Sheila Lyons, who served two terms as a Barnstable County commissioner from 2008 to 2016 and a third term from 2020 to 2024, is running for re-election this November.
She is one of two Democratic incumbents competing for the two seats on the ballot — in this year’s “pick-two” race, all four candidates run in one contest, and voters can pick two, with the two highest vote-getters winning seats.
Lyons, who is also a select board member in Wellfleet, says she hopes to continue bringing stability and financial success to the Cape.
“I feel I’m part of a team, and that team is here to make life better on Cape Cod,” she says. “If I can do that and protect its environment, I’ve done my little part.”
Lyons, who says she is a “born and baptized” Democrat, moved to Cape Cod in 2003 after visiting here all her life. She was an active Democrat even before she moved here, she says.
“I saw us veering into where we are today. Politics was getting personal and nasty.”
Lyons says that a county commissioner’s most important role is to create services that benefit the towns. “We don’t have the power to tell towns what to do, but we can assist them,” she says. Programs like the Barnstable County Regional Emergency Communications Center, which coordinates emergency services across Cape Cod’s unusual geography, are “envied across the state,” she says.
Lyons also says that Barnstable County was “first in line” to make use of state emergency funding when Gov. Deval Patrick declared opioid abuse to be a public health emergency in 2014.
“We were already reaching out, saying this was a problem, asking what could be done,” Lyons says. The county government was “looking at the future, and we saw what was coming.”
Lyons says that her opposing a proposed machine gun range at the Camp Edwards Training Site on Joint Base Cape Cod — which risked contaminating the drinking water supply of the base and surrounding towns — helped persuade Gov. Maura Healey to cancel construction of the range.
“When we all speak with one voice, Cape Cod can get a lot of things done,” Lyons says.
Lyons says she’s worried about the state’s recent update to its watershed permit regulations, which will require Cape Cod towns to reduce the amount of nitrogen emanating from septic tanks in Nitrogen Sensitive Areas, including the watersheds of Wellfleet Harbor and Pleasant Bay. The regulation will ultimately require new nitrogen filtration systems on thousands of septic tanks.
“It seems very simple, but it’s coming out to be very expensive,” she says, adding that she’s looking for ways to offset the costs. Spurring more competition in the septic market would be one way to do it, she says, while giving out income-dependent loans to residents would be another.
Lyons says it’s important for the county government to work as a unit across town and party lines. “We work together on Cape Cod,” Lyons says. “I also have a lot of Republicans who vote for me. I’m not elected just for a party.”
Lyons says there has been significant friction between the county commissioners and the Barnstable Assembly of Delegates, however. “They think they’re a bicameral legislative branch,” she says. “I’m not sure what happened to them, but it’s sad and disappointing. It’s not helping harmony.”
Lyons, who served as Wellfleet’s delegate in the assembly in 2006 and 2007, says that the assembly “is really just there to make sure nobody is committing fraud.” She strongly opposes ballot Question #6, which, if passed, would allow the assembly “to increase, decrease, add or omit items to the annual budget” proposed by the county commissioners.
Lyons says this change would be inconsistent with both state law and the county charter, which vest budgetary and appropriations power solely in the commissioners.
“If approved, the assembly would be the only local or county legislative body in Massachusetts to be granted an executive power to initiate supplemental appropriations,” she says.
If such a change is needed, it should take place during next year’s public charter review process, she adds.
“By making it a ballot question, the assembly of delegates is bypassing the review process,” Lyons says, adding that Question #6 is “a dishonest move” and “a bully tactic.”
Lyons says that one of her priorities is to continue to “clean up after” Ron Beaty, a Republican who served on the county commission during Lyons’s absence from 2017 to 2021. Beaty is one of the four candidates this year and is a supporter of Question #6.
Lyons has endorsed the other Democratic candidate, incumbent Mark Forest. Forest “cares, works hard, and understands good government,” Lyons says.
