Tisbury selectmen said this week they have made contact with the owner of the Edu Comp building in downtown Vineyard Haven, which has been floated as a municipal purchase that could provide temporary space for the Tisbury School during construction and then become a new town hall later in the decade.

“I had a very nice conversation with the owner of the Edu Comp building this afternoon, and she is going to get back to me by the end of the week with some monetary information,” select board chairman Jimmy Rogers said during Tuesday’s regular meeting on Zoom. “We’re going to keep that discussion open.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Rogers said, a series of public meetings is in the works to discuss the proposed school renovation and addition.

“The OPM [owner’s project manager Richard Marks of Daedalus Projects] is working to rent space, at his expense, at the theatre at the Tisbury Marketplace and do public presentations at that location — a bunch of them, so we can stagger people in and let them see it,” Mr. Rogers said.

Also Tuesday, the board approved shellfish constable Danielle Ewart’s proposed opening dates for scalloping.

“The 2020 scallop season is going to be short,” Ms. Ewart told the board.

“Last year we had a pretty good season. People were fishing till March,” she said. “Usually you don’t see two good seasons back to back. Seasons fluctuate.”

Recreational scalloping outside Lagoon Pond will open Nov. 7 and commercial scalloping in the area Nov. 9.

Lagoon Pond itself will open for recreational scalloping Nov. 14.

“I have discussed this with Oak Bluffs, and they are also opening on that day,” Ms. Ewart said.

Commercial scalloping in the pond will start Nov. 16 for both towns, Ms. Ewart said.

Lake Tashmoo will open for recreational scalloping Dec. 5 and to commercial scallopers Dec. 7. No dragging is allowed, Ms. Ewart said.

Season end dates have not yet been determined, Ms. Ewart said.

“It’s going to be a very short season,” she repeated. “It could be about a week . . . If I see a lot of people coming back with seed, I can close down areas.”

“You’re going to base that strictly on what you see coming out of the water?” Mr. Kristal asked.

“Yes,” Ms. Ewart said.

Harbor master John Crocker updated the board on plans for dredging Lake Tashmoo. Most of the dredged sand will be pumped directly to the town and land bank beaches east of the opening, he said.

“The way the sand move there is from west to east, so we place the sand on the east side so it doesn’t just run back into the channel and fill it up again,” Mr. Crocker said.

Some of the dredged sand will also be provided to property owners east of the town and conservation beaches, he said.

Town administrator Jay Grande reported on town Halloween guidelines, which are posted on the town website and mirror state and federal guidelines for safe trick-or-treating. But many town residents and institutions are sitting out Halloween this year.

“We will not have any activity at town hall. It will be closed for Halloween,” Mr. Grande said. “The Vineyard Haven business association has indicated the parade will not take place as it has in past years.”

“William street is pretty much shut down,” Mr. Kristal said. Ms. Redfield said the neighborhood usually attracts 1,000 trick or treaters, but that this year residents agreed to keep their porch lights off.

Even without the pandemic, Ms. Redfield said, William street can no longer handle the numbers of treat-seekers seen on past Halloweens.

“A number of the bigger properties have changed hands, and there’s not going to be anyone there to hand out candy,” she said.

Mr. Grande and public works director Kirk Metell brought up another reason to discourage trick or treating this weekend: the condition of downtown streets and sidewalks.

“We do have a concern with the condition of some of our roadways downtown, since they are in active reconstruction and in some cases the sidewalks are incomplete,” Mr. Grande said. “My understanding is those roads will be noticed and signed (and) I would recommend avoiding those,” he said.

Mr. Metell echoed Mr. Grande’s remarks, adding that with rain in this week’s forecast it is unlikely town crews will finish the work by Saturday.

“Some of the roads only have a small, thin layer of base coat, which is an uneven surface as well,” he said. “It definitely causes a hazard for people to be walking down there at night.”

Another downtown institution keeping its doors closed on Halloween is the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, which traditionally hosts a popular holiday open house.

“We also get somewhere from 1,000 to 1,500 kids coming in,” said playhouse master carpenter Paul Munafo. “We couldn’t figure out a really safe way to do, that so we decided not to do it.

“We are planning on putting up some lights on the side of the theatre that faces Main street that’s going to be some Halloween thing,” Mr. Munafo said. “That’s going to be our contribution this year.”

In other business Tuesday, the select board voted unanimously to name Jared Meader as the town’s new wastewater superintendent and Carla Gomes as traffic officer on the police force.

Seven residents were seated on the town’s new waterways committee: Jeff Canha, Greg Martino, Roger Moffatt, John Packer, Matthew Hobart, Chris Scott and Michael Baptiste.

Christine Redfield and John Schilling were appointed to the town personnel board.

Selectmen named Sally Rizzo to represent the town on the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group board, chose Mr. Kristal for the new water resources committee and populated a new computer committee with Alexandra BenDavid, Jonathan Snyder, Heidi Rydzewski, John Minehan and Amy Ryan.

The board also heard a request from Mr. Grande to join other Island towns in seeking to continue virtual participation in municipal meetings after the Covid pandemic eases.

“The town administrators Islandwide wish to request legislature through select boards that this remote participation platform that we’re currently using can continue,” Mr. Grande said. “It’s really been successful, on many levels, in increasing participation.”

The Island effort is spearheaded by West Tisbury administrator Jen Rand, Mr. Grande said. “The idea is all Island communities would join with West Tisbury in reaching out to our legislators, Julian Cyr and Dylan Fernandes.”

Mr. Rogers and board member Larry Gomez were at first cool to the idea.

“I would hope, when we’re past the Covid situation, we would be exercising the option as little as possible,” Mr. Rogers said.

“I would like to be able to get back to face to face,” Mr. Gomez said.

But Mr. Kristal won them over, suggesting hybrid meetings that would take place both in person and with remote participation.

“This is another venue, in conjunction with in-person meetings,” he said. The board agreed to back Mr. Grande’s request.