New Majority Looks To 1998

Shea And Loewen Expect Appointments

As always, Election Day here carries the potential for change not only on the East Hampton Town Board but among the dozens of appointed officials who serve at the pleasure of the board - attorneys, secretaries, heads of departments, unpaid citizen advisers, and professional consultants.

The new Democratic majority on the Town Board in 1998 is expected to capitalize on that potential, bringing some new blood to Town Hall and returning some familiar faces to positions they held before the Republicans took over last year.

Among the latter are Cynthia Ahlgren Shea, who is expected to be renamed town attorney, and Bradley Loewen, who may get back a seat on the Town Planning Board.

Savage Out

The organizational meeting to set government in motion for the coming year will take place the day after New Year's. While that is more than a month away, ranking Democrats began to undo some of the changes made by the Republican majority on Election Night.

That majority replaced Ms. Shea as town attorney in 1995 with Robert Savage after he lost his first bid for Town Justice.

Republicans cited Ms. Shea's connection to Twomey, Latham, Shea & Kelley, a law firm whose partners include her husband, John Shea, as well as Christopher Kelley, the town Democratic leader, and Thomas Twomey, husband of Judith Hope, the state Democratic chairwoman. Mr. Savage's second attempt this year also was unsuccessful.

Confirmation

Asked on Election Night whether she expected to move back into the office she held under the Democrats for roughly six years, Ms. Shea said the idea was being discussed.

Asked again this week, she was more sure. "Yes, and I am looking forward to it."

Ms. Shea has been quick to point out that she has never worked for her husband's firm but graduated from Harvard Law School and had been on a partnership track with a prestigious Seattle firm before moving east to start a family. She also worked here as executive director of the South Fork Community Health Initiative.

After Mr. Savage's appointment, Ms. Shea took a substantial cut in pay to remain at Town Hall as Supervisor Cathy Lester's executive assistant. The Supervisor said last week that she had not yet chosen her new assistant.

Jilnicki Out

The Star also has learned that the Democrats notified John Jilnicki, a deputy town attorney who was Ms. Shea's deputy before he was Mr. Savage's, some weeks ago that he would be out of a job at the end of the year.

Supervisor Lester called Mr. Jilnicki, who has worked more than 10 years for the town, "very bright," and said "he has a lot of background in municipal law." But she said it was "time for a change."

Eric Brown, who ran for Trustee on the Democratic ticket, was talked of as a likely candidate.

Mr. Jilnicki said Monday he felt he was being punished for having advised the departing Republicans. "That's my job though. I work for the entire board, not just one board member," he said. He noted that he had "a couple of irons in the fire."

Changed Prosecutors?

Supervisor Lester said she was working on a plan to reshape the town attorney's office, perhaps by hiring a full-time deputy to represent the Zoning Board of Appeals and act as special prosecutor on zoning matters. Consolidating those duties, now performed by Nancy Marshall and Scott Allen, who work part-time, could save money, she said.

No decision made at the annual organizational meeting attracts as much public interest as appointments to the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, which are proven springboards to political office.

These boards are structured so that one member's term expires each December. The chairs are appointed during the organizational meeting as well.

Key Boards

This year, Heather Anderson's first term on the Z.B.A. is winding down, as is Councilwoman-elect Pat Mansir's second on the Planning Board. Ms. Mansir was renamed chairwoman of the Planning Board in 1995 when the Republicans took the majority.

Supervisor Lester said she saw no reason to replace Ms. Anderson: "She's been doing a good job."

Ms. Mansir's replacement on the Planning Board will be given a full seven-year term. As for the second seat being vacated on the Planning Board, the appointee will complete the three years remaining in Councilman-elect Job Potter's term.

Supervisor Lester confirmed last week that Bradley Loewen, a bayman who was passed over in 1995 by the Republicans for reappointment, is likely to be given a return engagement. Several others are interested in the second seat and have been asked to put their interest and background down in a letter to the board, she said.

Petitioners

Among them are Henry Clifford, who resigned from the Planning Board after the Republicans replaced him as chairman; Lisa Grenci, a Democrat who barely missed taking a Town Board seat this year, and Barry Leach and Stuart B. Vorpahl Jr., who both made unsuccessful runs for a Trustee seat.

Rick Murphy, a freelance writer and former reporter for The Star, and Harvey Bennett, a Democrat who was just re-elected to a second term as a Trustee, have also asked to be considered.

"It's nice to see there's so much interest," said Supervisor Lester. She added that it was important "in the next year or two" to find a representative for the Planning Board from Sag Harbor, which has not had one on the Planning Board since the early 1980s. None of those mentioned so far lives there.

New Chair?

On the question of who will chair the Planning Board and Z.B.A., Ms. Lester said she was unsure who would lead the Planning Board but that it was likely that Jay Schneiderman would remain as Z.B.A. chairman. "He's experienced and knows how to run a meeting," she said.

Ms. Lester also reiterated a campaign promise last week regarding John Aldred, who had been moved by the Republicans from being the independent head of the Town Shellfish Hatchery to a deputy under Larry Penny, the head of the Natural Resources Department.

"I would like to give John back the flexibility to run the hatchery as he sees fit," she said.