Amid ongoing questions about transparency and possible conflicts of interest among its board members, the Island Housing Trust on Saturday agreed to draft new selection criteria for all future affordable projects, in the process throwing out a pair of bids for the design phase of the Lake street affordable housing plan in Vineyard Haven.

One of the two bidders was the South Mountain Company, owned by John Abrams, who is also a member of the trust’s 24-member board. Mr. Abrams has recused himself from all matters relating to the Lake street project, including the discussion at Saturday’s meeting.

Mr. Abrams left the meeting to avoid any appearance of conflict.

Although the trust on Saturday was set to choose between two firms for the design phase of the project — South Mountain Co. and MacNelly-Cohen Architects of West Tisbury — board members instead agreed to throw out the bids and draft a new selection criteria for all projects in the future.

Richard Knabel, a West Tisbury selectman appointed to the trusts’s board three months ago, made the motion which was unanimously approved 13-0.

Following the meeting, Mr. Knabel said he made the motion in response to the recent spate of questions surrounding the Island Affordable Housing Fund — the sister organization to the trust that does all the fund-raising needed for affordable housing projects.

The fund was rocked by the sudden departure of executive director Patrick Manning in August, followed by the announcement in October it could no longer pay for the rental assistance program run by the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority.

Still in the early stages of development, the Lake street project is planned for a piece of land next to the Lake street affordable rental apartments, built in 1998 by the town of Tisbury in collaboration with the regional high school vocational arts department. The new project would also be a town-sponsored project, with the Island Housing Trust acting as the developer.

It may include up to six units, depending on final plans, possibly with duplexes or triplexes.

Mr. Knabel said the recent shake-up in the fund led to a fresh round of questions about the two organizations, and he viewed the board’s vote on Saturday as an opportunity to answer some of those questions and educate the public about the selection process for contractors. He did not feel the decision singled out or penalized any specific board members.

“I think the vote was collaborative and positive. There are people right now who are being unjustly criticized for what is going on with the [affordable housing] fund, and to some extent I would agree that is unwelcome. My feeling is this a great opportunity to educate the public about how the trust chooses [a contractor],” he said.

But Mr. Knabel also said the two housing organizations should take steps to be more transparent and inclusive, if for no other reason than the fact that they now use more public funding allocated through the Community Preservation Act to build their affordable housing projects.

“Whatever the intent was 10 years ago to separate fund-raising and construction has now led to the law of unintended consequences — there is an appearance of a conflict of interest, even if it is not there. Meanwhile these projects are relying more and more on public dollars, and the public still has a hard time separating between the trust and the fund,” Mr. Knabel said.

He said new selection criteria could in theory protect a company like South Mountain.

“There is a lot of support and appreciation for the work that South Mountain has done for affordable housing in the past . . . but there is a lot of attention being paid right now to the fund and to a lesser degree the trust, and at the very least the appearance of a conflict is sufficiently strong that it can’t be ignored,” he said.

Philippe Jordi, executive director of the trust, said in an e-mail the current selection goals were first adopted as part of a larger set of programmatic goals in November of 2007, and were amended by the board of directors in February of this year and again in October. He said the trust has historically formed volunteer subcommittees made up of board members on an as-needed basis.

According to these goals, the trust may “set selection criteria and required qualifications separately, on a project-specific basis.”

Mr. Jordi said the board on Saturday agreed to create a subcommittee to establish new criteria for selecting the design services for the Lake street project.

Richard Leonard, chairman of the trust board of directors, could not be reached for comment.

Board member Victoria Haeselbarth said she thought it was a good idea to throw out the bids and begin work on a new selection process, but she also said she did not feel this means the current policy is flawed. She said the trust routinely reviews and updates the process to make it better, and the vote on Saturday was not a referendum on current policy.

“I hope people don’t ever lose sight of all the good things the trust does to provide affordable housing for people,” she said.

Tisbury selectman Tristan Israel, appointed to the trust board three years ago, said he wants the selection process to include a wider range of contractors. But he said the trust has taken steps in the right direction recently.

“I think they’ve been trying the last few years to learn more about conflict of interest and ethics, who should be in the room and who shouldn’t be in the room when certain projects are discussed. And in my mind they’ve made real progress,” he said.

Mr. Israel agreed the trust should make changes since many projects now include large amounts of public money.

“It’s a private organization, but a private organization that takes in a lot of community preservation funds. In my mind that raises the need for public accountability,” he said.