After a wide-ranging discussion about the poor condition of the Edgartown courthouse due to deferred maintenance, the Dukes County advisory board voted this week to put $150,000 toward repairs on the 1858 brick building that stands in the center of town.

The advisory board voted unanimously Wednesday to move $150,000 from the county budget reserve fund into a newly created capital expenditures fund. The vote took place during a joint session of the county advisory board and the county commissioners.

The Farm Neck Foundation is requesting submissions for 2013 grants. All Island nonprofit organizations whose goal is to improve the quality of life in the Martha’s Vineyard community are eligible. The deadline is Nov. 1.

A 74-year-old Framingham man was found dead in the ocean near Lake Tashmoo Wednesday morning, according to state police.

The man was found by a property caretaker at about 10 a.m. west of the Lake Tashmoo opening, state police Sgt. Jeffrey Stone said. While police are still investigating the circumstances of his death, Sergeant Stone said it does not appear to be suspicious and it appears the man drowned.

The police are not yet releasing the man’s name. Sergeant Stone said the man had medical problems, including Parkinson’s disease and dementia.

For many years, Social Security Administration representatives paid regular visits to the Island to assist with applications for benefits, and answer general questions about eligibility.

But in 2011, citing budget cutbacks, the federal agency said it could no longer afford the costs associated with travel to the Island. Over the next two years, 490 contact stations were eliminated, including the one on the Vineyard. People who qualify for benefits have been encouraged to seek assistance over the phone or online, or travel to East Falmouth to speak to a representative in person.

With standardized test results made public last Friday, school leaders Islandwide have begun to examine the wealth of data and discuss student performance with staff and parents.

Scores from the MCAS test administered to Island students last spring show the majority of students at Island public schools are performing at or above state standards in English language arts, mathematics and science.

The Edgartown Library summer reading program this year involved more than 100 children and for the first time reached out to children at the Boys’ and Girls’ Club. The statewide theme was Dig Into Reading.
Leading this summer’s readers at the library was Jason Alpert-Wisnia, who read and reported on 58 books. Brandon Engerman read 33 books and Elizabeth Madsen read 24. Reading more than 15 books each were Whitney Johnson, Sasha Kagan, Ellie Kogan, Brant Maynard, Natasha Muromcew, Mary Muromcew, Simon Rhett and Celia Schaper.

The West Tisbury building department will seek disciplinary action against an Island plumber who installed plumbing without a permit at State Road restaurant.

Building inspectors Ernie Mendenhall and Joe Tierney notified the West Tisbury selectmen on Wednesday that they plan to file a complaint with the state against Walter Smith Plumbing. The company installed plumbing in an unpermitted basement kitchen at the restaurant, which has been fined for a zoning code violation.

Mr. Mendenhall said appealing to the state was the “only vehicle” of punitive relief.

On Thursday, Sept. 26, the Tisbury Waterways, Inc. will hold its annual meeting at 5 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre. The meeting will include a presentation on inshore dredging projects and what to do with the collected spoils. The program is a joint effort by the Tisbury Waterways Inc. and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.

Among the welcome sounds of silence in September in Oak Bluffs, the ones I miss most are the songs played on the 1921 Wurlitzer band organ at the Flying Horses. It was called the Carousel until previous owners, the Turnell family, renamed it the Flying Horses in the 1940s. They chose this in a paean to the one in Watch Hill, R.I., where horses suspended from chains fly outwardly as it goes around, compared with ours; a platform carousel with stationery horses.

The Oak Bluffs selectmen Tuesday unanimously approved increased annual stipends for the fire department.

When requesting the increase, acting fire chief John Rose said the new stipends are more comparable to the pay scale in other towns.