the annual town meeting in April, selectmen tried
unsuccessfully to reduce the salaries by amending the water department
budget on town meeting floor.

Selectmen decided to take a closer look at the practices of the
water department, which has historically functioned with a good deal of
autonomy. In May, the board issued a public records request for all
water department meeting minutes involving Mr. Perrotta and Ms.
Norton's contract negotiations, as well as the financial audits
from the last six years. All the information was passed along to Ms.
Randazzo for a legal opinion.

As of yesterday, neither the selectmen nor the water commissioners
had met to discuss the opinion, and several selectmen and commissioners
had not yet seen the document. Mr. Bugbee said his board hoped to meet
with the water commission sometime next week.

Selectman Tristan Israel said yesterday thatdon't know. I am not a lawyer."

The Tisbury water department has traditionally operated
independently even though it is a town department. Water commissioners
manage department finances with very little oversight from town hall,
and the water department budget has frequently been exempted from review
by the finance and advisory committee. Selectmen and water commissioners
seldom meet.

Issues over control of the water department date back almost two
decades. In the late 1980s, selectmen and water commissioners squared
off in court over who had exclusive authority concerning wages, hours
and other terms of employment for water department employees. A superior
court judge declared that the selectmen - not the water commission
- hold that authority.

Ms. Randazzo's opinion hinges on her belief that Chapter 394,
the enabling legislation that created the department in 1905, does not
create the water supply system as a