Tisbury selectmen this week responded sharply to criticism of their style of management, following accusations of secrecy in relation to police chief John Cashin’s departure, and broader criticism about undue interference in the affairs of town departments.

At the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting of the selectmen, board chairman Tristan Israel gave a spirited defense of the board and its actions, saying he believed the town to be the most open on the Island.

Selectmen have been on the hot seat in the past two weeks over their handling of the sudden departure of the police chief, including a meeting with members of the department last week where the press was excluded.

“While we are not perfect,” said Mr. Israel, “I believe we are the most open town on the Island. And we have open discourse. Democracy is not always pretty. But I think you get it here in its purest form.

“We do not require people [department heads and committee members] to attend these meeting here and we don’t chop off their heads if they don’t attend.

“We like people to attend, we like the exchange of information and I guess if someone didn’t show up for a month or so we might ask them to come in and give a report to us.

“But we hope people come here willingly to exchange information.”

He accused his critics of wanting the town to run like the former Soviet Politburo.

“Some people seem to want our meetings to proceed that way, where we all come out, we all agree, we all smile, the cameras flash, we shake hands and then we go home.

“If that’s what you want . . . I suggest you turn to another channel on your TV.”

On the matter of Mr. Cashin, Mr. Israel said the terms of the chief’s departure agreement with the town could not be released because they are not yet finalized, and that executive session minutes could not be released until after that.

The Cashin affair has dragged on for several weeks, since the former chief went public with an extraordinary attack on his own department, which he said was deeply divided and dysfunctional.

As of Thursday afternoon, neither the details of Mr. Cashin’s package, nor those of acting chief Daniel Hanavan, had been completed.

The town also had not finalized the terms of an inquiry into the workings of the Tisbury police department, which is to be conducted by consultant Robert Wasserman. Selectmen had hoped Mr. Wasserman would begin work two weeks ago, but he has been away.

In other business Tuesday, the on-again, off-again rebuilding of Café Moxie was delayed again — this time at the behest of the selectmen.

Previously the board had pushed hard to try to get the business, which was destroyed by fire on July 4 last year, rebuilt and operating for this summer.

Tisbury building inspector Ken Barwick told selectmen that the building’s owner, Paul Currier, finally is ready to begin building this week. But selectmen said they were concerned that it now was too close to summer for construction to begin in the heart of Main street, Vineyard Haven. They expressed worries about noise and the effect on traffic. The work could close off several parking spaces and potentially disrupt traffic on Main and Centre streets.

Mr. Currier’s request to begin framing work on the building came as a surprise.

After months of wrangling with insurers, and a false start when the building’s foundation was found to have encroached on town land, Mr. Currier had said earlier that work was unlikely to restart before the fall.

Now it again seems no work will happen before September.