.

    “If it was truly about economic issues and the budget,” the chief said with some bewilderment, “there surely would be many more questions.”

    “Nobody has asked me how losing an officer adversely affects the department and the safety of the people in our village,” he told the board. “I wonder, how can you make an informed decision without this input.”    

    Citing a March 28 story in this newspaper, Chief Fabiano asked why Edward Gregory, a board member, had asked at a budget hearing a week earlier how it would affect the budget if the officer’s job was kept. “Why doesn’t he know that answer?” the chief asked, wondering if the board had had any discussion on the topic at all.

    “I am surprised that nobody is concerned about it, or doesn’t care about it,” said the chief. “It’s not like 100 guys. We have 11.”

    “The problem we have,” Mayor Gilbride responded, “is that there is a continuing escalating cost in both medical insurance and retirement. It’s nobody’s fault. . . . We have a 2-percent cap.”

    “We don’t have to adhere to that, replied Chief Fabiano. “The board can vote to go over that if need be.”

    Having already lost Officer Michael Gigante halfway through the last budget year after the mayor threatened to disband the entire force, Chief Fabiano said he wondered how the village, with only 10 officers, could stay safe. What with vacations, illnesses, personal time, disability, and event coverage, he said, it would be impossible to have two officers working per shift. And considering widespread predictions that this summer will be the busiest yet, he said, “This is no time to reduce the Police Department.”

    Mayor Gilbride suggested at a budget hearing on April 3 that two or three part-time officers be hired to fill the vacant positions. But part-time police officers are meant to supplement the force, Chief Fabiano told the board Tuesday, not to replace two full-time officers.

    “I’ve never heard what the magic number was that we need — what is it?” the chief asked. “I have [reviewed] my current budget, I told the mayor I am willing to make stops on anything I can possibly do to keep this position alive . . . I don’t know what I have to do, where to go, what to say, who to see. I ask you, what is the number?”

    Mayor Gilbride said police retirement expenses are increasing this year by a significant amount. “Medical has increased 10 or 12 percent for the last two years,” he said. “With no raises, there has still been a 21-percent increase. ”

    “I am not going to argue the numbers,” said the chief. “I’m here to save someone’s job.” Chief Fabiano said he had already found $90,000 he could cut if it would save the job of one of his officers. “With taking another guy out . . . I am going to need more overtime,” he said. “We will have to structure something like that,” said the mayor.

    Patrick Milazzo, the Police Benevolent Association’s representative, gave The Star an example in an e-mail yesterday of how a village resident would be affected should the 11th officer be retained. For a house assessed at $795,000, he  wrote, the tax cost of one officer “would be $51.52 per year, $4.28 per month, or 14 cents per day. Noteworthy I think, given the current discussion.”

    “This is nothing personal,” Mayor Gilbride told Chief Fabiano during Tuesday’s meeting. The chief disagreed. “You’ve made comments,” he said. “Let’s not go there.”

    At the tense April 3 budget hearing, Mayor Gilbride accused the chief of  “posturing.” “I’ll take it up with you tomorrow,” he said. The two met privately the next day, apparently to no avail.

    The Town of East Hampton is offering a boating safety course on May 18 at Town Hall, but early registration is necessary. Those interested can register by calling 324-4141. After registering, required reading will be provided so that participants will be able to come to the class prepared.

    For kids this weekend, the Easter basket runneth over, with holiday fun and egg hunts aplenty tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday.

    The Easter Bunny will make a stop at Agawam Park in Southampton tomorrow at 10 a.m. for the Police Benevolent Association’s hunt. In case of rain, kids will assemble at the park on Saturday at the same time.

    Things really get hopping on Saturday. At 10 a.m. there are dueling Easter egg hunts, with the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee hosting one at Herrick Park on Newtown Lane and another at the Maidstone Gun Club in Wainscott.

    The Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church will hold an egg hunt at 11 a.m. sharp, rain or shine. Coffee, juice, and snacks will be served. Donations of candy or toy-filled eggs in advance of the event will be welcomed and can be dropped off at the church office.

    An ambitious egg sleuth could then head over to Amagansett Square, where from noon to 2 p.m. there will be face painting, egg decorating, bunny games, and an egg hunt. The Youth Park, nearby on Abraham’s Path, is another option. An egg hunt goes down at noon. Parents of kids who plan to take part have been asked to drop off a dozen plastic eggs and a bag of individually wrapped, non-peanut candy in advance.

    Or, in Sag Harbor at the same time, the Sag Harbor Garden Center will host a free petting zoo with animals from Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Suffolk County Farm. The village’s annual Easter Bonnet Parade, sponsored by the chamber of commerce, takes off from near the Laundromat on Main Street at 1 p.m. Participants have been encouraged to wear an inventive Easter topper of their own creation. There will be prizes for the best hats, courtesy of the Sag Harbor Variety Store.

    Easter Sunday brings the Sag Harbor Lions Club’s egg hunt at Mashashimuet Park. Festivities begin at 12:30 p.m., and the hunt will be at 1. The club scatters thousands of eggs in the park, all filled with candy and prizes, and there are pony rides until 2 p.m.

    Also starting at 1 p.m. Sunday is the Southampton Trails Preservation Society’s egg hunt for kids 8 and under. It will be held at Poxabogue Park, south of the railroad trestle on Old Farm Road in Sagaponack.

    Applications are being accepted through the end of this month to get on the waiting list for the affordable apartments at St. Michael’s in Amagansett, which are earmarked for senior citizens.

Those eligible must be age 62 or older, with an annual income below $37,500. Those with additional assets are eligible.

    At present there are no available units in the complex, which opened several months ago.

Applications may be obtained from Tom Ruhle, East Hampton Town’s director of housing and community development, at the department’s offices on Bluff Road in Amagansett. They must submitted to a mailing address listed on the form and be postmarked by April 30.

    Navy Seaman Recruit Cheryl D. Scarlato, a daughter of Diana A. Scarlato of this village, recently completed eight weeks of Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill. Ms. Scarlato is a 1999 graduate of Pierson High School and a 2004 graduate of the University of Delaware.

    Her training included physical fitness, classroom study, and practical instruction on naval customs, first aid, firefighting, water safety and survival, and shipboard and aircraft safety.

    Ms. Scarlato also completed Battle Stations, an exercise designed to boost required skills and confidence and to learn sacrifice, dedication, teamwork, and endurance as well as the core values of honor, courage and commitment required to be a sailor.    

    The Montauk Playhouse Community Center will have a generator by summer. The Village of East Hampton is to donate a used one that will be delivered within the month, Bruce Bates, the director of East Hampton Town’s emergency preparedness program, told the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee on Monday.

    The playhouse is one of three shelters in the hamlet, along with the Montauk School and the Montauk Downs clubhouse. Even though the latter have generators they were not open as evacuation centers during Sandy because the American Red Cross was unable to staff them.

    It was estimated that a new generator would cost upward of $300,000, while the one donated by the village will require only several installation components, Mr. Bates said. The town will be responsible for future maintenance.

    Mr. Bates had been invited to the meeting to go over the town’s emergency services, with residents concerned since Hurricane Sandy proved how vulnerable the hamlet can be. Residents have noted that if the ocean breached Route 27 and flooded the area, access to Amagansett and East Hampton would be cut off.

    Montauk Fire Department Chief Richard Schoen was also at the meeting. He said the department has formed a committee to come up with a system for emergencies and to equip the three evacuation centers. “We missed Sandy by 80 miles,” he said. (The Montauk Firehouse is an evacuation center for department volunteers and their families.)

    Mr. Schoen said the committee had identified areas that would be vulnerable if waters were to seep through the hamlet. Maps are now at the firehouse that show 700 houses in danger zones. “That’s unacceptable,” he said.

    Although the department had lobbied for a generator, it had not collected funds for it, he said. Part of the committee’s plan is to unlock a Red Cross trailer that has been parked for three years in a lot in front of the Playhouse. It apparently contains blankets, cots, towels, and pots and pans, Mr. Schoen said. He noted that the hamlet’s population in summer increases from about 3,500 to 25,000 to 30,000, most of whom would be given early warning and the chance to leave. “If we can get rid of some 20,000 of them that would be good,” he said. He estimated that about 500 people in Montauk might seek shelter in certain situations.

    The committee and the town’s Human Resource Department had sent out a questionnaire to identify those that might be bedridden or have medical needs during emergencies. Those that register would be contacted within 48 hours of a storm’s approaching, Mr. Schoen said. Volunteers have already been visiting aging or medically dependent residents so there will be no confusion in a storm. “We will not be caught flat footed again,” he said.

    “Personally I feel it’s the town’s responsibility. They have the tax power and the manpower. But if we become an island, the town can’t help us,” he said.

    Mr. Bates agreed that advance notice is key. Evacuations are called by Suffolk County’s fire and emergency services. Volunteers are needed to take Red Cross training classes, he said, and he had not seen anyone from Montauk at a recent class held in East Hampton.

    Those interested will have an opportunity to take the class on April 13 at the Montauk firehouse from 9 a.m. to noon, with registration starting at 8:30 a.m. Another certification class will be conducted by the Red Cross at a later date for evacuation center managers. Moreover, by federal law an evacuation center is not allowed to open without medical staff, law enforcement, and a mental health professional on site.

    Another problem faced by emergency service workers is that in many cases people don’t want to leave their homes or pets. Mr. Bates said the best information can be obtained on the town’s Web site. He also offered other Web site information sources, including a Suffolk County storm surge mapping tool that allows residents to punch in their addresses and receive specific information, including vulnerability to flooding. The address is suffolkcountyny.gov/departments/firerescueandemergencyservices/stormsurgezonesshelterlocatormap.aspz.

    William and Mary Kampf and Herbert Keith III and Pamela Anderson, all of East Hampton, have announced the engagement of their daughters, Kelly Kampf and Melanie Anderson.

    Ms. Anderson graduated from East Hampton High School and received her bachelor’s degree in security management from Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. She is employed as a deputy sheriff with the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia.

    Ms. Kampf also graduated from East Hampton High School and received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. She is a private first class police officer with the County of Fairfax.

    A fall wedding in East Hampton is planned.

    In recent weeks the buzz around Montauk is that Gurney’s Inn has been sold. Ingrid Lemme, the inn’s marketing director and spokeswoman, denied this in a press release issued on March 25.

    “Gurney’s Inn has not been sold. Currently conversations are taking place between Gurney’s timeshare owners and a potential investor. At this point we are not at liberty to discuss those conversations. It is business as usual at Gurney’s. The hotel, seawater spa, and restaurant are waiting to welcome you,” the release said.

    Nick Montemarano (who preferred to use a shorter version of the family name) purchased the then-20-unit oceanfront hotel on 11 acres for $200,000 in 1956.

    Over time, the inn has expanded to include 15 buildings, 109 rooms (half of which were later turned into timeshare units when the inn fell on hard times financially), a seawater spa, conference rooms, a restaurant, and a bakery.

    When asked to confirm what the release said, Paul Monte, the chief executive of Gurney’s and nephew of Nick Monte, said, “There is no new owner of Gurney’s. It is not on the market.”

    Asked if there would be more news at the end of this week, Mr. Monte said, “I can’t say.”