West Tisbury will hold a special town meeting next month to deal with several fund transfers, including one that would take money away from long-delayed plans to renovate the Howes House. 

The proposal is the latest setback to hopes of upgrading the building, which is used to hold the programming for the Up-Island Council on Aging. The Howes House building committee, which was in charge of the project plan, was dissolved in June and the project is now essentially on pause. 

As part of the Sept. 16 meeting at the West Tisbury School, voters will be asked to reallocate $66,000 that was approved at the 2022 annual town meeting for the renovation. The article requests the money go toward removing the invasive grey willow trees by the Mill Pond. 

“That money has been sitting unspent for three or four years, and it’s the only money we have access to fund anything right now, and so we figured we might as well redirect it to a project that is timely and that can’t wait,” town administrator Jennifer Rand said.  

In 2022, voters approved more than $500,000 to hire a project manager and a designer to jumpstart the Howes House renovation project. An additional $900,000 was awarded to aid the design process. However, the rising construction costs of renovating a building that is over 150 years old halted the plans. 

Feedback about the lack of a long-term plan was another reason to put the renovation plan on hold, according to officials. The focus has since turned to reshaping what programming the organization offers, said Up-Island Council on Aging director Bethany Hammond. 

“The first steps were not as successful as people who were looking to renovate the space would’ve liked,” she said. “What we’ve taken from that is there really needed to be more feedback from the people who would use this building. We’re trying to figure out what we need and taking the time to listen to the community.” 

The Up-Island Council on Aging released a report earlier this year that highlights its  plans for the future, including expanding programming, adequate spacing to hold such programs and no cost barrier to participate. The study was conducted in partnership with The Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging at UMass Boston. According to Ms. Hammond, the organization will begin the internal planning process next month.   

The future of the project is still up in the air, Ms. Hammond said.

“Whether or not West Tisbury, Aquinnah or Chilmark will make this building what the council on aging needs...time will tell,” she said. “We needed to take a second to separate ourselves from the building.”