The Island's troubled fishing industry will be a major focus of the Chilmark annual town meeting on Monday night.

In a town meeting warrant otherwise characterized as "very noncontroversial" by the chairman of the Chilmark board of selectmen, J.B. Riggs Parker, "the shellfish articles will obviously get much of the attention on the meeting floor."

A busy week in Chilmark began Monday with voters moving briskly through the annual town meeting, continued Wednesday with high turnout at the ballo

Chilmark voters breezed through their annual town meeting on Monday night without batting an eye, approved a $5.7 million budget and voted in favor of the Martha's Vineyard Housing Bank and two versions of a renewable energy resolution along the way.

But when they came to the final vote of the evening -- whether to use $23,000 from the community preservation committee's open space reserve fund to fight an invasive reed in Chilmark Pond -- the debate began over how to vanquish the mighty phragmite.

School costs are driving budget increases across the Island, but in Chilmark, one expense forcing voters to dig into their wallets for education sp

Chilmark voters, at a special town meeting on Tuesday, indefinitely postponed requests to fund major expansion projects at both the town hall and the public library.