The Dukes County commission is set to make a slew of appointments in early January, including the Vineyard representative to the Steamship Authority.
Marc Hanover, owner of Linda Jeans Restaurant in Oak Bluffs, has been the Vineyard boat line governor since 2005. The appointment is a three-year position.
Acting county manager Noreen Mavro Flanders said this week she expected Mr. Hanover to seek reappointment. Mr. Hanover was off-Island yesterday and could not be reached for comment.
Kathryn A. (Cassie) Roessel, whose tireless and enthusiastic representation of Martha's Vineyard on the Steamship Authority board of governors made her one of the best-known residents of the Island, was found dead outside her Vineyard Haven home last Saturday morning. She was 51.
State police detectives attached to the Cape and Islands district attorney's office are investigating Ms. Roessel's death, as they would any unattended death. Tisbury police chief Theodore Saulnier said Tuesday there were no obvious marks of injury on the body.
In spite of a tumultuous first three years as Vineyard Steamship
Authority governor, Kathryn A. Roessel wants more.
On Wednesday Ms. Roessel submitted a letter to the Dukes County
commissioners, formally seeking reappointment to the high-profile
volunteer position. Her current three-year term expires at the end of
the December.
FALMOUTH - - Adding fresh fuel to the fire that has burned around the Steamship Authority for months, the Falmouth selectmen voted 4-1 last night to take steps to remove Galen Robbins as the town boat line governor.
"Townspeople are in an uproar about this and I recommend we begin the process of removal," declared selectman Edward Marks.
"I believe that what's on the record is significant grounds and we may begin the process," said selectman Virginia Valiela.
Kathryn Roessel Begins First Term Amid Aggressive Selectmen's Campaign to Overthrow Her With Political Maneuvers
In a quiet ceremony on the second floor of the Edgartown courthouse yesterday, Kathryn A. Roessel was sworn in as the new Vineyard Steamship Authority governor.
The appointment came amid a fresh wave of back-corridor politics, both on the Vineyard and on Beacon Hill, aimed at some kind of coup to overthrow Ms. Roessel by fast-tracking a piece of stalled legislation that would overhaul the SSA board of governors.
Amid a long list of caveats about assumptions and the need for more data, Steamship Authority treasurer Wayne Lamson told the boat line board of governors yesterday that he is in the neutral zone when it comes to the financial impacts of the new service model for future ferry operations to the two Islands.
"I feel that we should continue to explore the viability of the service model. But a lot more information needs to be gathered, and certain assumptions need to be validated," Mr. Lamson said at the monthly boat line meeting in Woods Hole yesterday.
