A group of Chilmark residents are pushing for better management of the year-round tennis operations at the Chilmark Community Center, arguing that the programming is geared more toward summer residents than year-round Islanders.

A petition with over 130 residents signatures was recently submitted to the town; the petition calls for the creation of two new general bylaws: One would establish a tennis court committee composed of Chilmark residents to oversee the management and maintenance of the courts at the Chilmark Community Center; the other would create a fund to better manage the courts.

Petitioners say that the management of the Chilmark Town Affairs Council (CTAC), the nonprofit that runs the center, is insufficient and that the bylaws would allow for a “healthy, year-round governing entity to support play.”

During Tuesday’s meeting, the select board rebuffed the petition’s efforts and voted unanimously against holding a special town meeting for two citizen-petition warrant articles. But proponents say the issue is timely and they could force a town meeting if they get enough signatures.

Dating back to 2018, the town affairs council currently has a memorandum of understanding with the town focused on overseeing summer programming. In response to the petition, the council issued a statement saying that the proposed bylaws were inconsistent with their mission and that they should raise “serious questions” for residents.

“CTAC remains committed to its path of almost 70 years of stewardship providing inclusive, fun,
and safe recreational activities to the Chilmark community,” the statement reads in part. “The proposal undermines CTAC’s proven track record and disregards the community’s trust and reliance on CTAC’s expertise in delivering inclusive and enriching programs. We urge the Select Board to ensure that the Town has the time to fully consider the critical issues that this petition raises including the legal ramifications of ownership rights, the historical success of CTAC’s tennis program, and the practical challenges of the proposed operational changes.”

The council wasn’t the only entity to push back. Former Chilmark Community Center executive director Alexandra London-Thompson submitted a letter to the board criticizing and questioning various aspects of the proposed changes as well.

Chilmark resident Jay Grossman presented the two citizen petitions on Tuesday. He said signatories included voters of varying ages, from 18 to 92.

“I think it’s a very broad group of residents representative of our varying types of population in Chilmark,” he said.

Grossman also emphasized that the petitions were time-sensitive because it would take time to set up a committee. If the bylaws were approved during the annual town meeting in the spring — as was proposed by the select board — he said that by the time the attorney general approved them it would be mid-July, which was right in the middle of the summer tennis season. That would make the process “really chaotic” and “quite impractical.”

Petitions wanted to get on the special town meeting warrant on Jan. 22, but board members said that wasn’t proper procedurally.

“Bylaws are hugely important in our town,” board member Jim Malkin said. “We do vetting, we have committees, we’re binding the town to something with a bylaw change.”

Malkin, who said he had heard of the “tennis issue” for a year and a half now but avoided engaging with either party, suggested both sides have an “open and vigorous discussion” about the proposed bylaws.

After further discussion, the board unanimously shot down having another special town meeting for the tennis bylaws. But if the petitioners feel the issue cannot wait until the annual town meeting, they could gather additional signatures until at least 200 residents have signed onto the cause. This would force another special town meeting.

“We will easily be able to do that given the support we have for this issue,” Grossman said.

The issues surrounding Chilmark tennis have been ongoing.

Last year, Grossman founded the Friends and Associates of Chilmark Tennis as a nonprofit organization to voice the concerns of the up-Island region’s tennis players, which he told The Times grew into a vibrant community during the COVID pandemic.

Grossman told The Times he felt the tennis community could work with the town and the community center to bring improvements to how the community center is managed. He emphasized that there was a need for more year-round activities like after-school and mentorship programs that the community center could provide.

When asked whether the group planned to gather the additional signatures to push forward a special town meeting, Grossman said that had not been decided yet.

“We do want to be cooperative and collaborative … with all stakeholders,” he said, adding that there are plans to conduct outreach to educate people who are less familiar with what is going on with the Chilmark tennis program.

The friends consist of a membership of around 250 individuals, including seasonal residents, according to Grossman. He added this membership had “very little overlap” with the over 130 people who signed the petition. “That’s pretty strong support,” he said.

Grossman said the 250 members are some of the essential constituents of the community center, but the lack of “cooperation and collaboration” from the center’s leadership was “super problematic.”

“We believe in the community center, we just believe one section of it needs to be managed differently,” he said.

“I also want to stress that many of us have been longtime supporters of [and] contributors to the community center, and continue to do so, notwithstanding the need to create a separate Chilmark Town Tennis Committee,” he said.