With the summer season approaching, East Hampton Town government has been hit with a string of departures from various departments. In the past six or so months, five department heads have resigned: Code Enforcement Director Kevin Cooper, Town Attorney Rob Connelly, Housing Director Eric Schantz, Chief Building Inspector Joe Palermo and Planning Director Jeremy Samuelson. Jack Motz reports on 27east.com that since then, the town has filled two of the positions: it promoted Tina LaGarenne to occupy Samuelson’s former spot and Cooper’s replacement, a former Southampton Town investigator, starts work on Monday. However, the posts held by Connelly, Schantz and Palermo are still in flux. Other resignations hit more recently, with several employees still finishing their final days as town employees. Patrick Derenze, an East Hampton Town spokesman said the town — “like many businesses” on the East End — is navigating “ongoing challenges related to employee recruitment and retention, which reflect broader regional trends in housing, transportation and the cost of living.” To address the issue, the Town of East Hampton has taken “meaningful, forward-thinking steps” intended to retain current employees and attract “new talent.” These include a new temporary paid parental leave policy and a flex time policy, the latter of which offers “eligible employees increased flexibility in their work schedules.”

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U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other Democrats said yesterday they have sued President Donald Trump over his executive order to require states to further prove citizenship in registering voters and to make other changes to elections. Michael Gormley reports in NEWSDAY that the top New York congressional leaders and other Democrats called Trump’s executive order an "unconstitutional power grab."

At issue in the conflict over Trump’s March 25 executive order and a related Republican bill introduced in Congress last week is a states’ rights clause in the U.S. Constitution. That provision states: "The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature." The provision, however, also states Congress "may at any time by law make or alter such regulations."

Trump’s executive order argues that states "largely" rely on inadequate "self-attestation for citizenship." He also seeks to curb the increasingly popular practice of "mass voting by mail."

Trump’s order also threatens to "cease providing federal funds to states that do not comply."

In New York State, however, noncitizens already are prohibited from voting. The state relies on the registrant declaring their U.S. citizenship under penalty of perjury. Applicants also must provide a Social Security number and standard driver’s license, permit or nondriver identification.

"The president doesn’t get to make his own laws," said Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice's Voting Rights and Elections Program at New York University School of Law. The center is part of another lawsuit challenging Trump’s executive order.

"States get to make those decisions; Congress may make those decisions," he said. "But the president doesn’t get to do those things."

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This evening on the Southampton Campus of Stony Brook University, Dr. Christopher Gobler of School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University will present his annual “State of the Bays” lecture, this year themed “Keep Calm and Carry On.” Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that tonight’s lecture will be in Duke Lecture Hall, which is located inside Chancellor’s Hall on the SBU Southampton campus. Members of the Gobler lab will present posters explaining their work in the lobby from 7 to 7:30 p.m., followed by the lecture at 7:30 p.m.

According to Dr....