Photo: FIshers Island Ferry District/W. Bloethe
The Southold Town Board will hold a special meeting this morning at 9 to take up three resolutions pertaining to repairs of a Fishers Island Ferry District vessel, the MV Munnatawket.
The resolutions on the table this morning ratify resolutions adopted Nov. 13 by the Fishers Island Ferry District Board of Commissioners pertaining to the 144-foot passenger ferry first launched in March 1978.
The ferry will undergo repairs that required an amendment to the 2015 Fishers Island Ferry District’s $4,485,461 budget, according to budget resolution summaries on the town’s website.
The Munnatawket underwent engine repair work in January that took it out of service for one day, causing a disruption in ferry operations because the district’s other vessel, the Race Point, was already in dry dock for its regular semi-annual inspection and check-up.
The nature of the repairs now needed and their costs were not disclosed in the board resolution summaries posted on the town’s website.
The two vessels carry passengers, cargo and automobiles between Fishers Island and New London, Connecticut.
Fishers Island, a hamlet of the Town of Southold, lies about two miles off the southeastern Connecticut coast. The seven-mile-long island is the year-round home of 236 people (according to the 2010 Census). A seasonal resort, its population swells to a several thousand during peak summer months.
