Dukes County treasurer Noreen Mavro-Flanders announced this week that she will resign from her elected position, a job she has held for nearly 27 years.

Ms. Mavro-Flanders will step down early next month.

In a letter submitted to the county commissioners at their meeting Wednesday, she wrote that she was proud to be elected five times by the voters of Dukes County.

“It is with mixed emotions that I notify you of my resignation and retirement from the office of county treasurer as of June 2, 2018,” she wrote. “I am currently the longest serving county treasurer in the commonwealth. I am proud of the part I have played working with the many legislators, commissioners, selectmen, managers and employees that serve the citizens of the county of Dukes County.”

Ms. Mavro-Flanders attended the meeting and handed around copies of her letter.

The county treasurer has hinted at retirement previously, but the announcement appeared to catch commissioners by surprise.

“There’s not much to say, except congratulations after a long run,” said county commission chairman John Alley.

Ms. Mavro-Flanders is recommending that the commission appoint her assistant, Ann Metcalf, to serve out the remainder of her term, which expires in 2020.

Ms. Flanders also said she is willing to assist with the transition by working one day a week in the county treasurer’s office.

She also said if the county commission agrees, she would continue in her role as an appointed representative to the Cape Cod Municipal Health Group, the joint-purchasing organization which arranges health care coverage for Cape and Island government employees.

But she said commissioners would need to fill her position as a trustee of the Dukes County pooled OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits) trust, which invests and accounts for money appropriated by Island towns to pay for future employee benefits.

Ms. Mavro-Flanders closed her letter on a nostalgic note.

“I am not sure how I am going to feel on June 4, when I am no longer part of the county full time,” she wrote. “But my family and friends have been urging me to make this decision for some time. I have not had a ‘summer on Martha’s Vineyard’ since I was 13, so it will be fun to be at the beach with my grandchildren!”

In other action Tuesday, county commissioners again delayed a vote to appoint three candidates to the airport commission.

After re-advertising the positions following a brief controversy over the process, the commission received seven letters of interest, including from two incumbents.

Incumbent commissioners Robert Rosenbaum and Clarence (Trip) Barnes have applied for re-appointment.

Other candidates are: former West Tisbury selectman Richard Knabel; Island businessman Nicholas Catt, the owner of Airport Laundromat who is currently in a dispute with the airport commission over wastewater fees; Lawrence Clancy, an airport business park tenant and business partner of Mr. Catt; Geoffrey Wheeler, a retired airport consulting executive; and John Clarke, a pilot, business owner and business park tenant.

Former Oak Bluffs selectman Walter Vail, who previously applied, withdrew, then reapplied for the position, again withdrew his application before the meeting.

Mr. Clarke notified the commission that he could not attend the meeting because of a medical emergency. After some discussion, commissioners voted to interview the six candidates present, but delay a vote until their May 16 meeting, when they plan to interview Mr. Clarke.

The commission also voted to change the wording in several county documents, to give its designees authority to enforce parking and beach regulations this summer.

County sheriff Robert Ogden will no longer provide deputies to patrol county-owned and managed beaches.

As a result, county manager Martina Thornton has hired two part-time county employees to patrol Joseph Sylvia State Beach, and Eastville Beach, and Ms. Thornton said she has reached an agreement with Edgartown police to respond as needed for any enforcement at Norton Point Beach.