Is West Tisbury a vanishing postal address?

Town resident Ashley Hunter told the selectmen this week that he had strong concerns about his mailing address being recognized as a Vineyard Haven address instead of West Tisbury and urged the board to try to do something about it.

“I want to ask if the selectmen or the town will investigate what it would take to get the town of West Tisbury back to being West Tisbury,” he said. “We all take it for granted and accepted it but our addresses have become Vineyard Haven instead of West Tisbury. Recently I’ve been told that West Tisbury doesn’t exist and they can’t ship to me.”

“I think it’s becoming more and more of an issue,” he continued. “We’re starting to disappear.”

Selectman Richard Knabel sympathized with Mr. Hunter, and called the situation a quirk of living in the town.

“I order something from the Internet from somewhere and put the full address including West Tisbury 02575 and it comes back unknown address,” Mr. Knabel said. “No matter what you do, the only thing they’ll accept is Vineyard Haven 02568. I don’t know what we can do about it.”

Selectman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter 3rd suggested writing to Cape and Islands state Rep. Tim Madden and Sen. Dan Wolf about the matter.

In other business at their meeting Wednesday, with plans in the works to rebuild the town library, selectmen approved housing temporarily the reading room from the existing library, which will be moved to the back of the town hall and be open for business during construction of the new library. If voters approve the money for construction at the annual town meeting next month, the new library is targeted for completion by Dec. 1, 2013.

On Wednesday, building committee member Tucker Hubbell said once the library moves into its new building the reading room would be sold or given away. He also said using the old building in an innovative way would give the library points toward becoming a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the new building. The committee considered renting trailers for the library but Mr. Hubbell said moving the reading room would save the library nearly $20,000 in rental and demolition fees.

Librarian Beth Kramer characterized the temporary library as a lending and drop-off library rather than a browsing library. Programming will be affected, but Ms. Kramer said the library will hold some of its programs at the old library next door, which currently houses the Island Theatre Workshop, and space at the West Tisbury School.

Building committee chairman Leah Smith flagged a possible problem with the plan for a paved parking lot at the library once the planned expansion is complete. The land where the library now stands was gifted to the town by Gladys Jones in 1976, but one condition of the gift prohibited paving an “extensive area of the property.” Ms. Smith said the building committee felt the decision was not their call.

“We feel the decisions about its use and how it should be changed for the expanded library belongs with selectmen rather than the library,” she said. “The current parking lot is uneven and often has potholes. The surface is uneven, and particularly since it serves the Council on Aging, it’s a matter of public safety and health,” she added.

Selectman Richard Knabel said, “this is not an easy question to sort out.”

Mr. Manter said he thinks the decision requires a town meeting vote.

“I’d like the town to interpret that for us,” he said.

The selectmen decided to continue the discussion at their meeting next Wednesday.

The library will hold a public forum on final plans on March 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Howes House.

Town administrator Jennifer Rand reported the two Akitas previously ordered to be destroyed and then given a reprieve with a legal defense group in New York are now safely off the Island. Ms. Rand and town animal control officer Joan Jenkinson escorted one of the dogs, Zion, to Woods Hole where they were met by its owners, Taggart Young and Anna Bolotovksy, and the other dog, Sensi. Both dogs were then handed over to a representative from New York-based legal defense group the Lexus Project.

The selectmen approved turning the dogs over to the Lexus Project two weeks ago rather than having them destroyed for killing 14 chickens. Mr. Young and Ms. Bolotovsky have paid for the pound fees and veterinary bills, including vaccines and neutering for Zion.