Aquinnah is looking ahead to its annual town meeting on May 10, when voters will decide, among other things, whether to buy a $450,000 fire truck and adopt a series of zoning bylaw amendments aimed at increasing affordable housing in town.
The town will also weigh in on a proposed ban on single-use plastic bags that has already passed in three Island towns. But a request to fund a $2.5 million expansion to the Martha’s Vineyard Refuse District’s central transfer station was taken off the warrant after the article failed in Edgartown.
At their meeting on Tuesday, the Aquinnah selectmen voted to close the town meeting warrant, first adding an article asking whether the town should take ownership of state-owned West Basin Road. Town administrator Adam Wilson said the offer was part of a statewide inventory by the Department of Transportation and was likely the first of its kind in Aquinnah.
Selectman Juli Vanderhoop supported the proposal, recalling the state’s track record in responding to winter storms along the mile-long stretch of road that includes the West Basin parking lot. “When the snow drifts down there they have not been responding in the past couple of years,” she said.
Town public works director Jay Smalley said the acquisition would mean more spending for the town, but also the addition of property. The new property would include 20 feet on either side of the road.
Aquinnah will also be asked to chip in for a new playground at the West Tisbury School, paying the smallest share of the three up-Island towns. West Tisbury approved $145,000 for the project last week. Assistant principal Mary Boyd told the selectmen this week that she hoped to amend the article on the town meeting floor, lowering the request from $13,780 to $12,488. She said the decrease reflected an uptick in fundraising and a revised budget for removing the existing playground, which was built around 1995 and has been battered by the Island weather.
“We have fundraised approximately $110,000,” Ms. Boyd said. “That’s phenomenal.” She hoped for demolition to begin shortly after the school year ends, and the new playground to be in place by mid-August.
The selectmen also signed a new one-year contract with the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, which will resume its long role as steward of the Gay Head Light. The museum narrowly outscored its competitor, Headers of the Light, in a fierce bidding process that came to a head in March and was ultimately decided by the selectmen.
With board approval, Mr. Wilson’s own contract as town administrator was extended another five years, with changes to reflect a 10-hour cap on compensatory time off per week and a 2.5 per-cent increase in base salary. The new contract runs through April 19, 2021.
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