Reacting this week to a letter from a leading state aviation official questioning their recent choice of appointments to the Martha’s Vineyard Airport Commission, Dukes County commissioners said they stand behind the appointments.

The Dukes County commission has ousted two members of the Martha’s Vineyard Airport commission in favor of what they called “a new beginning.” Robert Rosenbaum, Clarence A. (Trip) Barnes 3rd and Myron Garfinkle are the new appointees.

Appointing members to the Martha’s Vineyard Airport Commission, once a routine task for the Dukes County Commission, has become steeped in controversy. With ongoing legal conflicts, three seats opened up this year on the airport commission.

Internal debate over how business should be done at the Island’s only commercial airport continued when the airport commission met for the first time since August. The commission tended to a few business items, but much of the meeting was marked by tense exchanges.

The Dukes County Commission cannot expand the size of the Martha’s Vineyard Airport Commission, a superior court judge has ruled. The Hon. Richard Chin issued the decision last week.

Tensions between the Martha’s Vineyard Airport Commission and the Dukes County Commission are showing little sign of abating, despite an invitation from the county for the two groups try to resolve their differences out of court.

A superior court judge heard a series of arguments Wednesday morning in an ongoing dispute between the Martha’s Vineyard Airport Commission and its appointing authority, Dukes County.

Among other things, the Hon. Richard Chin will decide whether the county may expand the airport commission.