Tisbury is holding its special town meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 30, at 7 pm at the Tisbury School Gymnasium Auditorium for a total of 11 warrant articles, and among the most likely to gather discussion is another request to renovate an old waterworks building into housing for the town administrator.
Topping Tuesday’s warrant is a request to use $297,000 to repair and renovate the building at 325 West Spring St. Although the warrant article does not state it outright, the intention is to provide Tisbury town administrator Joseph LaCivita a place to live. A similar article was rejected by voters in April when the request was at a higher $450,000.
LaCivita receives a monthly $3,000 housing stipend on top of his $200,000 base salary through his contract approved in January. The three-year contract states the stipend will continue until the “completion of successful renovation of the Spring House” and he moves into the building. Afterward, LaCivita would live in the house rent-free, although he’d be financially responsible for utilities.
Ben Robinson, Tisbury planning board clerk, told the Times on Wednesday that while this building has been temporarily used for contractors’ housing and should be repaired as a town asset, questions lingered regarding the arrangement for LaCivita. He highlighted that it wasn’t clear whether the living arrangement involving town property should have even been in the contract without voters’ input to begin with. Additionally, he said this would be a change of use for the property, and it was uncertain whether a changed nitrogen flow would impact the number of people allowed at the nearby Tashmoo Springs Pumping Station, which is often rented for events.
Robinson said some town officials on committees acting as stewards of the park area took issue with the arrangement, since they weren’t consulted before the contract was signed. Robinson also said some people in town took issue that LaCivita’s housing was being subsidized when he makes $200,000 a year.
“I think that rubbed people the wrong way,” Robinson said.
LaCivita did not respond by the time of this story’s publication.
There are other funding requests going before voters, including $226,000 in wage increases following union negotiations, and the harbor department using $50,000 for dredging projects in Lake Tashmoo and Vineyard Haven Harbor.
The town is also asking it be allowed to transfer $1.05 million of funding to its general stabilization fund for a new fire truck, which it is pursuing to avoid future price increases caused by federal tariffs.
Meanwhile, the town is bringing proposed bylaws to voters. Articles 7 and 8 would establish a kennel license and procedure required for anyone running a kennel of more than four dogs or breeding dogs. It’d be administered by the town clerk, and kennels would be inspected by the animal control officer. Article 5 would ban “unattached trailers and structures” on public roads and or town property unless it’s attached to a motor vehicle in a “safe and proper fashion” so it can be towed if needed. Trailers used by the town for traffic control or permitted by the town will be waived from this proposed rule.
