East Hampton Town Trustees Set for First Year of Revised Election Format

This year is the first time that the East Hampton Town Trustees election will take place with a revised format, as eight candidates vie for four seats.

After years of complaints about the unruly nature of the sprawling Trustees race, which has had as many as 19 candidates running for seats in some years, the Trustees election this year is the first with a staggered format, with only four of the nine seats set to appear on the ballot.

Tracing their authority back to 1686 and colonial patents from the King of England, the East Hampton Town Trustees are, along with their counterparts in Southampton Town and Southold Town, the oldest elected bodies in the United States and maintain records of their governance back to the 17th century.

Now, the board is entrusted with the management and oversight of all of the town’s tidal harbors, bay beaches and freshwater ponds.

This year, four Democratic incumbents are running to retain their seats, while four Republican challengers will also appear on the ballot. The Democratic candidates have biographies on the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee website.

Two of the four Republicans responded to requests for information on their candidacy. The remaining two, John Dunning and James Stark Vilar, will appear on the ballot, but they did not return multiple emails looking for additional biographical information.

John Aldred (D)

John Aldred was elected Town Trustee in 2017, and then, in 2024, the East Hampton Town Trustees chose Aldred to serve as deputy clerk.

For 50 years, Aldred has worked in and around the water, including as the founding director of the East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery and as an environmental analyst with the East Hampton Town Natural Resources Department.

As a Town Trustee, he has been active in various projects, including assisting in oyster seeding and reef development and undertaking horseshoe crab mating surveys in Northwest Harbor with the State DEC and Cornell Cooperative Extension.

David Cataletto (D)

First elected in 2021, David Cataletto grew up in East Hampton and now works as a teacher at East Hampton Middle School.

Cataletto is a founding trustee of the Amagansett Life-Saving Station Museum in Amagansett. He also serves on the East Hampton Nature Preserve Committee.

As a Town Trustee, he serves on a handful of committees: Ponds, Education, Accabonac Harbor, Hog Creek and Northwest Creek. He said he is passionate about keeping local waters clean, keeping beach access rights, expanding renewable energy programs and preserving local wetlands.

Tim Garneau (D)

A graduate of the Wharton School of Business, Tim Garneau said he has applied his experiences to a number of volunteer positions around the community.

Garneau is currently the site coordinator of the Cornell Cooperative Extension horseshoe crab monitoring project, which engages community members and high school students as citizen scientists.

His priorities include protection of public lands and beaches, continuing to improve water quality as well as managing ponds and harbors. Garneau is a member of the Beaches Committee, Northwest Creek Committee, Lazy Point Committee, and the Dredging Committee.

Celia Josephson (D, WF)

Elected in 2023, Josephson took office as a Town Trustee in January 2024. Josephson is a member of the Aquaculture, Beaches, Education and Lazy Point/Napeague Harbor committees. She is also a liaison to East Hampton Town’s Energy and Sustainability Committee.

Josephson has practiced law in East Hampton since 1993. In May 2025, she joined the Amagansett-based firm Whalen Filer as a partner. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and teaches the latter at Hampton Library.

Kurt Kappel (R)

Having grown up on the East End near the water, Kappel currently works in the construction industry.

“I think I have a lot of local knowledge that I see every day,” he said. “I’m 58, so since I was a kid, I see the ocean, the water every day — how it changed, how it didn’t.”

Michael Wootton (R)

For more than 25 years, Michael Wootton has lived in Wainscott. As a member of the community, he has served as treasurer of the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church and as a volunteer with the East Hampton Volunteer Ocean Rescue.

“I am an analytical thinker and a problem-solver who believes the government should focus on results, not rhetoric,” he said. “My approach is rooted in common sense and practical compromise, not politics or costly legal disputes that have too often burdened both the Town Board and Trustees.”

A graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Columbia Business School, he worked as a vice president of the Bank of New York.