It could be a walk in the park, or rather the sculpture garden, for West Tisbury residents at the annual town meeting, after selectmen signed the final purchase and sale agreement for acquiring the Field Gallery on Wednesday.

“It needs to be understood,” selectman Cynthia Mitchell said, “the purchase and sale agreement is essentially keeping the deal in place so the town can vote on it. It’s not the selectmen agreeing to go forward without the support of the town.”

She announced the town and the Maley family that owns the property reached a final payment agreement that is cost neutral to the town.

Over the next five years, $510,000 in community preservation act (CPA) monies and $175,000 from income of the Field Gallery lease would fund the $685,000 purchase.

As detailed last month in the Gazette, the funding plan is this: The first installment in 2012 would require $350,000 of CPA appropriations and $285,000 borrowed, which is expected to be paid off through expected yearly revenues of $35,000 a year from the lease of the gallery. The funding plan for 2013 through 2017 includes $160,000 in CPA monies and $175,000 of gallery income.

“The deal will be presented at town meeting and it will raise no new taxesbut the net bottom line is cost neutral to the town and I for one really appreciate the Maleys’ acknowledgment of that. I think the deal is in very good shape to present to the town.”

Owners Tim and Eileen Maley and the town have been negotiating the sale of the property since December. The planning board separated the 1.4-acre parcel containing the Field Gallery from a larger parcel on the market, in order to facilitate the town purchase. The entire 12-acre property, which includes the gallery and sculpture garden, is currently listed for $4.2 million.

“We’re impressed it got done on time,” Mrs. Maley said.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” said selectman and chairman of the board Richard Knabel.

Conversation was less lighthearted when the selectmen rescinded the appointment of Jeffrey Lynch as shellfish warden effective immediately, citing poor communication as the reason for termination.

“In conversations with the shellfish committee and my own interactions with the shellfish warden I think that it’s become clear that our appointee is not a great fit for the town,” town administrator Jennifer Rand said. “We’ve had a lot of communication difficulties and it’s a position that really requires a great amount of time with my office and the committee, and we’re not getting a great response to that.”

Ms. Rand told the selectmen she last heard from Mr. Lynch in a telephone message last Thursday, but since then he had not returned her calls.

“It’s been going on for several months now,” selectman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter said. Mr. Lynch was appointed warden in April of last year.

“The board of selectmen has discussed your appointment, and the lack of responsiveness to requests for communication with the town administrator and the shellfish committee,” states a letter advising Mr. Lynch of the end of his term. “We are sorry to say we feel this appointment is not a good fit for the town.”

Ms. Rand asked the selectmen to promote assistant shellfish warden Ray Gale, but Mr. Manter and Mr. Knabel urged consistency in hiring practices by following the normal advertising process.

“He’s been an enormous help to me and gone out of his way and do the work of the warden frankly for most of this past year,” Ms. Rand said.

“I’m perfectly willing to ask if he’ll do it,” Mr. Knabel said. “If he wants the job I don’t think he’ll have a lot of stiff competition.”

In other business, town accountant Bruce Stone presented the selectmen with updated assessment calculations if the up-Island regional school district budget was cut by $233,250. The finance committee and selectmen voted at a joint meeting on Tuesday they would recommend reducing the budget at the annual town meeting.

The school committee certified the $8.5 million budget in December, but the two boards were unhappy with the assessment going up as their student enrollment dropped.

As it stands, West Tisbury will pay $5.8 million next year, the most out of the three towns the district serves — Chilmark, Aquinnah and West Tisbury. But with the proposed overall budget cut, Mr. Stone calculated the town could save anywhere from $46,650 to $193,340, depending on where the cuts were made.

Lastly, drivers passing the Old County Road and State Road intersection may have noticed there is only one safety delineator left standing at the dangerous curve. Snowplows took out a series of them over the winter, but the state replaced the posts with six new ones soon after.

Mr. Manter, who is also a member of the West Tisbury police department, said theft is now suspected.

“The response [to the delineators] has been positive hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of it,” Mr. Knabel said, adding:

“Someone with malice aforethought took them.

“Sometimes we have them and other times we don’t,” Ms. Mitchell said with a smile.

The program is run through the state transportation improvement program. The safety posts are meant only to be temporary, but Ms. Rand said the town project is low on the state’s priority list.