Edgartown selectmen heard about two proposals that are making the Island rounds on Monday, expressing interest but caution in both an Islandwide plastic bottle ban and a Dukes County health and human services contract.

Students from Plastic Free MV filled the Ted Morgan meeting room on Monday, donning their blue T-shirts to request selectmen put a proposed plastic bottle ban on their town meeting warrant for next April. The bylaw would prohibit the sale of all plastic water bottles sized 34 ounces or less. A similar bylaw was passed in all three up-Island towns this past spring.

“It’s nice to see all of you guys here being politically active,” selectman Arthur Smadbeck said. “I’m sure we’ll put it on the agenda for town meeting. But may I suggest, in the meantime, that you guys set up a meeting with our board of trade, and see if you can gain some support from the board of trade and gain some insight from them.”

Mr. Smadbeck added that while the annual town meeting was a long way off, and that it was too early to put the bylaw on the warrant, he hoped the West Tisbury sixth graders would learn from the opportunity to engage with the Edgartown business community. Selectman Michael Donaroma said that the students should also meet with the planning board, which is responsible for zoning bylaw changes.

“It will be a good experience. Good luck,” Mr. Smadbeck said.

In other business, county administrator Martina Thornton presented selectmen with a proposed health and human services contract that, among other things, would codify a five per cent administrative fee that the towns pay the county to distribute money to social services throughout the Island.

Ms. Thornton has presented the contract at multiple selectmen’s meetings this spring, receiving some pushback against the proposed fee schedule as selectmen have questioned the need for the fee. In Edgartown on Monday, Ms. Thornton described the contract as an “umbrella” that would cover all the county’s responsibilities vis-a-vis the town regional services funds.

Town administrator James Hagerty said he would be in favor of the contract so long as the five per cent fee wasn’t assessed on property valuations alone. At town meeting, Edgartown approved a five per cent fee based on a combination of town population and property valuations that equated to about 30 per cent of the fee.

“These are very human service-centric things,” Mr. Hagerty said. “The five per cent fee is about $60,000, which if you’re asking Edgartown to pay 40 per cent [based on valuations], it’s a paradigm shift. You’re changing the framework, for what reason? I can’t really understand that,” Mr. Hagerty said.

Selectmen requested Ms. Thornton come back in two weeks, giving town counsel a chance to review the contract.