West Tisbury selectmen Wednesday heard from members of the newly formed facilities maintenance committee that the committee model is not adequate for the scope of the job.
The committee includes West Tisbury fire chief Manny Estrella, Scott Young, and Pat Mitchell, husband of selectman Cynthia Mitchell.
West Tisbury executive secretary Jennifer Rand said that when she initially went over the committee’s responsibilities, they said it sounded like a job description.
“This is a tremendous amount of work, and it’s not surprising it read like a job description, because that was the genesis of this to begin with,” Ms. Rand told selectmen. “We had gone out to try and hire someone as a consultant with a limited amount of money that we had appropriated from a warrant article, and after going out twice, we were unable to find someone to do the work.”
Committee members recommended selectmen shelve the committee model and seek voter approval at annual town meeting to hire a consultant. This job would have a start date and an end date. Ms. Rand would like to have someone lined up in time for April town meeting.
At issue is the amount of money to appropriate. Ms. Rand said $15,000 was discussed, but there was general agreement that it will not be enough, and at least $20,000 is more realistic.
“I’m just worried about the money,” Chief Estrella said. “I don’t know if 15 grand is going to be enough. There is a lot of stuff to do.”
“This [consultant] will pull things together and create this maintenance schedule, these one-, five-, ten-year plans and so forth,” Ms. Rand said. The result would be better budget planning, she said.
“I think it sounds like a good plan,” West Tisbury treasurer Kathy Logue said. “I would strongly endorse this, but we need to be absolutely sure that we have in the RFP a really clear set of deliverables and timeline for what we expect to see, in some detail and by when, so by next budget process we have what we need.”
The consultant will be guided by the facilities maintenance committee and the committee would report to selectmen.
In other news, herring warden John Hoy described his efforts to create a passage through the barrier beach that separates James Pond from Vineyard Sound so herring can enter the pond to spawn. There is sand blocking the herring run, and there are permitting obstacles and financial needs that must first be voted on at town meeting before Mr. Hoy can move forward with plans to help the herring.
“We need to get through all the permitting,” said Ms. Rand. “What I was hoping to hear is what is our timeline for this project, and is the $3,000 the only cost, or do other things have to be funded as well?”
“It’s not all going to happen this year,” said Mr. Hoy. “The most critical part is the part furthest to the south — there’s an east-west leg that is very shallow; the fish have been getting stuck, and that’s the part that’s choking off circulation.”
Mr. Hoy was hoping to get the most important work done by late March or early April when herring begin to arrive, but Ms. Rand said it is not possible. “The permitting probably won’t be done, and we probably won’t have the funding for that before April,” said Ms. Rand. “March is unrealistic.”
Selectmen also gave Maria McFarland from the personnel board permission to talk to town counsel about guidance on handling performance evaluations in certain circumstances, such as board members who are also employees of the town doing evaluations for other town employees. Selectmen approved the request.
In addition, selectmen discussed Bailey Boyd Associates, a consultant who assists Island towns with gaining access to a regional community development block grant. This grant enables residents to access housing-rehabilitation loans and childcare-subsidy loans. West Tisbury used to be eligible every three years, but is now eligible annually. Selectmen voted to participate in the program.
“It’s a great program,” said Ms. Rand.
Selectmen postponed a vote for one week to approve the board of selectmen and cemetery annual reports; they once again discussed cemetery regulations; and discussed lighting at the intersection of Old County Road and State Road. Selectmen also accepted the resignation of Vicki Thurber from the Island Housing Committee.