The Oak Bluffs Select Board is supporting a regional effort to increase transparency and improve operations at the Steamship Authority.
The town’s select board voted Tuesday to issue a letter in support of Dukes County Commissioners and the county’s request to restore the public’s trust in Steamship Authority management.
Tuesday’s vote follows the untethering of the Steamship ferry Sankaty in July, and the preceding revelations found in records obtained by The Times that staff had informed officials the vessel had not been properly secured days before the incident.
Since then, county commissioners expressed their concerns in a letter to the Steamship board, urging SSA leadership to take corrective measures.
Commissioners requested the Oak Bluffs Select Board support during Tuesday’s meeting; they’ve also sent requests to select boards in port towns served by the SSA, the Barnstable Town Council, Nantucket County Commissioners, as well as the mayor of New Bedord.
“They are looking for a letter of support from us … for the position they are taking,” Oak Bluffs town administrator Deborah Potter said, adding that the letter could be worded with more “generic” language addressing issues with SSA operations.
Oak Bluffs Select Board member Dion Alley said he had not yet read what the “findings” of the incident were, and felt unsure what he was supporting.
Fellow select board member Gail Barmakian said the draft letter the county had sent to them was not “damning” of the Sankaty incident itself, but it was pointing to how Island representatives to the SSA were not fully notified about the internal findings by the Steamship.
“I think this is an ongoing issue with the lack of communication and the lack of, seemingly, regard for Martha’s Vineyard from the organization,” Barmakian said.
Oak Bluffs Select Board chair Emma Green-Beach added that the letter was meant to ask the SSA to take corrective action to restore the public trust in the organization, although it was not specific on how this approach should be taken. She said the Sankaty incident was “egregious and highly visible,” and could have been “so many, many times worse” than how it played out.
Alley emphasized that there were various matters that needed looking into with the SSA. “I’m all for supporting to run the Steamship better and have more transparency, but there has to be action,” Alley said.
Barmakian said the Vineyard’s representatives were trying to make improvements, and the letter was part of that process. The voices of the boards and community could bolster this effort, according to Barmakian.
The select board unanimously voted to send a letter supporting the county’s efforts. Barmakian asked Potter to put in stronger language about the SSA’s communication with Martha’s Vineyard in Oak Bluffs’ letter.
