Government

Unheard of in tiny Dering Harbor, 10-plus citizens seek board posts

REPORTER FILE PHOTO | Looking toward the Village of Dering Harbor over the harbor for which it is named.

Dering Harbor residents filled Village Hall for the first time in many years to attend the July monthly Board of Trustees meeting and the annual organizational meeting.

The usual, routine approval of resolutions — from confirmation of village officials to the 2012-13 meeting schedule — was interrupted frequently at the Saturday, July 21 session with questions and concerns from the audience of 20 or so residents, particularly about the annual board appointments to the Architectural Review, Planning and Zoning boards.

Mayor Tim Hogue said a number of residents had expressed interest in filling three open vacancies — in itself a first for the village, and a welcome one, he said. The open positions include John Colby’s expired term on the ARB, trustee Richard Smith’s term on the Planning Board and the position of chair of the ZBA, formerly filled by the late Bridg Hunt.

Mr. Hogue distributed the list, reassuring audience member Robert Ferris that his name had been inadvertently omitted when the list was typed up the day before the meeting.

To have so many residents, 10 or more, willing to serve was unusual; in previous years, trustee Linda Adams said, they had to ask several people before finding someone interested in taking on a board assignment. One woman in the audience, however, said she had been asked to serve but “nothing had happened” in the way of any follow-up.

For more details about the July meeting, see the August 2 edition of the Shelter Island Reporter.