Only fully vaccinated workers will be allowed to staff town buildings in West Tisbury until further notice, following a split vote by the select board Wednesday evening with Kent Healy dissenting.
The vote extends a mandate for all employees, interns and volunteers at town hall, who must be fully vaccinated by Sept. 30, to cover those working at the library, Howes House, fire and police stations, public safety building and highway barn. Requests for medical or religious exemptions are being directed to the town administrator’s office; no other exemptions are permitted.
“We voted to enact this last week for the town hall, but the other town buildings weren’t included,” said board chairman Skipper Manter, who also pushed Wednesday to apply the same restriction to members of the public visiting town offices.
But that went nowhere with Mr. Healy and board member Cynthia Mitchell, who is also the executive director of Island Health Care.
“I would advise that we wait,” Ms. Mitchell said.
Town health agent Omar Johnson agreed, telling the board that town hall has existing safeguards, such as plexiglass panels and a mask mandate. Requiring the public to show proof of vaccination to do business there is not immediately necessary, Mr. Johnson said.
But town treasurer Kathy Logue said that elsewhere, such as New York city, asking for proof of vaccination to enter a business has become routine.
“We should not be afraid to lead the way if we think it is a prudent and safe thing to do,” Ms. Logue said. “I would encourage you to bring it up again in a couple of weeks . . . not just shelve it.”
Jim Klingensmith, who serves on the advisory board for the Howes House feasibility study committee, advised following the lead of Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, which does not require vaccinations.
“They have to serve the public and they can’t turn the public away,” Mr. Klingensmith said. Island Health Care also accepts unvaccinated patients, Ms. Mitchell added.
The West Tisbury mandate originated last month as a series of votes by the town’s half-dozen boards and committees with hiring powers, all in favor of an employee vaccine mandate — with the exception of the board of assessors, which split 1-1.
Because assessors work out of town hall, the select board mandated vaccines for all workers in that building, before adding the rest of the town’s facilities this week.
Among other business Wednesday, the board agreed to limit casket lot sales at the Lambert’s Cove cemetery to two per household.
Only 48 casket lots, each 10 feet by five feet, remain available at the burying ground off Lambert’s Cove Road, town administrator Jennifer Rand said.
At Ms. Rand’s urging, select board members also agreed to allow Lambert’s Cove plot sales to West Tisbury taxpayers as well as town residents, who previously had exclusive access.
“Some people may have had a family home, possibly on Lambert’s Cove Road, for generations [without being] a voter,” Ms. Rand said. “I think their connection is as [valid] as anyone who moves to West Tisbury last week and decides they want to buy a cemetery plot there.”
The town has a backlog of requests for Lambert’s Cove cemetery plots, Ms. Rand said.
“I have a stack of people in my in-box who have been waiting for a decision to be made,” she said, adding:
“There’s been a run on cemetery lots lately. I believe the 48 lots will not last long.”
The board considered, but did not act on a further recommendation to apply the same plot limit to the village cemetery on State Road.
There is no residency requirement for that cemetery, Ms. Rand said.
“We’ve seen, in the past, people quite frankly just buying up lots, and we don’t have the resources to allow people to simply keep buying up lots,” she said.
Ms. Mitchell asked Ms. Rand to add the village cemetery question to an upcoming agenda for further discussion and potential action.
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