AMAGANSETT—After an hour of passionate discussion, including some raised voices, on Monday night, members of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee decided to schedule a community meeting in the near future to hammer out a consensus on what should be done with the Amagansett Lifesaving Station.

What is decided at the meeting will then be sent to the East Hampton Town Board as a formal recommendation by Committee Chairwoman Rona Klopman and member Lyle Greenfield.

The discussion began when Ms. Klopman brought up the meeting that Town Councilwoman Theresa Quigley held regarding the station on September 23. Some committee members who were not invited attended the meeting anyway, and town officials, including Ms. Quigley and Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, criticized them for it.

After reading aloud an e-mail from Ms. Quigley, Mr. Greenfield told the committee that if its members tell the Town Board what they think should be done with the station, the board would listen.

But Ms. Klopman said she thinks the board will not include the public in its final decision about the station and already has something in mind.

Some members agreed with Ms. Klopman, other members did not.

The fate of the lifesaving station has been in flux in recent months since the East Hampton Historical Society walked away from its 10-year lease.

Elaine Miller said Ms. Klopman’s take on the situation sounds like “a conspiracy theory,” and she doesn’t understand why everyone is in such “a flurry” about the situation. Ms. Miller said she thought the September 23 meeting was just an initial one to put some ideas together and wasn’t open to the public because there would be too many participants to get anything accomplished. “The 
idea of this initial group was, they would just brainstorm,” she said.

Former committee chairwoman Sheila Okin said she thinks the committee’s heated discussion Monday was fueled by the Town Board saying it would be “very transparent,” but in fact being “very closed.”

“People are not being included,” she said.

Lee Davis sat quietly throughout the meeting and voiced his opinion to other committee members only once when he said, “We seem to be skirting the whole proposition,” and pointed out that no one was discussing what they think should actually be done with the station.

Mr. Greenfield said he notified Ms. Quigley that a community meeting will occur in the next few weeks, held by Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee, and said she welcomed it.