Trash-Talking Flies Over Litter Committee

A request to form a town-sanctioned litter committee wasn't as easy as it might seem.

Deborah Klughers, and an environmental advocate who said she has asked the board for the past two years to reinstate the committee, asked Town Councilman Sylvia Overby after she joined the board in January if the town could reinstate a committee to oversee litter concerns.

By email on Wednesday, she said the reason she wants to get the litter committee back was simple: "Just as every community has litter – so should it have a litter committee."

Overby brought it to the rest of the board's attention and provided the members with a list of possible committee members, which Klughers had drawn up, during a work session on Tuesday.

Supervisor Bill Wilkinson took exception to the fact that the names were being provided instead of the board making recommendations. He also noted that Larry Penny, the retiring Natural Resources director, was on the list, even though he lives in the Town of Southampton.

"Committees are about the community," Overby said, adding that the list was not set in stone. "She gave me a list of people she knew would be interested. I take that very seriously and so do they."

Councilwoman Theresa Quigley said that she felt committees shouldn't be town sanctioned unless mandated by law unless they serve a specific purpose and then disband. She wanted to see a mission statement established first before voting to approve it. "Certainly it's crystal clear they deal with litter, but to do what I don't know," she said.

While Quigley and Wilkinson said they weren't objecting to the committe or the people on it, they felt that if a committee wanted the town's blessing it had to have a specific purpose.

Overby, who did not have a mission statement at the time, said missions can change over time.

"I have a different view of committees," Overby said. Who is on the committee "shouldn't be driven because I know someone or like someone," she said. In response to Wilkinson saying he didn't know one of the suggested people, Overby said, "It doesn't mean they shouldn't have the opportunity."

Klughers, who works for LTV was taping the town board work session on Tuesday during the discussion, has since said that she formulated a mission statment:

“Enhance the quality of life for the citizens of East Hampton and promote community beautification through the creation, development, and implementation of informational and educational projects, activities, initiatives, and campaigns designed to reduce and prevent litter, increase recycling, raise public awareness and encourage active involvement of the community in these efforts.”

According to town records, few committees have mission statements in the resolutions forming them. There was no mission statement for the town's litter task force, which disbanded in 2009.

Members of the town's litter task force, chaired by Julie Marcley of Montauk, was last reappointed in 2008, according to the town clerk's office. There was never any official abolishment of the committee.