Efforts to ease congestion in downtown Oak Bluffs came to a head at the selectmen’s meeting Tuesday, which ran the gamut from sandwich boards to parking regulations, and brought some closure to a heated dispute surrounding tour vans parking in the area.

John Tiernan of the Land and Wharf Company apologized for what he called misunderstandings related to a street license the selectmen had granted in January to allow the company to operate tours. Town officials this spring received a wave of complaints about vans parking on Circuit avenue extension and other parts of downtown, and reports of hawking. Selectmen have said they were led to believe the vans would park only on private property.

“We took a lot of missteps,” said Mr. Tiernan, who along with Caleb Caldwell owns the Land and Wharf Company and the Dockside Inn, where the tours depart. “That was not my intention, to mislead you guys in any way.”

Mr. Caldwell, who also attended the meeting, said the vans now park exclusively on Dockside Inn property, although there are times when the vans might displace a public parking spot. He said a banner advertising the tours has been submitted to the town building department for permitting. Mr. Tiernan added that all four of the vans are kept on his own property overnight, and although employees hand out brochures at the Dockside Inn, “we don’t verbalize anything to anybody.” He said the goal was to sell all tour tickets ahead of time to allow for a tighter parking schedule throughout the day. “We are not there yet,” he said, “and I apologize it has been such a chaotic venture to try to get there.”

Selectman Brian Packish pointed out that because the Martha’s Vineyard Commission approved the Dockside Inn as a development of regional impact in the 1980s, it would also need to review the new business.

Despite the company’s efforts, selectmen remained guarded.

“You both came in front of us with good will in January, and you have lost a lot of that in my eyes,” Gregory Coogan said. “Those scars are going to stay there for awhile.”

Nevertheless, the selectmen approved a new temporary business license to allow the tours to continue until the conclusion of the MVC review. The board added a number of conditions, including a limit of four vans, one dedicated spot for the vans, and screening around the overnight parking location.

In related business, the selectmen discussed recommendations from the town roads and byways committee, including the idea of creating some evening parking spots near the King’s Rentals moped shop on Circuit avenue extension, where cars already park. Selectmen agreed to move forward on the proposal. In response to complaints about staging at the Dockside Inn, they also agreed to reduce the allowed parking time there from 15 to five minutes, with no parking from 2 to 6 a.m. And in response to a complaint of a car parked on Pennecook avenue since April, they agreed that cars parked longer than 72 hours on a public way will be considered abandoned.

Selectmen also bristled at an apparent proliferation of sandwich boards in the downtown area. “I would entertain just banning them altogether,” Gail Barmakian said. “They are violating town bylaw, or state law, by obstructing a public way. Can we start issuing fines for them? Because I’m pretty much sick and tired of this.”

Kathy Burton said the problem went beyond sandwich boards to include objects hanging outside of shops. “That’s also out of control,” she said.

Town administrator Robert Whritenour suggested putting together a task force to develop a bylaw to regulate the use of sandwich boards in town, but selectmen suggested instead looking through the existing bylaws for an easier solution. Police chief Erik Blake, who attended the meeting, agreed to make people remove any signs encroaching on a public way.

Selectmen also approved a revised agreement between the town and Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School that aims to clarify responsibilities in terms of maintaining the Martha’s Vineyard Skatepark. The new agreement omits language saying the town will provide portable toilets at the park. But a request by the selectmen to set up a skatepark committee to oversee daily maintenance had been denied by the school.

Ms. Barmakian urged the board to keep working on the agreement, in light of concerns about liability and the town’s need to support another regional service. But Ms. Burton said she and Mr. Whritenour had already worked on it extensively. “We just can’t get anywhere,” she said, “and what are we going to do, close the skatepark?” The board agreed unanimously to approve the contract as written.

Looking ahead, brighter days may be in store for the Island Theatre, where emergency repairs by the Hall family were completed last month but a contractor later backed out from painting the facade. The town administrator’s report this week notes that a new contractor is working on getting to the Island. The report recommends a strict deadline of August 4 to complete the work, but Mr. Whritenour had to rush to the ferry on Tuesday, and the deadline did not come to a vote.

The board’s next meeting is August 8.