The Steamship Authority ferry Island Home was blowing so much black smoke when berthing in Tisbury that the atmosphere over the harbor sometimes resembled that in Beijing, the Tisbury selectmen were told on Tuesday.

Tisbury harbor master Jay Wilbur said other boat owners had complained they had to swab the decks on their craft to remove soot which settled on them.

The town has since contacted the SSA about the issue, and the boat line has agreed to try to find a solution to what Mr. Wilbur called a growing problem.

Ironically, it may be that the cause of the new environmental problem arises from the SSA’s attempts to cut the fuel use — and save money — by running the big boat more slowly than it used to.

“It’s been getting steadily worse, and my theory is that those big engines they put in that boat aren’t being operated at a speed where they burn off the carbon, so it all builds up in the exhaust system, so when they really put the extra fuel to it at the dock . . . black smoke belches everywhere,” Mr. Wilbur said.

“I had a report last week that it looked like Beijing,” he said.

Mr. Wilbur said he had attempted unsuccessfully to speak to the SSA about the problem. The selectmen canvassed various responses, including issuing a health alert, before deciding to wait to see if the boat line operators could find an answer. Denys Wortman suggested they could rev the engines before entering the harbor, to blow the soot elsewhere.

On Wednesday SSA general manager Wayne Lamson said he was aware of the concern and engineers were looking for a solution.

“There is nothing wrong with the engines, of that we are sure,” he said.

Mr. Lamson said the SSA is investigating whether the problem is worse under some captains than others, and whether changes to the way the boat is handled coming in to dock would make a difference.

While the smoke issue remains unresolved, selectmen did reach resolution on a number of other matters — some of them uncomfortable to all involved — in the two-and-a-half-hour session.

The painful one was settling the fate of a delinquent Husky named Storm, belonging to Ken and Nina Garde.

Storm is to be banned from the town, effective Sept. 1.

The case might serve as a textbook example of the personal angst which sometimes attends elected office in a small town where everyone knows everyone, and often also their pets.

Although Storm is, by common agreement, a lovely dog where people are concerned, he has a history as an escapologist and poultry killer.

After repeated escapes earlier this year in which a number of birds on a number of farms were killed, the board placed a six-month restraining order on the dog and ruled that any breach of the order would result in his being banned.

That decision was made on June 3. Mr. Garde, a member of the town board of health, promised it would not happen again. He said he had built an eight-foot fence around his yard, with spring gates to make sure.

But Storm escaped twice subsequently. Tisbury animal control officer Laurie Clements was adamant that the June 3 decision of the board should be enforced.

“[Storm] has violated the restraining order twice,” she said. “We’ve already had the hearing. The dog needs to be banned from the town immediately. No questions. You did the order.

“And if you don’t follow through with it, no one else is going to take what you say seriously when it comes to putting restrictions on dogs.”

Yet the board seemed to waver in its determination, influenced no doubt by Mr. Garde’s explanation of the circumstances.

After the first escape, in which he said a kid opened the gate, he quickly organized a posse. Eight cars went to various farms where Storm had hunted before. He was returned with no harm done.

On the second occasion, the Gardes had to go off-Island to Connecticut, following the death of Mrs. Garde’s mother. They organized a house sitter to mind the dogs, but while that person slept, Mr. Garde claimed, someone let the dog out.

“This was done on purpose, as far as I was concerned,” he said.

“Somebody let him out on purpose. That really struck me deeply, that somebody would go to our house, everybody knows the situation.

“I think it’s malicious, to tell you the truth. I think it’s somebody who did it just to hurt. And I think at a time like this, with the situation with my wife, it was pretty horrible to do that. It wasn’t somebody who’s a friend.”

That preyed on his mind. And if the dog is banned, Mr. Garde said it would “tear out” his wife’s heart.

Selectman Tristan Israel said he was inclined to give Storm another chance. He said the Gardes clearly cared about their animals, unlike another owner whose case recently came up who failed to show for the hearing and allowed his animal to escape again on the very day the banning order was to come into force.

One after another the selectmen declared Mr. Garde a friend. But at the end they decided by a 2-1 margin, Jeff Kristal and Denys Wortman over Mr. Israel, that Storm would have to leave the town by Sept. 1. None could look Storm’s owner in the eye.

“I’m not going to be able to do that,” said Mr. Garde, with a quiet determination that could foreshadow more agonies.

By comparison, the other decisions at the meeting were easy.

Selectmen set a special town meeting for Sept. 30 to vote on plans to move town emergency services to a new site, now occupied by the Tisbury town hall annex on Spring street. The decision was preceded by a report from the emergency services committee, who had received a consultant’s report declaring the site — controversial because it is right across the street from the school — suitable.

The board also endorsed two proposals to attract more people to Vineyard Haven, struggling since the July Fourth fire which destroyed Café Moxie and put the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore out of business for the year.

The first is intended to entice more shoppers to the town this sales-tax free weekend, by offering a free ticket to a Sunday movie at the Capawock theatre with every purchase of $25 or more. Shoppers need to present a sales receipt at Kennedy Studios, Mediterranean restaurant, Bowl & Board or Martha’s Vineyard Heart to pick up a ticket.

The second, less formed idea, would see Beach street extension closed for a day, probably over the Columbus Day weekend, for a street fair.

In other business the board:

• Approved an increase in town gas permits from $20 to $40; approved an easement for communications company GCPS on public works land, in exchange for fiber optic connection of town departments and waste water pumps; accepted a $2,700 gift from Tisbury waterways to help fund an application for a town water testing lab; and heard a report that the town has sufficient wind to power a turbine.

On another note, when Mr. Israel asked police chief John Cashin about the prospects of using police to direct traffic at Five Corners, he said experience had taught him it was “a totally futile exercise.” Chief Cashin said traffic tended to flow better, and his officers to be safer, if drivers were left to work it out themselves.