2023 Trustee Election
The election will take place in person or mail-in ballot, from March 1 – March 19, 2023.
Amagansett residents and property owners are eligible to vote.
For the 3-year terms, voters can choose up to 2 candidates. For the 2-year term, voters can choose up to one candidate.
View a sample ballot
Email info@amagansettlibrary.org or call us to request a mail-in ballot
JILL DONENFELD
Running for a 3-year term
2023-2026
A library is a reflection of its community and I would like to contribute to making sure that the Amagansett Free Library provides the best services and programming to its town residents. A center for expanding knowledge and for gathering together in service of knowledge is paramount in perpetuating a community that believes in free thought and open dialogue: values that are core to being responsible, additive citizens.
I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio where my school had an excellent librarian (the mother of Curtis Sittenfeld) and library program called Books For Lunch in which lauded authors would speak to the entire student body (K-12) about their works twice per year. My favorite speaker was Tom Wolfe; this may seem typical for a New York school but for Cincinnati, it was a progressive and aggressive learning agenda. I moved to NYC in 2002 to attend Barnard College where I majored in Urban Studies with a focus in Architecture. I was always intrigued by the culinary industry and worked in restaurants, for caterers, and in food media during school. When I graduated, I started The Culinistas, a hospitality company that helps chefs find work in people’s homes and handles the recipe development, menu planning, marketing and admin for them. I started coming to The Hamptons for my career, as many of the city clients summered out here. I moved to Amagansett in 2020 permanently. My interests on the East End are clamming & oyster farming as well as surfing, playing tennis and running. I study Japanese, just started knitting, and love art & movies. My favorite authors are Orhan Pamuk, Haruki Murakami, and Steve Coll. The last great book I read was Rise And Kill First by Ronan Bergman.
MARC DONNENFELD
Running for a 3-year term
2023-2026
Dear Neighbors,
My name is Marc Donnenfeld and I am interested in rejoining the Board of Trustees for the Amagansett Library. I have been a resident in Amagansett, both renter and owner, for more than 40 years.
I am strongly committed to the concept of public service. In New York, I was a member of Community Board 1 for 6 years. I participated in the redesign of the World Trade Center site, the establishment of the WTC Healthcare Center at Bellevue Hospital, the Task Force for the Redesign of the West Side Water Front and the creation of the Spruce St. School in Lower Manhattan. As a Board member of the Library, I have been honored to serve as President of the Board of Trustees. One of the most important challenges I faced during my recent presidency was the search and selection of a new Library Director. If elected, I look forward to continuing to work with Director Hessler and fellow Board members to serve the Amagansett community.
Regards,
Marc
BARBARA HILL
Running for a 3-year term
2023-2026
Hello Amagansett community,
I am submitting my name as a candidate for the Amagansett Free Library Board of Trustees, and I hope that you will support me. I first joined the Amagansett community in 2003 (my husband has been here since 1980), and we moved to Amagansett full time in 2020. I am excited for the opportunity to provide my time, effort and experience to continue the great work that the Library is now doing.
First, a bit so you can get to know my background: I grew up in the greater New York area, graduated from Tufts University outside Boston and became an attorney (graduating from New York University School of Law). After practicing law in New York for several years, I relocated to Boston. I raised my two now-grown daughters in a small town in Massachusetts, not dissimilar from Amagansett. Over the years, I served in many capacities there – on the town’s Finance Committee, its Community Preservation Committee and on the boards of many volunteer organizations.
I have been amazed by the multitude of programs offered at the Library and have participated in many of them. I was thrilled by the Library’s pivot in 2020 when we all hunkered down as the pandemic spread, offering programs over Zoom (or safely outside) that kept us engaged. It is a huge testament to libraries in general, and to ours especially, that libraries remain vital in this increasingly digital world. I see the many ways in which our Library reaches out to all segments of our hamlet – young, school-age, teens and seniors. This is a great asset for us all, and I hope to help continue and expand that outreach.
I believe that a library serves as the heart of a community – a place of learning, a place to gather and a way to bring people together. Libraries provide people with tools to become more engaged, better informed and invested – in their own dreams, in our community and as civic participants in local, state and national concerns. This aligns with the Amagansett Free Library mission statement, and I look forward to bringing this mission forward.
Now I hope to bring my experience, my energy and my commitment to the Board of the Amagansett Free Library. I believe that I can add value to the remarkable work of the Amagansett Free Library, and I hope that you will vote for me.
Thank you for your consideration.
Barbara Hill
LINDA MACCRACKEN
Running for a 2-year term
2023-2025
I would like to apply for a position on the library board.
I grew up in New Canaan, CT but my connection to Amagansett started in 1956 when my family bought a house here. At first my time here was only in the summers but after my mother passed away in 2005 and I inherited the house I started coming here periodically throughout the year and I moved here full time 3 years ago.
I have an AB from Brown University and an MSEd in Early Childhood Education from the Bank Street College of Education. I was a teacher at the Hampton Day school in Bridgehampton from 1977 to 1981. After that I moved to the Seattle area. I taught for another year and then worked in a B. Dalton bookstore for 7 years. I liked being able to do a little bit of everything from unpacking and shelving books to finding or ordering books for customers to creating displays. I remember my first year at the bookstore THE POLAR EXPRESS By Chris Van Allsburg came out and I loved the illustrations and was sure it was going to be a big hit, and it was.
I have always loved to read. My daughter loves to read as well. When she was little we went to the library, where we lived then, often. One of her (many) favorite books was called I LIKE THE LIBRARY by Anne Rockwell. It tells the story of a child going to the library. When she was 4, I made her her own book following the plot of the Rockwell book and illustrating it with photos I took of her at our library (with their permission). The library in the book used the old system of stamping a card inside the book with the due date. Our library still used that system at that point so the 2 story lines are very similar. She looked forward to going to the library when we were in Amagansett and liked having her picture taken next to the bear.
I really appreciate that the Amagansett Library is here and that it is part of the Suffolk County system which gives me so many books to choose from. Having enjoyed being a patron of the library I thought I’d volunteer my services as a board member. I have the time and the interest, and I am open to helping in whatever way I can.