West Tisbury voters will still get a chance to weigh in on whether to install artificial turf at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High school, after the town select board agreed to keep a non-binding ballot question on this year’s election ballot.
The ballot question was recommended to all six Island towns by the school committee last month, however the committee since rescinded the request after voting to drop the longstanding plan to overhaul the school’s athletic fields. On Feb. 6, the MVRHS school committee voted to give the 24-member school building committee a blank slate on their potential plans to overhaul the campus, part of the Massachusetts School Building Authority program.
West Tisbury was the only town to take up the school committee’s request for a ballot question before it was rescinded.
At their meeting on Feb. 14, West Tisbury select board members argued that keeping the question on the town’s ballot would still be useful to gauge voter’s attitudes on future projects.
“The issue is still there, it hasn’t been resolved,” said board chair Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter, also a member of the school committee. The move to drop the project, he said, had succeeded in “pushing it off onto…another group.”
“I think it is an opportunity to get public input that the public is dying to contribute,” said board member Jessica Miller, of the ballot question.
The board did not take a vote on the topic, thus allowing the question to remain on the ballot for the town election this year.
In other business, the select board heard an update from town task force against discrimination member Susanna Sturgis, who said that the group was not planning future meetings after approving their last set of minutes.
“In its current form, it’s not serving a really useful purpose,” Ms. Sturgis said, adding that efforts against discrimination had largely shifted to Island-wide organizations. The board did not vote on the issue, making plans to consider the future of the task force at a future meeting.
The board also agreed this week to modify an article on the town meeting warrant allowing the town to borrow more money to repair the HVAC system at the library. At the town meeting last year, voters approved borrowing up to $1.2 million for the project, but town administrator Jen Rand said that estimates on total project costs have since risen considerably.
Costs for a project manager, a new generator and the high cost of labor on-Island have all contributed to a higher price tag, Ms. Rand said.
The board agreed by consensus to modify a town meeting warrant article to allow for another $1.8 million in borrowing for the project, bringing total costs to a maximum of $3 million.
“It’s kind of unbelievable, but we have to do it,” board member Cynthia Mitchell said.
