A sprawling annual town meeting in Oak Bluffs drew debate over two nights this week, with voters grappling with issues related to moped safety, the crumbling Island Theatre and a new town hall.
Edgartown residents voted by a wide margin at their annual town meeting to spend $3 million to buy or take the run-down Yellow House, capping months of discussion over the property.
After giving speedy and unanimous approval to an $18.2 million budget, West Tisbury town meeting voters picked at the remaining warrant articles Tuesday in a four-hour marathon.
On the second and final night of annual town meeting Wednesday, Oak Bluffs followed in the footsteps of other Island towns in adopting a ban on single-use plastic bags in checkout lines.
At annual town meetings Edgartown agreed to buy the Yellow House, Oak Bluffs refused to spend money to fix the Island Theatre, and West Tisbury played spoiler on roof replacement at the marine hospital.
The fate of historic buildings and spending proposals from a new town hall to fire trucks will be up for discussion at annual town meetings in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury. All begin at 7 p.m.
An ad hoc citizen group has assembled to develop an action plan for the growing housing crisis on the Vineyard. The first step comes at town elections beginning next week, when voters will be asked to weigh in.
Edgartown will finally decide whether to take ownership of the run-down Yellow House when voters gather for their annual town meeting Tuesday. A 69-item warrant also features a $34.6 million budget and a range of spending requests.
Change is in the air in Oak Bluffs, where voters next week will decide whether to build a new town hall, begin expanding the town sewer system, ban plastic bags in checkout lines, and move forward on efforts to limit the use of mopeds.
All work and no play is the prevailing theme in West Tisbury when voters gather for their annual town meeting next week to tackle a tidy lineup of business-like spending requests. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the school gymnasium.