East Hampton Supervisor Larry Cantwell Will Not Seek Third Term

With local elections scheduled for this fall, East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell announced Friday that he will not seek re-election this year.

Mr. Cantwell served for more than three decades as East Hampton Village Administrator before being elected to serve as Town Supervisor in 2013, and had also served as a town councilman and bay constable.

“Friends, after 42 years serving the community I love as a public official I have decided I will not seek re-election for a third term as town supervisor,” Mr. Cantwell told his Facebook followers Friday afternoon. “I can’t possibly thank everyone enough for your support and encouragement over these years. Love this town!”

Mr. Cantwell and his Democratic majority on the Town Board pursued an ambitious, pro-environment agenda over the past three years, setting high goals for renewable energy production, recycling and coastal resiliency for the town.

Their tenure was not without controversy — the board had proposed working with the USDA on a deer cull that was later nixed, and did not interfere in a much-maligned Army Corps of Engineers project to shore up downtown Montauk last winter — but throughout, Mr. Cantwell was praised by community members at the public podium at town hall for his fair demeanor and his dedication to making East Hampton a better place, after nearly a decade of tumultuous town leadership.

East Hampton Councilman Fred Overton, a Republican who was elected in 2013, the same year as Mr. Cantwell, announced in December 2016 that he will also not seek re-election this year. Mr. Overton, a long-time elected official on both sides of the aisle who served as town clerk for 14 years before being elected to the town board, has been known throughout his career as a champion of the working people of East Hampton.