Siska Is New Deputy Mayor

When the East Hampton Village Board released the base salary schedule for its appointed officers and non-contract employees for the 2016-17 fiscal year on Tuesday, two board members had new titles and new salaries.

Barbara Borsack, who had been deputy mayor throughout her 16-year tenure on the board, is no longer in that role. Bruce Siska, who was appointed to the board in 2011 to fill the term of David Brown, who had resigned after an 18-year tenure, is the new deputy mayor.

In 2012, Mr. Siska was elected to complete the two remaining years of Mr. Brown’s term; in 2014 he was re-elected to a four-year term. His salary will increase to $15,500, while Ms. Borsack, as a member of the board, will receive $13,000.

Mr. Siska said yesterday that Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. asked him a few months ago to consider taking on the deputy mayor’s role. “I am one that, if I’m offered something and it’s not going to happen again, I’d better take it,” he said. “I’ve always had that feeling. I said, ‘Yes, I would be more than happy to.’ ”

Mayor Rickenbach described the change as “a cabinet shuffle” on Tuesday, prior to the board’s organizational meeting.

Ms. Borsack saw it differently, however. The mayor, she said Tuesday afternoon, had informed her of the move in a private meeting last week. “It wasn’t my choice,” she said. “It’s the mayor’s choice.” She was disappointed, she said. “I enjoy serving the village that way. It’s something I enjoyed doing and was happy to do.”

The mayor declined to elaborate on his earlier remark. “I would just tell you what I said. We’ll leave it at that,” he said later that day. Mr. Rickenbach, who was re-elected to a four-year term last month and recently celebrated his 80th birthday, did indicate, however, that this would be his final term in office.

Mr. Siska is up for re-election in 2018. “I intend to run again,” he said. “I enjoy what I do.”

Asked if she has aspirations to serve as mayor, Ms. Borsack said only that “I take things one year at a time.”