The Chilmark select board took steps this week to make changes to the Chilmark Community Center, which has been a flashpoint in the up-Island town in recent years. 

The board voted unanimously on Tuesday to have town staff start working on a request for proposals for the operations of the center in the summer of 2026. The board also voted to expand the community center advisory committee from three voting members to five. 

The moves come after some consternation about the running of the center. At the 2024 town meeting, residents voted to create a new committee that looked at the operations of the center, which is host to a community tennis program, summer camps and a sailing group. 

That committee published a report in February, and raised the prospect of putting out a request for proposals for another entity to run the summer programs, as well as expanding the board to have more voices on the community center advisory committee.

Matt Poole, who was on the moderator’s committee created at town meeting, was sitting for his first meeting as a newly-elected select board member and suggested the two changes. 

The select board set a Sept. 15 deadline for a draft RFP, which would then be finalized and unveiled publicly to give organizations a chance to respond.

The center’s summer programs have historically been run by the nonprofit Chilmark Town Affairs Council, though its past leadership was met with community criticism, especially connected to the operation of the tennis program. Longtime council chair Suellen Lazarus stepped down as head of the organization this year, and the former council secretary assumed the chair position.

Mr. Poole said a lot of work went into the report and the suggested changes.  

“I think the goal we heard from through the moderator’s committee effort was to strive for more at-large community members,” he said. 

Mr. Poole hoped that all users of the community center campus, such as the preschool, library and others, could attend a couple of the advisory committee’s meetings a year. The town affairs council would not have a voting member on the advisory committee once it is reorganized, to cut out the chance of a conflict of interest with the new RFP, Mr. Poole said. 

“I think the same goes for any other organization that views themselves as a potential bidder,” he said.  

Mr. Poole asked the board to recognize that now is the start of the effort to bolster and modernize the advisory committee, and he hoped members could work together to have a more defined set of responsibilities in coming days.