After two seasons of disruption caused by Covid-19, annual town meetings are beginning to return to their normal spring schedule in 2022.
Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury will hold their annual town meetings on April 12, followed by Chilmark on April 25 and Aquinnah on May 10. Elections in those towns will be held two days after the meetings.
Only Tisbury has yet to determine the dates for its annual town meeting and election, which in that town is held two weeks after town meeting.
Tisbury has reserved the performing arts center at the regional high school in Oak Bluffs for an April 30 annual meeting, but town clerk Hillary Conklin said she’s waiting to hear from the state legislature on whether Tisbury can legally hold its meeting outside town borders.
“We’re not having a regular year, because we can’t use the school for town meeting,” Ms. Conklin told the Gazette Tuesday.
The Tisbury annual meeting traditionally has been held in the Tisbury School gym, which will not be available due to the start of demolition work at the school in April.
In every town, the annual town meeting warrants will contain the customary mix of local, regional and all-Island articles, covering everything from department budgets and school funding to bylaw changes and public works projects.
Warrants in all six towns will include an article related to proposed housing bank legislation that seeks state approval to levy a fee on certain property transactions to invest in housing for Islanders.
The Coalition to Create the MV Housing Bank has been campaigning since early 2021 to bring the measure to voters this spring, while corresponding legislation — required for towns to charge the property transfer fees that would fund the housing bank — makes its way through the legislative process.
Earlier Island-wide housing bank efforts have met with defeat, at very different stages in their progress.
The current housing bank warrant article, posted in English and Portuguese on the coalition website, has been redrafted several times with input from town officials and attorneys. An explanation of the changes is also posted on the website.
At this year’s town elections, voters also will weigh in on local elected officials. The deadline for candidates to file in Oak Bluffs, Edgartown and West Tisbury was Thursday.
In Oak Bluffs, incumbent select board member Gail Barmakian is up for re-election, running against James Bishop and Dion Alley. The election will also fill five seats on the finance advisory committee, two on the water board and one each on the boards of health, assessors and planning and the school committee, among others.
In Edgartown, longtime selectman Michael Donaroma appears to be unopposed for reelection. By mid-day Thursday, no other candidates had filed for his seat. Other three-year seats on the Edgartown ballot include the planning, health and assessors boards, two on the finance committee.
West Tisbury’s ballot will include two select board seats: incumbent Cynthia Mitchell is seeking a three-year term and a one-year spot to finish the late Kent Healy’s unexpired term. The town also has single spots on the planning board, board of assessors and finance committee, all with three-year terms.
Just before noon Thursday, with five hours remaining until the filing deadline, West Tisbury town clerk Tara Whiting-Wells said three candidates had filed to fill the one-year select board term: James Klingensmith, Christopher Lyons and Jessica Miller. Ms. Mitchell appeared to be unopposed.
The deadline for nomination papers in Chilmark is March 9 and in Aquinnah it is March 22.
Meanwhile, until she hears from the state, Ms. Conklin can’t issue nomination papers for 15 seats on Tisbury boards and committees that are up for election this year.
“They’re tied to the day of the election,” she said.
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