Public interviews with three candidates for the influential Dukes County seat on the Steamship Authority board of governors have been rescheduled to March 3, due to disruptions from this week's colossal blizzard.
The Dukes County Commission, which had been scheduled to meet with the candidates Wednesday, will conduct the March 3 interviews at the Martha's Vineyard Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven beginning at 4 p.m.
Although the interviews and any deliberations will be handled exclusively by commissioners, members of the public may suggest questions for the candidates by emailing questions@dukescounty.org before noon March 2, according to an announcement released Wednesday.
A commission subcommittee previously selected finalists Gail Barmakian, Ted Gavin and Cameron Naron, after interviewing eight candidates out of more than a dozen who applied for the seat currently held by James Malkin.
Mr. Malkin has served two three-year terms as the county commission’s appointee to the Steamship Authority board and had applied for a third, before changing course and announcing his intention to step down.
The Dukes County and Nantucket members of the governing board each hold 35 per cent of the voting power, providing a combined supermajority over the three other members appointed by New Bedford, Falmouth and Barnstable, each of whom controls 10 per cent of the vote.
In practice, this power is seldom wielded, as the board tends to vote unanimously or 4-1 on most decisions.
Each of the finalists for the Dukes County seat — generally considered the Vineyard seat, as the town of Gosnold on Cuttyhunk Island has no Steamship service — spoke with the Gazette last week.
Ms. Barmakian, an attorney and longtime Oak Bluffs wastewater commissioner who also served five terms on the town’s select board, highlighted her municipal experience.
“A lot of [the work] has to do with having experience on a regulatory board and a board that has a fiduciary duty,” she said.
Mr. Gavin, who has lived in Chilmark since 2018, runs a management consulting firm that specializes in improving the fortunes of companies in crisis — including transportation and shipping firms, he said.
“Walking into chaos is my daily work,” he told the Gazette.
Mr. Naron, who lives in Oak Bluffs, has the most seagoing experience of the three finalists: A retired U.S. Coast Guard captain, he is currently the director of maritime security with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration at Joint Base Cape Cod, with plans to retire next month.
In Oak Bluffs, he is the assistant quartermaster at the VFW post and has chaired the town’s capital programs committee, reviewing some of the town’s major projects.
Mr. Naron said he would use his position as a Steamship Authority board member to foster more communication between the ferry line and the Vineyarders who rely on it.
“I would ask the county commission to help set me up with a county email and website where I could post information that I think would be useful to Islanders, because there’s a lot of information out there and not a lot of communication,” he said.
Updated with the rescheduled date and time.
This article appears in February 27, 2026.