A part-time butler for Ronald Perelman was arrested on Thursday after allegedly spending more than $9,000 using American Express card numbers issued to other employees of the Creeks, the billionaire's East Hampton estate.

Frank Squadrito, 26, of Manhattan allegedly told East Hampton Village police that he began working as a personal butler at the Creeks in May, living in employee quarters on the property. When he had to make purchases for the estate, he would borrow credit cards issued to other employees by the Creeks, according to his statement to police.

According to police, around Oct. 8, Mr. Squadrito took a Creeks credit card to buy clothes in Manhattan, but he made a detour. "I used it for dinner at a restaurant called Landmarc," he allegedly said. Police did not say how much Mr. Squadrito spent that night.

When he returned to the Creeks, he was told he had been fired, he said to police. No reason was given, Mr. Squadrito said in his statement, but he assumed it was for his unauthorized use of the card number. He told police that before he left the estate after being fired, he copied the numbers on American Express cards issued to three other Creeks employees, plus the number from the first employee's card.

He then flew to Puerto Rico for five days, he said. Police said it appeared he used his own money to pay for the trip.

After returning to New York City, Mr. Squadrito allegedly went on a spending spree with the four card numbers. "I just lived it up," he said in his statement to police. "I used the credit card numbers to make numerous purchases, including hotel rooms and taxi fares."

Mr. Squadrito's alleged spending spree was eventually noticed by Edward Mammone, a vice president and controller at MacAndrews & Forbes, Mr. Perelman's privately held company. He did some detective work of his own and discovered that it was Mr. Squadrito's signature on the purchases, police said. Mr. Mammone alerted the Creeks security team, who, in turn, alerted police.

According to Detective Bryan Eldridge, who made the arrest along with his partner, Detective Steven Sheades, the security team at the Creeks contacted them on Thursday, when Mr. Squadrito showed up at the estate seeking personal items he had left behind when he first went into the city.

In his interview with detectives, Mr. Squadrito estimated the total he spent at about $3,000. However, in his sworn affidavit, Mr. Mammone gave the total amount stolen as just over $9,105.

Mr. Squadrito was charged with grand larceny. During his arraignment on Friday morning in East Hampton Town Justice Court, his lawyer, Anthony Ciaccio of Schalk, Ciaccio & Kahn of Mineola, said that Mr. Squadrito came from "a family of means" in the affluent Syracuse suburb of Manlius and that his parents were prepared to pay "full restitution."

Town Justice Steven Tekulsky said that the district attorney's office had asked that bail be set at $40,000. Mr. Ciaccio urged a much lower amount, saying that his client was bipolar and had been off his medications. A high bail, he said, would only delay Mr. Squadrito's getting the medicine he needs.

Justice Tekulsky set bail at $2,500, which was posted later that afternoon.

Mr. Squadrito is due back in court on Feb. 11. 

Amid longstanding complaints about the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, an anonymous donor has made a tentative offer to pay for a new pool and associated improvements there.

The Y's indoor 25-yard pool has been in the news lately because of problems that have been ascribed in large part to overuse of the exercise facility and its pool and locker rooms.

"What is needed now is a five-year plan from the Y's board," John Ryan Sr., who's a member of it, said during a conversation Monday, a plan that in addition to certain physical plant additions and improvements — a secondary filtration system for the existing pool being a chief one — might, he said, include the construction of a new 50-meter pool with a deep end for diving, whose $3 million to $4 million cost the donor has apparently agreed to underwrite.

It had been rumored that the Y had turned that offer down. "That's not true," Mr. Ryan said when the allegation was mentioned. As far as he knew, he said, the offer was still on the table, "though there's a lot of confusion here, a lot of problems . . . East Hampton Village owns the land, the town owns the building, the Long Island Y.M.C.A. leases the building. . . ."

"I know it's been proposed that the new pool be built where the basketball court is, adjacent to the existing pool, but we don't want to give up the basketball court. Perhaps the basketball court could go somewhere else. . . . We would have to go to the village in any event because we'd be increasing the size of the footprint with more locker room and classroom space," Mr. Ryan said. In other words, there is many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.

Mr. Ryan, considered the father of lifeguarding and youth swimming here, said when asked if he thought another pool (money continues to be raised for the construction of one at the Montauk Playhouse) were needed in this area, "Yes, it's needed. Our junior lifeguarding program continues to grow; though while not everyone who takes it becomes a lifeguard, they like getting the certification. Swimming here, at the club, junior lifeguarding and varsity level, continues to grow while such sports as wrestling and lacrosse are struggling."

"It's up to the Y's board to get something together," he said in signing off. "Everybody's got to get their acts together."

East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said that while he had had no discussion with the person who has reportedly proposed to underwrite the cost of a new pool, "a couple of people I've talked with have said such an offer has been made. Obviously, if it were done at the Y, there'd have to be agreements, with the village, which owns the property, the town, which owns the building, and with the Y, which is its tenant."

"I agree with John that there is a need," Mr. Cantwell said, "and that it should go forward if there's someone who'd like to pay for a new pool, and if the demand exists."

While pledging its meals will still be healthy and tasty, the Sag Harbor School District has dropped out of federal programs that reimburse schools for the breakfast foods and lunches they serve when the meals meet rigid nutritional requirements.

The National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs are simply too cumbersome for the district to follow without facing monetary penalties from the government, school administrators said during the Dec. 21 school board meeting.

Jennifer Buscemi, the district’s business administrator, explained during the meeting that the district had been in line with national nutrition standards prior to the passing of the 2013 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which she said changed things quite a bit — to the point where Pierson Middle and High School’s existing lunch program was no longer in compliance with the new national standards. Nor could it be in the near future, Ms. Buscemi said, without adding significant space, staff, and equipment in the cafeteria.

The main problem, she said, is that the National School Lunch Program’s meal requirements for students in grades 6 through 8 do not overlap with those for students in grades 9 through 12. Each grade grouping has different requirements for calorie content, grain and fruit content, and sodium levels, for example. Pierson’s combined 6th-through-12th grade structure means the school would have to prepare two completely separate lunches each day, one for middle school students and one for high school students. But the school has only one cafeteria and one serving line.

“We have tried to sit down and see if there is a way to do this,” Ms. Buscemi said. “It’s impossible for us to be able to serve two lunches a day for the different age groups.”

The New York State Education Department, which administers the lunch program for the federal government, sent Sag Harbor a letter in October stating its intent to review the district’s food program this year. Ms. Buscemi realized within the last few weeks that the department’s review would likely result in a penalty of more than $53,000, which is the amount Sag Harbor has received in federal reimbursements between September of 2013 and October of 2015, for not complying. The district receives about $18,000 to $19,000 per year from the government for its food program.

Locally, the East Hampton School District participates in the National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs, as does the Bridgehampton School District. Bridgehampton, however, had to pay a penalty of $25,000 two years ago when its production log was found to be not up to par with the program’s requirements. Lois Favre, Bridgehampton’s superintendent, has since said the school is back in compliance.

Other districts across the country have taken similar steps. In 2013, the Associated Press reported schools had begun to drop out of the national food programs when the requirements became too tough to implement. Voorheesville, near Albany, reported losing $30,000 within months of the rollout of the new food standards, according to the Associated Press. However, in a June 2015 follow-up report, the blog BeyondChron.org found that within a year of dropping out of the lunch program, Voorheesville’s losses grew to $90,500 without the federal reimbursements; the district opted back in to the national program in 2014-15.

The federal breakfast and lunch programs also offer some discounts and food donations to participating school districts, but Sag Harbor has received less than $4,000 worth over the past two years. Ms. Buscemi said yesterday that the district also has to rent refrigerated trucks to pick up the donations, so the actual value of the food is much less.

Ms. Buscemi said Sag Harbor could choose to opt back in to the programs at any time, especially if the upcoming capital project, which includes improvements to Pierson’s cafeteria, yields the right circumstances. She also said that since the lunch program became self-sustaining last year for the first time in 10 years, she does not anticipate Sag Harbor needing to subsidize the lunch program with money from its general budget. To make certain that is the case, school officials are considering ways to run the cafeteria with greater efficiency and will most likely raise the price of lunch for teachers and other employees.

Sag Harbor will also continue to participate in the national milk program, and the students who receive free and reduced-price meals will continue to do so. The district will continue to collect applications from eligible families, but will now audit all of the applications that come in, as opposed to auditing only a small percentage, as was dictated by the federal program.

In a letter posted to the district’s website on Tuesday, Ms. Buscemi said the district is committed to providing a “high-quality” breakfast and lunch program that is equivalent to the national program requirements. “The district is most sensitive to the impact of our decision to withdraw from [the programs] and is intent on making the change in such a way that the program provided to our middle and high school students would not present any changes . . . to how our breakfast and lunch programs operate,” she said.

Three hundred and thirty years after the East Hampton Town Trustees were established by the Dongan Patent, an apparent new era began at a meeting on Tuesday when the Democratic majority elected in November instituted sweeping changes. 

The trustees overrode the “no” vote of Diane McNally, who had been the clerk, or presiding officer, since 1991, to elect Francis Bock, a former two-term trustee. Mr. Bock had been the clerk for one of his previous four years on the panel. Over the objections of Ms. McNally, now one of just three Republicans on the nine-member board, the trustees also created a second deputy clerk, selected a new attorney, and decided to meet in a new place at different dates and times. 

In a move that the new majority said would save money, the clerk will have a part-time position, which represents a significant salary reduction. The existing deputy clerk position will have a boost in compensation in keeping with the pay of the second deputy. The counsel will also see a sizable salary increase.  

After Pat Mansir, a former member of the town board and the planning board, was elected deputy clerk, replacing Stephanie Forsberg, who did not seek re-election, Mr. Bock discussed the position of second deputy clerk. A full-time clerk’s position, he said, “is very difficult to fill when people have full-time jobs. We have exactly that situation, so we’re proposing to spread those responsibilities around, and we feel it would be more efficient.” 

“There’s a variety of expertise on the board as well,” said Tyler Armstrong, who was elected in November. “It might be good to split up those powers.” 

As clerk, Mr. Bock said his annual salary will be $22,300, with each deputy paid $18,199. These salaries are paid in full by the town, with no contribution from the trustees’ budget. The other trustees are paid $7,747 annually.

“It’s my understanding you’ve discussed this with the town budget officer,” Bill Taylor, who would soon be elected the second deputy clerk, said to Mr. Bock. “I did,” Mr. Bock said. “There are no issues with this. . . . The budget officer and town clerk both had conversations with the comptroller yesterday.” 

At that point, the tension in the room ignited. “So we had this all settled before we sat down at the table this evening,” Ms. McNally said angrily. “Nice to know.” She charged that the changes were self-serving. “Because you don’t have someone that can take on the role of a full-time clerk, this is the alternative that has been decided on.” 

Ms. McNally and James Grimes, a Republican elected in November, voted against creating a second deputy clerk but were outnumbered by the six Democrats. Timothy Bock, a 10-year incumbent Republican, was not present. 

The trustees then resolved, over Ms. McNally’s objection, to hire Richard Whalen and his firm as counsel. The majority agreed that the trustees would pay Mr. Whalen’s firm $14,000 a year, with an additional $28,000 paid by the town. The total represents a significant increase over the $15,000 paid to John Courtney, the trustees’ former attorney, who had served for many years. 

Ms. McNally objected to both Mr. Whalen’s hiring and his proposed compensation. Ms. Mansir defended the increase, and said it would be offset by the decrease in the clerk’s salary.

“I think we’re at a turning point,” Ms. Mansir said, citing water quality among the issues that require urgent attention. Mr. Whalen, she said, “is also a planner. When it comes to some of the documents that we need to refer to . . . Rick wrote them. There are aspects that I expect to happen soon where I’m going to need Rick’s expertise in terms of planning and logistics in this town.” 

Ms. McNally’s indignation reached a crescendo when the new majority discussed moving the trustees’ twice-monthly meetings from the Lamb Building in Amagansett to Town Hall, and from Tuesday to Monday. The larger venue, Mr. Bock said, would better and more safely accommodate the public. Many of those attending the board’s 2015 meetings, unable to fit into the small meeting room at the Lamb Building, strained to hear the proceedings while standing in the hallway. As for changing the date, it was explained that the town’s zoning board of appeals uses the Town Hall meeting room on Tuesdays. 

“So this board, being a 300-year-old governmental entity, is going to change its meeting format for the Z.B.A.?” Ms. McNally said. “Did anyone consider asking the Z.B.A. to move?” 

“When I was on this board,” Mr. Bock said, “we met once a month at Town Hall. . . . When the trustees first came into existence, they met in the town meeting place. This is not that. The town meeting place is Town Hall.”

The growing chasm that characterized last fall’s election campaign, as incumbents and candidates debated jurisdiction and recognition of agencies such as the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, also came into sharp relief. “We don’t want to be independent,” Ms. McNally fumed, indicating that she thought the Democratic majority would just go along with the town board.   

Brian Byrnes, a Democrat, spoke up. “Diane,” he said, “I find it very difficult, how difficult you’re being. It’s out of character for you.”

“It is out of character for me,” she agreed, “and I apologize.” 

“Let’s work together,” Mr. Byrnes said. 

“I would love to but this is being put in front of me for the first time this evening. . . . This is just . . . caving in to the pressure. . . . I want to put that on the record,” she said.

“There shouldn’t have been one meeting with people standing in the hall,” Mr. Taylor said, arguing that Town Hall can better accommodate both the public and LTV’s video equipment. (The lack of video-production infrastructure at the Lamb Building required LTV, which began recording the trustees’ meetings for broadcast last year, to send a remote truck to each meeting.)

The panel also reappointed Lori Miller-Carr as secretary during the meeting. She will receive a $135 weekly stipend from the trustees in addition to the salary she receives as a town employee. In a unanimous vote, the board also re-designated The Star as its official newspaper. 

Mr. Byrnes, who is beginning his second term, said that Ms. McNally had “been a tremendous help to me, and I’m still learning. Diane, I thank you for all your time you served as clerk. After tonight, we’ll be back to being good friends, and I’ll be asking you questions. Thank you.” 

“Anytime,” she answered. 

Services for Catherine Gagliotti, a retired East Hampton schoolteacher who died at home on Pantigo Road in East Hampton on Tuesday at the age of 79, will begin with visiting hours at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home here tomorrow evening from 6 to 8. There will be a graveside service at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery on Cedar Street in East Hampton at 11 a.m. on Saturday. An obituary for her will appear in a future issue.

Tom Bogdan told the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee on Monday that he has been in touch with several small cities and towns to hear how they cope with undesirable public conduct.

Members of Montauk United, a group he created in response to the goings-on in the hamlet last summer, believe that East Hampton Town officials are on the right path toward zero tolerance, said Mr. Bogdan, but feel that the town could use social media more effectively to get the word out that Montauk is not a party town. 

Other places, he said, allow police officers to ticket unruly behavior or low-level offenders rather than arresting them and taking them back to the station for booking. Ticketing, he said, allows officers to get right back on the street rather than spend long hours at the station house. “Give them a court date. It has been tried in other areas and proven effective.”

The taxicab situation remains an absolute problem in the hamlet, Mr. Bogdan said. In the city of New Rochelle, N.Y., where a single police sergeant runs the taxi administration, “they have an outstanding department that is efficiently run.” He said that cabs should display a large identifying number on their doors and back windshields, adding that in Washington, D.C., all taxis must be painted the same color. That too has proven to be effective, he said.

“Our cabs are an eyesore,” said Kimberly Esperian, a committee member.

Mr. Bogdan also told the committee that Montauk United has applied under the Freedom of Information Act for a complete list of property owners in the hamlet. The list will be used in the coming months to send out a questionnaire that will, “for the first time in Montauk history,” provide factual information about property owners’ opionions on these social issues.

As of this week, he said, Montauk United is just a bit under its initial goal of 1,000 members.

Just as the two-hour limits in the Reutershan and Barns Schenck municipal parking lots in East Hampton Village were lifted from Monday through Thursday, available parking on Newtown Lane became a little less abundant as the Suffolk County Water Authority began a water main replacement project. 

A notice issued by Village Hall to businesses on Newtown Lane last week said that the work, which started on Monday, “will be extensive and require the encumbrance of the parking shoulders on Newtown Lane while the work is being performed for approximately two weeks.” 

The project is to be completed in sections. As the water authority moves west, parking spaces will once again become available. The project is scheduled to be completed on or before April 15. 

“The work is necessary to improve reliability, firefighting capacity, and can improve certain water quality and pressure,” the notice said.

Tim Motz, the water authority’s director of communications, said on Tuesday that the contractor would apply temporary patches to the affected areas, with a full repaving to happen after the project’s completion in the spring. 

Parking spaces should be easy to find in the municipal lots, however. In April 2014, the village board voted to amend parking regulations in the business district. Under regulations that went into effect last year, a two-hour parking limit is applied to the Reutershan and Barns Schenck lots only on Fridays, Saturdays, and federal holidays between Jan. 1 and April 30. The ticket-dispensing machines at the lots’ entrances are covered and out of service on other days. 

The two-hour limit is in effect every day from May 1 through Dec. 31.

As East Hampton Town’s re-elected supervisor and town board members prepare to be sworn in next week for new terms, the book is mostly closed on the 2015 election season here — the most expensive one in the town’s history.

Total election spending in East Hampton Town topped $650,000, according to campaign finance reports filed with the New York State Board of Elections, and that does not include spending by the East Hampton Town Republican Committee in the final weeks of the campaign. The last reports of the election year, covering Oct. 20 through Nov. 26, were due at the end of November, but as of Tuesday the Republican Committee had not yet filed its final report. (The committee filed that report on Jan. 13; details can be found in an update at the end of this story.)

Even without those numbers, records show that the Republican candidates for town supervisor and town board — Tom Knobel, Lisa Mulhern-Larsen, and Margaret Turner — and the committees supporting them spent nearly $414,000 on the campaign. Well over half of that came from the East Hampton Leadership Council, which was bankrolled almost exclusively by YGB Holdings, an anonymous limited liability company with an address at 767 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. YGB put $257,000 toward the effort to oust the Democratic incumbents. Another L.L.C., MLFC, which lists an address at 546 Fifth Avenue, gave the Leadership Council $25,000.

The Leadership Council threw its money equally behind Mr. Knobel, Ms. Turner, and Ms. Mulhern-Larsen, allocating almost $87,000 for each candidate, much of which was spent on a blitz of 11th-hour campaign mailings.

Ms. Turner and Ms. Mulhern-Larsen each had their own campaign committees. Mr. Knobel did not. All three received additional financial support from the East Hampton Town Republican Committee.

The Democrats — Supervisor Larry Cantwell, Peter Van Scoyoc, and Sylvia Overby — and the committees backing them spent almost $240,000 on the 2015 election. The bulk of Democrats’ spending came from Campaign 2015, the party’s main campaign committee. Mr. Cantwell had his own committee, which spent $50,820, as did Ms. Overby, but her spending was minimal. The East Hampton Town Democratic Committee spent modestly between July and November, but funneled some spending through Campaign 2015. Democrats also got a slight boost from the East Hampton Conservators, a political action committee, and the Quiet Skies Coalition PAC.

Among individual contributors, the Democrats’ heavy hitters between July and November were Katherine Rayner, who gave $16,000, and Janet Ross ($10,000), both of East Hampton and New York City; Anna Gilchrest of Wainscott ($10,000), David Gruber of East Hampton (just under $10,000), and Alec Baldwin of Amagansett and New York ($7,500).

The biggest contributors to the Republicans’ cause were Donald R. Mullen, a part-time East Hampton resident ($47,300), and others who share his West 47th Street address including Anne and Isabelle Mullen ($5,000 each), and the limited liability companies MVRE III, Wilson Ridge Properties, FREI, MFLC, VREI, and MFLC ($5,000 each). In all, $87,300 flowed from 114 West 47th Street into the Republican election effort in East Hampton Town.

MVRE II, with an address of 546 Fifth Avenue, and MVRE, with an address at 15 Brewster Road in Newark, gave $5,000 each, as did HeliFlite Shares, which shares a Newark hangar building with MVRE.

Bonnie Krupinski of East Hampton gave the Republican Committee $15,000 in the home stretch of the campaign. Other top donors to the East Hampton G.O.P. from July onward were David Heller ($10,000), a retired Goldman Sachs executive; Marc Spilker of Garden City and East Hampton ($10,000), president of the private equity firm Apollo Management, and Andy Sabin of Amagansett ($10,000).

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Update, Feb. 26, 2016: The East Hampton Town Republican Committee filed its final campaign finance disclosure reports for the 2015 election on Jan. 13. The party reported raising $45,099 between Oct. 20 and late November.

The largest donation during that time came from the Helicopter Tourism and Jobs Council of Scottsdale, Az., which gave $16,000 to the East Hampton Republicans on Oct. 26. Although the New York State Board of Elections requires that any contribution or loan in excess of $1,000 that is received less than 11 days before the election be reported within 24 hours, this contribution was not reported until Jan. 13.  

The second largest contributor during that period was Ben Krupinski. The Republican Committee reported that he gave $15,000 on Oct. 26. Although this contribution was also not included in the 24-hour notices, one for the same amount by Mr. Krupinski's wife, Bonnie Krupinski, was reported in the final days before the election and does not appear on the final disclosure report.

The Republican Committee paid out just over $46,000 in the final days leading up to the election and the weeks following it. It transfered $29,000 to the Friends of Amos Goodman to aid in his unsuccessful bid for county legislator, $3,000 to Lisa Mulhern-Larsen's campaign for town board, and $2,000 to Margaret Turner's town board campaign. 

The East Hampton Town Board will hold its annual organizational meeting at Town Hall on Tuesday at 10 a.m. and move ahead at a meeting next Thursday at 6:30 p.m., also at Town Hall, with hearings on matters including community preservation fund land and development-rights purchases.

The largest parcel under consideration is a 35-acre tract between Long Lane and Route 114 in East Hampton, owned by Whitmore Nurseries. The town proposes purchasing the development rights to the property at a cost of $3.2 million to preserve its open space and agricultural use.

Also using the community preservation fund, the town proposes purchasing two Montauk properties: 7.5 acres at 31 Upland Road from Joseph Frizone, for $1.5 million, and a .18-acre lot at 40 Caswell Road from Steven and Gino Antonini, for $295,000, both to preserve as open space.

Public comment also will be heard on eliminating a law that prohibits parking at all times on School Street near the Springs School, instead allowing one-hour parking in that area Mondays through Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. One-hour parking had been allowed under a law that expired in September. The town board is seeking to reinstate that provision, stating in a resolution that it did so with “feedback from the East Hampton Town Police Department and the Springs School.”

Hearings also will be held on the adoption of an annual management and stewardship plan for properties purchased with the community preservation fund, on the installation of a stop sign for northbound traffic at the intersection of Davis and Laurel Drives in Montauk, and on a grant of a scenic and conservation easement at 5 McElnea Drive in East Hampton.

Visiting hours will be held on Friday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Bridgehampton for Daisy C. Bowe of East Hampton, who died on Tuesday at the age of 61.

Ms. Bowe, a graduate of the Bridgehampton School who returned there to become an elementary teacher for more than 30 years, had a positive impact on hundreds of students over the years, and she had been named teacher of the year multiple times.

"She was an extremely remarkable person who touched so many young lives, and made such an impression on so many young people . . . and was loved by many," said John Wyche, a former member of the Bridgehampton School Board and an ad representative for The Star who knew Ms. Bowe for some 50 years.

A funeral will be held at the church on Saturday at 1 p.m., followed by burial at Edgewood Cemetery in Bridgehampton.