Edgartown’s failure to act on a request to operate a van tour through town has resulted in the loss of a full season of profit for one Vineyard business owner, and he said the town should be held accountable.

Ron Minkin, owner of Martha’s Vineyard Transport tour van company, received permission this spring from all five other Vineyard towns to operate as a ticket-tour operator, and solicit business from passengers just off the ferry for tours around the Island. But the Edgartown selectmen, working in conjunction with the chief of police, were skeptical about Mr. Minkin’s request, and on April 9 sent him a letter stating that they were in the process of developing criteria for the operation of transportation businesses in town, including tour companies. Selectmen said they would be unable to act on Mr. Minkin’s request until a later date.

“We expect it will take some time, as the board will be seeking input from the neighborhoods and the business community who would be most affected,” said the letter, signed by town administrator Pamela Dolby on behalf of the selectmen and the police chief.

Mr. Minkin said yesterday that their failure to formally deny his request left him with little recourse in trying to get his tour business off the ground. Had the selectmen made an official denial, Mr. Minkin could have immediately filed an appeal with the state Department of Public Utilities (DPU), which oversees transportation matters and grants licenses necessary to operate tours. Instead, he was required to wait 60 days before filing the appeal, leaving him with a hearing date of July 20.

“Because of them, I have lost the season. Edgartown is a key part of my tour,” said Mr. Minkin.

The process began in December of 2009, when Mr. Minkin approached the Edgartown selectmen with a request to become licensed as a ticket-tour operator and to run a portion of the tour through Edgartown. Though the DPU is responsible for actually issuing the licenses, they ask that applicants go to the towns through which the tours will run, to “make sure they all have no big complaints, or a good reason why they don’t want your tour,” said Mr. Minkin.

But in December, the Edgartown selectmen and police chief Paul Condlin, who has since retired, said they would not grant Mr. Minkin permission for tours until he obtained approval from other towns. “Basically they were the only town to say, ‘We don’t want to deal with the situation until you get permission from Oak Bluffs,’” said Mr. Minkin.

Over the next few months, Mr. Minkin did obtain approvals from all other towns, including Oak Bluffs. But when he returned to the Edgartown selectmen at their March 29 meeting, the board and Chief Condlin continued to stall. “The police chief was given the assignment to oversee this procedure. The selectmen gave him the procedure rights, to find out what it’s all about, to do his homework, [and] to represent the town,” said Mr. Minkin. But he said at the meeting, Chief Condlin was unclear about the details of the request.

“When I came back, he didn’t understand exactly what I was applying for. I had to explain to him what this was all about,” said Mr. Minkin. And again, the town asked Mr. Minkin to provide more information, including a detailed list of the streets on which the tour would operate, background information on his tour business (he is currently working as a charter tour operator), and proof of license.

Chief Condlin also said at the meeting that while he didn’t expect the tour to affect traffic through the busy streets of Edgartown, he feared that approving Mr. Minkin’s request for a 14-passenger tour van could open the door for larger vehicles. “Once that license is issued you could go up to a 45-passenger bus. We’re just trying to control that right now,” Chief Condlin told Mr. Minkin at that meeting.

Yesterday, Mr. Minkin called that statement “totally untrue,” and said the state regulates the size of the vehicle and number of passengers allowed for individual licenses. “This man doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” he said of the chief.

Less than two weeks after the March 29 meeting, Mr. Minkin received the letter from the board. He called it a “joke” for the selectmen to delay the process indefinitely in order to talk to local business owners. To prove it, Mr. Minkin went out himself to petition Edgartown business owners. “It took me two hours in two days,” he said. He received 30 signatures and no refusals. “One hundred per cent wanted the tour,” Mr. Minkin said.

Now, Mr. Minkin will have to wait until July 20 to have his case heard by the state. By then, he said, the summer season will be almost over. “They have ruined my season, spitefully. If they would have just said no 60 days ago, I could have been on the road today,” said Mr. Minkin. “Now the deal is done and I’m going to the [DPU] board myself, because they’re just totally irresponsible government in Edgartown.”