West Tisbury selectmen are preparing for the possibility of life in a wet town, but some townspeople are not quite ready to hop on the wagon.

At a public hearing held Wednesday, selectmen seeking to discuss regulations for the potential sale of beer and wine at town restaurants and fund-raisers instead faced a small crowd who questioned whether the town was acting too quickly and presuming that a vote to approve such sales would pass.

“My concern about this whole discussion and the way it’s formatted is that people who don’t come to this meeting are going to read this in the paper and get the perception that the town is already on track to approve this,” said Maria McFarland. “You’re talking about regulations before you know whether or not this is going to pass. I’m just really concerned the selectmen are giving the townspeople the perception that this is a done deal,” said Ms. McFarland.

West Tisbury voters approved an article at the April town meeting, brought by the owners of State Road Restaurant, Lambert’s Cove Inn and the Plane View Restaurant, to petition the state legislature for a home rule amendment. That amendment, signed by Governor Deval Patrick on Oct. 14, introduces the possibility of beer and wine sales to the town, but does not guarantee it. It must next be placed on a town ballot in the spring.

“I think that maybe people really want to talk about whether this is a good idea or not first,” Ms. McFarland said at the Wednesday evening forum.

“We had that discussion at town meeting,” said selectman Richard Knabel.

“Recall that this was a petitioned article,” said selectman Cynthia Mitchell. “That was when the conversation began. The vote at town meeting set it on a course that we’re following, and if something doesn’t happen to change the course it will pass, so there is a track.”

Others in the crowd objected to the fact that voters were being asked to approve beer and wine at fund-raisers and at restaurants in the same ballot question.

“I really can’t understand why two such different issues are joined,” said David Gorenberg. “Why don’t we separate the issues, which are totally different?”

“The way to undo it is to defeat it at the ballot and then start over,” said Ms. Mitchell.

Mr. Gorenberg also took issue with the format of the debate and vote at the town meeting this spring, which put the town on its present course.

“We weren’t given the time to sway our peers,” said Mr. Gorenberg. “At least half the time was given to the owners of the restaurants. I don’t think it was a fair hearing and this is too small to be a fair hearing.”

“The selectmen don’t run the town meeting; the moderator controls the debate,” said Ms. Mitchell.

Following a protracted discussion about how the spring town meeting vote was conducted, selectman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter reminded the audience of the purpose of Wednesday’s discussion.

“I don’t think it makes a difference whether it was the first or last article on the warrant or how many people were there,” he said. “It passed. It was amended, debated and it passed. We can keep talking about it, but it won’t go away. This is what the town has told us to do. It will help people when they cast their ballot next April to get some idea what the regulations might look like.”

“I’m getting the sense we’re almost getting a filibuster here,” said Frank Ferro. “Can we move on?”

“Well, I keep asking to talk about the rules and regs, but no one seems to want to do that,” said Mr. Manter.

Two regulations eventually suggested by Virginia Jones were a requirement that the restaurants granted licenses stay open year-round and that they pay hefty fees for their licenses.

“Why are the license fees so tiny?” she said, referring to Tisbury’s $300 fee. The town is using regulations in Aquinnah and Tisbury as a model.

“To me this vote is all about enabling three business owners to make more money. It’s not a public benefit to the community; they’re not getting anything out of this. This is about the restaurants being able to make money on a glass of wine,” said Ms. Jones. “If I had my druthers I don’t want to see the town go to a wet town, but I certainly would want to see that number be a lot higher and let the town get some benefit out of this nonsense.”

Others were surprised about the current state of the town’s alcohol policy.

“Right now you can take your own beer and wine to the airport restaurant?” asked Vicky Thurber. “I’ve never seen anyone do that.”

“Let’s go,” said Mr. Manter, motioning to leave.

Town administrator Jen Rand closed the meeting with the words that may become more familiar in West Tisbury in the coming years.

“You don’t have to go home,” she said, “but you can’t stay here.”