Rocks at Inkwell Beach have left some Oak Bluffs summer residents stone-cold.

On Tuesday Oak Bluffs selectmen held their annual summer taxpayers meeting. The afternoon reception provided an opportunity for the Community Preservation Committee to report on its latest efforts in civic restoration, as well as for town officials to hear from summer residents about what still needs work.

Community Preservation Committee administrator Adam Wilson enumerated a list of projects the committee has recently completed renovating or is finishing. The lengthy list included the East Chop Lighthouse, the Tabernacle cupola, the renovation of the formerly dilapidated bandstand in Ocean Park, the Bradley Square community housing project, the restoration of the seawall embankment, stained glass windows at the Trinity Church, the antique Oak Bluffs Fire Trust, now housed in the new Fire Museum, and the restoration of reams of formerly neglected town records. Money for the projects was generated by funds made available by the Community Preservation Act, which assesses a three per cent surcharge on property owners in Oak Bluffs. Early in the program that money was matched 100 per cent by state funds, but the match has fallen to as low as 48 per cent in the past year amid state budget cutbacks.

Summer residents appreciated the renovations but many in the audience complained about unsightly areas of Oak Bluffs, in particular the quality of sand in and around Inkwell Beach.

Town administrator Michael Dutton sympathized with the displeasure but described the red tape inherent in addressing such concerns, insisting that the town is on top of beach quality issues.

“The most frustrating thing is coming to this meeting every year and having to say, yeah we’re working on it, we’re working on it,” Mr. Dutton said. “Massachusetts has a very rigorous permitting process for this kind of beach nourishing project.”

He said the town is preparing to spread an additional 17,000 cubic feet of sand dredged from Sengekontacket Pond over Inkwell Beach. For the sake of comparison, the mountain of sand towering over the eastern end of State Beach near Cow Bay is 10,000 cubic feet.

The project was held up for months, Mr. Dutton said, first by the Wampanoag tribe which had concerns about artifacts in Sengekontacket, then by the National Marine Fisheries Service which feared the project’s effects on sensitive eelgrass beds in Nantucket Sound. With those hurdles cleared, Mr. Dutton said it is hoped dredging will begin in September and be finished by mid-January.

In the longer term, he said the town plans to build up a more substantial dune system at Inkwell Beach in an effort to mitigate storm and flood damage. Those plans are subject to a still more stringent permitting process and Mr. Dutton said it will likely be a multi-year project.

In the shorter term some in the audience expressed disbelief that the town could not take wheelbarrows and rakes to Inkwell to address problematic areas of the beach where rocks and pebbles have made it difficult for elderly swimmers to gain entry to the water.

“Believe it or not, the conservation commission does not want us to do it,” said highway superintendent Richard Combra Jr. “We can’t touch the beach without their permission and there’s no one here from the conservation commission to talk about it.”

It was not what summer residents wanted to hear.

“I came to this meeting hopeful,” said Mycki Jennings, unswayed by the explanations of town officials, “But summer people feel they’re not represented. We pay taxes but we haven’t heard any answers that Oak Bluffs is going to help us. Answers have been very vague: ‘We’re working on it, we’ve done this, we’ve done that.’ Bottom line is that summer people would like to feel we’re being considered and cared for.”

Police chief Erik Blake and Mr. Combra both said their resources have been hurt by reduced staffing due to town budget cuts, but they vowed to address problem areas highlighted during the meeting, such as sand and cigarette butts on the streets near Inkwell.

Jim’s Package Store generously supplied the meeting with bottles of wine and beer for some extracurricular socializing, and hard feelings perhaps eased as the bottles became lighter.