With dozens of town moorings in need of repairs or replacement, Tisbury selectmen granted the harbor master’s request for extra funding during a wide-ranging meeting Tuesday.
Harbor master John Crocker told selectmen that he needs an additional $25,000 to inspect, repair, or replace 30 town moorings. He said recent inspections of nine moorings showed that four required new mooring blocks or chains.
“We’re near 50 per cent failure rate from the inspections, which I don’t believe was anticipated,” town administrator Jay Grande told selectmen.
Selectmen voted transfer of the money from the reserve fund to cover the inspections and repairs, pending finance committee approval. Mr. Crocker said he originally budgeted $10,000 for inspections and he has already overspent that amount by some $10,000.
A series of northeasters earlier this year caused several boats to break from their moorings, prompting Black Dog owner Capt. Bob Douglas to ask selectmen to decommission the moorings in March.
“It seems from what I can see here that the tackle seems to be wearing out ahead of the mooring inspection schedule,” Mr. Crocker said. He said in addition to extra inspections this year, he would re-evaluate the inspection schedule to catch faulty moorings before they failed.
There are approximately 60 town moorings in the Vineyard Haven harbor, according to Mr. Crocker. The town rents the moorings seasonally or for shorter periods. Summer leases can cost as much as $1,800.
“We are renting these moorings to people, and if they fail and a boat goes through the harbor and damages other boats, we have to be concerned about that,” selectman Melinda Loberg said.
Selectmen tasked the harbor management committee and the finance committee to examine the fee structure and inspection schedule for the moorings.
In other business, selectmen approved Bruno’s Rolloff’s request to raise the annual rate for curbside recycling to $250 from $125. The town contracts with the private company to provide curbside waste removal services.
The $250 rate will apply until next summer and covers a 96-gallon barrel picked up every two weeks.
Josh Forend and Patrick Medeiros of Bruno’s Rolloff spoke with selectmen to explain the change.
“This is a direct result of where we take our recycling,” Mr. Forend said. “This isn’t a get rich quick scheme by Bruno’s.”
He said most customers have continued to pay for recycling even as prices have gone up.
“We believe that recycling is super important and we hope it doesn’t go away, but this is where we’re at price-wise,” Mr. Forend added.
The town also offers a drop-off site where recycling is accepted free of charge. Mr. Grande warned that raising the cost of recycling would increase traffic at that site.
“It’s getting busier now anyway, and it’s getting difficult to handle traffic there,” he said.
Selectmen also approved a contract with Strategic Policy Partnership LLC, a firm headed by West Tisbury resident Robert Wasserman, to attract and vet candidates for the new police chief. Selectmen decided to cap spending on that process at $18,000 to allow for thorough vetting, though selectman Tristan Israel said they do not expect the total to be that high.
They also approved new taxi regulations written primarily by police Lieut. Eerik Meisner. Michael Mszanski of Martha’s Vineyard Taxi presented an electronic taxi metering system being considered in other towns, including West Tisbury and Edgartown. Selectmen asked Mr. Grande to collect input on that system from Vineyard Haven taxi business owners.
Selectmen also agreed to apply for two grants: one with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to explore the use of permeable reactive barriers to prevent nitrogen loading in town ponds, and another proposed by the planning board to address pollution runoff from roads. Matching funds from those grants are estimated to total about $38,000.
Mary Ellen Larson of the finance committee was appointed to represent the town on the newly formed high school building committee.
Selectmen also briefly discussed next steps for the Tisbury school project following a failed vote at the ballot last month. The Massachusetts School Building Authority sent a form to be signed by selectmen releasing the state agency from any obligation to support that failed project, but after consulting with town attorneys, the board voted to make some minor changes to the document.
Selectmen said they hope to meet with the school committee to discuss next steps some time in June.
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