At a special meeting of the Dukes County commission Thursday marked by bitter acrimony, commissioners recast their controversial votes from last month when they ousted two airport commissioners and appointed three new ones.

The new vote was in response to an open meeting law complaint filed by one of the ousted airport members. Constance Teixeira, the former chairman of the airport commission who was not reappointed in March, had filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Attorney General claiming the vote was taken in violation of the open meeting law. She also has asked the attorney general to vacate the appointments of the three new commissioners.

And in the latest volley from the other side in a long and costly legal battle between the two agencies, the county commission announced it is seeking legislative protection for its appointing authority.

On Thursday county commissioners, visibly agitated about the open meeting law complaint, spent much of the hour and 15-minute meeting arguing over parliamentary procedure, language used in making motions and amending a letter of response to the complaint prepared by their attorney.

One flareup happened when commissioner John Alley objected to re-voting before any of the commissioners had seen the open meeting law complaint.

“You know, you’re about as sensitive as a grape,” said Mr. Alley, speaking directly across the table to commissioner David Holway.

“I’ve been in public life for 44 years,” Mr. Holway responded, “and I have never been insulted so many times, and it’s all by the same person.”

“You have to laugh,” said commissioner Leonard Jason Jr. “This is ridiculous.”

Mr. Alley, who served on the airport commission for 33 years and is also a county commissioner, was ousted from his seat as chairman of the airport commission by fellow county commissioners last year.

The open meeting law complaint filed by Ms. Teixeira and under review by the attorney general, involves an alleged technical violation. During two meetings of the county commission held in March and February, three commissioners participated remotely by telephone at different times. Open meeting law guidelines developed by the attorney general state in part that “all votes taken during a meeting in which a member participates remotely must be by roll call vote.”

In their letter of response, the county asserted that the March 11 vote to appoint three new commissioners was proper because the commissioners voted by signed ballot, individual votes were read into the record and the ballots were made public. “The commission believes that its ballot and election procedure was tantamount to a roll call vote, as each commissioner individually articulated his or her votes,” the letter says in part.

Nevertheless, out of an “abundance of caution,” as stated in the letter, the commission decided to reaffirm their votes at Thursday’s meeting.

Chairman Leon Brathwaite, on the advice of the county lawyer, attempted to lead the panel through a carefully choreographed procedure to recast the votes appointing new airport commissioners on March 11, as well as all other votes from that meeting, and a previous meeting held on Feb. 25.

In her complaint Ms. Teixeira also claims that commissioners improperly deliberated about the airport appointments outside of a public meeting. In its letter of response the county vigorously refutes the claim, calling it “the most troubling allegation.”

“What a terrible waste of time and money,” said county commissioner Tristan Israel at the meeting. “We took painstaking efforts to make this process fair and compliant with a reasonable, good process of government.”

Meanwhile, county manager Martina Thornton told the commission that state Rep. Timothy Madden has filed an amendment to the budget bill now before the House of Representatives, seeking to clarify the county commission’s authority to make appointments.

“Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, neither the aeronautic commission nor the airport commission in control of Martha’s Vineyard Airport shall in any way interfere with the rights of the county commissioners of Dukes County to appoint airport commissioners at the expiration of a term or upon a vacancy,” the amendment states. “This section shall not be construed to authorize a reorganization of the airport commission.”

In a letter to the county commission last month, Massachusetts Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division administrator Christopher Willenborg challenged the new airport appointments. The county replied to the letter defending both the appointments and the process.

The airport commission has not met since February; a meeting scheduled for today was again canceled by airport manager Sean Flynn.