Chilmark selectmen last week reaffirmed the town’s decision not to join the Federal Flood Insurance Program, which would require adopting state and community floodplain management regulations.

According to the most recent flood insurance rate map, issued in April by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, low-lying areas such as those around Chilmark Pond, Menemsha Basin and Tisbury Great Pond, lie within the “special flood hazard area,” as determined by a one per-cent annual chance of flooding.

FEMA planned to publish a notice of updated flood hazards for Dukes County in the Gazette last week, after which towns would have 90 days to appeal the changes.

But Chilmark executive secretary Tim Carroll said the town has no stake in the appeals process, since it never joined the program to begin with.

Some residents have shown an interest in having the federal insurance, however, which led Mr. Carroll to revisit the town’s reasons for opting out of the program. Selectmen had hoped to discourage people from building large houses in flood-prone areas, Mr. Carroll said. And if Menemsha Harbor ever needed to be rebuilt after a flood, it would mean raising everything above the 100-year flood zone.

Mr. Carroll also argued that the federal program would not benefit most Chilmark residents, who live inland from the most hazardous areas. “It’s only a few people who are in very valuable and expensive land,” he said.

Selectmen Jonathan Mayhew and Bill Rossi also strongly opposed joining the program. Selectman Warren Doty was not present for the meeting.

In other business, Mr. Carroll reported that Ruby the goat, who has been the subject of several complaints in recent years, has been relocated to her winter quarters on North Road. Two weeks ago, Ruby chased a woman down the road to Squibnocket Beach, leading town animal control officer Chris Murphy to recommend to the selectmen that the town develop a bylaw to deal with non-canine pets.

“I think we need to go forward with it,” Mr. Mayhew said last week, speaking about the bylaw.

The selectmen had asked Allen Healy, assistant animal control officer in West Tisbury, along with assistant dog officer Joan Jenkinson, to come up with suggestions for such a bylaw that Chilmark could address at a town meeting. West Tisbury’s animal control bylaw lists of schedule of fines for loose animals, ranging from $100 to $300.

Mr. Carroll stressed that the new bylaw should be less about farm animals than pets, since pets were the main problem in Chilmark. Since livestock are a financial asset, he said, farmers tend to keep them restrained.

Following up on the selectmen’s resolution last month to prohibit dredging in Menemsha Harbor, Mr. Carroll reported that the Army Corps of Engineers has directed its contractor not to dredge along Crick Hill Road. The contract had indicated that the town would pay to remove several piles along the road. The dredging of Menemsha Channel and an area in Menemsha Pond to the south is still on schedule to begin this year. Both areas are part of a federal navigation project.