East Hampton Town Councilman David Lys and Manny Vilar, who is challenging him for a seat on the town board, were in broad agreement on a range of topics at a debate hosted by the East Hampton Group for Good Government on Tuesday at the East Hampton Library.

The evening echoed an Oct. 11 forum hosted by VoteHamptonNY in which Mr. Vilar, the Republican candidate, and Mr. Lys, who changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democratic before his January appointment to the town board, presented little in the way of contrasting views. 

To a question about how they would respond to a mass resignation of town employees leaving for higher-paying jobs in neighboring municipalities, Mr. Vilar said that the problem has been building for years. A townwide class and compensation review by an outside entity is in order, he said. Some people could be in the wrong position, and “others could have fallen by the wayside because of the grade structure they’re in.” A rapid attrition rate “is indicative of other problems,” but employees from UpIsland who get experience in East Hampton and leave for high-paying jobs elsewhere clearly demonstrate that salaries are too low, he said. 

Mr. Lys said that the town board would have to determine the reason for high attrition. A long commute or internal strife, and not simply compensation, could be culprits, he said. The town has regraded multiple positions, he said, adding $171,000 to the salaries of around 20 employees in the tentative 2019 budget. Merit pay might also be explored, he said. He referred to the town’s new Live Here, Work Here initiative, aimed at guiding residents through the application and exam processes. But given the state-mandated tax cap, “We just can’t dole money out without repercussions,” he said. “We have to be very careful, and get the best for what we’re allowed to do.”

The hot-potato issue of a property tax reassessment was handled gingerly. Both candidates acknowledged an unfair structure in which some south of the highway second-home owners are assessed less than residents of Springs, but worried about a reassessment’s impact on senior citizens and young families struggling to pay a mortgage. 

Mr. Vilar predicted that the state would eventually mandate a reassessment. “I do believe this is coming, probably sooner rather than later, and we should have an understanding of where the wealth is locked up through years of non-assessments, an understanding of who’s impacted and how,” he said. “We really need to sit down, look at the problem, see where the numbers lie, to have a strong understanding of the implications this is going to have, not only on town government but how it’s going to impact the school districts.” 

Both he and Mr. Lys live in Springs, he said. “Our taxes are astronomical in comparison to East Hampton. If it would add 3 percent to taxes outside of Springs, 3 percent of a few grand is a lot; 3 percent of $8,000 or $9,000 is a huge amount.”

Mr. Lys said that the town should hire an outside firm to conduct a reassessment, should it be mandated by the state, and through the State Legislature seek a phasing in of any resulting increase in taxes to soften the impact. He agreed that the town “should get ahead of it sooner rather than later.” 

The candidates agreed that the Police Department’s guidelines with respect to the arrest and detention of undocumented immigrants are appropriate. The police do not honor detainer directives issued by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs Border Protection, holding arrestees only when a judicial warrant is in place, there is probable cause that someone has previously been convicted and removed from the country, or that a serious crime was involved. 

“The policy is appropriate now,” Mr. Lys said. He supported immigration and a path to citizenship for immigrants. 

Mr. Vilar said that during his 2017 campaign for supervisor he had advocated an office of immigrant affairs, and that the present policy “seems to be working okay throughout the state.” 

Mr. Lys and Mr. Vilar disagreed — gently — about a time frame in which water contamination could be mitigated and safeguarded. Addressing wastewater treatment townwide could cost close to $1 billion, Mr. Vilar said. All options, including a federal revolving fund, should be explored, he added. “Maybe we can fund septic replacement over years,” he said. “But I don’t think this is a problem that can be fixed in a 20-year span. The money is an astronomical amount.”

“I disagree that we can’t get this done in 20 years,” Mr. Lys said. “We’ve got to be proactive.” He suggested a multifaceted approach including sewage treatment plants, encouragement and incentives for property owners to replace aging and failing septic systems, discouraging landscapers from using nitrogen-loading components in their products, and aquaculture, the seeding of waterways with filter-feeding shellfish. 

Election Day is Nov. 6.

Assuming the demand keeps up and the supply stays where it is, the Jewish Center of the Hamptons will run out of places to bury its congregants in about 10 years.

The center’s cemetery, Shaarey Pardes Accabonac Grove in Springs, contains 1,182 burial plots, only 300 of which are not yet spoken for. “Over the last seven years, I sell an average of 30 a year,” Diane Wiener, the center’s director of development, said on Friday, “so we’d run out in 10 years.”

On Oct. 17, the East Hampton Town Planning Board discussed the center’s site plan and request for clearing permission to expand the cemetery by 379 new plots, 319 of them standard and 60 for ashes. Ten existing plots would be abandoned, for a total of 1,551.

 The application met with a generally favorable reception from planning board members, though there was some debate about the layout of the proposed new sections. 

The burial plots in the 8.6-acre cemetery, designed by the noted architect Norman Jaffe and opened in 1991, loop like the fingers of two hands around a central pond. As proposed, the additional plots would be laid out in two new sections, one in the northwest corner and the other in the southwest.

“This is not a substantial expansion,” JoAnne Pahwul, assistant director of the Planning Department, told the board, explaining that the cemetery is “practically built out.” The addition would increase coverage to 78,894 square feet; 80,000 is the maximum allowed. “The ‘fingers’ are very lovely,” Ms. Pahwul said of the design. She did, however, recommend that the two new ones be placed together, in a single area to the southwest, rather than well apart as proposed, “so at least we have a small block of open space to combine with the rest of the open space around there.” The cemetery is bordered by a town nature preserve.

Dan Weaver of Walbridge Surveyors, representing the applicant, pointed out that clustering the two sections, one in front of the other as Ms. Pahwul suggested, would leave no easy access to the one in back. Also, he said, “A cluster would change the character of the cemetery. It’s very open, it flows with the natural contour of the land.”

Ed Krug, a member of the planning board, said he had been to see the cemetery, which he called “a beautiful, low-key, park-like spot.” There are no tombstones, only uniform 12-by-24-inch footstones set flush with the land. “There are no monuments because of our philosophy that we are all equal in death,” Ms. Wiener said. 

Located off Old Stone Highway at the end of a long flag lot, the cemetery is well away from the road, and many people, Mr. Krug among them, have been unaware of its existence. “I had no idea this even existed,” he told his fellow board members. “The application came as a complete surprise to me.” Mr. Krug agreed with Ms. Pahwul, saying that “it would be great to concentrate the additional plots in one spot and leave the other acre in open space.”

Job Potter, the board’s chairman, said he was “generally supportive” of the plan as proposed. “I think it’s a unique application,” he said. “I want to go there and think about the layout.”

The board’s other members, Ian Calder-Piedmonte, Randall Parsons, Nancy Keeshan, and Kathy Cunningham, concurred. “Fine as proposed,” said Mr. Calder-Piedmonte, though also suggesting that an archaeological study be done before disturbing the site, which is within New York State’s list of archaeologically sensitive areas. 

Ms. Wiener said the Jewish Center has “no problem with archaeology, we’ve done that in the past,” in 2016, when 182 plots were added to the original 1,000.

Mr. Parsons said he was “okay with the design,” but wondered if there might be a conservation easement over the rest of the vacant land, to provide a buffer for the neighbors. “So, no more burials,” he said. Ms. Cunningham agreed, saying she would support the application contingent on an easement.

Tuesday is Election Day, with candidates on the ballot here for town, county, state, and federal offices. Voting takes place from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Normally, there would be no East Hampton Town races on the midterm ballot. This year, however, Councilman David Lys, who was appointed to a vacant seat on the town board in January when Peter Van Scoyoc became supervisor, faces Manny Vilar in a special election for the one year remaining in Mr. Van Scoyoc’s term. 

Mr. Lys is running on the Democratic, East Hampton Unity, and Working Families lines. Mr. Vilar is on the Republican and Conservative tickets. A first sergeant with the New York State Parks Police, he is also the founding president of the Police Benevolent Association of New York State. He ran for town supervisor last year. 

Most watched among the other races here is the one for United States representative, in which Congressman Lee Zeldin, a Republican, faces a challenge from a Democrat, Perry Gershon, in the First Congressional District. While Kate Browning’s name appears on the Women’s Equality line, she withdrew from the race following the Democratic primary and has endorsed Mr. Gershon.

Voters will also select a governor and lieutenant governor, a state comptroller, state attorney general, United States senator, seven State Supreme Court justices for New York’s 10th Judicial District (which includes Nassau and Suffolk Counties), a Surrogate Court judge, three County Court judges, and a Family Court judge. There are races as well for county clerk, county comptroller, and state senator and state assemblyman. (A sample ballot with all the candidates appears in today’s paper.)

The race for county comptroller will be watched closely by those on the South Fork. Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, who was elected to his second term last year, is challenging the incumbent Republican, John M. Kennedy Jr. Mr. Kennedy is also on the Conservative, Independence, and Reform Party tickets, while Mr. Schneiderman is on the Democratic, Protect the Taxpayer, Working Families, and Women’s Equality lines. 

Many see this year’s midterm election as a referendum on the president and the direction of federal government, but in recent history, voter turnout in Suffolk County has been low in midterm and other off-year elections.

In the last midterm, in which Mr. Zeldin unseated the Democratic incumbent, Tim Bishop, in 2014, only 39 percent of registered voters cast ballots. Mr. Zeldin beat Mr. Bishop by 15,313 votes, while a whopping 270,015 people who could have voted decided not to. 

Turnout was only slightly better — 40.51 percent — in the 2017 general election in East Hampton, in which town voters selected a supervisor, members of the town board, and a range of other local officials. 

In the last presidential election, however, turnout in Suffolk County was just under 71 percent. In the congressional race at that time, pitting Mr. Zeldin against Anna Throne-Holst, turnout was 68.4 percent, with Mr. Zeldin beating his challenger by 53,221 votes. In that race, 145,864 people who could have voted did not.

Anti-Gun Group’s Picks

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence has endorsed Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Perry Gershon, the Democratic candidate who is challenging Representative Lee Zeldin in New York’s First Congressional District, in Tuesday’s midterm elections. 

“Each candidate has made a strong commitment to policies that reduce gun violence and help protect New York communities,” an Oct. 2 release issued by the group stated. The group considered candidates’ responses to a questionnaire, support for gun violence prevention legislation, and voting record, if applicable.

In an Oct. 18 statement, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence announced additional endorsements, including Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who are seeking re-election, and Letitia James for state attorney general. 

“Gun violence is preventable and New York State has shown that strong gun laws reduce gun deaths and injuries,” Rebecca Fischer, the group’s executive director, said in the statement. “We endorse these candidates because they have demonstrated that they have the leadership to stand up to the [National Rifle Association] and extremists in Congress and will work to enact federal legislation that will save lives.”

Conservation Voters for Gershon

The New York League of Conservation Voters has endorsed Perry Gershon for Congress. “Perry Gershon has made environmental protection and combating climate change a top priority,” Julie Tighe, the league’s president, said in a release issued on Friday. “He is committed to supporting the ambitious efforts of local towns like East Hampton and Southampton to expand the use of renewable energy.”

“As the current White House and Congress continue to roll back environmental protections and standards, Gershon will bring change to Washington by advocating for bringing the U.S. back into the Paris Climate Accord,” Ms. Tighe said. 

Dems Rally at American Legion

The East Hampton Democratic Committee and the Friends of David Lys will hold a campaign rally tomorrow from 6 to 8 p.m. at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett. The rally is in support of Mr. Lys’s candidacy for the seat he now occupies on the East Hampton Town Board as well as that of Perry Gershon for Congress. Mr. Gershon, who lives in East Hampton, will attend the rally. 

A flier for the event promises music, free pizza and salad, beer, wine, and soft drinks. 

Clubhouse Election Day Party 

The Clubhouse at East Hampton Indoor Tennis will host an Election Day party, which the facility’s proprietor, Scott Rubenstein, called a bipartisan effort to encourage people to exercise their right to vote. 

Mr. Rubenstein said in an email that Patricia Hope suggested the party, proposing that those who vote receive a coupon of some sort. She contributed $200 toward that effort. Mr. Rubenstein matched that amount, as did East Hampton Town Councilmen Jeffrey Bragman and David Lys, and Manny Vilar, who is challenging Mr. Lys for his seat in Tuesday’s election. 

“Together we invite the first 150 people to join us for a drink at the Clubhouse,” Mr. Rubenstein said, “and we will dedicate one of our big screens to those who want to watch the returns.” Voters will be asked to wear the sticker distributed at their polling stations indicating that they voted, he said. Those planning to attend have been asked to send an email to [email protected].

A proposal for the 17,000-square-foot expansion of the T.J. Maxx store at Bridgehampton Commons will receive a public hearing at the Southampton Town Planning Board next Thursday at 6 p.m.

Kimco Realty, the owner of the shopping center, is seeking approval for a site plan that calls for extending the rear portion of the easternmost building, where T.J. Maxx is located, to make room for Marshalls, another discount retail store owned by the TJX Companies.  

T.J. Maxx occupies about 33,000 square feet. After the expansion, Marshalls would share the nearly 50,000-square-foot space, which would include a joint employee lounge and storage area. The plan would increase the square footage of the shopping center, which sits on about 30 acres, by more than 5 percent.

The planning board found on Aug. 23 that the project would have no serious environmental impact. Dennis Finnerty, the chairman, had explained at an earlier meeting that thanks to the compatible nature of the stores, the amount of increased traffic would be less than if a popular stand-alone retail store, such as Best Buy, occupied the space. Approval should be conditioned on a covenant requiring the stores to retain such compatible uses, Mr. Finnerty said.

A major point of contention for the board was the exit from the shopping center’s parking lot onto Snake Hollow Road, which is to the east of the property. Since the intersection of Snake Hollow and Montauk Highway does not have a traffic signal, the board wanted to discourage drivers from making left turns from that exit to the highway, a chaotic and potentially dangerous endeavor, particularly during summer months. As a solution, Timothy McCulley, the lawyer for the applicant, said Kimco would install signage and pavement markings prohibiting right turns onto Snake Hollow.

The board granted a parking waiver to Kimco, which allows the company to set aside land for future parking spaces as needed rather than installing them immediately. “The parking has to be drawn on the site plan, and shown to be available at the town’s discretion should the need arise,” said Mr. Finnerty. “History has shown the site has never fully utilized its available parking,” he commented.

The most vocal critics of the proposed expansion have been members of the Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee, who vehemently disagree with the planning board’s contention that the project would have no impact on traffic or the environment. 

“There is every likelihood that adding 17,000 additional square feet to a store that will be filled with a huge amount of additional merchandise will create additional customers, additional traffic, and additional parking needs,” said Pamela Harwood, chairwoman of the committee. She said the planning board “seemed to favor wealthy business interests by approving a wave of town code variances, despite community resistance.”

Residents will have an opportunity to weigh in on the proposed South Fork Wind Farm, a 15-turbine installation approximately 35 miles off Montauk Point, when the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management holds a scoping session on Monday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett. 

The meeting will focus on the construction and operations plan submitted by Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island company that has submitted permit applications to the bureau, the New York State Public Service Commission, and other agencies.

Ryan Zinke, secretary of the interior, announced on Oct. 17 that the bureau would publish a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for the construction and operations plan. The public scoping process is used to identify problems and potential alternatives for consideration in the impact statement. 

The publication of a notice of intent initiates a public scoping process and opens a 30-day comment period, which extends through Nov. 19. Along with Monday’s scoping session, the bureau will hold meetings and accept comments on Wednesday in New Bedford, Mass., and next Thursday in Narragansett, R.I. 

The Danish company Orsted recently acquired Deepwater Wind, which will be renamed Orsted US Offshore Wind once the transaction is completed.

Dozens of campaign signs for Perry Gershon, the Democratic candidate for New York’s First Congressional District, were vandalized last weekend. 

The words “Baby Killer” and “Gay Lover” were stenciled on as many as 50 signs between Center Moriches and Patchogue, Mr. Gershon’s campaign manager, Ali Dakich, said on Tuesday. 

“Hate-mongering has no place in America, especially in political campaigns,” Mr. Gershon said in a statement on Tuesday. “The conversation with voters should be about ideas for improving their lives. I am proud to stand with women in fighting for the right to let them choose what is best for their own bodies, and I am proud to stand with the L.G.B.T.Q. community in fighting for equality.”

“This is a nonpartisan, human issue,” he said. “Toning down incivility is the only constructive path forward for Long Island and the country.”

Word of the signs’ defacement came on the heels of a contentious debate between Mr. Gershon and Representative Lee Zeldin, who is seeking a third term in Congress, at Hampton Bays High School on Monday. Abortion was not among the topics debated, but one questioner asked the candidates’ position on President Trump’s proposal to narrow the definition of gender to male or female at birth and make that unchangeable later in life. 

Discrimination against any group is wrong, Mr. Gershon said at the debate. “A president pushing a discriminatory agenda sets the wrong tone for society.” 

Mr. Zeldin said that while no one should be discriminated against with respect to employment or housing, people’s sense of safety “includes not having a policy in place where a male could go into a female bathroom, or a female locker room, and say afterward that it was not a violation of any law because their internal sense of gender told them that they were a female when they went into a female locker room. I have a problem with that.”

The campaign funds of the two House of Representatives hopefuls in the First Congressional District are within spitting distance of each other, according to the most recent reporting.

From Jan. 1, 2017, to Sept. 30, Zeldin for Congress, a fund-raising committee backing the Republican incumbent, Representative Lee Zeldin, raised just over $4 million for his re-election effort.

Perry Gershon, a first-time candidate, raised more than $3.7 million via Perry Gershon for Congress, which booked its first contribution in July 2017. 

Mr. Gershon, a Democrat, was his campaign’s biggest backer, loaning or giving it outright more than $1.3 million.

Mr. Zeldin, an Army veteran, entered Congress in 2015, after defeating Democratic Representative Tim Bishop. His opponent, Mr. Gershon, is a commercial real estate lender with a house in East Hampton whose business career began with a Manhattan sports bar he opened shortly after graduating from Yale in 1984.

Votesane, a political action committee based in Alexandra, Va., gave the most to the Zeldin campaign, $71,000, early this year. Among his other big donors were Miriam and Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas, who each gave the maximum individual amount of $5,400. The Manhattan billionaire John Catsimatidis and his daughter, Andrea, each also gave the maximum.

Also contributing the maximum to Mr. Zeldin’s effort were former Metropolitan Transportation Agency chairman Peter S. Kalikow and two of his family members; Andy Sabin of Amagansett, Daniel Loeb of Third Point, a $10.8 billion hedge fund currently battling for control of the Campbell Soup Company, and Steven Schwartzman, the chairman of the $35 billion Blackstone Group.

In East Hampton, donations of more than $1,000 to the Zeldin committee came from Edward and Pamela Pantzer, Joseph McBride, and the late Ben Krupinski.

Among Mr. Gershon’s top donors were people from a range of professions, none of them, however, as well known as Mr. Zeldin’s. They included Katharine Rayner of East Hampton, Donald S. Sussman of the Paloma Funds, and Terrence Fancher of Stockbridge Capital. 

In terms of spending, Mr. Gershon’s team reported greater expenses in the latest filing, about $3.2 million to the Zeldin committee’s $2.6 million.

Perry Gershon for Congress listed about $1 million in advertising buys and about $420,000 in payments to various consultants and strategists. Just over $310,000 went to mailer printing and postage. Payroll and related expenses totaled about $159,000.

Mr. Zeldin’s single greatest expense was more than $31,000 for a secondhand Suburban to use as a campaign vehicle bought from Chevrolet 112 in Medford in January. Gas expenses incurred by his committee were more than $7,600.

Ali Dakich, Mr. Gershon’s press secretary, said that her boss had driven more than 37,000 miles in his own Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid, during his two-year campaign.

The Zeldin organization spent just over $525,000 on direct mail printing and postage through the end of last month and about $109,000 on staff. Marissa Powell, the campaign’s finance director, received payments totaling $50,000 since April, the most of any of Mr. Zeldin’s re-election team. 

His campaign spent about $3,800 on Uber rides and about $47,000 on airfare and hotels, not counting about $900 in in-flight Wi-Fi charges and $260 in Jet Blue priority seating. 

Mr. Gershon’s campaign travel line was $6,400. There were no Uber charges listed.

About $170,000 was given to the Zeldin campaign by the 170 donors listed with addresses in the 119 ZIP code area. Excluding members of his own family, Mr. Gershon had contributions in the 119 ZIP code from 26 people, about $15,600 in all.

Representative Lee Zeldin, New York’s First Congressional District congressman, and Perry Gershon, the Dem­ocrat who is challenging him, will meet in what is expected to be their only face-to-face debate before an audience on Monday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Hampton Bays High School. 

The debate is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons. Candidates will make timed opening and closing statements and answer questions submitted by a panel and by the audience. The moderator will be Cathy Peacock of Amagansett, co-chairwoman of the league’s government committee. 

Mr. Zeldin, who hails from Shirley, is seeking his third term; Mr. Gershon, who is from East Hampton, is running for the first time. Mr. Gershon will also take part in a rally at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett on Friday, Nov. 2, from 6 to 8 p.m., along with David Lys, who is running for re-election to the East Hampton Town Board.

As a reminder, tonight the league hosts two back-to-back debates at the Hampton Bays school starting at 7. with the candidates for New York State senator and assemblyman. In the race for senate, the longtime incumbent Republican Kenneth P. LaValle is being challenged by Greg Fischer. Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. of the Independence Party, also a longtime incumbent, faces Patrick O’Connor, a Republican. Representatives of the Press News Group, The Sag Harbor Express, the League of Women Voters, and the Hampton Bays Civic Association will ask the questions before the floor is turned over to the audience.

The New York Times has endorsed Perry Gershon in his campaign to unseat Representative Lee Zeldin in New York’s First Congressional District. 

An editorial published on Saturday identified six Democratic candidates in New York and New Jersey who it said could help “restore good sense in Congress.” 

The paper cited Mr. Gershon’s support for both Medicare for All, a campaign to enact universal health care, and the Affordable Care Act, which Mr. Zeldin has voted to gut, in its endorsement. Mr. Gershon, a Democrat, and Mr. Zeldin, a Republican, also differ on immigration, the editorial noted, with Mr. Gershon supporting protection for so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. The Times was critical of Mr. Zeldin’s support for withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement of 2015, a policy President Trump announced last year. 

The editorial also criticized Mr. Zeldin’s embrace of Sebastian Gorka, a Hungarian immigrant and former deputy assistant to Mr. Trump who has worn a pin from Vitezi Rend, a Hungarian group that the U.S. State Department labeled as having been “under the direction of the Nazi Government of Germany” during World War II; and of Stephen Bannon, who The Times wrote “has been connected with some of the most extreme right-wing groups in Europe and the United States.” Mr. Gorka denies membership in Vitezi Rend, though the group has claimed him as a member. 

Some lifelong Republicans, the editorial stated, have called for a Democratic victory in the Nov. 6 midterm elections so that the Republican Party does not control all three branches of government and both Houses of Congress. While a majority of prognosticators predict a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives, the Senate is seen as likely to maintain its Republican margin.