The all-Island selectmen on Wednesday took up a wide range of topics during their semi-regular meeting at the Tisbury senior center, from algae blooms in Edgartown Great Pond to the possibility of new bylaws that would set residency restrictions for convicted sexual offenders.

But the only topic to generate any heat was a long-running plan to establish the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School as an emergency dispensing site for vaccinations and inoculations during a terrorist attack or outbreak of infectious disease.

At a meeting last month attended by health agents from all the Island towns, Oak Bluffs police chief Erik Blake raised concerns about the high volume of people who would head to the high school in the event of a public emergency during the summer months.

The chief said he supports using the high school as an emergency site during the off-season but not during the summer. Ronald DiOrio, chairman of the Oak Bluffs selectmen, and Peter Martell, town emergency management coordinator, have the same concerns.

But a group that has been working on an emergency response plan for the past three years — which includes Island health agents, emergency management coordinators, and health officials from off-Island — backs using the high school as a dispensing site on a year-round basis.

As part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, approved in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, communities across the nation are required to establish an emergency dispensing site. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, requires every community to have a written plan identifying an emergency site.

This week Chief Blake said he never suggested the high school could never be used as a dispensing site during an emergency in the summer. But he said he supports a plan establishing multiple sites, with the high school one of them. “We’re talking about [immunizing] 80 per cent of the Island’s population in 48 hours. Remember there are only two ways off Martha’s Vineyard — Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs [during an emergency]. I never said they couldn’t use the high school . . . I just said we need multiple sites,” he said.

Dukes County Sheriff Mike McCormack praised the work done by Island health agents on the emergency plan, but he said the process should involve the various law enforcement agencies on the Island.

“In the time of a pandemic emergency, it is up to law enforcement to maintain safety of the public. The plan before you tonight does not have the capability to serve all the people . . . this is a great plan, I think, for the off-season. But there needs to be another plan, maybe with multiple sites,” the sheriff said.

Edgartown selectman Arthur Smadbeck agreed that law enforcement officials should join the effort. But he expressed reservations about the logistics of creating multiple dispensing sites. “The staffing of these multiple sites will become a critical issue,” Mr. Smadbeck said.

Tisbury selectman Tristan Israel advocated a more regional approach. He cited a memorandum from the all-Island selectmen in the spring of 2007 that called for creating an emergency management advisory council.

“It’s a simple document, but it says a lot,” Mr. Israel said.

“It says we could come together, share resources and speak with one voice during an emergency,” he added.

“Whatever we pick, it must be best for the Island,” said Tisbury selectman Denys Wortman, chairman of the all-Island selectman’s association. “It has to be coordinated.”