Robert S. Marshall, the Steamship Authority governor representing Falmouth, resigned from the board last week.

“It’s time. I’ve been doing it for a long time,” Mr. Marshall told the Gazette Thursday. He has served on the board since 2003.

Mr. Marshall sent his resignation to the Falmouth selectmen late Thursday evening, following a public meeting in Woods Hole about the proposed terminal redesign there.

“It was just after that that I had decided to move on,” Mr. Marshall said, adding that the meeting got “significantly off track. But there was some contention.”

“It was timely after that meeting that someone else would pick up the ball,” he added.

His resignation is effective immediately. The Falmouth representative is appointed by the town selectmen. In his email to the selectmen, Mr. Marshall said it had been an honor serving Falmouth.

“I’ll miss my fellow board members,” he said. “We had a very congenial and productive board. We did lots of good things and good things are yet to come.”

He recounted some of the highlights of his decade on the board, including construction of the Island Home and making improvements to parking lots in Falmouth. “We really had not many unpleasant experiences as a board,” he said.

Robert Ranney, chairman of the boat line board of governors, said the resignation would be a topic of discussion at the December meeting. He said he had not heard about Falmouth’s plans for Mr. Marshall’s replacement.

“I’m saddened by it,” said Mr. Ranney, the Nantucket governor. “He brought a very common-sense approach to the board . . . I thought he had a lot of support from the town of Falmouth.

“He was funny. He had a good wit and he was smart. It’s a loss to the Steamship.”