The Tisbury select board is calling for a $1.50 increase in the embarkation fees paid by ferry passengers, following a similar decision by Oak Bluffs last month.

Select board members Connie Alexander and Roy Cutrer voted to have town administrator Joseph LaCivita draft a letter to state Sen. Julian Cyr and state Rep. Thomas Moakley, requesting the fees be raised to $2 per ticket from the current 50 cents.

Ms. Alexander also voiced concern about Oak Bluffs’ request to keep its embarkation fees when ferries are diverted to Vineyard Haven due to adverse sea conditions.

“I want to see our town look into that and protect our interests,” she said.

Established by the state legislature more than 20 years ago, the embarkation fees are intended to repay port towns for harbor dredging and maintenance, traffic control and other local costs associated with Steamship Authority arrivals and departures.

The 50-cent ticket surcharge has remained the same since it went into effect in 2004, and applies only to passengers.

“How much do we get for freight? Nothing,” Mr. Cutrer said Tuesday.

“How much do we get per car? Nothing. That’s why this has to change, and the $2, in my opinion, is minuscule [compared] to what we deserve,” he said, arguing that on a year-round basis, Tisbury receives nearly 90 per cent of Steamship Authority arrivals.

Mr. LaCivita said he would coordinate with the Tisbury finance and advisory committee, which also is discussing the fee, to have chair Nancy Gilfoy co-sign the letter to legislators with Mr. Cutrer.

In other business Tuesday, the select board agreed to form a committee to tackle neighborhood parking issues.

Mr. LaCivita said committee members will include himself and Mr. Cutrer, as well as police chief Christopher Habekost, public works director Kirk Metell and fire chief Patrick Rolston, with deputy fire chief Marques Rivers and police lieutenant William Brigham as alternates.

The committee will review parking conditions and resident complaints and suggest changes to the select board, Mr. LaCivita said.

Julia Bridges said she’d like to see rapid action to solve a parking problem in her neighborhood, where an apparently abandoned motor home has been making it difficult for residents to drive as well as park.

“The whole neighborhood is very upset. It takes up more than half the street,” she said.

“Committees take a long time to actually affect change, and I need change right away,” said Ms. Bridges, who asked that no-parking signs be installed near the intersections.

“That’s not going to happen today,” Mr. Cutrer said.

Also on Tuesday, oyster farmer Jeffrey Canha assured the select board that he is bringing his former houseboat into compliance with town bylaws and state marine fishery statutes now that he is using the vessel as an aquaculture barge.

State officials and the town harbor master both had dinged Mr. Canha for moving the houseboat from its mooring in the inner harbor to his oyster farm in the outer harbor.

Mr. Canha said he has converted the vessel from residential to commercial use.

“The bunks that were beds are now shelves,” he said.

He also will be removing the platform for the outboard engine he used to transport it, which will bring the barge into compliance with state length restrictions, Mr. Canha said.

Select board members also agreed to back an application to the community preservation committee to fund a commemorative plaque by artist Barney Zeitz, honoring the 20th-century stage actress Katharine Cornell. Ms. Cornell was a longtime seasonal Tisbury resident whose family endowed the hall’s second-floor theatre in her memory.

Mr. LaCivita said the plaque would be installed in a new kiosk outside town hall, which also is part of the community preservation funding request.

He also told the select board that Tisbury is unlikely to realize its ambition for a consolidated town hall.

“I don’t think there will ever be a single town hall for everything,” Mr. LaCivita said.

Instead, he said, he is working on suggestions for improving the current town hall and annex.

“We hope to have that project with you … in the next couple of weeks or early October,” Mr. LaCivita said.

The next Tisbury select board meeting is scheduled for Sept. 22 at 4:30 p.m.