Aquinnah selectmen on Tuesday voted to reestablish a town parks and recreation commission — the first in several years — to help oversee the Gay Head Light and other key properties in town.

Town administrator Adam Wilson said the commission would allow the town to continue having a representative on the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank commission. And he emphasized that several town properties, including the lots at Aquinnah Circle, would benefit from added oversight.

A previous parks and recreation commission was never formally disbanded, but some of its functions were transferred to other programs, Mr. Wilson said. He envisioned a new commission with four or five members and broader oversight than before.

“It’s actually an important committee that will be taking on a lot of responsibility,” selectman Jim Newman said, adding that he would like the oversight to include the shops at the Circle, where at least two lots are vacant. “We want to be very supportive of our business community, and I think we need to take a more positive, active role in that vis-a-vis this commission.” He also stressed the importance of having members who “come with a clear mind and no agenda.”

“It’s got to be something we all work in concert on.”

The selectmen voted unanimously to reestablish the commission.

In other business at their meeting Tuesday, the selectmen signed a contract with the Conway School of Landscape Design, which will conduct a planning process for the Circle. The $6,500 project was approved by voters at a special town meeting in November. Derrill Bazzy, chairman of the town community preservation committee, which is overseeing the project, expected two or three students to begin work in January, with a final report ready in the spring. The students will gather public comment at two visioning sessions in the new year and interview stakeholders to come up with a plan for the area.

A second planning effort by local students could then focus on specific features of the Circle, such as the Manning-Murray property, which the town acquired as part of the Gay Head Light relocation project this year, and the lookout past the shops.

Mr. Newman worried that the process was intended mostly as a benefit to the students, rather than the town, but agreed with Mr. Bazzy that a fresh perspective would be helpful all around.

“They’ve made it very clear that their focus is the same as our focus,” Mr. Bazzy said.

Selectmen also approved a $68,000 contract with Atlantic Concrete Construction to replace the railings and ladder system at the Gay Head Light, as part of a long-term restoration project. Mr. Wilson said he expected some preliminary site work to begin this weekend, with installation to begin in the spring.