If Eversource wants to add manholes in West Tisbury, it will have to resurface the entire roadway afterward, the town selectmen said at a public hearing on Zoom.
Meeting on the eve of Thursday’s annual town election, the board made sure attending Eversource spokespersons Marissa Jackson, Ronit Goldstein and Terri Feuersanger know what the town expects from the utility’s plan for a series of proposed manholes on Music street, Middle Road and Panhandle Road.
“The asphalt is new and we need to have it back the way it is,” highway superintendent Richard T. Olsen told the Eversource trio. “We really don’t accept patchwork.”
Town officials also asked if Eversource would take down the two utility poles located near the planned work site. Ms. Goldstein did not rule out the request, although she said other utility providers would also need to be involved.
“We’re not the only ones on the pole,” she said. “We’d have to know the engineering specs … to know if that’s even feasible.”
The hearing was continued to April 28 at 4:30 p.m.
Also Wednesday, the board heard that a $5,000 grant from the Edey Foundation, with an equal match from the town, remains unused.
The grant was awarded so that the town may contract with a climate coordinator, but the primary candidate — climate committee chairman Kate Warner, who developed the contract description — has been barred from the post after a ruling from the state ethics committee ruled that she has a conflict.
“The town would be hiring a consultant who created a job description for themselves,” town administrator Jennifer Rand said.
Two other potential candidates did not pursue the contract after hearing the details, she said.
“The problem is, it’s not quite a job and it’s a little bit hard to define,” Ms. Rand said.
At board chairman Cynthia Mitchell’s suggestion, selectmen agreed to consult town counsel on how to proceed with the Edey Foundation grant.
In other business Wednesday, Ms. Rand told the board that Robin Hyde was the high bidder of two seeking to lease a lot at the West Tisbury landfill.
His bid was $1,251.51 a month, Ms. Rand said, and she is preparing a lease agreement.
The board also granted a request from the library to extend the term of town poet laureate Spencer Thurlow for another year, due to the pandemic, and confirmed April 21 at 4 p.m. for Zoom interviews with three finalists for fire chief.
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