Bruce Siska Appointed To Fill Empty Seat On East Hampton Village Board

Bruce A. Siska has been appointed to fill the unexpired term of David Brown, who resigned from the East Hampton Village Board in September after 18 years.

The Village Board voted last Thursday to appoint Mr. Siska and to accept his resignation as vice chairman of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals.

He will leave the ZBA on October 14 and officially join the Village Board on October 15.

Mr. Siska has been on the ZBA since 1998, he said after the work session on Thursday. He served on the East Hampton Village Planning Board before that, starting in 1994.

Mr. Siska is a plumbing contractor who has lived in the village since the mid 1950s, and before that in Montauk.

His appointed term on the Village Board will expire in June 2012, and he said he plans to run for election at that time.

He said he was happy to have the opportunity to fill Mr. Brown’s shoes and that he hoped he would be “useful.”

“It’s nice to be in the village,” Mr. Siska said. “Sometimes people want progress to go in leaps and bounds, and the village is more conservative and likes to ease into things. I have no problem with that, at least that keeps the history.”

Replacing Mr. Siska as the ZBA’s vice chairman will be Frank Newbold. Larry Hillel, an alternate member of the ZBA, will become a full member.

Christopher Minardi, who is now a member of the Planning Board, will resign from that board and join the ZBA as an alternate member.

A new face in the mix will be Philip O’Connell. He will join the Planning Board when Mr. Minardi leaves to join the ZBA.

A senior managing director with the Corcoran Group in Southampton, Mr. O’Connell has lived in East Hampton since 1979. “I grew up in East Hampton,” he said on Friday. “It’s a way to give back and be part of the community, which I adore.”

“We wish him a wonderful tenure,” Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said of Mr. O’Connell at last week’s work session, nodding to Donald Hunting in the audience.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Mr. Hunting, who has long been a member of the Planning Board and was until recently its chairman.