Oyster population growth is a key aspect of Mayr Robert Treuhold’s Iniatives.
Once Quogue Mayor Robert Treuhold came to the village, he implanted his roots deeply. Treuhold, a lawyer by trade, has held the location’s top elected office for the last two years and has lived there since 1997 when he and his wife Nancy relocated to be closer to family.
Treuhold’s Ascension to Mayor
Treuhold retired from the legal profession in 2017. Shortly after, one of his predecessors encouraged him to become more civically active. He listened to this suggestion and ran for and won a seat on the village’s Board of Trustees before being elected mayor.
Since assuming the leadership position, an integral part of his platform has been to preserve Quogue’s quiet, old-time feel.
“It is a quaint village, and we’d like to keep it that way,” Treuhold said. “We’re residential, we’re quiet, and we want to keep it that way.”
The Mandate
Neither Quogue nor its residents wish to be thought of as antisocial. They simply enjoy their simplistic atmosphere, highlighted by walking and hiking, and want to protect what they feel makes their home unique.
“As mayor, that is my principle mandate,” Treuhold said. “We also have to be forward-thinking.”
Along those lines, Treuhold and the Board of Trustees opted to reduce the village’s speed limit from 30 to 25 miles per hour in an effort to heighten the safety for walkers and bikers, especially during the summer season when more children are out and about.
Addressing Other Priorities
Treuhold also places significant emphasis on the environment. Attempting to enhance the village’s surrounding beauty, he signed the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge.
This piece of legislation promotes measures to restore the monarch butterfly habitat by planting milkweed, the creature’s only food source. Treuhold was the first mayor to put his John Hancock on the act, and the mayors of surrounding locations, such as East Hampton, North Haven, Sag Harbor, and Westhampton Beach, soon followed.
Treuhold is also working on seeding oysters in the waters around Quogue. Operating in tandem with the Moriches Bay Project, the village has installed a device called FLUPSY (Floating Upwell System) by the village dock, capable of increasing oyster population growth through a containment system connected to piping that pumps in nutrient-rich water.
The project is funded by a grant from the Southampton Community Preservation Fund (CPF). Quogue also received a CFP to construct bioswales and rain gardens to contain untreated stormwater before it runs off into the bay.
Another major undertaking under Treuhold’s watch is a village-wide septic system upgrade. Only about 120 of Quogue’s 1,600 residences have upgraded their septic systems to meet modern standards. Taking such action will decrease the amount of nitrogen creeping into surrounding water sources by a whopping 70 percent.
Above all, state, county, and local grants will finance this needed but costly initiative.
Treuhold’s inspiration to champion environmental causes dates back to the first Earth Day in 1970. He recalls having a teacher who gave his students the afternoon off so that they could do their part by taking out trash and supporting a local march on the newly created celebration day.
“He made us aware of the importance of taking care of the environment,” he said. “It is really important for me to be able to do things like this at the local level. This is where you get things done and lead by example.”
More Than An Attention Grabber
The village preservation effort is not a passing fancy or effort to draw attention but a way for Quogue’s residents to preserve the destination’s historic, quiet, and laid-back nature. There will always be enough for people to do and see while visiting, but not so much that the location will ever lose its quaint feel.
