A new Tri-Town Ambulance service agreement is now in effect, after Aquinnah selectmen signed off on the agreement this week.

The revised agreement is similar to the original one created in 1976 when the ambulance service was formed to serve the three up-Island towns of Aquinnah, West Tisbury and Chilmark.

The biggest change is in the ambulance service committee, previously made up of the three town police chiefs, selectmen from each town and ambulance service members. The new committee will include one selectman from each town (Jonathan Mayhew from Chilmark, Cynthia Mitchell from West Tisbury and Jim Newman from Aquinnah), and two ex officio members, ambulance chief Paul (Zeke) Wilkins and Martha’s Vineyard Hospital emergency room director Dr. Jeffrey Zack. Mr. Wilkins and Dr. Zack cannot vote.

The new committee meets this afternoon.

Chilmark will remain as the fiscal and hiring agent for the ambulance service. The three towns will continue to share equally the cost of the service, which has gone up significantly in the past year.

In other business at their meeting Tuesday, Aquinnah selectmen scheduled a townwide workshop for Feb. 21 for town employees and committees to discuss future planning. Board chairman Jim Newman said the planning day aims to create a vision for the town for the next five to 10 years.

Town administrator Adam Wilson gave a progress report on efforts to improve cell phone service up-Island. He said contractors from American Tower Company began installing poles this week for digital antenna systems (DAS) in Chilmark and Aquinnah. There will be 11 poles in Chilmark and four in Aquinnah.

The selectmen also scheduled a Feb. 7 meeting with town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport to finalize a contract with Vineyard Power for the solar array project at the landfill, and a March 6 meeting to discuss the Menemsha lease lots.