The West Tisbury select board unanimously approved holding the annual town meeting on Tuesday, April 12, at 6 pm. According to West Tisbury town clerk Tara Whiting-Wells, the town meeting will be held at the West Tisbury School gymnasium.
Due to the COVID “state of emergency” West Tisbury was under, the annual town meetings were held at earlier times, according to West Tisbury select board chair Skipper Manter. “It seems to be fairly popular,” Manter said. The date of town meeting is set by town bylaw, but the select board has the authority to change the time, he said
After West Tisbury select board member Cynthia Mitchell made a motion for the 6 pm town meeting start time, Manter asked West Tisbury town administrator Jeniffer Rand whether there were any comments. Rand said nobody in the Zoom audience had a comment.
“They must like our idea,” Manter said. He clarified that this was a onetime test run for the 6 pm start time, and if there were a lot of complaints, the time would be changed.
In other business, the board was introduced to Patrick Roden-Reynolds, who will be replacing Richard Johnson at the Martha’s Vineyard Tick-Borne Illness Reduction Initiative. Johnson will be staying on for another nine months to help Roden-Reynolds’ transition into the role.
The board will continue to discuss ways to reach out to other up-Island towns about funding repairs to the Howes House. Manter said the plan is to pay for the Howes House renovation with a similar formula as for Tri-Town Ambulance, with West Tisbury paying for a third.
The board considered a proposal by the Chilmark select board to change the funding formula for Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. The formula would have each down-Island town pay for 25 percent of the construction costs and the remaining 25 percent paid by the up-Island towns. During a February Chilmark select board meeting, board chair Jim Malkin said this cost sharing would only be for the construction of the building, not the programs that happen within it. The West Tisbury select board agreed a discussion needs to happen on the funding formula, and plans to seek more information.