The Edgartown selectmen opted not to accept a letter of resignation submitted by affordable housing committee member Alan Gowell at their meeting Monday afternoon.

“I’d like the opportunity to talk with him,” said town administrator Pam Dolby. “I think it would be a great loss to the affordable housing committee.”

Mr. Gowell, owner of Martha’s Vineyard Memorials in Edgartown, has been a member of the committee for 15 years. “The increasing demands of running a small business have made it difficult for me to sustain a reliable attendance record at committee meetings. The recent decision to increase to two meetings per month has made it that much harder,” Mr. Gowell wrote.

The resignation follows the announcement by housing committee chairman Janet Hathaway that she would like to step down as chairman at the end of the summer. “I do not want to walk away from the committee at this point. I want to be involved and I want to be a member,” Ms. Hathaway said later this week.

Ms. Hathaway, who was present at the meeting, also recommended that the board take Mr. Gowell’s resignation under advisement, to give herself and the town an opportunity to speak with him personally about his decision.