The elementary school and mopeds were the topics of conversation at the Tisbury selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday.
Selectman Larry Gomez gave an update on the town’s moped regulations, and the fee structure was the most recent change. The application fee changed from $25 to $100 and the license fee from $425 to $750. For violations, the first offense went from $50 to $250, the second from $100 to $500, and the third to $750. With a fourth violation, the town could suspend a business owner’s license for the remainder of that year. Selectmen will hold a public hearing on June 13 at 6 pm on the proposed regulations.
Selectmen weighed in on site locations for the new Tisbury School, which have been narrowed down to the current location or on the Manter Well site, on town-owned land beyond the former Vineyard Nursing Association building on Holmes Hole Road.
The school building committee will ultimately decide on the site, and the preferred plan must be submitted to the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s (MSBA) grant program by mid-May. The MSBA gives financial aid and advice to a town building new schools or rebuilding old ones.
“I’m leaning pretty heavily to leaving it where it is,” Mr. Gomez said after speaking to residents, saying the new site was too far out of town.
Selectman Tristan Israel was concerned with the high cost that the town would be responsible for, currently estimated around $35 million. Melinda Loberg, chairman of the board of selectmen, expressed concern with what would happen to the current school building, and worried about the town’s financial ability to rehabilitate the building, citing the need for a new town hall.
The school building committee was scheduled to meet at 5 pm Wednesday, May 3, at the Tisbury School library.
