The West Tisbury police station has a new address. After two years of planning, the police have moved from their tiny cramped building on the Mill Pond into new headquarters in North Tisbury.
Russell Ventura, 39, submitted a letter of resignation to West Tisbury police chief Daniel Rossi on Feb. 13. This week the West Tisbury selectmen accepted Mr. Ventura’s resignation without discussion by a vote of 2-0.
A Falmouth clerk magistrate found probable cause to bring two criminal complaints against Russell R. Ventura, who was off duty when his vehicle hit a tree on Edgartown-West Tisbury Road on the night of Jan. 16. He is on leave without pay from the department.
A new $2.8 million police station, several affordable housing initiatives and a watershed study for the much-debated Mill Pond will top the warrant when West Tisbury voters convene for their annual town meeting Tuesday.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the gymnasium of the West Tisbury School. Moderator F. Patrick Gregory will preside over the session; there are 37 articles on the warrant.
The new West Tisbury police station is in final design stages but needs additional funding to complete construction and bid documents, the town selectmen learned this week.
At their meeting Wednesday, the selectmen approved placing an $80,000 warrant article for the November special town meeting to fund the last phase of construction documents, prepare the project for request for proposals and complete the bidding process. Voters will be asked at the annual town meeting in April to pay for the project, planned to be built at the public safety building.
Dan Rossi was appointed as the new West Tisbury police chief on Wednesday night after a vote by West Tisbury selectmen Cynthia Mitchell and Richard Knabel. After the announcement, Mr. Rossi wiped his brow and hugged the selectmen to a round of applause. It had been a long weekend of interviews and public speaking, and Mr. Rossi was eager to get back to the work of leading the police department, as he has done as interim chief since Beth Toomey’s retirement in April.
