After failing to reach a quorum last week, enough West Tisbury voters turned out for a special town meeting on Tuesday to approve all four articles on the warrant, but not before some tough questions about spending and lines of authority in town hall.

A total of 144 voters turned out for the meeting, and before moderator Patrick Gregory banged the gavel, one voter said: “We’ll be home in plenty of time for the [Boston] Celtics game,” referring to the pivotal game six of the NBA finals.

And while the meeting did finish before the 9 p.m. tip-off, there was lengthy discussion and some debate on two articles, beginning with one to authorize selectmen to sell three lots in the Bailey Park project off Old County Road.

Chuck Hodgkinson proposed an amendment to change the language of the article, giving selectmen only the authority to lease the lots at Bailey Park. “I personally do not think we should ever sell or give away town property,” he said, adding: “Leasing the land is consistent with the affordable housing trust model of buying land and leasing it to town residents. If we sell the land to a developer they will turn around and lease it to recipients. The town should retain title, and do this instead of a developer.”

But selectmen had another view.

“The selling component is only the first part for the developer; the property is then subject to a ground lease that states the property reverts back to the town if the company became insolvent,” selectman Richard Knabel said. “It is not a conveyance of the property in perpetuity.”

Voters approved the article by a wide margin.

There was also some debate over a request to create a new floater position at town hall.

The administrative assistant would work between 20 and 30 hours a week and make between $30,000 and $35,000 a year. It would only add about $7,000 to the town payroll next year, because it would replace a position in the assessors department that was cut.

Selectman Cynthia Mitchell said the extra set of hands is needed in town hall. “This would be an administrative assistant shared among departments, practically all of which are staffed by a single person, and some of which are part-time. We are more spread out in the new town hall, and depending on the time of day a member of the public can walk in, or call, and have trouble finding someone to help them,” she said.

But Sharon Estrella, chairman of the finance committee, said this is not the time to be creating new positions in town.

“When we went through the budget process in November, we talked at length about how there would be no new positions this year . . . we just didn’t feel at this point in time they would be fiscally responsible,” she said.

Mrs. Estrella also questioned the need.

“If somebody calls town hall, and finds, for example, that the town clerk is out of town for four days, they can leave a message and she can call them back. If somebody is there to answer the phone, what difference does that make? That person will take a message and give it to her, as opposed to that person leaving a message on her answering machine. Are you going to talk to her any sooner?”

Voters approved the new position in a close vote.