Voters in Aquinnah will gather for annual town meeting on June 19 at 3 pm on the asphalt in front of the fire station.
Several articles included in the draft warrant have to do with infrastructure and facilities improvements in town, including allocating $85,000 from various budget lines for planning and designing new restrooms at the Aquinnah Circle, and renovating the town offices.
Additionally, one article asks town voters to approve a $20,000 transfer, from a previously established parking improvement fund for the town hall and library to an account to pay for the repair and renovations of town offices.
The town is also looking to make a 3.6-acre landlocked parcel available for disposition, and sell that property for no less than $450,000. A two-thirds vote is required for approval.
One article requests an approximately $13,500 transfer from available funds to pay for the first year of a four-year lease of a hybrid police cruiser for the Aquinnah Police Department.
Voters will also choose whether or not to appropriate or reserve $270,000 to pay for administrative expenses of the Community Preservation committee, the payment of debt service, and the undertaking of several preservation projects.
Four affordable housing units are being proposed on land behind the town hall, along with a food forest and a playground. Attached to the four apartments proposed in the article are appropriations that ask for affordable rent subsidies through various federal programs.
A number of articles in the draft warrant relate to regional cost-sharing agreements among the Island towns.
An Island-wide emergency management coordinator position is being proposed, and Aquinnah is looking to pay $5,000 as its share of the hiring expenses. This vote is contingent on approval of all other towns in Dukes County.
The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School District is looking to purchase two electric school buses, and Aquinnah is asking residents to vote for $5,600 to go toward the buses. Each town has to approve its share of the costs for the allocation to take effect.
One article requests a transfer of around $14,000 from available funds to help pay for capital infrastructure improvements at the high school. This vote is also contingent upon approval by Island towns.
And as the high school tries to knock down some of its other post employment (OPEB) liability debt, Aquinnah is being asked to raise and appropriate almost $6,500 as part of the total supplemental OPEB liability payment of $302,501 from all towns for this year.
Town elections will take place on June 24 from noon to 8 pm.
