Chilmark town employees will need to get back in the habit of tracking and documenting their mileage while out on town business. The selectmen voted at their meeting Tuesday night to uphold a town mileage reimbursement bylaw that has until now gone mostly unenforced.

“Our bylaw is very clear that mileage for town employees’ use of their private vehicles on town business should be actual miles in accordance with the federal reimbursement amount,” said selectman J.B. Riggs Parker. “We have not been as assiduous as we should have been in enforcing that personnel bylaw.”

Until now, the town has been using three different systems of reimbursement for town employees. The first followed the bylaw, providing compensation for employees after they had turned in a detailed report of mileage. The second provides employees with a mileage stipend based on estimated usage per month. This system was used for the cemetery superintendent, building inspector, tri-town ambulance coordinator, and the dog officer.

The final system allowed certain town employees, namely the fire chief, to charge fuel to a town account when filling up his tank. The reason for this system, according to the selectmen, was that the fire chief cannot accurately document his mileage because he is often required to leave his vehicle idling on the side of the road, for instance, when blocking off a road after an accident, in order to use the lights and radio.

The selectmen agreed that no town employee should be allowed to charge fuel to a town account, but they said they would entertain an alternative proposal from the fire chief at a later date. And there was some disagreement about eliminating the monthly stipend system.

“What I would like to do is see people using their own vehicles instead of the town having to provide a vehicle, and doing it in a simple way that allows the employees as little paperwork as possible,” said selectman Warren Doty.

Mr. Parker argued that the stipend would not only violate the town bylaw, but federal tax laws as well. “The problem arises because there is no clarity as to how the money is expended,” he said. “There’s no distinction between the expenditure on behalf of the town and what expenditure might be used for personal reasons. And if there’s personal use of that money, it should be on a W2 form as income to the recipient. That’s the law.”

In the end the selectmen voted to support the town bylaw by requiring that town employees document their use of personal vehicles for town business and turn in reports of their mileage for reimbursement, except at the discretion of the board. They also invited any town employees who feel the system would not work in their situation to make alternative proposals.

In other business, selectmen voted to sign a contract for the utility portion of the Middle Line Road affordable housing complex project with Powers Electric, and approved a notice to proceed with the project. The award of the contract was delayed pending a bid protest from Rogers Electric, the original low bidder. In early November, the selectmen rejected the Rogers bid for failing to recognize a contract addendum and include unit pricing for materials.

The selectmen were notified by the state attorney general that the Rogers bid protest had been denied.

Two fishermen, Tim Broderick and Alec Gale, have requested space along Dutcher Dock in Menemsha for a fish market. Selectmen discussed three lots that would be appropriate for the fishermen’s proposal, and agreed to contact the lot-holders on behalf of the fishermen. The board also decided to hold a special joint meeting with the parks and recreation committee on Jan. 12 to discuss the project.

The board reappointed Bill Bennett as the town representative to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, and appointed Jeff Parkhurst as the town MVTV representative.