Members of the Tiverton Town Council want the harbor commission to expedite work on updating the town's harbor management plan, which has languished for several years.

The plan, which spells out the town's policies towards its shorelines and waterways, has been under revision for years but little action has been taken since the pandemic began. With the town in the midst of several aquaculture plans to the north and south of Seapowet, the time has come to step it up, several councilors said.

"We really need to encourage them to move forward as quickly as possible with that process," council vice president Michael Burk said at the council's most recent meeting, suggesting that members wrap up their review by mid-October "at the latest."

Council president Denise DeMedeiros said that might be an overly optimistic date, "but at least there needs to be some progress, especially with everything that's been going on now."

Harbor Commission Chairman Bruce Cox attempted to speak at the meeting, but was not given the podium as he was not specifically on the agenda. However, he said at a council meeting in July that the commission had been working on the update just prior to the Covid pandemic, and hopes to resume in-depth discussions at upcoming meetings. When it does, he said, there will be discussions on aquaculture and offshore land use.

The lack of an updated plan, said councilor Donna Cook, "shows that the town has no vision and I'm very concerned about that."

In asking for the harbor commission to press on with the management plan, councilors continued until a later meeting discussion on filling three current and upcoming vacancies on the commission, as there are issues with respect to its makeup that need to be addressed.

Sections of the Warren Code of Ordinances and Town Charter conflict on several counts, including how many members — nine or 11 — should sit on the commission. In addition, the charter dictates that one commission member must also be a member of the planning board, and the town council must also be represented. Currently, neither are.

"The charter outweighs the ordinance, but we have to make them equal," said Ms. deMedeiros. "We need to discuss with Bruce (Cox, harbor commission chairman) what he thinks. We can't change the charter ... not easily. So we have to change the ordinance, really."

Ms. deMedeiros said she has a meeting planned with Tiverton Town Administrator Chris Cotta, Mr. Cox, and council liaisons William J. Vieira and Donna Cook, to discuss harbor commission issues.