Government

The rate of Covid-19 infection has slowly declined at testing sites in East Hampton Town in recent weeks, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said on Tuesday.

The positive infection rate among those tested between Oct. 16 and Oct. 23 was 5.88 percent, Mr. Van Scoyoc said. The rate between Oct. 24 and Oct. 30 was 4.94 percent, and between Nov. 1 and Nov. 7 it was 3.85 percent.

Democrats in East Hampton Town bucked the wider trend on Long Island and beyond on Election Day, maintaining a lock on elected offices by winning large majorities in an election marked by light turnout.

Consultants to East Hampton Town have proposed a two-phase plan for implementation of the recommendations contained in the Wainscott hamlet study that was approved and adopted in East Hampton Town’s comprehensive plan in May 2020.

"I was guardedly optimistic," East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said Wednesday after an apparent landslide victory for the Democratic Party. He pointed to a record of sound financial management, guiding the town through the Covid-19 pandemic while maintaining a functioning government, and forward movement on renewable energy and said, "I think the public responded resoundingly." 

Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, an incumbent candidate, was one of only a few Democrats re-elected to their posts on Tuesday as Republicans earned victories in key races in county government.

Voters across Suffolk County flunked three of the five statewide propositions on Tuesday's ballot. The only successful measure that will impact the East End was an amendment to the state constitution to establish the "right to clean air, clean water, and a healthful environment for all."

The polls had been closed for more than two hours when word was conveyed that there would be no further update to the Suffolk County Board of Elections' vote tally of East Hampton Town's 19 election districts, but the early vote totals indicated a clean sweep for Democrats. At nearly 1 a.m., when the board of elections website finally populated with all of East Hampton Town's unofficial numbers, those results held: The Democrats' candidates had won every contested town race from supervisor to town trustee.

There will be one new face among the East Hampton Town Trustees, who manage many of the town's beaches, waterways, and bottomlands on behalf of the public, when the nine-member body is sworn in in January. All nine candidates running on the Democratic ticket were elected.

With less than two weeks before the 2021 election was to be settled, the East Hampton Town Democrats had outspent their opponents by almost double and still had plenty left for a final push.

The East End was well represented when New York State Assembly committees considered testimony during a hearing on the Covid-19 pandemic's impact on the Open Meetings Law on Monday.

Two of the three candidates for East Hampton Town supervisor sparred anew at last Thursday's virtual debate hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and North Fork. The incumbent, Peter Van Scoyoc, and his opponent, Jeff Bragman, have sharply criticized each other throughout much of the latter's single, four-year term as a member of the town board.

There is little daylight between the three candidates for East Hampton Town Board who participated in last Thursday's debate hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork.

Legislation signed last week by Gov. Kathy Hochul promises to improve access to retirement plans for millions of New Yorkers at seemingly minimal impact to small businesses. The law, dubbed the New York State Secure Choice Savings Program Act, will require private sector employers with over 10 employees to automatically enroll their employees in a state-administered retirement savings plan.

County Legislator Bridget Fleming, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to represent New York's First Congressional District, has reported more than $468,000 raised and a raft of political and labor endorsements. 

The Republican and Conservative Party candidates for East Hampton Town supervisor and two council member posts held a forum for voters on Sunday at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett, where they made a case for their candidacies and leveled a broad critique of the present administration.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, who is seeking a third term in Tuesday's election, has won the endorsement of Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and County Legislator Bridget Fleming, as well as a pledge of support from Gov. Kathy Hochul and a complimentary statement from Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who also spoke highly of Mr. Van Scoyoc's challenger, Councilman Jeff Bragman.

A long-hoped-for project to remove the utility lines crisscrossing what may be one of the best views on Route 27 is finally within reach. State and local officials last week announced plans to remove poles and bury the lines at the western end of downtown Montauk, giving eastbound drivers an unobstructed ocean vista as they approach the heart of the hamlet.

A hearing on the town's proposed acquisition of three adjacent wooded lots on Green Hollow Road in East Hampton, using money from the community preservation fund — and $2.6 million from neighbors — drew almost as many opponents as supporters.

After a contentious debate and many months after the application was submitted, the East Hampton Town Trustees voted 5 to 3 on Monday to approve construction of an 80-foot floating dock on Three Mile Harbor, the first such approval in more than three decades.

Bridget Fleming, a Democratic incumbent Suffolk legislator and former Southampton Town councilwoman, is seeking a fourth term, challenged this year by Robert J. Carpenter, a Republican making his first bid for public office.

Retail cannabis dispensaries and lounges will not be popping up soon on Montauk Main Street, in Amagansett Square, or anywhere else in East Hampton Town if the town board follows through on plans to opt out of allowing adult-use retail sales and on-site cannabis consumption spots.

Medivolve, the company contracted by East Hampton Town to provide Covid-19 testing at sites in East Hampton and Montauk, will no longer operate those sites.

The East Hampton Town Board appears likely to temporarily close East Hampton Airport and reopen it as a publicly owned, private-use airport, with the understanding that conditions would have to be monitored for any unintended consequences of its goal to reduce noise and pollution. 

With the passage of new property maintenance rules on Friday, East Hampton Village landowners will now have to pay extra attention to litter, tree and shrub trimmings, stagnant water, and weeds that extend beyond their property lines.

Robert M. Cornicelli, a veteran and advocate for veterans and the developmentally disabled who is seeking the Republican Party’s nomination to represent New York’s First Congressional district, has announced that retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, a former national security adviser to President Trump, has endorsed his candidacy.

In an act of civil disobedience, commercial fishermen and their supporters once again drove onto the 4,000-foot stretch of Napeague sands known as Truck Beach on Sunday in defiance of a New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division decision barring them from doing so. Fourteen of them were cited for trespassing.

The nine-member East Hampton Town Trustees manage many of the town's beaches, waterways, and bottomlands on behalf of the public.

A Route 114 paving update, and a restocking of shellfish in Shinnecock Bay.

Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn has announced that she raised more than $200,000 in the third quarter for her campaign for the Democratic Party’s nomination to represent New York’s First Congressional District.

Ms. Hahn’s fund-raising total “was overwhelmingly fueled by individual grassroots donors giving $100 or less,” according to a statement from her campaign, with a majority of contributions from donors living in the congressional district. She has now raised more than $450,000, according to the campaign.

East Hampton Village's chief lifeguard reported to the village board on Friday on the lifesaving efforts at beaches this summer. There were 179 rescues and no deaths.