Aquinnah completes special town meeting

By Janet Hefler - February 23, 2006

On the third try in two months, Aquinnah voters completed a special town meeting that had been postponed twice due to lack of a quorum.

In an early test of Island sentiment regarding county government, by a vote of 26-16 voters agreed to place a non-binding referendum question on the ballot "supporting the dissolution of the County of Dukes County." County government currently costs Aquinnah an assessment of $28,588.

Voters rejected by a voice vote article three, a measure that would have lowered the number of voters required for a quorum from 10 percent to five percent of the electorate. Voters speaking against the article said that greater representation was in the best interests of the town.

In an effort to control the tour buses that frequent the Gay Head cliffs and Moshup Trail, voters approved an appeal to state lawmakers for authorization "to adopt by-laws regulating the length, height, weight, numbers, routes and width of buses, tour buses, charter buses, common carriers of passengers by motor vehicles, or other such vehicles of more than ten passengers being driven or operating on town-owned roadways within the limits" of the town.

Voters approved money for a consultant to prepare a wind turbine grant application through the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. Town officials are proposing to place a turbine behind the town hall for the purpose of cutting the town's energy bill.

They also approved $10,000 for wireless consultant services to assist the town in "...putting out to bid, awarding, and overseeing the development of a wireless distributed antenna system...."

But voters demurred when asked to spend $3,000 on a town web site. That article failed overwhelmingly.

Moving into the wireless communication future, voters approved the creation of a special wireless overlay district that would allow the placement of equipment at the town landfill needed to operate a distributed antenna system (DAS), a less obtrusive wireless communication system that uses fiber-optic cable and a network of short antennas, which are often placed on telephone poles in strategic locations.