The Aquinnah selectmen on Tuesday continued charting a future course for the Gay Head Light, and discussed a possible revision of the lightkeeper’s job description.
The town lighthouse advisory board recently approved a request for proposals (RFP) for an overseer of tours at the relocated lighthouse. Among other things, the document stipulates a $10,000 licensing fee to be paid to the town, along with a 50 per cent share of revenues above a certain amount. The selectmen agreed that the amount in question should remain negotiable, in order to provide flexibility for both the town and the future lighthouse steward.
Following the relocation last spring, the Martha’s Vineyard Museum resumed its role as steward for a short season, bringing in about $40,000, including $5,500 for the town, in August and September. The museum had hoped to extend its contract, but as a municipal agreement, it must first go out to bid.
Lighthouse advisory board member Jim Pickman, who joined the meeting by telephone on Tuesday, agreed that a negotiable figure would be more fair. But board member Elise LeBovit argued that a higher threshold would give applicants a stronger incentive to take on the role. “It always costs more in your first year of business,” she said.
The RFP originally set the threshold at $80,000, but Mr. Pickman said it was unlikely that so much money would come in this year. And because the new location is closer to the Island’s End condominiums, it is subject to new restrictions, including a maximum of four major events in July and August. The original site to the west is less restricted, and revenue from events at that site will go directly to the town.
The $80,000 threshold was based on past revenues and discussions with the museum. But selectmen Jim Newman argued that a new steward would likely have fewer overhead costs, making a lower threshold more appropriate. He also questioned the town’s responsibility to accommodate new businesses.
“Our obligation is to this community,” he said. “When we know who applies, we can ask for a business plan, overhead — then we can determine the cutoff. To set it in stone now would be a mistake.”
The selectmen voted unanimously to accept the RFP as amended.
Selectman Spencer Booker pointed out that the contract would be good for only a year, after which it could be amended again, or the town could become steward itself.
Proposals are due Feb. 19.
In related business, the town recently acquired two properties just north of the Gay Head Light through a tax title process that ended with a land court ruling last year. “It's been quite a few years,” Aquinnah treasurer Sibel Suman said on Thursday. The two properties, formerly shared by Martha Vanderhoop and Joanne Robey, total about two acres.
Ms. LeBovit submitted a revised version of the lightkeeper’s job description, arguing that the original was “wordy and hard to understand” and contained a number of mistakes. Mr. Newman challenged her authority to do so, but she said “a citizen can come and request anything” of a town board. She added that as a member of the lighthouse advisory board, she had an interest in improving the job description.
“To me this is insulting,” she said of the document. “I’m just trying to clean it up.”
Ms. LeBovit had previously brought the issue to the lighthouse advisory board, but town administrator Adam Wilson had instructed her to bring it to the selectmen. Mr. Wilson agreed Tuesday that she was following the correct procedure. The selectmen voted to forward the revised document to the personnel committee for review.
In addition to the lighthouse advisory board, Ms. LeBovit hopes to serve on the town parks and recreation committee, which the selectmen revived in December after several years of inactivity. In making her case on Tuesday, she presented the selectmen with several old photo albums of community events in Aquinnah.
“I feel that people don’t know each other anymore,” she said, as the selectmen flipped through the photos and reminisced about the past. She said she had gotten involved in the original parks and recreation committee because so many kids in town were coming to her house and she wanted to give them more opportunities.
“The whole town had a part in it,” she said of the various efforts at the time. “It was tribal, non-tribal, summer, year-round. Everybody came together and shared the challenges of learning new skills.” She hoped the new committee would play a similar role.
Mr. Booker noted that the selectmen are still taking letters of interest for the committee, which will have broader authority than before, and will help oversee the Gay Head Light and other key properties in town.
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