The Edgartown cemetery commission is awaiting a recommendation from the town’s labor counsel on disciplinary action against cemetery superintendent Jennifer Morgan, following a two and a half-hour hearing Tuesday.

Ms. Morgan, the department’s only full-time employee, was hired as superintendent of the three town cemeteries in March of 2012. The commission placed her on administrative leave April 28, and has issued a five-page document outlining 18 separate complaints about Ms. Morgan’s job performance, including neglect of duty, incompetence and insubordination.

Appearing at Tuesday’s disciplinary hearing with her attorney, Ted Saulnier, Ms. Morgan disputed nearly every point in the lengthy complaint and said commissioners had offered little clarity about her duties.

Labor counsel Jack Collins, who is also serving as interim police chief, served as the hearing officer for the proceedings.

The hearing revealed longstanding animosity between Ms. Morgan and cemetery commissioner Elizabeth Villard, who recused herself and sat in the audience for most of the hearing.

Ms. Morgan charged that the disciplinary proceeding was triggered when she questioned whether Ms. Villard, who offers walking tours of two Edgartown graveyards through her company Vineyard History Tours, had a conflict of interest.

At the hearing and as detailed in the complaint, Ms. Villard allegedly asked Ms. Morgan to complete work documenting who is buried in the graveyards and begin restoration work on deteriorating headstones. The project was funded through Community Preservation Act funds approved by town meeting voters.

“She profits from giving ghost tours and gravestone tours of cemeteries,” Ms. Morgan said at the hearing. “She clearly has a vested interest in it. To me it was clearly a conflict. I resent being made to feel like I was blatantly insubordinate when I felt like I had many valid reasons to question it.”

Near the end of the hearing, Ms. Villard said the documentation and restoration were important projects for the town, and she denied any conflict of interest. “That grant really did nothing for me,” she said. “I can honestly say I haven’t made a cent out of any of this. My little walking tours are so tiny, and they are a very limited area, and they don’t involve any of this work.”

Mr. Collins concluded that there may be no way to repair the damaged relationships.

“If I recommend some discipline, and you get a firing, you get a suspension, a reprimand, whatever it might be, nothing tells me that the next day this thing gets magically better,” Mr. Collins said, speaking directly to Ms. Morgan at the end of the hearing. “I think it takes a required change of heart from both parties if it’s going to work, and I’m not sure that’s possible.” He urged Ms. Morgan and the cemetery commissioners to negotiate an end to the workplace dispute.

“I wish we could shake everybody and say go back and make things the way they were,” Mr. Collins said. “It’s not clear to me that’s possible. It may be that you all have to find a way to part company.”

Cemetery commissioners Susan Brown and Andrew Kelly were critical of Ms. Morgan’s job performance, though Mr. Kelly disputed several of the allegations against Ms. Morgan as invalid or untrue.

Ms. Morgan defended her work. “I have never refused work that I don’t want to do, or simply not done my job,” she said. “Each of these 18 issues has already been discussed at multiple past meetings. At no time was there any notice to me or any even remote implication that it was leading to pending disciplinary action. Everybody in this building knows we’ve had issues because we’ve all been asking for help.”

Mr. Collins indicated Ms. Morgan may find it difficult to accept his recommendations. He invited her and Mr. Saulnier to negotiate a resolution and avoid a costly lawsuit.

“In at least some situations, you are insubordinate,” Mr. Collins told Ms. Morgan. “I’m not going to find, quite frankly, that the board will owe you an apology and get you a new car. I’m going to find, quite frankly that you people on all sides could probably do a better job.”

He said if there is no negotiated agreement to end the dispute, he will complete his report, and recommend the cemetery commissioners take action next week.