News
Oak Bluffs voters accustomed to cost cutting will get another chance to do so next Tuesday at a special town meeting when they will be asked to decide how to close a $300,000 budget gap. And town leaders hope that this latest round of belttightening will once and for all put the town on course for a sustainable future.
The special town meeting will be held on Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Oak Bluffs School.
The bumpy route to the construction of Chilmark’s first town-owned affordable housing development came to a close last Saturday as town selectmen hosted an open house for residents at Middle Line Road.
This time with a quorum, Edgartown voters at a special town meeting Tuesday night agreed to allocate money for an appraisal of the Capt. Warren House and approved the conversion of silos at Katama Farm into cell towers.
A total of 168 voters attended the special session. The meeting was rescheduled from last week after falling 20 voters shy of a quorum. Moderator Philip J. Norton Jr. presided over the 15-article warrant.
All articles were approved.
The Edgartown water department must account for $171,600 in receipts for its new headquarters off the West Tisbury Road before it can receive reimbursement from the USDA, town accountant Kimberly Kane told the selectmen this week.
Without the reimbursement, the town will have to pay the bill.
Vets Roundtable Talk
Vineyard veterans have been working for some time to restore health clinic services for veterans at the Island hospital. A contract between the Veterans Administration and the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital expired five years ago, although no one discovered the problem until about a year and a half ago when veterans began receiving bills for services. Since then Island veterans who receive their health care through the VA have had to travel to Providence, R.I., to receive care.
Nothing says small and sweet like bay scallop season.
Jewels for both the palate and year-round economies, bay scallops have become almost unique to Vineyard waters — Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard are two of the last places with a thriving commercial season. For many an Island fishermen bay scalloping has become the backbone of the off-season economy, giving them the ability to make a solid day’s pay in the dead of winter.
They also keep Island chefs happy. Most agree the bay scallop’s flavor stands on its own.