Southampton Town Councilman Brad Bender resigned Tuesday as he took a federal plea deal for illegally distributing prescription drugs in exchange for cash and steroids over a three-year period.

Mr. Bender, a 54-year-old Northampton resident, was arraigned before Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields in First District Court in Central Islip after he surrendered himself to federal agents at the courthouse under the terms of the deal. He pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, and was released on a $100,000 bond.

"Mr. Bender is regretful of his actions. He let his addiction get the better of him. Today is the first step in his recovery. He is sad he has let his constituents down," said his lawyer, Brian J. DeSesa of Edward Burke Jr. and Associates in Sag Harbor.

Mr. Bender's activities are tied to an investigation into allegedly phony prescriptions being written by Michael Troyan, a physician assistant in Riverhead who was arrested earlier this month by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Mr. Bender confirmed Mr. Troyan was the person writing his prescription, but denied allegations that he had paid cash for the oxycodone prescriptions.

"He had a valid prescription through a licensed physician for a legitimate injury and pain management," Mr. DeSesa said. Mr. Bender admitted to giving portions of his prescription pills to a friend, who in turn sold them for cash, his lawyer said. Mr. Bender received some cash and, one time, steroids, according to Mr. DeSesa, who said he did not know what the steroids were for exactly. The third co-conspirator's name has been sealed.

Mr. Bender has an addiction to prescription pain medication, which his lawyer described "as a lifetime battle" that began with an injury. Mr. DeSesa said Mr. Bender has had surgeries for back and shoulder injuries over the past five years.

According to the case brought by the United States Attorney's office of the Eastern District Court, Mr. Bender resold the prescription pain killers between July 2012 and June 2015, during which time he was also running for office.

A member of the Independence party who was also endorsed by the Democratic and Working Families parties, he was elected to a four-year term on the Southampton Town Board in 2013. He lost an initial bid in 2011. The town will have to schedule a special election for his position between 60 and 90 days from the date of his resignation.

A self-employed building contractor, Mr. Bender was also a community leader, serving for several years as the president of the Flanders-Riverside-Northampton Community Association.

While Mr. Bender cooperated with authorities and made an allocution in court Tuesday, there's no deal on sentencing, Mr. DeSesa said. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine, but probation is also an option, as there is no mandatory minimum under the statute. Mr. Bender has no previous criminal record. Sentencing is set for April 8 before District Court Judge Arthur D. Spatt.

Mr. Bender submitted a letter of resignation to the board on Tuesday at 9 a.m., Mr. DeSesa said.

The town board met in a special executive session on Tuesday afternoon. It had not released a statement by press time on Tuesday. Mr. DeSesa said he expected the board to accept Mr. Bender's resignation at its meeting on Tuesday night.

A traffic stop on Tuesday led to the discovery of cocaine and heroin hidden in a vehicle, East Hampton Town police said. 

Kori R. Fleischman, a 21-year-old from Scotch Plains, N.J., was arrested on Middle Highway in East Hampton at about 1:40 p.m. In a press release issued late Tuesday night, police did not indicate why Ms. Fleischman had been pulled over. Drugs were found in an interior compartment of her car, police said.

Ms. Fleischman was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, a felony, one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, a misdemeanor, one count of criminal use of drug paraphernalia in the second degree, a misdemeanor, and one count of aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the second degree, also a misdemeanor. She will be arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court on Wednesday. 

The investigation is ongoing and police have asked anyone with information related to Ms. Fleischman's arrest to call detectives at 631-537-7575. All calls will be kept confidential. 

The East Hampton Indoor-Outdoor Tennis Club in Wainscott hopes to broaden its appeal here through the addition of 10 bowling alleys, two boccie courts, a mini golf course, a golf simulator, a game room, three pool tables, and a sports bar and lounge, should plans for the $6 million project meet with the town planners’ and county Health Department’s approval.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” Scott Rubenstein, the club’s managing partner, said during a conversation last Thursday. “We hope to open some time in the summer of 2017.”

Rubenstein and his fellow partners had come close to buying the 16-lane East Hampton Bowl on Route 27 when it closed a few years ago, “but I chickened out,” he said, with a smile. 

He doesn’t regret his demurral, for, what’s proposed now for E.H.I.T. ought, he said, to provide a broad range of sporting and entertainment activities for all ages under one roof as it were.

To make room for the alleys, boccie courts, pool tables, golf simulator, game room, and sports bar and lounge, a “bubble” that at the moment encloses two of the club’s eight indoor tennis courts is to become a seasonal cover for the four “Wimbledon” outdoor courts to the left of the 20 outdoor courts’ clubhouse, and will be replaced by a 20,000-square-foot steel frame building linked to the one the club put up not long ago to withstand heavy snowstorms.

Rubenstein agreed that he and his partners were taking a risk, but from what he and they have gathered in talking to people here over the past few years, “there seems to be a definite need . . . there really is nothing much to do for young people out here, especially in the winter. The nearest bowling lanes are in Riverhead. They’re beautiful, but it’s still Riverhead that you’ve got to drive to. We’re hoping to revive the weekday bowling leagues, which used to be very popular, and we’ve talked with the school about reviving its bowling team. . . . We’ll be adding 30 employees, some of them seasonal, but that ought to be a plus too.”

Such sports as bowling (the lanes will be air-conditioned), boccie, mini golf, and swimming (E.H.I.T.’s summer camp, which it will greatly downsize, includes two outdoor pools) were found, he said, to be more in keeping with the “family entertainment center” that he and his partners had in mind, said Rubenstein, adding that while some thought had been given as well to ice skating, basketball, and table tennis, these more strenuous pursuits had been eschewed as not entirely in keeping with the “atmosphere” of calmer ones. 

An indoor Olympic-size pool had been considered, but not, because of the great expense, for long, as had a wave pool for indoor surfing, go-karting, and laser tag, ideas that also were rather quickly discarded.

Moreover, the club’s daily use ought to be balanced, Rubenstein said. “Most people play tennis in the morning, while people generally bowl and play mini golf later in the day. . . . Everyone won’t be coming in at 9 a.m.”

The outdoor mini golf course would, he said, comprise 18 holes with different elevations. “The Puff ’n’ Putt at Montauk is nice, but this would be three times bigger. The golf simulator would be inside with the boccie and bowling.”

There would be an outdoor patio with a bar and food service, as well as the sports bar inside. “The food will be simple, but good; the bar will be fully stocked.”

To make way for the mini golf course, four full-court basketball courts, a baseball field, a soccer area, a volleyball court, a playground, and three pickleball courts behind and alongside of the present bubble are to disappear. 

Pickleball, said Rubenstein, had not caught on, though it appears platform tennis, a winter doubles sport largely, whose raised rectangular wooden courts are enclosed by tight wire “walls,” may. 

A platform tennis open house with the club’s paddle pro, Fabio Minozi, is to be held at E.H.I.T. tomorrow, Friday, from 3 to 5 p.m.

“There’ll be no foosball, but we’ll have other games,” Rubenstein replied when the subject came up. “Video games and interactive games. . . . We’ll have Skee-Ball — you remember that.”

He and his wife, Holly, and their 24-year-old daughter, Rebecca, had just returned, E.H.I.T.’s managing partner said, “from a family entertainment center trade show in Orlando,” a trip that had rendered him “even more excited about this concept than I was before. It’s all about creating an atmosphere where people can leave everything else from their other world aside.”

“I think it will be great for the town and the community,” said Rebecca. “Kids my age definitely need something to do.”

“It ought to be good for kids of all ages, including those who are in their 60s and 70s,” said her father.

A crowd of close to 300 turned out last Thursday night for a much-anticipated hearing before the East Hampton Town Board on a proposed town law establishing a rental registry. The new ordinance would require property owners to register with the town before advertising a rental, providing information about the number of tenants and lease term and certifying that a property met town and state safety and building codes.

Those against it, who had organized an online campaign at stoptherentalregistry.com and presented a petition to the board with 1,325 signatures, called the proposal an onerous requirement that would unfairly impact those who abide by the law. They predicted that it would have a negative impact on the rental industry and the economy without affecting overcrowded and share houses.

Advocates said it would help ordinance enforcement officers address violations, a critical need in residential areas where illegal short-term, seasonal, and year-round rentals are transforming neighborhoods.

The proposed law would not change the existing laws against share houses, repeated short-term rentals, or overcrowded houses. Instead, it would add a requirement to register with the town as a landlord, under penalty. Prospective landlords would be required to certify that their properties meet a checklist of state and local building and safety code standards.

David Betts, who heads the town’s division of public safety, said that the registry would be “very beneficial” to ordinance officers in enforcing the housing code. Seven of 10 townships in Suffolk County require landlords to register, he said.

“East Hampton needs the rental registry, to stop illegal rentals,” said Fred Weinberg of Springs. Those rentals, others said, have had a profound negative effect on many neighborhoods.

Tom Steele and other opponents, citing private property rights, raised questions of the constitutionality of what he called “a workaround” in the proposed law that would allow the town to inspect registered properties. They also said the penalties for those who do not register, which include jail time, were extreme.

“I think it’s too much Big Brother in our homes and in our pocketbook,” said Kathy Weiss of Montauk. “This is invasive, intrusive, scary, frightening, and totalitarian,” said Tony Garofano, also a Montauker.

Some said the cost of bringing older properties up to current code standards would be prohibitive, and that the registry requirement would reduce legal housing stock. “You’re making it even more difficult to find a year-round rental,” said Charlie McCarron of Sag Harbor.

 Others viewed that requirement as a positive for tenants and landlords alike, who, they said, would both be assured of safe conditions. “It’s a matter of safety,” said J.B. D’Santos, an East Hampton real estate broker who agrees with the registry idea.

Many made a point of agreeing thathousing laws must be enforced. But, said Carole Campolo of Springs, “this law will offer little remedy for . . . egregious cases.”

John Keeshan, a Montauk realtor, said it was “simply a question of the methods that we use.” A rental registry, he said, “is going to punish those people who are on the side of the angels,” while having little effect on unscrupulous landlords. He suggested sharply increasing fines for housing violations.

“Current town codes, if properly enforced, are adequate,” said Marlene Dion, another realtor. “This is where your focus should be, not in taking away our civil liberties,” she told the board. “We could have a show of hands and end this tonight.”

Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell decided to take her suggestion. Though speakers’ opinions had been evenly divided, the straw poll inside the standing-room-only venue, with latecomers clustered just beyond the doors, showed opponents far outnumbering supporters. Because of the expected crowds, the hearing was moved from Town Hall to the American Legion building in Amagansett.

“If the laws that are on the books worked, we wouldn’t be here,” said Jeremy Samuelson, executive director of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk, a group with 1,600 members. He pointed to a correlation between the rise of overcrowded housing and water body pollution from septic waste and other runoff. “It’s poisoning our community,” he said. “We need every regulatory tool available to get our arms around this crisis.”

Several speakers from the real estate industry told the board that the town’s limit on short-term rentals should be reconsidered. Families seeking to vacation in East Hampton often don’t have the time or means to rent for an entire season, they said, urging that share-house rentals and family vacation home rentals be treated differently.

For many year-round residents, said Diana Schiffman, rental income is important. “Local property owners truly rely on the income so they can live here the rest of the year.” 

Speaking for the East Hampton-Sag Harbor Citizens Advisory Committee, Ilissa Meyer said that “unfortunately, there are property owners in East Hampton” who flout laws and “make extreme profit to the detriment of the community.”

Tom Bogdan, who founded Montauk United, a group backing better law enforcement in response to a chaotic summer, said that “the problem is too many people in too small an area,” and that “the root of that problem is illegal housing.”

Ellen Dooley, a registry opponent, said she had surveyed online rental listings such as Airbnb and found over 10,000 properties listed in East Hampton Town. Comparing that to the number of housing violation cases being pursued, she said, shows that fewer than 1 percent are a problem. “Maybe the town board is trying to kill an ant with a steamroller,” she said.

Debra Foster of Springs, a former town board member, agreed. “We should be targeting what the problem is,” she said. Residents who rent their houses for part of the year to augment income are “different from people who buy houses as an investment” and rent them illegally to large groups or for repeated short periods, she told the board.

“Illegal rentals are out of control,” said Robert Sherman of Montauk. Any inconvenience caused by a rental registry is “minuscule in comparison to the benefits gained,” he said.

If housing laws are not enforced, “Airbnb will be the end of the community,” said Ed Geus. “Pass the rental registry.”

Joe Kazickas, also a real estate broker, said he was not opposed to the concept of a registry, but that a registration number, which under the proposal would be required before a rental could be advertised, “should be as easy to get as a beach sticker.” As written, with a $250 fee for the number and additional fees for updates as tenants change, the law is “egregious,” he said.

The crowd, some clutching bottles of water with red, white, and blue labels bearing the logo of stoptherentalregistry.com, which were available free at the hearing, filed out at close to 10 p.m. The town board will discuss the evening’s comments at an upcoming work session before deciding how to proceed.

A little more than a year after a plan to convert the shuttered East Deck Motel on the ocean at Ditch Plain in Montauk into an elaborate private club was scuttled after coming under heavy fire, a different proposal for the site was before the East Hampton Town Planning Board last week.

As fierce as the opposition to the prior plan had been, the new one, which would subdivide the 4.24-acre property into four house lots, received qualified praise and endorsements from a number who fought the original plan.

Before the planning board can act on the new plan, the property would have to be rezoned by the East Hampton Town Board from its resort designation to residential. The planning board agreed at its Nov. 18 meeting to forward their comments on the application to the town board.

The property contains the now dilapidated 28-unit East Deck motel as well as a swimming pool. They would be razed, with new vegetation planted around the site, which is now almost entirely cleared. The East Deck predated the first town zoning, written in 1957. The property faces one of the most popular surfing beaches in the Northeast.

The site was purchased for about $15 million in 2013 from Alice Houseknecht by ED40, a limited liability company organized in Delaware. Delaware is among a few states that do not require disclosure of the identities of an L.L.C.’s owners. Last year, however, the principal partner was identified as J. Darius Bikoff, who owns preperty at the nearby Montauk Shores Condominium. Mr. Bikoff was the founding partner and chief executive officer of Energy Brands, which markets Vitamin Water and was purchased by Coca-Cola in 2007 for over $4 billion.

The first work done on the property by the new owner was massive dune restoration, which received approval from town officials and Montauk community leaders. When the plan for what that dune would protect became public in July of 2014, it aroused a wave of protest. An online petition against the project, posted by the Ditch Plains Association, gathered about 5,000 signatures in a short time and the proposal was withdrawn the following September.

The L.L.C. then proposed selling the idea among Montaukers, but when the cost of the dune restoration was added to the $15 million purchase price, the value far exceeded the amount the town was willing, or would be able, to spend. The property was put on the commercial market, reportedly for $25 million, but no buyers came forward.

Since that time, opponents of the original proposal were able to meet with the developers and together they came up with an alternate plan. Former opponents offered support for the new plan at the planning board meeting last week.

“This was a very controversial issue,” Laura Michaels, head of the Ditch Plains Association, told planning board members last week. “We were a coalition. We worked closely with the owners.”

The new plan is for four narrow house lots of about an acre each running from Deforest Road to the restored ocean dune. At least three of the lots would need variances from the zoning broad of appeals because they are only 90 feet wide instead of 110 feet, as called for by the town code.

Before signing off entirely, Ms. Michaels asked the board to cap the square footage of each new house at 4,000. She pointed out that nearby houses range from 800 to 2,000 square feet. She also asked that either a covenant or scenic easement be required to ensure that the public would always have beach access and that only sand would be used to protect the dune.

“It’s fair and it’s right to say the community was deeply concerned with the prior application,” Jeremy Samuelson, head of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk, told the board. “Coming out of that, the owners of the property reached out. ‘Okay, what else can we do?’ We saw that as a great opportunity.”

Eric Schantz, a senior planner for the town, presented a 14-page memo to the board. In it, he pointed out that as it stands right now, owners of the property could open a 28-unit motel. The difference in septic flow between that and what is being proposed is immense, dropping from a possible maximum of 6,300 gallons per day to only 1,200 gallons, he said.

It was a point Mr. Samuelson elaborated on, telling the board that water from the property flows north, toward Lake Montauk, and that the reduced density would be a vast improvement over the allowable hotel usage.

“In addition, my organization has put on the table the notion of a conservation easement,” Mr. Samuelson said. This, he said, would assure that the public would always have access to the popular beach.

“I have never heard Jeremy Samuelson be more eloquent in support,” Job Potter, a member of the planning board, said.

They have traveled all walks of life, but between Monday and Friday they arrive at the same destination: the senior citizens centers in East Hampton and Southampton Towns, where they take advantage of free hot lunches, take-home meals, and social activities.

Their individual situations may differ greatly, but the majority of those who show up are living on fixed incomes and collecting Social Security or disability benefits.

The federal government will not be increasing those benefits in 2016, which will be only the third year since 1975, when Congress adopted annual Social Security increases, that there will be no such adjustment. The other years were 2010 and 2011.

“They always hit the small people,” said Edward King, 73, a retired school custodian, at the East Hampton center on Springs-Fireplace Road, one of two the town provides. “The government doesn’t know how it is to live like we live. . . . There are people in this country who are starving or can’t buy their pills because they don’t have enough money.”

Although he doesn’t fall into that category, Mr. King, a lifelong East Hampton resident and cancer survivor, said he would no longer be able to afford a mortgage payment if he had to and that he and his wife are weighing whether to sell one of their two cars. “I could go on forever,” Mr. King said.

So, too, could Michael R. Geller, 72, an Air Force veteran who said he started collecting Social Security at the age of 62 after falling on hard times. His monthly check barely covers his rent, his car, and food for himself and his dog, he said. He called the lack of an increase in the year ahead “a horrible cop-out.” During lunch at the East Hampton center, Mr. Geller said, “If I didn’t have food stamps and this place here, I wouldn’t have food.”

Ronald Fick, 69, a retired East Hampton Town worker and Navy veteran, said the challenges on the East End were particularly harsh given the high cost of living here. “I think the government forgot that Social Security is all the people’s money,” Mr. Fick said.

Andrew Malone, 89, a retired auto repair shop owner, said he recently received a persuasive letter from the Senior Citizens League, a group that is pressing for an “emergency cost-of-living adjustment” and, at the same time, is demanding that Social Security benefits be denied “illegal aliens.” The group’s efforts are controversial, however, with The Huffington Post dubbing one of its mailings, in 2011, “the holy grail of elderly scare tactics.”

Mr. Malone collects about $800 a month from Social Security. Because he also qualifies for subsidized housing, his rent is $209 a month. “If I didn’t have that, I would be on the street,” he said. A Navy veteran who was once active in Democratic politics, Mr. Malone added, “Definitely, a raise would help me.”

Social Security cost-of-living increases, also known as the consumer price index, or C.P.I., are tied to inflation, which has been mostly flat in the last few years. When told inflation had been level, however, Mr. Fick said, “But not as far as I can see. You’re just trying to survive around here. If it weren’t for the food pantry, a lot of people wouldn’t be able to do it. But you don’t have enough money to move away, either.”

Theoretically, Congress could still enact a cost-of-living increase for 2016.  Representative Lee Zeldin said by phone on Monday, “I don’t think that at any point we should give up that fight among those members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. I don’t think there really is ever a time where it should ever be considered too late.”

Mr. Zeldin, who represents the East End, said he was in the process of reviewing a proposal by Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon that calls for a consumer price index modified for the elderly population. It would take into account the idea that, according to The Washington Post, “people who are working have different spending patterns than retirees.” Mr. Zeldin said he also supports the idea that Social Security benefits should take regional costs of living into account.

“Money just doesn’t go as far on Long Island as it does elsewhere,” Mr. Zeldin said. “Some seniors choose between oil in their tank and prescription medication. I’m somebody who believes that the money should be paid out factoring the cost of living in very unique regions all across America. . . . It’s needed in order to survive here.”

In 2010, according to the census, East Hampton was home to about 3,780 people 65 and older. They accounted for 17.6 percent of the population, which was 21,457 as tallied by the census that year. The Washington Post reported in October that nationwide 65 million people and disabled workers collect Social Security, or about one in four households, and another 15 million are disabled veterans, federal retirees, or the poor who also qualify for Supplemental Security Income.

_____________________________________

Social Security cost-of-living increases are

 tied to inflation, which has been mostly flat

 in the last few years.

_____________________________________

Aware that the average age in East Hampton is rising, the members of the town board established a senior services committee in 2014 to consider the needs of seniors and make recommendations. According to the committee, the over-65 population will be twice the size of the school-age population here within the next 15 years.

“There are a lot of supports in place for people who might feel the crunch” of rising costs without an increase in Social Security, Diane Patrizio, East Hampton Town’s director of human services, said in a recent interview.

Asked about the local impacts of no Social Security increase, Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, an East Hampton Town councilwoman who was the liaison to the  senior services committee, said “an uptick in the town-provided services” was expected.

Ms. Patrizio and Ms. Burke-Gonzalez agreed that the town has the capacity to handle more clients. In  addition to the nutrition programs at the East Hampton senior center and at the Montauk Playhouse Community Center, services include transportation to doctor’s appointments and grocery stores and assistance in applying for benefits like federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance or Medicare. There is also a town residential repair program, which helps eligible seniors obtain repairs for their houses, and a Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps with the expense of heating their houses. More information on these programs can be found on the town’s website at ehamptonny.gov or by calling the Department of Human Services at 329-6939.

“What I want people to be aware of is that there are programs that can help them financially deal with these issues,” Ms. Patrizio said.

Correction: A previous version of this story said Michael Geller was 67 years old and a veteran of the Army. 

Funeral arrangements for Lilia Aucapina, the Sagaponack woman who had been reported missing last month, have been finalized.

Visiting hours will be held at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Friday evening from 5 to 9. A funeral service will be held there on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., followed by burial at Oakland Cemetery in Sag Harbor, according to the funeral home.

Ms. Aucapina, who was known as Esperanza, was found dead in the woods on Nov. 19, six weeks after she disappeared. Southampton Town police said they believe she committed suicide. She was 40 years old. Having emigrated from Ecuador to the United States, she had lived on the South Fork for about 20 years and worked as a housecleaner. 

A family friend is raising money for the Aucapina family, which includes a 21-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter. A GoFundMe.com page has been set up to offset the costs of the funeral, but on Saturday, it was updated to say arrangements had been paid for and that any money raised would go toward her children. Her son is attending college.

"Esperanza was an exemplary mother always devoted to her children and God," the page said. 

The Springs School District has launched a second search for an architect and engineer, along with a new search for a construction management company, to help it deal with what many people say is an overcrowded and aging school building. The announcement came amid continued criticism during Monday’s meeting over the district’s handling of the fees it paid to the architect, whom the district had previously hired without a formal school board vote.

The school board voted on Monday to reject the bids it received in July from its first open search, which had come under scrutiny from community members who said the district’s initial attempt was rushed and flawed. Its first request for proposals was dated June 25 and gave interested companies approximately five business days to submit bids.

Carl Fraser, the district’s interim business administrator, explained on Tuesday that the district opted to start a fresh search — which begins today with a request for proposals published in this newspaper and in an online database of contractors the district is using for the first time — because “the community expressed some concerns about the whole process.”

“Based on those concerns, the board decided to convene a committee to review the process and if possible develop a new request for proposals, and that’s what we did,” Mr. Fraser said.

The district also seemed to heed the advice of Carole Campolo, a resident who formerly worked with public contracts for New York City, who said on several occasions that the district should do more outreach to qualified architects and engineers. The school board approved a $195 expense to join BidNet, a statewide Internet database of more than 9,000 contractors. Mr. Fraser said the database includes at least 300 architects and 200 construction management companies.

The district’s move drew cautious approval from Ms. Campolo, who said during the meeting that it appeared to be a step in the right direction. “I’m delighted that you have decided to abandon the request for proposals you had out there,” she said. She complimented Mr. Fraser for “a more professionally managed and professionally thought-out request for proposals process.”

Ms. Campolo did, however, request that the administration pay close attention to keeping the bidding process “a level playing field” for all interested parties, and recommended that the district further fine-tune its system for evaluating the bids it hopes to receive.

In this new effort, potential bidders have until Dec. 15 to submit proposals. Mr. Fraser said building tours will be encouraged. The district’s architect selection committee will meet to rate those proposals by Dec. 21, and will schedule interviews with finalists during the week of Jan. 4. Mr. Fraser said he anticipates the school board will choose one of the bids on Jan. 11, and shortly thereafter, the district will convene a concept committee to talk about the specifics of needs, designs, and cost.

But it’s not an entirely fresh start, Mr. Fraser said Tuesday. The design work done by BBS Architects, even though the circumstance under which it was done has come under criticism, will be considered. “That was good work,” he said. “We paid for it. We will consider all inputs from all sources. The facilities committee did work, BBS did work, and whatever other source of work that was put into the process will be looked at to develop the new concepts for the project.”

Separate from her comments on the new architect search, Ms. Campolo handed the board a highly critical analysis of the fees paid by the Springs School District to its previous firm, BBS Architects, during Monday’s meeting. While the school board did not pass a resolution authorizing the district to pay BBS Architects, it nevertheless paid at least $26,500 of about $34,000 in invoices submitted by the firm for what was to initially be an $8,000 project.

In her analysis of those invoices, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by another community member, Ms. Campolo questioned high numbers of hours billed in single days on invoices and involvement of BBS Architects in about seven separate projects that appear to not have been discussed publicly during board meetings. Among those projects were two involving an evaluation of the Springs Youth Association building, which was by East Hampton Town on district property, with one project titled “SYA building district office conversion.” Ms. Campolo wrote that she believes the district has had “shockingly deficient handling of these few invoices and extraordinary cost overruns.”

Liz Mendelman, the school board president, explained that some of the projects were needed to get educational certificates of occupancy from the New York State Education Department for structures such as the school greenhouse and the Springs Youth Association building. However, Tim Frazier, the school board vice president, asked Mr. Fraser, the business administrator, to review Ms. Campolo’s analysis. “Those are good questions she is asking,” he said, and Mr. Fraser agreed to review them.

During Monday’s meeting, the school board also informally agreed to schedule a work session every other month in addition to its regular meetings. The idea was pitched by the newest member of the board, Barbara Dayton, who said she envisioned a meeting where the board could delve deeper into educational issues impacting Springs, such as Common Core developments and program needs, in the presence of the public.

“I feel like we never have a chance to talk about this stuff,” Ms. Dayton said.

The board also hired a new special education teacher to assist in the second-grade classrooms as part of the district’s response to parents’ and teachers’ requests for help managing large class sizes. John J. Finello, the superintendent, said an analysis of students’ needs showed more special education support was needed in kindergarten, second, and fourth grades. The new teacher will also provide some support to the kindergarten classes, while a current special education teacher who was working in both the second and fourth grades will now focus solely on fourth grade. The new system was to start Tuesday.

A sandbag seawall being built to armor the downtown Montauk ocean shore will be completed, East Hampton Town officials insisted Monday, despite a swell of vehement protest that arose after work by the Army Corps of Engineers got under way early this month.

Fourteen people had been arrested as of yesterday morning for refusing to leave the oceanfront work sites. Despite their acts of civil disobedience, as well as rallies, petitions, and an email campaign, which have continued almost daily since Nov. 5, officials said in a press release that the $8.4 million Army Corps project would continue.

The release included statements of support from New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and outgoing County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, who was just elected Southampton Town supervisor, in addition to town board members. 

Town officials have “listened carefully to the numerous, passionate concerns raised in response to the commencement of construction activity,” the press release said, but see “no basis upon which to halt this project.” The town board, it says, “fully supports completion of this interim protective measure until the completion of the Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation Study,” which is referred to by the acronym FIMP. 

Tuesday’s meeting began with a moment of silence for victims of the recent Paris attacks. At the close of the meeting, Susan Vitale called for a moment of silence for Montauk. The room grew quiet and still for an extended period.

Opponents had asked Supervisor Larry Cantwell and the members of the town board, who signed off on the federal project last year, to retract support for the 3,100-foot, 15-foot-tall “dune” of sandbags, which is to be covered with three feet of excavated sand. Town officials have said they asked the Army Corps to consider a sand-only approach to no avail.

Protests grew as the beach excavation and pile driving for wooden access walks got under way. The sandbag wall, opponents say, will result in the loss of the beach seaward of the wall, as well as increased erosion to either side of it.

The Army Corps has endorsed a beach nourishment program as part of its longer-term FIMP project, for which an updated draft is due in February, but federal, state, county, and town officials all endorsed the sandbag wall, calling it short-term protection for Montauk’s downtown motels and other buildings.

At Town Hall on Tuesday, opponents of the project flooded a town board meeting and expressed disappointment. An online petition against the project has 3,500 signatures, Jay Levine of Montauk pointed out. Several offshoot peti ions are drawing signatures as well, he said. “. . . You’re turning your back on the community, those you pledged to serve.” 

“I think we’ve been paid lip service instead of a sincere effort in trying to stop this project, which was the mandate of most of the people who spoke at the last hearing,” Lou Cortese of Montauk’s Ditch Plains Association, said.

“Several eminent coastal geologists have said this project will end up with no dry beach,” Thomas Bradley Muse, one of the plaintiffs, along with the environmental organization Defend H2O, in a lawsuit seeking to stop the project, said at the meeting. A decision on a request by him and other plaintiffs for a temporary restraining order is expected shortly. An injunction is thought unlikely after a magistrate judge issued an opinion against it. 

 Mary Lynn Miller, a Wantagh resident who vacations in Montauk every summer, also spoke on Tuesday, questioning whether a sandbagged shore would be a draw for tourists. “It’s the unspoiled nature of Montauk that attracts us,” she said. 

Mr. Cantwell told the town board’s critics that extensive conversations with state and federal officials had taken place in response to the community opposition. But, he said, “There is no cooperative way to stop this project. There is no pause button.” Should the town try to press the issue, Mr. Cantwell said, it would “be put in an undesirable position with respect to the ultimate project, which is a sand-only solution.”  

“It’s either this option or nothing,” he told the roomful of opponents on Tuesday. “From the board’s point of view, that’s not a tenable option.” He went on to say the board does not “want to do a project with this much opposition, but at this point in time, there’s really no other option.”

In the press release, Mr. Cantwell said, “It can’t be emphasized enough that the current project is an interim protective measure until . . . the long-term stabilization solutions can be implemented. We will do everything in our power to cooperate with our federal, state, and county partners and strongly advocate that the preferred sand-only stabilization project be authorized, funded, and implemented as soon as possible.” 

“The consequences of pulling out of it are long-ranging and significant,” Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said, noting that the town would be responsible for charges already incurred by the contractors. Trying to pull out, he said, would “cripple our relationship with the Army Corps, which we rely on for what I think we all agree is the best solution for downtown Montauk.”

Mr. Van Scoyoc implored the audience to join the board in advocating an expedient start of the long-term project. “We really need the community to speak as one voice, demanding to keep the pressure on, moving up the chain,” he said. However, he acknowledged that the FIMP project had been in the works practically since he was born. Dominique Olivia Garsten, a downtown Montauk business owner, then commented, “So it’s like a unicorn.”

“Whether we like it or not, whether we get what we want in the FIMP project is somewhat dependent upon this project,” Mr. Cantwell said. “I think Montauk gets priority . . . if this project goes forward.”

“We’re now learning to respect nature. But in Montauk, the Army Corps is trying to intervene and change things and force nature into the way it wants,” Bill Crain said. “The beach has been raped,” Diana Walker said. “And it’s unnecessary, and it’s going to come back to haunt all of us.” 

“I feel it’s a Montauk emergency right now, that that beach is getting cut up day by day by day,” said Sarah Conway, who was among the first protestors arrested. “Stop this project; it’s not impossible. Our beach is being destroyed. Our faith in democracy is being destroyed,” she said, to a standing ovation. “Are you representing us, or are you representing your own views?” she asked the board.

Even though dark had already fallen Friday, Army Reserve First Lt. Elizabeth Mamay, just back from Afghanistan, thought she was on her way to see the beach she had missed so much during her nine-month deployment. East Hampton police cars and fire engines intercepted her, however, as she drove into Wainscott, with a full complement of lights and sirens to escort her home. When the caravan reached the fork at Hook Mill in the village, she was greeted by a large group of family, friends, and well-wishers, there to welcome her back. 

“In moments like this, I’m definitely very lucky to be from a town that cares so deeply about its roots and its people,” said Lt. Mamay. She had had no idea of what had been planned in her honor, though she admitted her family was never one to be low-key. “My mom said, ‘See! Here’s your hero’s welcome!’ It was just very kind. You don’t expect any of that.” 

Lt. Mamay, who grew up in Springs and graduated from East Hampton High School in 2008, spent the last nine months in Bagram, Afghanistan, working as a plans officer. Her responsibilities included planning base closures, managing units within the battalion, and ensuring the troops had proper training before deployment. A member of the 389th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion from Fort Totten in Queens, under the 77th Sustainment Brigade at Fort Dix, N.J., she arrived in New York on Friday morning after flying back to Fort Hood in Gatesville, Tex., on Nov. 4. Her family, including her father, Richard Mamay, a sergeant with the East Hampton Village police, and her mother, Diane McNally, the clerk of the East Hampton Town Trustees, cheered her arrival during a ceremony at Fort Totten Friday afternoon. 

The 25-year-old said she was glad to be home, describing the transition as “overwhelming.”

“Not overwhelming in a bad sense. You’re over there, you live with far less than we do here,” she said. During a trip to CVS’s pharmacy on Tuesday, she said she was struck by all the options. “In Afghanistan, you get what you get, you use what you have.”

The “little things” in life, she said, are what she missed most. Not having to wear rubber shoes to shower, for one. “It seems so little, but feeling your feet on the shower tub floor — and privacy. For months, you’re always with a battle buddy.” Drinking from a cup and using silverware is also a welcome change. “For months, drinking out of cartons or cans or bottles, and now being able to go to the fridge and pour a glass of milk and having ice-cold milk was so cool,” she said with a laugh, “Things we take for granted every day.” 

This was the lieutenant’s first deployment, after a little over three years in the Reserves. She was commissioned in 2012 upon her graduation from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in psychology and early education. 

She had joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps program at the university at the suggestion of her mother. “I thought she was absolutely crazy. In high school, I was a total girly-girl. I used to do pageants,” she said. “She was the one who saw some leadership skills in me. . . . It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.” 

She has learned interpersonal and communications skills, as well as how to adapt in any situation, and gained self-confidence, all which she hopes will help her in a civilian job.

Lieutenant Mamay wants to remain in the Army Reserve and to relocate to Virginia, where she lived briefly before being deploying, and to get a job with the federal government or in the private sector as a logistical specialist or in supply management. For now, though, she plans to enjoy the holidays in East Hampton. She’s been kept busy so far, helping her mother at the trustees’ Largest Clam Contest on Sunday and seeing friends.

She did finally make it to the ocean. “The next day, when it was light outside, we went and got egg sandwiches and sat at the beach” — a perfect end to the welcome-home celebration, she said.