Tisbury, chief candidate reach contract terms

Tisbury selectmen have agreed to a contract with police chief candidate Mark Saloio.

After a brief executive session Tuesday night, chairman Tristan Israel announced that the board had authorized town administrator Jay Grande to execute the terms he negotiated with Saloio. The terms were not released pending Saloio and the board actually signing the contract, Grande said. Selectmen are expected to sign it at a meeting next Tuesday and Grande expects Saloio will sign it later this week.

Saloio, a lieutenant in Sturbridge, was the lone finalist brought before the board of selectmen and the public Sept. 13. He is a 25-year veteran and the department he is leaving is similar in size to Tisbury’s police force with a total of 14 employees.

Grande said he is targeting a Nov. 5 start date for Saloio.

Tisbury will be on the hook for Chief Daniel Hanvan’s contract through the end of the fiscal year. Hanavan still has eight months on his one-year deal or a little more than $90,000.

The contract announcement followed a night of futility for the board of selectmen who had set aside Tuesday’s meeting to discuss harbor-related issues.

Discussion of elastic versus chain moorings, liveaboards, and other waterways and harbor regulations in Tisbury went around in circles like a dog chasing its tail.

In the end, the board of selectmen kicked the can to next Tuesday’s meeting and asked staff to come prepared with proposed regulations incorporated into the existing regulations to make it clear to selectmen what they’re being asked to change.

“It’s pointless to do this tonight,” Israel said to a room filled with two dozen people there to consider changes in regulations. “I apologize we didn’t have more of our act together tonight.”

In the most detailed presentation of the night, harbormaster John Crocker talked about the pros and cons of so-called elastic moorings. Elastic moorings are designed to have no contact with the bottom and are useful in environmentally-sensitive areas, he said.

But chain moorings, even though they need to be replaced about every six years, are more durable, Crocker said.

“That’s where in our experience, we’ve seen failures,” Crocker said of elastic moorings. “Props have come into contact with the shock absorber and chain holds up a little better than a rubber band.”

A conservation mooring is being proposed that incorporates both elastic and chain components, Crocker said.

Later, Matthew Hobart, a member of the town’s harbor management committee, said one of the proposals selectmen will be asked to consider is to remove elastic moorings from the harbor and “only use them in eel grass areas.”

In other business, the board also held off on committing to dates for the harvesting of bay scallops. While shellfish constable Danielle Ewart, who was not present, proposed a series of dates later this month, a letter she sent accompanying that and suggesting a later harvest for next year appeared to confuse matters.

Ewart is proposing waiting until mid-November next year because warmer water temperatures could allow for the scallops to grow and even for more propagation.

Lynne Fraker, a commercial shellfisherman, suggested pushing the dates this year. ““I totally support a later date,” Fraker said. “The water is so warm and I’m hearing there isn’t a lot of product out there and I’m really concerned for commercial people going out there — and I’m one of them — and pounding in an area that’s already very stressed… Give those babies a chance to grow.”

In a 3-0 vote, the board approved three-day sidewalk sale Oct. 6-8 on Main Street for the Vineyard Haven Business Association.