West Tisbury selectmen this week approved warrant articles for a special town meeting in June, set last week when the board learned of the need for voter approval to sell lots in the Bailey Park affordable housing project off Old County Road.
Town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport advised the selectmen that a town meeting vote is needed before the lots can be sold. There are three lots at Bailey Park that have been taken by the town in tax foreclosure proceedings.
The special town meeting is scheduled for June 8 at 7 p.m. at the West Tisbury School.
Emotions ran high at the Oak Bluffs selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday when shellfishermen appeared to complain about a wide range of issues, including recent discussions about possibly merging the town shellfish department with Tisbury, the elimination of the assistant shellfish warden and the slow progress on the dredging of Sengekontacket Pond.
Shellfishermen said their industry is floundering and selectmen are not doing enough about it.
Thanks to a newspaper delivery driver who made the call and quick response by firefighters, disaster was avoided in the heart of downtown Edgartown in the wee hours Sunday morning, when fire shot through the historic Desire Osborn House on Main street.
No one was injured in the fire, and firefighters were able to quell the blaze before it did major damage. Fire chief Peter Shemeth said he believes the fire was started by a discarded cigarette in a trash container next to the building.
Oak Bluffs voters will consider several new bylaws, including one to ban smoking on town beaches, another to establish new regulations for street performers, and another to create new rules for wind turbines, when the annual town meeting resumes on Tuesday after a three-week break
Moderator David Richardson bangs the gavel at 7 p.m. at the Oak Bluffs School. Voters must still decide 10 remaining articles on the warrant.
The recently completed temporary Lagoon Pond drawbridge in Vineyard Haven that took six years to build and cost over $9 million is already suffering from some of the same problems that plagued the old drawbridge that was torn down last year.
The first two tumultuous nights of the Oak Bluffs town meeting are over, and despite some frayed nerves, the town has an approved budget for next year. Voters ratified a balanced budget in the amount of $24.7 million.
But that is only because at the town election last Thursday they rejected 11 of 12 Proposition 2 1/2 override articles, totaling some $650,000.
The result will mean no pay increases for the fire department, more than $200,000 cuts in road maintenance and improvements and no lifeguards at town beaches for the second summer in a row.
