Updated Thursday, 1:30 pm*
Voters in Tisbury will decide whether to earmark new short-term rental taxes for a Housing Bank, whether to establish an assistant fire chief’s position, and whether to fund professional services for the Tisbury School.
These are among the 14 articles on a special town meeting and 39 articles on the annual town meeting warrant. Voters will gather for the first night at 7 pm Tuesday, April 9, inside the Tisbury School gymnasium.
On Wednesday morning selectmen and the school committee voted to amend the amount requested to fund professional services at the Tisbury School repairs to $400,000, Alexandra Kral, executive assistant to the town administrator told The Times. The funds would support hiring and owner’s project manager and an architect to explore the renovation of and addition to the Tisbury School facility.
Another item on the special town meeting warrant is a move sponsored by selectman Tristan Israel to change the elected town clerk’s position to appointed. Israel has said it’s no reflection on town clerk Hilary Conklin’s performance, but instead is to ensure that future clerks know what they’re doing in overseeing elections. Conklin opposes the idea, saying, among other things, it would make the person overseeing elections beholden to politicians who control the hiring.
Voters will also have a chance to establish the shared position of building commissioner with the town of Oak Bluffs, as well as the town’s overall operating budget of $28.8 million for fiscal year 2020 — a 3.4 percent increase over the previous year.
An article on the special town meeting warrant seeks to create regulations for short-term rentals to create safety requirements.
*This story was updated to reflect a clarification about the purpose of Article 9, which seeks to fund professional services for the Tisbury School.
