Tisbury officials have scheduled a special town meeting Sept. 30 to act on the time-sensitive acquisition of a new fire engine.

Town voters already have earmarked more than $1 million to purchase the apparatus, but if they don’t approve the expenditure before an October deadline, the engine maker will give Tisbury’s manufacturing slot to another municipality, town administrator Joseph LaCivita told the select board Tuesday.

Tisbury is hoping to purchase a new fire engine.

Ray Ewing

Tisbury is hoping to purchase a new fire engine.

Ray Ewing

“At the last town meeting, we [approved] $1.1 million for a fire truck. We did lock it in with that special condition that there’ll be no harm to Tisbury if the town floor votes it down, but we need to have that action in order to go forward,” Mr. LaCivita said.

The board, which voted unanimously in favor of the special town meeting, also agreed to bring revised parking bylaws to voters on the same warrant.

Tisbury residents and businesses alike have chafed for years at the widespread use of public parking by contractors and other mainland-based businesses that keep their commercial vehicles in Vineyard Haven while they commute by ferry as foot passengers.

“Parking is one of our biggest complaints that we receive, besides speeding,” Tisbury police Lieut. Bill Brigham told the select board.

“People ask questions about these big trucks parked on certain roadways,” he said.

A large sailing yacht on a trailer parked along Pine street has been generating complaints as well.

But police are unable to act on the parking abuses because town bylaws don’t specifically prohibit it, Mr. Brigham told the board.

“We don’t have good enough regulations for us to enforce [and] this boat on the trailer is an example,” he said.

“People are calling about it, and there’s nothing that we can do … so our hands are tied,” Mr. Brigham said.

The select board voted unanimously to create a working group that will study Tisbury’s parking bylaws and bring proposed new language to the board for review in two weeks.

Mr. Brigham, town clerk Hillary Conklin, select board chair Christina Colarusso and fire Chief Patrick Rolston volunteered for the working group.

The deadline for submitting warrant articles to Ms. Conklin’s office is August 15 at 4:30 p.m., she told the board.

In other business Tuesday, the select board held a public hearing on Clarence (Trip) Barnes III's application for a license to sell used motor vehicles from his property on State Road and Evelyn Way.

Ms. Colarusso recused herself from the board for the hearing.

“My father, he’s been doing business with Trip as long as I’ve been alive, [so] I made a declaration with the town clerk’s office that I would be abstaining from the vote,” she said.

An emotional Mr. Barnes, who has a troubled history with town permitting authorities, acknowledged that he has sold vehicles while his license was expired.

“I kept on selling. I had to,” he said. “I was being held prisoner by the town.”

Mr. Cutrer, acting as chair for Ms. Colarusso, and select board member John Cahill focused on the condition of Mr. Barnes’s vehicle-strewn lot, which they said is unkempt and potentially hazardous.

“In my opinion, it is a bit of an eyesore [and] it is something that we have asked you to clean up in the past,” Mr. Cutrer said.

Mr. Barnes has not yet complied with an earlier agreement to create a fire lane on his property, town executive assistant Elena DeFoe told the board.

Pleading for leniency, Mr. Barnes said he’s been in ill health and desperately needs to sell some cars.

“Just leave me alone. Give me the license,” he said.

Mr. Cahill and Mr. Cutrer voted to grant the license, which allows Mr. Barnes to use automobile dealer plates on his vehicles for sale, through the end of 2025.

If he wants to renew the annual license in January, they said, Mr. Barnes will need to meet several conditions, including a fire department inspection and a police inspection to ensure his operations aren’t blocking the intersection.

“If you have not made significant improvements, there’s a possibility that we will not grant you a new license,” Mr. Cutrer said.

Mr. Barnes also will be expected to remove all the used cars currently displayed on his lot, which he said would not be a problem as they are his prime merchandise.

Also Tuesday, the select board formally approved a $70,000 contract with Icon Architecture of Boston to study town-owned property and identify a site where municipal offices can consolidate at one address.

Tisbury voters have already approved $600,000 to fund design and architecture services for a new town hall, but none of it can be spent until a site has been determined.

The select board also approved the West Chop Association’s request for seasonal speed bumps along the West Chop loop. The association will pay for the traffic-calming measures and remove them in the fall for storage until next season, Mr. LaCivita said.