Selectmen stepped out of the deluge on Wednesday afternoon — with Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter 3rd wearing a life preserver for dramatic effect — to take care of town business. Police chief Dan Rossi updated selectmen on their submerged citizenry.

“You know the North Tisbury bridge near the old Humphrey’s?” he said. “The water is hitting the concrete on the east side. It’s still going through but I’ve never seen it that high, ever. I let Mass DPW know about it.”

Selectman Richard Knabel said the town received four and a half inches of rain, a fact later confirmed by a report put out by the National Weather Service in Taunton.

“We’re on the second floor now so we should be okay,” deadpanned Mr. Manter.

The first order of business was an application from the Island Theatre Workshop to use the Grange Hall for a summer-long presentation of the one-man play I Am Hamlet Thursdays through Sundays from mid-June to Labor Day weekend. The two-hour show will begin at 7:30 p.m.

“Four nights a week?” said Mr. Knabel. “The same performance?”

“Talk about reruns,” chimed in Mr. Manter, who voted to approve the permit but not before expressing reservations about whether this use of the Grange is permissible under zoning.

Preservation Trust director Chris Scott said there is long precedent for such performances.

“It’s the oldest performing arts facility on Martha’s Vineyard,” he said, referring to the Grange Hall. “If you go back stage there are hundreds of signatures on the walls from minstrel shows and orchestras going back to the 1800s — there are quite a few Manters actually. There’s Allen Whiting when he was in the sixth grade. John Alley was a serial graffiti artist,” he added.

“I think it’s great,” said selectman Cynthia Mitchell. Selectmen voted to approve the permit unanimously but directed town counsel look into the zoning issue at the start of the new fiscal year when legal funds become available. In a brief telephone conversation yesterday, Mr. Scott said he was “a bit at a loss” over questions raised by Mr. Manter. Mr. Scott said town counsel prepared the deed to the property in 1995 that allows for community use and that the zoning inspector has already reviewed the issue multiple times.

Also on Wednesday, garden club president Cathy Minkiewicz said her group is in the process of gifting the Mill Pond dam to the town after legal counsel determined that the garden club owns the property. Mrs. Mitchell said in discussions with keeper of the dam Kent Healy she had learned it could cost the town between $15,000 and $20,000 to accept the property due to the necessary survey and legal work. Voters must approve the property gift at a town meeting.

Finally, selectmen said they would invite two presenters of the final three petitioned articles from Tuesday’s annual town meeting, Nick Van Nes and Binny Ravitch, to attend a selectmen’s meeting and make their presentations again after what they felt was a rude reception from a restless West Tisbury electorate Tuesday night.

“I thought we were very badly behaved,” said Ms. Mitchell.

“I was disappointed that people did not give them the courtesy of either being quiet or leaving, so it was this in-between thing where no one listened,” agreed town administrator Jennifer Rand.

“We would take no action of course, but it’s only the respectful thing to do,” said Mr. Manter. The three articles, which included a call for an investigation into 9/11, a reduction in military spending and a withdrawal from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, were all voted down amid a din as voters filed out of the school gymnasium at the conclusion of the town meeting.

Selectmen also approved the annual Friends of Family Planning event at the Agricultural Hall which includes a preview gala on May 26 from 6 to 8 p.m. and an art show from May 27 to 29 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Selectmen also approved a permit for the Vineyard Artisans Festival on May 28 and 29, Sundays from June 12 to Oct. 2 and Thursdays from July 7 to Oct. 25, Sunday on Columbus Day weekend, Labor Day weekend, Thanksgiving weekend and a holiday fair on December 10.

“That’s quite a schedule,” said Mr. Knabel.