HAMPTON BAYS — Hampton Bays currently has no resident serving on the Southampton Town Board and no resident serving on the elected Southampton Town Trustees, a gap that is fueling renewed concerns about whether one of the Town’s largest hamlets has enough of a direct voice in local government.
The issue has taken on greater significance since the loss of former Councilman Rick Martel, a longtime Hampton Bays resident who had served as one of the community’s most recognizable voices in Town government.
Martel returned to the Town Board in 2025 after winning a special election, but narrowly lost his seat later that year. He died in June 2026.
During his time in office, Martel was closely associated with Hampton Bays issues and served as a liaison to the community.
Today, the Southampton Town Board consists of Supervisor Maria Moore and Councilmembers Michael Iasilli, Cyndi McNamara, Tom Neely and William Pell IV. The Town Trustees are James Mack, Matthew Parsons, Joseph McLoughlin, Hannah Pell-O’Farrell and Sara Topping.
None is a Hampton Bays resident.
Former Hampton Bays Civic Association President Ray D’Angelo, a longtime resident, recently addressed that concern directly in a letter titled Hampton Bays Deserves a Voice.
D’Angelo pointed to a series of 2026 issues affecting the hamlet, including traffic congestion, parking, water-pressure concerns, senior-center access and development pressure.
“Hampton Bays deserves more than promises and public relations,” D’Angelo wrote.
Letter HB dicontent.docx
His broader argument is that residents need stronger input before decisions affecting the community are made, rather than after problems arise.
That concern is especially relevant when it comes to the Southampton Town Trustees.
The Trustees oversee more than 25,000 acres of Southampton’s shores, waterways, marshes and bottomlands, with responsibilities that include public access, water quality and marine resources. Their administrative office is located in Hampton Bays.
Yet the hamlet currently has no resident serving on the five-member Trustee board.
The upcoming Trustee election could make representation an even larger issue.
All five current Trustees are seeking another term, while Hampton Bays resident John Carson is also running for Trustee.
Carson brings a commercial-fishing background and a direct connection to the hamlet, making the race about more than party control. It also raises a broader question about whether Hampton Bays should once again have a resident sitting on one of the Town’s most important elected boards.
The issue is not whether Town Board members or Trustees who live elsewhere can represent Hampton Bays.
They can.
The question is whether that is the same as having someone at the table who lives with Hampton Bays traffic, water, marine and development issues every day.
For years, Martel provided that kind of hometown connection on the Town Board.
Right now, Hampton Bays does not have it on either board.
And D’Angelo’s letter makes clear that for some longtime residents, that absence is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.