Promising to show moped dealers no mercy this summer, Oak Bluffs selectmen have begun to toughen up moped bylaws, adding new language that will increase licensing fees, set higher penalties for violations and establish a minimum height limit for child passengers.
Counseling Center Employees Take Grievances to Island Public
By MANDY LOCKE
Island Counseling Center employees, locked in a labor dispute at
Martha's Vineyard Community Services, will take their grievances
to the public Monday night in a forum at the Oak Bluffs School library.
Chilmarkers at their annual town meeting this week backed a $1.5 million plan to expand their town hall, but shot down a proposal that would have banned piers on their ponds.
Off to Wisconsin
Wortzels Leave After Years of Caring Service
By ALEXIS TONTI
The boxes are packed, the walls are nearly bare and still the phone
is ringing. One, two, three, four calls in an hour. So many calls that
they take turns answering. They are spending each day - attending
meetings, leading discussions, fulfilling responsibilities - as
though they will be on the Island for the next year. They are, in fact,
leaving next Friday.
Season of Annual Town Meetings Continues in Two Island Forums
In Tisbury
If Tisbury residents approve more than $2.2 million in proposed
expenditures on top of the town's $14.5 million operating budget,
taxes for the average homeowner will increase by $160. But the
possibility of higher taxes is just one of the issues voters will
confront at Tuesday's annual town meeting, at the Tisbury School
gymnasium at 7:30 p.m.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that it has
reached an agreement with R.M. Packer Co. for fines and compliance after
the company violated the Clean Air Act by releasing literally tons of
harmful pollutants into the air, both in Vineyard Haven and in New
Bedford.
The Packer company will now spend $300,000 to install emissions
control equipment at its Vineyard Haven terminal, and the company will
pay a penalty of $200,000 to the EPA over the next three years.
Spring Visitor Becomes Moped Casualty, Suffering Serious Injuries in Chilmark
By MANDY LOCKE
The Vineyard received an unfortunate sign of the summer
season's approach last weekend when a Mashpee woman suffered
severe injuries after her rental moped slipped off South Road in
Chilmark Sunday afternoon.
Denise Davis, 33, of Mashpee, lost control of her moped on a
straight stretch near Quansoo Road as she moved closer to the
road's edge to make room for passing cars, said Chilmark police
chief Timothy Rich.
Hospital CEO Departs; Financial Officer Takes Interim Leadership Post
By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer
Despite announcing last month that he would stay on until his
contract runs out in October, the chief executive officer at the
Martha's Vineyard Hospital made an abrupt exit this week after
hammering out a severance agreement with the hospital executive
committee.
Hospital CEO Kevin Burchill cleaned out his office and was gone by
the end of the day on Tuesday.
Labor Dispute Divides Agency
Staff and Administration AdoptStrongly Adversarial Positions As
Decision on Union Nears At Community Services
By MANDY LOCKE
The Martha's Vineyard Community Services labor dispute took a
step closer to resolution during National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
hearings in Boston this week as Community Services management and the
Hospital Workers Union, on behalf of 19 employees from Island Counseling
Center, agreed to extend voting privileges to all professional employees
of Community Services.
Season of Annual Town Meetings Continues in Two Island Forums
In Chilmark
By MARCUS TONTI
Chilmark residents who in recent years have approved construction of
both a new school and library will next consider improvements to another
public building, deciding this week whether to borrow $1.5 million to
expand and renovate their town hall.
