Tisbury selectmen are expected to hold the first hearings on beer and wine licenses on July 15, as some restaurant owners rush to complete the approval process in time to catch the summer trade.

The public hearings will consider applications from Zephrus restaurant at the Mansion House on Main street, and Saltwater restaurant on Beach Road, the first to have filed their applications.

The detailed application packages were only made available by the town a week ago, but those two establishments had begun compiling the necessary information in advance.

Edgartown attorney Howard Miller, a former member of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission (ABCC), is representing them, as well as two Black Dog eateries, the Black Dog Tavern on Beach street and Black Dog Café on State Road.

Mr. Miller is hopeful of having the first two fully approved and trading by early July, although he conceded that was based on an optimistic view of how long the selectmen and the ABCC take to consider the applications. He hoped the ABCC process could be done in only two or three weeks.

Others have suggested it could take significantly longer. Tisbury town administrator John Bugbee said last week he had been told the current delay was six to eight weeks. That would push the start date into August.

Apart from the four applications being handled by Mr. Miller, at least four other restaurants — Le Grenier, Rocco’s, the Blue Canoe and Waterside Market — have taken out application packages.

Under the timeline established by the town last week, once a completed application package is returned, there is a 10-day period in which the town must advertise a public hearing, and then another 10 days before the hearing itself.

Then the selectmen have 30 days to assess the application, and if they approve, have three days in which to submit it to the ABCC. If it also approves, the town has another seven days in which to issue the license.

Tisbury selectmen were authorized in a town ballot on April 27 to issue as many as 17 year-round licenses and an unlimited number of seasonal licenses.

Opponents of the measure feared a large number of establishments would seek licenses; the eight applications so far accords with the estimate selectmen made.

Meanwhile, this week the town also dealt with another matter arising from the April 27 ballot, the narrow defeat of a proposal to spend $120,000 to buy a new refuse truck, sought by the Department of Public Works.

The Proposition 2 1/2 override question failed by a small margin — 777 to 767 votes — according to the machine count on election night.

DPW director Fred LaPiana organized a petition seeking a hand recount. It was done last Thursday, and confirmed the majority no vote, although the numbers changed slightly — 779 to 771.

Mr. LaPiana is expected to put another request for the new truck to the next town meeting. The current truck is 13 years old, prone to breakdowns and rusted beyond repair.