Putting a longstanding summer tradition on hold — at least for now — the Edgartown select board voted Monday to not allow dock dances at Memorial Wharf, after the police chief raised concerns about his ability to provide coverage during the dances given short staffing in the department this summer.

Memorial Wharf recently reopened to the public after a major rebuilding project. On Monday the Dock Dance Band came before the select board seeking permission to play the wharf every other Tuesday night, as it has in the past.

But police chief Bruce McNamee said he does not have enough officers to cover Tuesday nights. Instead the chief suggested the band play every other Sunday night.

“This might not have to be forever, let’s give it a try for a while and see how this goes through the summer on Sunday nights until [9 p.m.],” Chief McNamee said. “That’s about as far as I can budge with our staffing this summer.”

But John Stanwood, a member of the band, said Sundays are hard due to scheduling conflicts.

“A lot of us have families and Sunday is just a very difficult time for us to actually play,” Mr. Stanwood said.

Adam Petkus, who is also a member of the band, said the group is willing to pay for a police detail in order to make Tuesday nights work.

“This is a community-driven event. And we’re very aware that the chief does not feel that he is able to provide that, but we are willing to provide that for him,” Mr. Petkus said. “We were hoping to get your support to push this through so that we could move forward with the stipulation that there is police presence there.”

Selectman Arthur Smadbeck said he could not give the band the go-ahead without the police chief’s approval.

“The only thing we have in front of us is a letter from the chief saying he can’t do this. So please go back, sit with the chief, work it out, figure out what you need to do and then come back,” Mr. Smadbeck said.

Selectwoman Margaret Serpa agreed and voted along with Mr. Smadbeck. Selectman Michael Donaroma did not attend the meeting.

“At this time it’s premature to do this. I think Bruce [McNamee] has indicated the issues he has,” Ms. Serpa said. “There still needs to be more work before we can approve it as far as I’m concerned.”

In other business Monday, the board appointed Joshua Baker assistant fire chief and Thomas Ignacio as full-time emergency medical technician.

After a thorough interview process, Edgartown fire chief Alex Schaeffer said he was happy to recommend the two candidates.

“We’re very fortunate in a time when people are having a very difficult time finding people to hire, we had some great candidates step forward,” Chief Schaeffer said. “Both of these people represent and embody the future of this department, so we look forward to having them with us for a long time.”