The Tisbury select board this week held its first meeting at Katharine Cornell Theatre in more than three years, though few members of the public attended the brief session Wednesday afternoon.

To allow for hybrid meetings with remote participation, a video screen with a voice-activated camera now stands to the right of the theatre’s small stage, near the Stan Murphy mural of Island whalers.

Everything else in the room, including all four of Mr. Murphy’s soaring Vineyard murals, appears much the same as it did when the theatre closed to the public with the onset of Covid-19 in March of 2020.

As the pandemic wore on and distancing became the norm, the theatre became overflow work space for employees from the crowded Town Hall offices downstairs.

Town officials solved the space crunch temporarily by moving town administrator Jay Grande, his assistant Elena DeFoe and Tisbury human resources director Pam Bennett to the public works department building on High Point Lane earlier this year.

The town’s long-term plan is to consolidate its offices in a single municipal center, potentially across from the Tisbury School on a West William street parcel the town purchased several years ago. The April 25 annual town meeting warrant requests $80,000 to begin the project with professional architectural and design services.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the select board authorized the annual warrant and agreed to sign the special town meeting warrant Thursday after checking with the planning board, which is proposing some bylaw changes.

The board also voted to sign a letter to the Steamship Authority in support of the 5:30 a.m. summer freight ferry from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven, calling it a critically important service.

Woods Hole residents who oppose the early summer departure annually submit a petition calling for a hearing, which the Steamship Authority legally is required to hold if enough signatures are gathered.

Last year’s hearing did not result in any changes to the 2023 summer schedule. The Steamship Authority is now setting its 2024 dates, which also include the early summer freight departure.

It took about 15 minutes in all for the select board to complete Wednesday’s short agenda. The board meets next on April 12.