A state labor relations committee has settled a long-running contract dispute between the town of Tisbury and the union representing the police department that spans nearly three years and four different police chiefs.
The Jan. 28 decision from the Massachusetts Joint Labor Managements Committee for Municipal Police and Fire sides with the town on the central issue of a 3.5 per cent pay increase for patrol officers and police sergeants retroactive to July 1, 2007, the date the contract was supposed to have gone into effect.
West Tisbury selectmen this week voted to appoint Sgt. Daniel Rossi as acting police chief beginning in April for six months, while a search is conducted to find a replacement for outgoing chief Beth Toomey.
Selectmen Richard Knabel and Dianne Powers approved the appointment at their weekly meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Selectman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter, also a sergeant on the police force, abstained.
Next week is school vacation, the quietest week of the year on the Vineyard, but in Oak Bluffs it will be anything but quiet as the sound of hammers, saws and heavy equipment fills the air.
Construction workers are scrambling to complete several major building projects before spring turns to summer in a few short months.
There are an unusually high number of new projects in Oak Bluffs this year.
A consultant told the Tisbury selectmen this week that the town police force has made progress under the leadership of interim police chief Daniel Hanavan, who took over following the sudden departure of chief John Cashin last May.
“Dan has done a terrific job as acting chief. His heart is in it. He has made some tough decisions. He cares about the officers and he cares about the town, and I am quite impressed with the transition,” said Robert Wasserman, who has served as a consultant to police forces here and in other countries.
In an opinion that may carry broader implications for the growing array of affordable housing projects on the Island, especially those built using Community Preservation Act money, a Concord attorney advised the West Tisbury planning board this week that it has no authority to relax restrictions on the 250 State Road project that make it permanently affordable.
A start-up company wants to connect an underwater fiber optic cable from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven that is intended to vastly improve Internet and mobile phone service to Island customers.
Pitched as a way to boost economic development through an increase in bandwidth, the plan by GPS Fiber Communications Inc. calls for placing approximately 26,600 yards of submarine fiber optic cable from Fairhaven to the Island via Woods Hole.
