The director of veterans services for Dukes County, George Pimentel, is seeking free ferry passage for military honor guards traveling to Martha’s Vineyard on funeral duty.

The veterans services office is requesting courtesy round-trip transportation for one vehicle and four service members for each honor guard, Mr. Pimentel told the Steamship Authority port council Tuesday morning.

Honor guards are elite teams of service members representing each branch of the armed forces. At veterans’ funerals, they perform ceremonial rifle salutes, flag ceremonies and the bugle call Taps.

They come to the Vineyard for funerals about four times a month, sometimes on short notice, Mr. Pimentel said.

“In some cases the [military] branch has to pay for the vehicle to come over, and other cases the county can pay for it,” he said.

With the exception of the Islanders-only vehicle excursion and preferred programs, the Steamship Authority currently offers passenger discounts only for qualified travelers such as seniors, children and active service members, with free tickets for past members once a year on Veterans Day.

Mr. Pimentel also asked that the Steamship Authority expand its 50 per cent passenger discount for active military members, so that it includes veterans residing on the Vineyard. 

Currently, Island veterans only receive that rate when traveling for medical appointments, up to five times a year, he said.

More than 1,109 former service members live on the Vineyard, he said, and most of them served during the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.

“A lot of these people are retired. They live month to month. They were blue-collar workers and they don’t have deep pockets,” said Mr. Pimentel, who requested the special rate for any veteran with a documented honorable or general discharge.

Members of the port council, which advises the Steamship Authority governing board, were receptive to the idea of helping Islanders who served in the military.

“We are a quasi-government agency, and we don’t do enough to thank veterans in this nation,” said Eric Dawicki, who represents Fairhaven.

Other council members also were supportive, but called for a greater understanding of how the requests would affect the Steamship Authority’s operating budget.

They were more cautious toward a third request, from an Island transportation coalition represented by Healthy Aging MV executive director Cindy Trish and  VTA director Angela Gompert, for a shuttle for seniors between Woods Hole and Sagamore four days a week to connect with scheduled transportation to Boston hospitals

“That seems like a pretty extensive expansion in scope for the Steamship Authority,” said council chair Gordon Carr of New Bedford, who asked for a staff analysis of the potential financial impacts from all three requests.

General manager Alex Kryska agreed that more study is needed before the council makes its recommendations to the governing board.

“It’s something we need to flesh out more on our side,” he said.

“I do appreciate all these, and I’d love to be able to say yes [immediately, but] it’s dollars and cents for us,” Mr. Kryska said.

Steamship Authority bus drivers already are operating at capacity serving the boat line parking lots, Mr. Kryska said, and staffing a Sagamore shuttle would add costs that aren’t in the current budget.

“Bring[ing] on additional personnel … again comes down to dollars and cents,” he said.

Mr. Kryska’s own job was up for discussion Tuesday, as port council members conducted his six-month evaluation and gave him high marks.

Individual grades ranged from 85 from Falmouth representative Robert Munier to 90 from John Cahill of Tisbury.

“It’s hard to give 100 after only six months, but I think the trajectory is really good,” Mr. Munier said.

Although Mr. Kryska hasn’t yet accomplished every item on the six-month work plan he submitted in January, council members agreed that he has poured much-needed attention and energy into building relationships with port communities, Steamship Authority staff and the traveling public.

“You’ve been focusing on what I consider to be the longer-term things, but really turned out to be the most important things,” said Mr. Munier, praising Mr. Kryska’s openness and his transparent approach to conducting Steamship Authority business.

Several port council members emphasized Mr. Kryska’s ability and willingness to connect with others, which Mr. Cahill called “true empathy.”

It’s a quality well worth cultivating throughout the Steamship Authority, Mr. Dawicki said.

“Empathy is what drives good social norms,” he said.

Mr. Kryska’s official performance review and a potential pay increase will be determined by the Steamship Authority’s governing board, which will take into account the port council’s evaluation.

The next board meeting is scheduled for July 21 at Oak Bluffs town hall, beginning at 10 a.m.

Also at Tuesday’s port council meeting, chief operating officer Mark Amundsen reported that the recently-opened terminal buildings in Woods Hole have cost the authority $38 million.

Solar rooftop and canopy panels, parking improvements and new landscaping are on hold until the third phase of the more than $70 million terminal reconfiguration project begins this fall.

During a recent community meeting in Woods Hole, Mr. Kryska said, he was offered a couple of intriguing suggestions for the new ticket and lobby building.

“One was a grand piano, which I said was a fabulous idea [and] the other was a historic museum piece,” he said.