Vineyard Transit Authority (VTA) administrator Angela Gompert returned during a Wednesday, Dec. 21, meeting with a new plan to install a 500-kilowatt transformer for its electric bus fleet, which the West Tisbury select board found more satisfactory and unanimously approved.
During another meeting earlier this month, the board sent Gompert back to the drawing board with Eversource because they did not like the proposed location for the transformer.
“We went back to Eversource, and we had some back-and-forth,” Gompert said.
The new plan map, drawn by Boston-based engineering consulting firm Arup, showed the transformer “much closer” to the town hall, rather than the initial Music Street location. “We should be able to shield adequately with plantings around it,” Gompert said.
Eversource has not approved the new plan just yet. The current deal is that Eversource will not pay for damages done to the lawn while driving, but the VTA would “put the property back together” in the process of installing the transformer at its own expense.
“Their requirements are that they be able to drive there and not get stuck in the mud, and I assured them that the ground there was fairly hard, and there was nothing that we knew of that they were gonna drive over. There is an electrical manhole, but that’s their line that they’re running over,” Gompert said.
A new application with the drawing was submitted to Eversource, and Gompert is waiting to see what the company’s decision will be.
West Tisbury town administrator Jennifer Rand said an approval from the board was needed, since the plan will also have to go to the town’s historic district commission. The board approved the new plan with the understanding that it will need to be revisited if Eversource rejects the application.
In other business, the board unanimously approved two fiscal year 2024 budget requests. One was from West Tisbury town treasurer Kathy Logue, whose department is expected to see a 6.2 percent increase in the budget ($212,395.91). Logue’s budget package also looked into other details, such as town debt services. A couple parts of Logue’s budget were approved on a tentative basis, since she said more information might arise in the near future. The board also unanimously approved West Tisbury zoning inspector Joe Tierney’s budget, which was initially presented last week but was reworked to deal with a salary discrepancy and details about part-time hires. Tierney’s department is expected to see a 16.4 percent increase to its budget, or $345,042.67.
The extra personnel are for assistance in short-term rental inspections and enforcement, anticipated in the spring, and another for administrative support. For comparison, Rand said, Edgartown’s inspector is considering hiring another full-time person year-round for short-term rental inspections.
Both budgets will appear before West Tisbury voters during the annual town meeting. The full details of Logue and Tierney’s budgets are available on the town website.
Meanwhile, West Tisbury plans to make a Facebook page, although Rand had reservations about it. Rand said she heard from representatives from other towns during a Massachusetts Municipal Association session about “the sheer awfulness they went through when they had a town Facebook page.” Additionally, there were other considerations since the page is run by a government entity, like free speech issues and open meeting laws.
“That said, people use Facebook [to see] information quickly. I think that I would like to have a town Facebook page, but my intent would be to only push information out,” Rand said. Her plan is to keep comments closed in these posts. Allowing comments would require West Tisbury to record comments and to determine which comments “violate the standard of decency.”
Rand mentioned that when looking at some of the local Facebook groups, “things go sideways so quickly.” She hopes the Facebook page can act as another source of information on top of the town website.
The board agreed that a town Facebook page would be useful, but no vote was taken. Board member Skipper Manter suggested Rand create a list of policies for town departments who might want to use the page.
I Might be getting old and blind, but this “map” showing the location of the new VTA transformer has absolutely no landmarks. I see the word “Music” that’s Music street, I assume…
Where is town hall, state road, and any discernible building or landmark ?
Come on– If it’s going to be in our town, show us where it really is..Most of us don’t know where underground propane tanks, transformers etc. are. I take it this is somewhere near the town hall. Perhaps the slanted lines on the left side of this “map” are the town hall foundation, but it doesn’t say that.. really– this “map” is useless.
take note of the building on the left side of the image. See the old entry steps on the Music Street side.