New pilings for Menemsha harbor, a new office for the harbor master and a new wood floor for the Chilmark Community Center will come before Chilmark voters at a special town meeting on Monday night.
The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center. Longtime moderator Everett Poole will preside over a 15-article warrant.
Voters will be asked to appropriate $55,000 to purchase and install about 30 new pilings in the harbor. The pilings will be paid for by previously approved warrant articles and by transferring $35,000 from the waterways improvement fund. Town executive secretary Tim Carroll said this week that the pilings along the commercial docks and the fender piles by the yacht dock need replacing. The town may consider experimenting with different materials, including greenheart pilings, pressure-treated wood or possibly plastic pilings, depending on the location, he said.
The harbormaster will double his office space if voters approve $24,000 to replace the current shed with a new one. The money will also come from the waterways improvement fund. The current shed measures 8 by 6 feet and the new space would be 16 by 12 feet.
In other harbor improvements, voters will be asked to appropriate $3,000 from the waterways improvement fund to install chain anchors to the commercial and residential floating docks off the west dock. Mr. Carroll said the chains will secure the floating docks to the pilings during high tide.
“The chains will anchor them in place so future storms won’t lift off the piles,” Mr. Carroll said.
Voters will be asked to spend $43,500 to insulate and replace the wood floor in the community center. The 55-year-old floors are buckling from underlying moisture, Mr. Caroll said. The money will come from available funds in the treasury.
Other town improvement projects before the voters include $18,000 for tree and brush cutting along town roads including Middle, North and Tabor House roads, $5,000 for a new heating and cooling system for town hall and $6,000 to purchase two fireproof file cabinets for storing permanent town records.
“We use the original town vault and really don’t have any more fireproof storage,” Mr. Carroll said. “It’s not suitable for long-term records.”
The Tri-Town Ambulance Service will have a full fleet of three ambulances and two chasers if voters agree to the transfer of $30,000 in already-approved money to purchase a replacement car.
Two articles that were postponed from the annual town meeting in the spring will also come before voters, including $100,000 towards the town’s contribution to the Dukes County Other Post Employment Benefit program, and $55,000 to fund the state triennial re-evaluation of real estate. Both articles will come from available funds in the treasury.
A measure to change the town boundary line between Chilmark and Aquinnah between Menemsha Pond and Menemsha Bight is expected to be postponed until the annual town meeting next April, Mr. Carroll said. The two towns are in discussions now to move the boundary line that currently splits several lots owned by both towns.
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