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.

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.

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.

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.

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 eminent biographer and historian who is a year-round resident of the Vineyard, won the Pulitzer Prize this week for his biography of John Adams.