Sag Harbor Village Incumbents Get an 11th-Hour Challenger as Hilary Thayer Hamann Enters Race

There was an 11th-hour surprise in the upcoming Sag Harbor Village election, when Hilary Thayer Hamann, an alternate member of the Harbor Committee, filed a petition to run for village trustee. Thayer Hamann joins three incumbents who are on the June 20 ballot.

Trustee Tom Gardella, who has one year remaining on his third term, is running unopposed to replace Mayor Jim Larocca, who announced earlier this year that he would not seek a second two-year term. Gardella, who currently serves as the Village Board’s liaison to emergency services providers, has served as deputy mayor under both Larocca and his predecessor, Kathleen Mulcahy. A member of both the Sag Harbor Fire Department and the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps, he runs a plumbing business.

Trustees Aidan Corish and Bob Plumb have filed petitions seeking their fourth and third terms, respectively, on the Village Board.

Corish is the creative director of Tangram International, a company that designs and builds exhibition spaces for trade shows, retail businesses, and museums. He serves as liaison to the village’s sewage treatment plant, overseeing a major effort to expand its coverage area, and the village’s efforts to obtain grants for capital projects. Plumb is a semiretired builder who currently works as an owner’s representative on residential construction projects. He is the board’s liaison to its long-term planning initiatives.

Thayer Hamann is a writer and the author of the novel “Anthropology of an American Girl.” She was appointed alternate to the Harbor Committee by Larocca and serves on the village’s environmental advisory committee.

Reached Wednesday morning, she said she had decided to run to bring a fresh perspective and a desire to serve the community as the village continues to confront issues ranging from the need to protect water quality to the affordable housing crisis.

There will also be a race to replace retiring Village Justice Lisa Rana. Steven Tekulsky, who, like Rana, is also an East Hampton Town justice, and Carl Irace, a Sag Harbor attorney with a broad practice, have both filed petitions for the position.

Terie Diat, a retired corporate executive in accounting, is seeking a second full term on the North Haven Village Board. Peter Boody, a journalist and former editor of The Southampton Press, who was appointed to complete the term of Chris Fiore after his election as mayor last year, is seeking a full two-year term.

Elections in both villages take place on June 20.