It was time for East Hampton Town Hall to join many other New York municipal governments in hiring a professional administrator to oversee both budgetary and day-to-day functions. Rebecca Hansen, who had previously led the town’s Department of Finance, comes to the job after seven years in a similar role in East Hampton Village. But before that, she was State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.’s executive assistant. Ms. Hansen also has a master’s degree in public policy. She is what one would call a “good hire.”
The need for an administrator is clear: East Hampton Town and town government have grown steadily. So, too, has the complexity of the issues local officials must grapple with. Without much in the way of help from Suffolk County government or the State of New York, the town’s portfolio of responsibilities is huge — from dealing with wind-power developers to providing social services for older residents, as well as those for whom English is a second, or even third, language. Meanwhile, the town budget has jumped by about a third since 2010. Ms. Hansen will be at the center of action as this year’s operations burn through nearly $100 million.
One of her key roles as well will be as a connection between the board and town departments. Until now, that function was largely provided by the supervisor and council members directly, each of whom was assigned as liaison to one department or another. Freeing town board members from being managers on the side may help them focus on big-picture policy as opposed to minutiae.
Calls for a Town Hall administrator go back at least a decade. In a 2013 forum hosted by the Group for Good Government there was unanimity that such a person was needed. Among the arguments at the time was that removing management duties from the supervisor and town board members would help attract superior candidates to public service, candidates who might otherwise be put off by the day-to-day grind.
Until now, supervisors have had personal full-time executive assistants or chiefs of staff. This bottled up communication with the public and sometimes gave the false impression that the supervisor stood above the rest of the board. Ms. Hansen will report to the supervisor and also to the town board as a whole, a needed change. This seems especially important as Democrats extend their one-party lock-grip on Town Hall.
As a neutral observer, a town administrator may be the voice that sometimes says, “Not so fast.”