Wastewater officials in Oak Bluffs say that an article on
Tuesday's annual town meeting warrant would bring necessary
changes to the department, some critics are questioning the logic of a
proposal that would hand considerably more power to the wastewater
commission.

Edgartown Voters to Confront Increases in School Spending

By MIKE SECCOMBE

Edgartown residents will be presented with a proposed operating
budget increase of some 5.4 per cent, and ballot questions costing a
total of about $3.9 million at the April 10 town meeting.

Total expenditures for the pending fiscal year, however, are
projected to increase only $245,000, or 0.8 per cent over the current
fiscal year, due to a 30 per cent reduction in requested articles this
year.

Chilmark poet and stonemason John Maloney can understand why some
people might wrongly think one job is a metaphor for the other.

"I know, it seems a perfect metaphor - fitting words,
fitting stone," he acknowledged. "But that's not
really the way it works."

Land Bank Acquires Beachfront Properties, Inland Sheep Pasture

By IAN FEIN

The Martha's Vineyard Land Bank this week announced a series
of conservation acquisitions that will expand the size of two of its
existing up-Island preserves.

Package Plant Would Treat Growing Wastewater Flows from Existing,
Proposed Facilities Along Corridor

Island officials for years have discussed creating some type of a
common sewage treatment plant near the Martha's Vineyard Regional
High School that would serve the growing number of Islandwide
institutions locating along the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven road.

Like an ominous dorsal fin appearing behind unsuspecting bathers set
to the familiar theme music from Jaws, debate over the Boston Big Game
Fishing Club Monster Shark Tournament resurfaced these past few weeks
just as the countdown to the summer season began in earnest.

Town, Tribe Sign Historic Land Use Pact

By IAN FEIN

At a characteristically informal event that was more potluck dinner
than Yalta Conference, town and tribe officials in Aquinnah this week
signed the intergovernmental land use agreement approved by town meeting
voters earlier this month.

About a dozen members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)
and a half-dozen town officials attended the signing ceremony at the
tribal headquarters on Tuesday evening.

An in-depth study by an independent consultant says that it would
cost West Tisbury more money to operate its elementary school
independently than remain part of the Up-Island Regional School
District.

The West Tisbury finance committee believes otherwise - which
is why at the April 10 annual town meeting, voters will find an article
in the middle of the warrant asking that the town withdraw from the
school district.

In response to a recent internal report which concluded the town had
no legal authority to award special employment agreements and bonuses to
several town employees in recent years, the Oak Bluffs board of
selectmen on Tuesday unanimously voted to terminate all personal service
contracts as of June 30.

Oak Bluffs Town Board Grants Hospital Request for Special Permit to
Construct Larger Facility in Eastville Area

The Oak Bluffs zoning board of appeals last night unanimously
approved a special permit for the $42 million renovation and expansion
of the Martha's Vineyard Hospital. The decision will allow the
size of the overall campus and the height of the main building to exceed
what is normally allowed under town zoning bylaws.