Aquinnah selectmen mulled calling a special town meeting, outsourcing their assessing services and adding a side door to the town hall in a busy meeting Tuesday.

They also decided to raise the price for shellfish permits in the town. The mulling on that one had happened previously.

Town administrator Jeffrey Madison told selectmen that he received a letter from Matthew D’Andrea, Island superintendent of schools, asking to use $229,000 in excess and deficiency funds to lease a new school bus and fund anticipated deficits in oil and heating maintenance in the high school building. West Tisbury has already decided to call a special town meeting to put the issue before voters. On Tuesday night, Chilmark followed suit, setting June 17 as a date for the meeting.

If Aquinnah decides not to call a special town meeting, it will count as an approval of the funds. The superintendent needs four of the six towns to approve the funding.

“It’s a lot of money,” selectman Jim Newman said. “It’s totally inappropriate financially that they do this to us, so I really do think we should have a meeting. I’d also suggest that they get an electric bus.”

Mr. Madison said he would look into calling a special town meeting, aiming to schedule it for the second week in June.

“I’ll do the best I can,” he said.

In other business, selectmen opened up the lone bid for outsourcing their assessor services. The bid came from Regional Resource Group, a mass appraisal service which presented an outsourcing plan to selectmen earlier this spring at an estimated cost of $39,000. On Tuesday, the bid came in at $38,400, with about $13,000 in optional add-on services available.

Selectmen took the bid under advisement.

Mr. Madison also told the board he would like to add a side door to the town hall that would make the bathrooms in the building accessible when the public restrooms at the Aquinnah circle are closed.

“When the restrooms are not open at the Cliffs, they refer people to use the restrooms at the town hall,” Mr. Madison said. “This would allow access to the restrooms here at all hours of the day.”

Selectman Juli Vanderhoop said the board would look into the issue.

Shellfish constable Chip Vanderhoop also presented selectmen with mooring and shellfish permit rates for the 2019 season. Herring Creek and Red Beach moorings were set at $300, West Basin moorings at $450, Vineyard Sound moorings at $250, on-shore dinghys at $150, and beached skiff permits at $40.

Commercial and resident shellfish permit fees were also raised.

“It’s been the same for 20 years, but the finance committee and I decided it’s time to go up,” Mr. Vanderhoop said.

Resident family permits will go up from $30 to $45, non-resident family permits will go up from $100 to $125, non-resident weekly permits will go up from $25 to $35, and commercial permits will go up from $60 to $100. Senior rates will remain free and scallop licenses will stay the same.

“I’m moving my boat after this meeting,” Mr. Madison said.

Aquinnah resident Sarah Saltonstall also presented a petition before selectmen to return a parcel of town-owned land to the heirs of its original owner. At town meeting last Tuesday, voters agreed to indefinitely postpone an article that would have used the land for affordable housing.

Mr. Madison said that while the board was sympathetic toward the transfer, there were a few legal questions to sort out, including the number of heirs to the property still alive.

“We’ve got to look at this carefully to make sure it is done right,” he said.

Selectmen appointed Donald Scranton as a special police officer. He will begin work on May 28.