With the $81 million Tisbury School project well under way, town leaders now are looking at their next building challenge: an up to date, consolidated location for municipal offices.

On Monday night the gibbous moon appears close to the red planet Mars. Both are in the zodiacal constellation Taurus. For those who have watched Mars, the planet has clearly lost its brilliance of a month ago. When Mars was in opposition in early December, it was the brightest it has been in many years. Mars is now farther from us and thus not as bright. Astronomers estimate the planet is 81 million miles away, almost twice as far away as it was two months ago. Our Earth is moving rapidly away from Mars By the end of February Mars will be 102 million miles away.

The town of Oak Bluffs will sponsor a forum on Wednesday, Feb. 8 to share information about the importance of public service and processes related to civic engagement.

The Norton Point breach opened on Dec. 27 and followed a series of storms that had battered the south-facing shore of Martha’s Vineyard. The Chappaquiddick summer home owned by Sue and Jerry Wacks stands as a lonely sentinel by the sea these days.

On a boulder-peppered hill in Chilmark, a septic system is near completion. Tons of dense clay have been excavated and in its place a mess of tubes and concrete boxes now sit. Only one step is left: the septic must contend with Coop.

A state Department of Environmental Protection investigation found the West Tisbury fire station to be a contributor of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the area’s groundwater supply, affecting nearby wells.

The announcement this week that more decision-making for the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and other community hospitals will be shifted to their parent corporation is being billed as an efficiency move that won’t affect patient care.

The town is seeking volunteers to serve as members on a number of municipal groups.

The Steamship Authority’s multi-year reconstruction of its Woods Hole terminal is now fully focused on the land side of the property, where the longtime staging area for Vineyard-bound vehicles was recently demolished.

I was perusing the Vineyard Gazette recently and read an article, one of those “on this day 51 years ago."