Government Briefs 03.01.12

East Hampton Town

Actual Cost of Chief Auditor

    An item last week about the appointment of Charlene Kagel, an accountant who has been working part time for the town, to a chief auditor position, inaccurately described the impact of the move on the town budget.

    Ms. Kagel will earn a $90,000 salary in the new, full-time post. She had been paid on an hourly basis, which, extrapolated to a full-time position, would equal an annual salary of approximately $84,000, as was reported.

     She had not, however, been putting in full-time hours. The 2012 budget contained $40,000 for the position, Len Bernard, the town budget officer, said Tuesday. The remainder to be needed this year for her salary will be taken from a contingency budget line, he said.

Dog Step Law a No Go

    An effort by Town Councilman Dominick Stanzione to enact legislation requiring all pools to have steps that would enable a dog or a child to get out of the pool hit the doldrums on Tuesday with a thumbs-down vote by the rest of the board.

    Mr. Stanzione said there had been several dog drownings after animals fell into pools and were unable to get out. But board members pointed to an existing code provision requiring fences around pools, and Supervisor Bill Wilkinson noted that dogs must be trained to use pool steps and become familiar with a particular pool.

    The proposal would also have added a provision to the pool fencing code that would allow town officials to go onto a property and rectify an unsafe situation, such as lack of a fence. At present, the only action the town can take is to fine a pool owner who is not in compliance with the law.