Plans to renovate the Howes House in West Tisbury are on-hold indefinitely as the town select board reckons with policy violations on the Up-Island Council on Aging, the intermunicipal body headquartered there.

At a meeting on Sept. 6, the select board resolved to keep the Howes House building committee, which has been guiding the planning for the major project, on hiatus until the council is reconstituted with new members.

“I don’t think we can do anything but pause it,” said select board member Cynthia Mitchell. “We need a board making decisions.”

The council on aging oversees senior-focused programming at the Howes House and was established by 1972 town meeting votes in Chilmark, Aquinnah and West Tisbury.  Members are appointed by each select board and internal council policies state that no member should serve more than two consecutive three-year terms.

Of the seven current members of the council, five are serving in violation of that rule, two of whom were appointed by West Tisbury. Jeffrey “Skipper” Manter, select board chair, has served on the council for 23 years.

At a meeting on August 30, Ms. Mitchell recommended the select board rescind their appointments in violation of the policies. The board is currently awaiting input from Chilmark and Aquinnah and has recommended they each appoint a board member to the council in an interim capacity.

Once the council has new members, the council would be consulted on how to proceed with the renovation project and the building committee, Ms. Mitchell said at the Sept. 6 meeting. The committee has not met since August 25 when the last outstanding bills for the project were paid.

“If there’s a project to be moved forward one way or another, there needs to be a building committee,” said Ms. Mitchell. “It would be up to the new council to determine what that committee looks like.”