government is the elected Town Board, which consists of five people, including its head, the Town Supervisor. They are responsible for managing the taxes, roads, police, parks, zoning and general governance of the town. The Town Board was stablished by the State of New York in 1788. The government operates from a campus on Pantigo Road. The historic, original Town government is known as the Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town of East Hampton. Today it is formally responsible for day-to-day decisions related to common property in the town. The Trustees derive their power from the Dongan Patent of December 9, 1686, which set up self-governance for the town. The patent (a land grant) establishing the trustees was an act by Thomas Dongan, the Royal Governor of New York. Among the common properties which the trustees operate is Georgica Pond; they decide when the tidal pond is to be drained and filled. These actions often make headlines as they sometimes cause the flooding of basements of neighboring properties owned by celebrities. In 1998, the pond was drained a few days before President Bill Clinton was to spend his summer vacation at the home of Steven Spielberg. Since the late 20th century, the Town has often approved progressive social initiatives, including domestic partnership registration. In 1999, it imposed a 2 percent tax on residential real estate sales in excess of $250,000 for the purpose of buying open space for preservation. The money has been used in part to the Town's establishing more than of trails, including the Paumanok Path. Between 2002 and 2005, the tax raised $71 million. In 2006, the Town adopted a dark skies ordinance, which is now being considered as a model for wider use in New York State to cut down on light pollution at night. Despite East Hampton's great wealth, its fire department and ambulance are both volunteer services, dependent on local full-time residents. In August 1998, President Bill Clinton was to give his weekend radio address from the Amagansett Volunteer Fire Station during his vacation. Although residences in the town are often featured in architectural magazines, the town offices have been housed for years in several double wide trailers on a lot, hidden from the street by a nondescript flat-roofed building. In 2006, the Town announced plans to convert its campus by adapting a collection of historic East Hampton buildings that had