In preparing for his first appearance as West Tisbury town moderator, Dan Waters has been doing his homework, studying a guidebook published by the Massachusetts Moderators Association, talking with town moderators around the state, and watching videos of every town meeting in West Tisbury since 2005.

Mr. Waters takes over as moderator from the late F. Patrick Gregory, a beloved Island resident who died last spring, the victim of a homicide while hiking in northern California. News of his death stunned the Island community and left people searching for a way forward.

“When the news came, I think we all felt kicked in the gut,” Mr. Waters said this week. “He was such an important part of our town, and we were all looking for ways to deal with it. My way in the end — in a way it was a way of fighting back — was to step up and say we can overcome this. . . . This is not going to stop us from being the best that we are.”

Mr. Gregory taught math at the West Tisbury School, was a soccer coach and golfer, and served on several town boards. But he was fully in his element as town moderator, a position he held for 23 years. His calm, often humorous style kept things going at the town meetings and gained the confidence of his fellow citizens.

“They are certainly a huge pair of shoes to fill,” Mr. Waters said. “As far as we know he was going strong and was doing a great job and really pulled the town together at town meetings.”

The 10 years worth of videos have served as a guide for Mr. Waters, who obtained the recordings from MVTV, and has been watching one a day on his laptop computer.

Mr. Waters helped lead the fundraising campaign for the West Tisbury library expansion a few years ago, so he was well acquainted with town meetings. He is also the development director at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, and for a time he did advertising for Mr. Gregory’s computer and art supply store, EduComp. He ran unopposed last fall to replace Mr. Gregory as town moderator.

As he watches the videos, Mr. Waters recalls many of the town meeting discussions verbatim, although at the time he experienced them mainly as a voter or as a library trustee. “Now suddenly to be watching Pat and listening to how he dealt with things, that was a completely different way of looking at it,” he said. “He was able to remain impartial and keep his balance. He was always on his feet no matter what happened. I really admire that.”

Mr. Waters appears in the videos as poet laureate in 2006. As the first West Tisbury poet laureate, he wrote and recited the annual town poem for three years. The first poem was an ode to town meeting, with nods to the colorful characters and perhaps not-so-colorful agendas that define the tradition. One verse even takes note of the moderator:

The way we run our town would doom
Most cities and dominions;
We gather in one noisy room
And freely share opinions.
The moderator gets to stand
Behind his noble podium,
And try to keep proceedi
gs bland,
Devoid of strife or odium.

This year, Emma Young takes over from Justen Ahren as the town’s fourth poet laureate. Mr. Ahren will recite his final poem at the annual town meeting on Tuesday at the West Tisbury School.

Despite the potential for blandness, Mr. Waters has found the old recordings to be riveting. “The farther back you go, the more people you see talking who are no longer with us,” he said. “It’s a real time capsule.”

The moderator’s job through the years has been to keep discussion on track while also making sure every side is heard. The moderator also needs to know what types of motions require a majority vote, what types require a two-thirds vote, what items allow for discussion, and so on.

Mr. Waters placed his hand on his copy of Town Meeting Time: A Handbook of Parliamentary Law, sometimes called the bible of small town meetings. “I’m probably going to be referring to this from time to time in the course of the meeting,” he said.

One thing he has learned so far is that town meetings are governed less by rules than by tradition. “You need to adhere to what people are used to,” he said. “There is a rhythm that a town has or develops over the centuries and you stick with that. That’s another reason why these videos are as important as they are.”

The same issues often come up year after year, he said, with other patterns emerging over time. Mill Pond, for example, comes up almost every year, often with lengthy discussion. “It takes maybe five years before people forget that something has been done and then you see it come back again,” Mr. Waters said.

This year’s town meeting warrant includes a proposal to dedicate the new lobby of the West Tisbury library to Mr. Gregory. And once again, there is an article relating to the Mill Pond. The town finance committee has voted this year not to recommend the town budget, which Mr. Waters said could be interesting.

“It’s shaping up to be quite a town meeting,” he said.

The poem concludes:
Remember us for decades later
Since time on earth is fleeting;
And also since the moderator
Would like to start the meeting –
So carpenter and blizzard plower,
When all is done and said,
May leave here at a decent hour,
And we may go to bed.