Page 7 - Brian Packish News Today

There is a stench coming from the Oak Bluffs Police Station. Sgt. Michael Marchand has resigned, forced out after an internal investigation found that he violated department policy in the handling of an M-4 rifle that was issued to him when he was the school resource officer at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. Marchand insists […]

The Oak Bluffs select board voted unanimously on Tuesday to grant U.S. Coast Guard contractors access to town land in order to facilitate the removal of lead-contaminated soil. Following testing last year, which corroborated and in some spots amplified testing in years prior, Coast Guard contractor Renova Environmental Co. found that lead polluted the soil […]

After multiple meetings, the Oak Bluffs select board approved placing the housing bank warrant article on the upcoming town warrant, becoming the sixth and final town to do so. As part of the approval to put the article on the warrant, the board requested clarification on a majority versus a two-thirds vote. After a year […]

Updated 6:20 pm  An Oak Bluffs Police Department investigation into a lost then found patrol rifle enmeshed many but blamed only one person, Michael Marchand, the department’s senior-most sergeant. Marchand has resigned, according to a press release from select board chair Brian Packish sent Wednesday evening.  A “mutual separation and release agreement,” received by The […]

An Oak Bluffs police sergeant says he was forced to resign after alerting the chief and town leaders that a police assault rifle was missing, a letter from his attorney alleges. That rifle, a Bushmaster M-4, was later reported found.  Oak Bluffs Police Sgt. Michael Marchand has notified the town he intends to sue for […]

Oak Bluffs delayed putting the housing bank article on its warrant, but will take up the issue again at its Jan. 11 meeting. Tuesday’s discussion of the warrant article covered select board questions relating to housing bank debt, impacts on the housing market, and stipends. The housing bank needs four of the six Island towns […]

The Oak Bluffs police department has recovered the Bushmaster M-4 rifle that went missing in October, according to a press release. The matter is still being investigated. “As previously reported, on or about Oct. 25, 2021 it was determined that an Oak Bluffs Police Department M-4 patrol rifle appeared to be missing. Chief Erik Blake […]

Town meetings are often referred to as the purest form of democracy. Unlike a presidential election where your one vote is counted among millions and, in a blue state like Massachusetts, doesn’t do much to change the outcome, a vote at a town meeting could be the difference between your town buying a new fire […]

Following suit with their down-Island neighbors in Edgartown, the Oak Bluffs select board held off on putting the housing bank article on its annual town meeting warrant to wait for an opinion from legal counsel. The Coalition to Create the Martha’s Vineyard Housing Bank has been making the rounds at Island select board meetings to […]

The owner of 6 Circuit Ave. in Oak Bluffs, the building that houses the Cardboard Box and Oyster Bar 02557, will seek a modification to his Development of Regional Impact (DRI) after a tense argument with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission Thursday night over whether renting out units in the five-story building as short-term rentals on […]