Chilmark voters will weigh in on whether to fund a new Center for Living building for Island seniors at their annual town meeting tonight. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center, which also is the subject of funding requests this year.

Chilmark voters rejected the much-discussed public-private improvement project at Squibnocket beach by a slim margin at the annual town meeting Monday night, deciding instead to study alternatives under a newly appointed committee.

After a passionate and at times emotional debate around preserving the character of Chilmark, voters readily approved a zoning bylaw to regulate house size in town at the annual town meeting Monday night.

The measure carried 162 to 51.

Chilmark voters, at a special town meeting on Tuesday, indefinitely
postponed requests to fund major expansion projects at both the town
hall and the public library.

School costs are driving budget increases across the Island, but in Chilmark, one expense forcing voters to dig into their wallets for education spending may come as a shock.

The Menemsha School, barely four years old, already needs $100,000 in repairs that include replacing moldy floors and rotten doors. Voters will be asked Monday night at annual town meeting to foot the bill. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Chilmark Community Center.

The annual town election takes place Wednesday and will feature five override questions, but no contested races.

Chilmark voters breezed through their annual town meeting on Monday
night without batting an eye, approved a $5.7 million budget and voted
in favor of the Martha's Vineyard Housing Bank and two versions of a
renewable energy resolution along the way.

But when they came to the final vote of the evening -- whether to use
$23,000 from the community preservation committee's open space reserve
fund to fight an invasive reed in Chilmark Pond -- the debate began over
how to vanquish the mighty phragmite.

A busy week in Chilmark began Monday with voters moving briskly through the annual town meeting, continued Wednesday with high turnout at the ballot box and ends today with another bit of important business - the reopening of the Chilmark Store.

And so goes the short and relatively quiet political season in the small up-Island town.

The Island's troubled fishing industry will be a major
focus of the Chilmark annual town meeting on Monday night.

In a town meeting warrant otherwise characterized as "very noncontroversial" by the chairman of the Chilmark board of
selectmen, J.B. Riggs Parker, "the shellfish articles will
obviously get much of the attention on the meeting floor."

Despite the small size of the crowd, the debate among Chilmark voters at their annual town meeting this week was passionate and at times heated.

On Monday night voters gathered at the Chilmark Community Center to take up a 27-article warrant. Moderator Everett H. Poole presided.

A total of 113 voters attended, well over the quorum requirement of 25.

It was a meeting which saw a rare moment when Mr. Poole laid aside his gavel for the third time in his 31-year career to speak from the floor.

Chilmark voters opted for smaller government and a quieter town at Monday’s annual town meeting, approving a reduced town budget and stricter new noise bylaws.

The budget cuts, however, amounted to the lightest of prunings — about $6.64 million for fiscal year 2010 compared with 2009’s $6.68 million appropriation — after the meeting rejected proposals for a more serious attack on staff costs.