A series of wetlands violations in the town of Chilmark underpin drama which is the stuff of a daytime soap opera, complete with tangled relationships, trespassing orders and bitter class divisions.

A fiery public hearing at a recent meeting of the Chilmark conservation commission revealed more than one layer of problems at the Aerie, a mixed neighborhood of seasonal and year-round residents off North Road which has seen turmoil over prolonged construction projects and multiple environmental abuses.

Less than a month after spiking a proposal to build a performing arts stage at the Aquinnah Cliffs town leaders decided this week, over the bitter protest of one selectman, to have another look at it.

After heated debate, the board voted 2-1 to redraft a request for proposals for the controversial idea, dubbed by some townspeople as Woodstock at the cliffs.

Selectman Jim Newman, who is a vocal opponent of the project, voted no at the Tuesday meeting.

It was a labor of love that lacked passion at the Aquinnah special town meeting Wednesday night ­— a bare quorum of 42 voters turned out to dispose of a 15-article warrant, offering scant discussion, and it was all over within half an hour.

Incoming Chilmark police chief Brian Coffi created several staffing issues when he accepted the position a fortnight ago.

The town is looking for a replacement patrolman and they’ll also need a superintendent of cemeteries.

Mr. Coffi has been patrolman since 2001 and has been tending the town cemetery since Basil Welch retired from the position in January after 23 years.

Selectmen launched searches for both jobs Wednesday. Time is of the essence, since Mr. Coffi begins his new job July 1.

As Edgartown announced a special town meeting to pay its share of running costs for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, selectman Arthur Smadbeck issued a scathing review of the planning agency’s behavior and budgeting process this week, bluntly questioning its continued usefulness as a regional body.

“Let’s analyze it,” he told the Gazette this week. “It’s based on a very unfair formula, and Edgartown pays more than one third of the whole budget, so are we getting our money’s worth?