East Hampton results: Lamont carries town by 227 votes

Republican Melissa Ziobron leads Democrat Meghan Rosenfeld by 69 votes in the 34th House District, with all three towns reporting, though East Hampton itself voted for Rosenfeld.

Ziobron, who held the seat from 2013 to 2019, has 5,813 votes, or 50.3 percent, to Rosenfeld's 5,744, according to the Secretary of the State's unofficial results.

Rosenfeld carried East Hampton, 3,123 to 3,079. Ziobron, who lives in East Haddam, won there by 19 votes, 2,303 to 2,284, and won the district's part of Salem by 94, 431 to 337.

At the current count, the race is not close enough for an automatic recanvass, a second count of the returns, under state law. One is required only when the margin is less than one-half of 1 percent of the votes cast for the office, or fewer than 20 votes. With 11,557 votes cast, that line is about 58 votes.

The seat is open because Rep. Irene Haines, a Republican first elected in 2018, was not on the ballot. Ziobron appeared on the Republican and Independent Party lines; 291 of her votes came on the Independent line. Rosenfeld, an alternate member of the town's Commission on Aging, ran on the Democratic line. Our October story has both candidates' platforms.

Ziobron wrote on her campaign website that if she won, she would give up her state job, which she described as helping craft proposed state budgets, before being sworn in in January.

The town's fire commissioners plan to ask for $480,000 to replace the fire department's 20-year-old air packs.

The air packs are the department's SCBA, or self-contained breathing apparatus, the air supply firefighters wear into smoke. The request follows a letter from SCOTT, a breathing-apparatus maker, "referencing the NFPA standard," according to the Oct. 19 minutes of the Board of Fire Commissioners. The NFPA, the National Fire Protection Association, writes safety standards for fire departments.

The air packs top the minutes' list of four capital requests to be submitted for the 2027-28 fiscal year. The others are $25,000 for turnout gear, the protective coats and pants firefighters wear; $10,000 to repair dry hydrants, the pipes fire trucks use to draw water from ponds and streams; and $50,000 for a Conex box, a steel storage container. The four come to $565,000.

The same night, James Radavich, the Board of Finance member who serves as its liaison to the fire commissioners, reported to that board that capital planning was underway. The finance board's minutes list "air pack replacements due to expiration dates" as an example. He also reported 78 current volunteers.

The commissioners also heard a proposal from David Lundquist to enhance the stipend and LOSAP for volunteer firefighters, which the minutes say is meant to retain members and keep them engaged. It would cost $11,300 more in the first year and an additional $21,750 in the second. The board did not vote and plans to take it up again at its next meeting.

In other business, the board voted 4-0 to spend $2,088 on two Knox boxes, the lockboxes that hold a building's keys for firefighters. It also voted 4-0 to approve Joe Asklar as a deputy fire marshal under what the minutes call a reciprocal agreement between Marlborough and East Hampton, to be used when the town's fire marshal is out of town. A proposal to move the board's start time from 7 p.m. to 6:30 is to be voted on at the next meeting. Earlier, at a special meeting Oct. 5, the board had voted 4-0 to accept a memorandum of understanding with Marlborough on fire marshal coverage. The Oct. 19 minutes also say a response to the Town Council on a new firehouse is being drafted.

Running a roadside farm stand in East Hampton takes a special permit, which costs $150, according to the town's Agriculture Commission. The commission wants farm stands taken off the special permit list, and on Oct. 21 it voted to send that zoning change to the Planning and Zoning Commission, which would have to approve it.

Dropping the requirement would save farmers the $150 and encourage more people to open stands, according to the minutes.

Until anything changes, a stand still needs the permit. Planning and Zoning holds a public hearing Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 6:30 p.m. on a special permit application from Devon Hills for a farm stand at 19 Flanders Road. The proposed rule change is not on that agenda.

The commission voted 8-0 to approve a set of agriculture zoning amendments, with the farm stand revision, and send them to Planning and Zoning. Vice Chairman Christopher Bitel made the motion and commission member Richard Walker seconded it. Members raised the fee in August, when they suggested looking into waiving it or creating a separate permit with a different fee, and voted 7-0 in September to recommend removing the special permit requirement. A farm building under 200 square feet does not need a Building Department permit but may need a zoning permit, according to the minutes.

The same night, the commission voted 8-0 to accept a Right to Farm ordinance. Its next stop is the Town Council, which would review it and would have to hold a public hearing before any vote to adopt it, the minutes say. On Oct. 13, at the commission's request, the council dropped the commission's three required youth seats.

Members have discussed the ordinance since July, and in September they suggested it cover home food production and small-scale production. Bitel drafted a version for them to review. On Oct. 21 the only change members made to the revised ordinance was to reword a sentence in its last paragraph to refer to the "Commission of Agriculture's designee." Commission member Teesha Grant moved to accept it as amended, and Bitel seconded.

Members discussed putting up Right to Farm signs around town like those in Colchester and Middletown, and suggested a contest for the schools to design a new logo or sign. They want the council to adopt the ordinance before any contest or redesign starts.

The commission also decided to hold another farm stand crawl, so customers learn where the town's farms are instead of going to one central spot. Members suggested the harvest months, possibly May through September of next year, and put off picking a date until January.