Anyone who doubts that Oak Bluffs voters should approve a new town hall need only step into the sorry entryway of the current structure. Built as an elementary school in 1965, its mid-century linoleum tile floors are chipped and cracked, and drooping ceiling panels bear rust-colored stains. For a dystopian Back to the Future, Hollywood could hardly find a better set.

Remember this was to be temporary headquarters for municipal business back in 2000 when town offices were moved out of the old seaside town hall because it was making workers sick. Since then, a couple of proposals to build a new town hall have been rejected at the ballot box, most recently in 2014. Voters at town meeting approved a $6.8 million project that year, but two days later voters rejected a ballot initiative to exempt the cost of construction from Proposition 2 1/2, which limits town spending. A separate ballot measure, to fund a new fire station, passed narrowly that year, and now the town has a sparkling new emergency services facility.

A town hall lacks the urgency of a fire station and the utility of a library, but is no less critical to the functioning of a community with an annual budget of some $30 million. In a report issued last September, building inspector Mark Barbadoro itemized the current building’s many deficiencies, including a failed heating system, the presence of asbestos and numerous fire hazards. In addition to subjecting town employees to dangerous working conditions, the building violates federal regulations for accessibility by the public. If renovation was ever an option, that moment has long since passed.

The price tag for a new town hall is now $9.9 million, but the town has also paid down its debt on other major capital projects so the impact on tax bills will be modest, according to a New Town Hall Information Website created by the town building committee, a group of volunteers and town officials that has been meeting almost weekly since December. Given the likelihood of rising interest rates, delaying this necessary project will only make the debt load worse in the future.

Residents have a chance to review plans for the new town hall and ask questions at a public hearing at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the library. Skeptics would do well to drop by the current town hall while they are in the neighborhood.

Oak Bluffs deserves a town hall that evokes civic pride, not embarrassment, and social science research suggests that people perform to the level of expectations. Here’s an overdue opportunity to invest in Oak Bluffs and give town government a standard to live up to.