2026 Trustee Election

Hello Amagansett community,

I am submitting my name as a candidate for re-election to the Amagansett Free Library Board of Trustees, and I hope that you will support me. I was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Amagansett Free Library 3 years ago, and it has been my honor to serve on the Board, including one year as Vice-President and one year as Secretary. I have served on the Finance Committee, the Long Range Planning Committee and the Policies Committee as well.

It has been a great pleasure to work with the dedicated staff, director and my fellow trustees on the Board over the last three years. As we came out of the Covid-19 pandemic the Board and the Library worked very hard to adapt, as every entity did, to continue to provide services to the community – services that were even more essential – in a safe and healthy way. Since then the Library has strengthened its core services, expanded its lending library, and introduced Museum Passes for borrowing as well as offering many interesting and varied programs for patrons of all ages.

The Library has just adopted its next 5-year long range plan, with plans for continuing to expand our role as a vital hub for the Amagansett community. I look forward to being a part of the Board to implement these plans, and I hope I have earned your trust and support to continue in this role.

I have been amazed by the multitude of programs offered at the Library and have participated in many of them. The Library has proactively sought ways to provide new services, new digital offerings and new programs 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.

I believe that I can continue to add value to the remarkable work of the Amagansett Free Library, and I hope that you will vote for me between March 2-13, 2026.

Thank you for your consideration.
Barbara Hill

I have long admired the accomplishments of the Amagansett Free Library. These growing accomplishments reflect the discerning and thoughtful hand of the library’s board of trustees. It would be an honor to be a part of the library’s future as a member of such a board.

Over three decades I have been a card member of the library, donated to the library, and used the library as a resource and workplace. And promptly paid all my overdue book fees!

One of the most fundamental ways to contribute to a community is by helping its public library. It would be an honor to contribute in whatever way my abilities might best be of service.

Thank you,

Hank Muchnic

Personal

• Proud parent of three children who graduated from the Amagansett Union Free Elementary School

• Proud husband of Nika Nesgoda who performs cello regularly at Stephen Talkhouse

Experience

• Served four years on the Amagansett Union Free District school board • Five-year volunteer of the ambulance company of the Amagansett Fire Department, and currently serving

• Served two years on vestry of the St. Thomas Episcopal Chapel of Amagansett • Served four years on the 45 Gramercy Park North NYC coop board, one year as President

• Served three years on the board of the Gramercy Park Association overseeing Gramercy Park, NYC

• 35-year board member of Valley Company Inc., and currently serving. Ten years as Treasurer. Valley is a family office investment holding company based in Colorado. • Owner-manager of Muchnic Shannon Farm located in Kansas

• Owner-manager of Gold River Pulpwood located in Nova Scotia • Prior employment in ranch, farm and timber management at Oppenheimer Industries and Agrivest Ltd. located in Kansas

Education

• Masters in French Literature (Middlebury College, Vermont)

• BA in Literature (Bard College, New York)

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 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 full student body (K-12) about their works twice per year. This may seem typical for a New York school but for Cincinnati, it was a progressive and aggressive learning agenda. My respect for authors began.

When I walked into the Amagansett Free Library years later, I instantly knew it was a place I would be spending a lot of time. Cafe tables upstairs for quiet working; a sweet Children’s section where I envisioned taking a future brood. Since then, I’ve written a cookbook upstairs and now take my 8 month old to peruse the pop up section. I’ve recently checked out Watershed Down, Green Eggs and Ham (currently overdue), and the new Pynchon: Shadow Ticket.

I believe I can be additive to the Board in keeping our vision community focused and accessible.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME:

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 homes and handles the recipe development, menu planning, marketing and admin for them. I started coming to The Hamptons for my career, following many of the city clientele. 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 Gravity’s Rainbow, which took me all 40 weeks of being pregnant.

Jonathan Rose holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University. He began his career at IBM as a semiconductor designer and marketing representative before relocating to the East End, where he apprenticed with a local cabinet maker. He later returned to New York City and spent many years in film production as a Set Decorator, designer, and builder, working on films, television, and commercials. He retired from the industry two years ago.

Now a full-time Amagansett resident he lives with his wife, Susan Malfa, in a home they purchased in the 1990s. He is currently volunteering at Quail Hill Farm, helping complete the interior of a recently constructed barn.

With a professional background in construction and design, Jon brings practical experience relevant to facilities oversight and planning. As a library supporter and active community member, he is eager to contribute his skills in service of the Amagansett library and its role in civic life.

Jon is an avid birder, fisherman and pickleball player.

In March 2024 I completed two consecutive three-year terms on the library’s board, serving as secretary, and I would very much like to rejoin the board in March 2026.

As a trustee, I had an active role in planning the library’s flower garden and brick campaign, and for several summers my poodle Valentino and I had a weekly story hour for children, “Read with Valentino,” at the library. Valentino was proud to be “the library dog,” and though, sadly, he is no longer with us, he is remembered fondly.

In 2019 my husband and I moved from New York City to Amagansett full-time, but my involvement with the library dates back to the early 1980s, when my family bought a house here and we became “summer people.” My daughter was five, and the first thing we did was to get a library card. Carrie enjoyed going to the library for many years, and I have been a regular patron. In the early 2000s, when the library was planning its renovation, I served for a year as a trustee.

I grew up outside of Boston. In college (Barnard) I was an English literature major, and I have a master’s degree, also in English literature, from Brown University. I have worked in book publishing houses in Boston and New York City and as an editor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While my daughter was growing up, I worked for 13 years as a fundraiser for the nonprofit children’s theater company The Paper Bag Players.

I have brought to the library board writing and editing skills and fundraising experience. I believe in “giving back,” and have a long history of volunteering in the City and locally. I currently serve on the board of the Amagansett Village Improvement Society (AVIS), am a member of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee (ACAC) and of the East Hampton Group for Wildlife, serve as a board member and as the secretary of the Amagansett Beach Association (ABA), and volunteer at the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons (ARF).

I love the Amagansett Free Library. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with the other trustees, with the director, and with the staff, and I hope to do so again.