West Tisbury selectmen say no thanks to MassDOT

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The West Tisbury selectman declined to take over routine maintenance of the Island's state-owned roads. — Ralph Stewart

West Tisbury selectmen have rejected a proposal to transfer routine maintenance of the Island’s state-owned roads to the six Island towns.

In an April 12 letter to Mary-Jo Perry, district highway director for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), then board chairman Richard Knabel cited “the cost and administrative consequences of such a major change to West Tisbury.”

“A major concern our board has is that MassDOT has not presented a clear reimbursal plan for both the hard and soft incurred costs,” Mr. Knabel wrote. “We are particularly concerned that our taxpayers are not burdened with additional road maintenance costs caused by this change in responsibility, either now or in the future.” Mr. Knabel lost his seat on the board in last week’s election.

The state highway department plans to respond to West Tisbury’s letter, Judith Riley, a spokeswoman for MassDOT, wrote in an email.

“MassDOT District 5 is in receipt of the Town of West Tisbury’s letter, and plans to follow up with the town directly to clarify their concerns,” she wrote. “To be clear, in the meeting with the town on March 17, MassDOT stated that any proposal of this nature would, of course, include financial compensation as part of this partnership. We feel strongly that we made this clear at the meeting, but additional follow-up with the town is needed to clarify MassDOT’s position.”

MassDOT has said previously that it has a successful arrangement with Nantucket similar to the one floated on the Vineyard.

One reason given for the town’s rejection is that West Tisbury has the most “state road lane miles” of all the Island towns (nine miles), and “responsibility for their maintenance would increase [the town’s] road mileage by 65 percent,” Mr. Knabel’s letter said.

Another reason was potential legal trouble. “Who is ultimately responsible in the case of a lawsuit?” Mr. Knabel asked in his letter.

“An increase of this magnitude would fundamentally change the way our town’s highway department functions, by requiring additional personnel, and also equipment,” Mr. Knabel’s letter stated.

To fulfill the request to take over the state roads’ regular maintenance, town officials think West Tisbury would need to create a Department of Public Works (DPW), with a DPW director, and add two additional highway employees to its existing part-time superintendent of streets, who gets a stipend, and two full-time highway staffers.

Procurement is also a concern; it’s currently handled by the town administrator, and approving the MassDOT proposal may require a new and separate procurement position.

Selectmen believe initial costs for additional staffing and additional equipment could be $400,000,  $300,00 for staff and $100,000 for equipment.

“We are not in favor of making the change,” Mr. Knabel said in his letter, which the other two selectmen approved.

In other business, selectmen approved a seasonal beer and wine license renewal for the Lambert’s Cove Inn, and also approved an event permit for the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club.