Two Vineyard towns signed agreements Tuesday aimed at strengthening local government aided by state funds. Lieut. Gov. Karyn Polito visited West Tisbury and Aquinnah to sign community compact agreements with selectmen in both towns.
Together, the towns received a total of $19,500 in grant money.
Out of 351 eligible communities, West Tisbury and Aquinnah were the 290th and 291st Massachusetts towns to join the community compact program, and the first two Island towns to join.
The community compact stems from Gov. Charlie Baker’s first executive order when elected to office. The voluntary program is funded through the state budget. Every year $2 million is made available for communities that join the compact. Each compact is individual to the town.
The compacts aim to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of town governments by supporting so-called best practices that cover a range of actions from education to transportation. Participation in the program also increases the availability of state grants for the towns.
By joining the compact, West Tisbury received $12,000, which will be used to update the town website.
“To improve the community engagement we’re going to take care of our antiquated website and try to create a more interactive interface for the community,” said Bruce Stone, West Tisbury town accountant and grant writer. “Especially since the Island has a lot of people that don’t live here, so being able to reach out to people in a more expansive way is very helpful.”
Rep. Dylan Fernandes was on hand for the ceremony and congratulated the town. “It’s really important that the government goes to where people are, and people are online,” he said.
Along with improving its website, the town also chose the best practices of creating a housing production plan and adopting the complete streets program. Best practice choices are eligible for funding and technical support within a two-year time period.
Aquinnah was awarded $7,500 to analyze property value assessing on the Island, across all six towns. The Martha’s Vineyard Commission also supported the proposal with an additional $5,000. The Lieutenant governor said the study will hopefully identify services that can be shared among the towns when it comes to assessments.
“You, here, have figured out that the function of assessing properties is perhaps a function that can be done more efficiently across the Island,” Ms. Polito said. “And thinking about a shared service model that might really work well for all six communities, starting with you taking the lead, I applaud you for that.”
After the compact had been signed, Angela Cywinski, principal assessor in Aquinnah, said not all the Aquinnah assessors are pleased with the aims of the study.
“The Aquinnah board of assessors never voted this, we were never part of this,” she said. “And two of my board members are not on board with this.” There have been ongoing tensions between assessors and selectmen in the Island’s smallest town.
Ms. Polito told town leaders that she and Mr. Fernandes had met with the other four Vineyard towns earlier in the day to talk to them about the community compact program.
“It’s really, in our view, that through local government, we will strengthen the commonwealth,” she said.
It marked the second swing across the Vineyard in three days for the lieutenant governor, who visited the Lake Tashmoo boat ramp on Saturday. A major state grant will help refurbish the public landing.
Comments
Comment policy »