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Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates

    THE COUNTY

    Two Branches Spar Over Allocation of ARPA Cash

    Assembly of Delegates moves to double the amount going directly to towns

    By

    Editor’s note: This article has been updated since the deadline for the March 24 print edition.

    BARNSTABLE — A new disagreement over how to allocate more than $41 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds is brewing between the two branches of Barnstable County government.

    The county commissioners proposed setting aside $10 million for direct payments to the 15 towns and gave the Assembly of Delegates the authority to determine how the amounts for each town would be calculated.

    But before any discussion of the commissioners’ proposal took place, the Assembly voted at its March 16 meeting to double that amount. The Assembly majority wants to distribute $20 million directly to towns.

    The commissioners voted on Wednesday to reject the Assembly’s ordinance.

    Commissioner Ronald Bergstrom suggested abandoning the ordinance process for distribution of the $41.37 million in ARPA funds, which would effectively cut the Assembly out of the decision-making.

    “The time has come to proceed according to the advice of the county’s general counsel and special counsel,” Bergstrom said. The attorneys’ opinion was that the ARPA funding is a federal grant. The county commission has sole authority over distribution of grants.

    Chair Sheila Lyons agreed with Bergstrom. “We had tried to include the Assembly as a collaborative partner, and it definitely has not been that,” she said.

    The third commissioner, Mark Forest, has recused himself from all deliberations about ARPA money because he is chair of the Yarmouth select board. He has been advised that creates a conflict of interest.

    Half of the ARPA funds arrived in the county from the federal government last May, but none has yet been spent. The second half, more than $20 million, should arrive by this June.

    Randi Potash, the Chatham delegate, presented the motion. She argued that the process proposed by the commissioners, which includes a study of priorities by an advisory council that could take up to seven months, would take too long.

    “The towns have projects that are shovel ready,” Potash said. “It makes perfect sense to allow them the lion’s share of the funds.”

    All the Assembly members present on March 16 voted in favor of Potash’s motion except Terry Gallagher, the Eastham delegate. In an email to the Independent, Gallagher said he was surprised his was the sole dissenting vote.

    “I voted the way I did because I believe Barnstable County government exists for an important reason: to deal with matters on a regional level, where it makes sense for our 15 towns to work together,” said Gallagher. “We worked hard at the county level to define the process that would address ARPA projects as a region. I voted ‘no’ to preserve that process.”

    Even if the money were not distributed directly, the towns would still have been able to submit their individual applications for the county funds, Gallagher said.

    On Sunday, commission chair Sheila Lyons of Wellfleet said her panel would meet on March 23 to discuss what action to take. “We’ve gone out of our way to work with the Assembly,” Lyons said.

    The commission’s attorney had determined that the federal money was categorized as a grant, and as such is under the sole authority of the commission. But the Assembly’s attorney had offered a different opinion, saying the Assembly should also be involved.

    After several weeks of debate, the commissioners sent over their proposed ordinance giving the Assembly the $10 million along with the authority to set a formula for dividing the money up for the 15 towns.

    “We worked very hard to make them part of the process,” Lyons said. Of the Assembly’s vote to up the towns’ cut to $20 million, Lyons said, “I don’t think it was helpful.”

    Commissioner Ron Bergstrom of Chatham, reached by phone, expressed outrage. “By passing this ordinance, they have basically crossed the line,” he said.

    The commission doesn’t have to honor the arrangement to make decisions on the ARPA funds via the ordinance process, Bergstrom said: “We could just go back to the legal opinion that we have authority over the funds.”

    Assembly speaker Patrick Princi of Barnstable called Bergstrom’s comment “unfortunate.”

    “If it’s not going the way he wants it, it’s going back to the lawyers,” Princi said. That won’t benefit the commission or the Assembly, the speaker said, and it just wastes money.

    In a phone interview, Assembly member Potash pointed out that her motion could have been for the entire $41.37 million. Nine of the 15 communities favored getting the ARPA money directly, when polled by county administrators.

    Following the meeting, Wellfleet delegate Lilli Ann Green said Assembly members have not been satisfied with the county commissioners’ pace. “We have been asking for months what the county’s plan is for the use of the money,” Green said. “We have not to date received what the plans are, and the money is just sitting there.”

    The Assembly issued a press release a few hours after its decision to double the amount designated for direct distribution to the towns.

    “Towns want to know how much money they will get and when,” said Princi in the press release. “This ordinance will clarify and fast-track the money towns deserve.”

    The formula for distributing the money to the towns will be taken up by the Assembly at its next meeting, set for March 30. If it is distributed based on each town’s population, smaller towns — and the four on the Outer Cape are the smallest, according to Census Bureau data posted on the Cape Cod Commission’s website — would get the smallest portions.

    One suggestion would establish a uniform base amount for each town, with the rest of the funds allocated according to population.

    “We’ll craft a formula that is fair and equitable,” said Princi, “and in the best interests of all the towns, big and small.”

    Princi’s town, Barnstable, with nearly 48,000 residents, is by far the largest in the county.

    POLITICS

    County Boards Fighting Over ARPA Millions

    Commissioners and Assembly each want control of funds

    By

    Barnstable County officials are battling over who gets to decide on the distribution of $41.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds from the federal treasury.

    The three county commissioners, including Sheila Lyons of Wellfleet, initially argued that the money is a grant, and that under state law they are solely responsible for allocating grant funds.

    But the 15-member Assembly of Delegates, with one member elected from each Cape Cod town, disagreed. They said the money should be distributed under the ordinance process prescribed in the county charter, with the Assembly having the final say.

    Efforts at reaching a compromise have seen options and counter-options bouncing back and forth like ping-pong balls between the two panels.

    In the latest development, the Assembly unanimously voted on Dec. 15 to override a veto by the commissioners of the Assembly’s ordinance spelling out how the ARPA funds would be managed. Before that vote, the Assembly’s lawyer, Robert Troy of Sandwich, told the members that they represent the 15 towns in the county and speak for them.

    “We need to look at whether the voice of the communities should be heard,” Troy said.

    Mary Chaffee of Brewster, deputy speaker of the Assembly, said overriding a veto by the county commissioners was rare, “but I strongly support overriding this veto.”

    At the same session, the Assembly unanimously voted to reject the commissioners’ proposal for managing the ARPA funds without allowing it to come to the floor for discussion.

    $20 Million Already Received

    The ARPA money comes to the county in two equal installments. The first half, over $20 million, has already arrived. The second half will be paid out in 2022.

    Federal officials set broad categories for use of the funds, and County leaders have named water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure projects as top priorities. The wish list also includes public health, addressing the economic harms of the pandemic, and making up for lost public sector revenue, according to Assistant County Administrator Vaira Harik. Applicants for the money may include municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and several other entities.

    The three county commissioners are elected to four-year terms in countywide votes. The current chair is Ron Bergstrom of Chatham, Lyons is vice chair, and the third member is Mark Forest of South Yarmouth. They prepare the county budget, appoint the county administrator and other employees, and oversee disbursement of funds. They can also propose ordinances for Assembly action and can veto ordinances adopted by the Assembly.

    The Assembly is the county’s legislative branch; members are elected to two-year terms by their individual towns. Their votes are weighted based on the populations of their respective communities.

    The Assembly can override the commissioners’ veto of an adopted ordinance via a two-thirds vote.

    The commissioners initially planned to solicit applications for the ARPA money through an online portal starting early in 2022. Those would be reviewed for compliance by staff and then sent to an advisory council organized by County Administrator Beth Albert. The council’s recommendations would be reviewed by the commissioners, who would then write the checks for the ones they approved.

    The Assembly of Delegates argued that the money should be allocated through ordinances proposed by the commissioners or members of the Assembly and followed by public hearings. Proposed ordinances must be adopted by the Assembly and approved by the commissioners.  Following a 31-day waiting period, the ordinance goes into effect.

    The commissioners at first proposed a joint process that would involve “resolutions” rather than ordinances, thereby avoiding the hearing process and the 31-day delay.

    But the Assembly didn’t even discuss that proposal. Instead, it unanimously adopted an ordinance dictating that all spending of ARPA funds be done solely via ordinances.

    Chaffee called it “a clean and simple method of appropriating ARPA funds. Both branches can carry out their responsibilities without a memorandum of understanding or meetings with lawyers or tabletop exercises to test a new process,” Chaffee told her colleagues. “It’s how we routinely conduct the county’s business.”

    The Assembly would make sure to keep the process moving, she said. “We know these funds are needed in the towns we represent,” she said.

    The commissioners vetoed the Assembly’s ordinance, objecting to a lack of specifics on the review process and the delay inherent in the ordinance process. Then they proposed their own ordinance, which was essentially the same as their earlier proposal, simply changing the word “resolutions” to “grant agreements.”

    The veto was overridden, and the commissioners’ ordinance was rejected this week. Both votes were unanimous.

    Commissioners Lyons and Forest had said before this week’s action that they were willing to work with the Assembly to resolve the dispute. But Bergstrom was not in a conciliatory mood.

    Bergstrom said comments made by Chaffee and by Assembly Speaker Patrick Princi of Barnstable “seemed to indicate I wasted a month of their time by presenting compromises, and that they were right, we were wrong.”

    Of the ordinance that had been adopted by the Assembly and sent to the commissioners, Bergstrom said, “It represents not one step in our direction; not one attempt to compromise.”

    Editor’s note:  This article has been revised and updated since it was published in the print edition dated Dec. 16, 2021.

    COUNTY LINE

    Regional Government: An Introduction

    In a time of crisis, the county is poised to play a larger role

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — Recent events have made clear the deep well of discontent in our society, and what appears to be a yawning, unbridgeable division among us. The new president has signaled his sense that we must find the collective determination to confront these challenges, understanding that this will be a Herculean task. We begin in our own communities.

    Barnstable County government plays a large but mostly unrecognized role in our daily lives. We were granted a home rule charter in 1988 by the legislature, giving us a two-branch “regional government of Cape Cod,” as we are officially recognized. Three elected county commissioners are the executive body, overseeing the operations of many regional agencies. They serve four-year terms and run with political party affiliation.

    The legislative body is the Assembly of Delegates, with one delegate elected from each of the Cape’s 15 towns. Each delegate’s vote is proportional to his or her town’s population. The assembly appropriates funds and approves all proposed ordinances.

    At the executive level, the Election Day defeat of former County Commissioner Ron Beaty, self-described as “Cape Cod’s Donald Trump,” brings an experienced and more progressive leadership to the executive branch. Vice chair Sheila Lyons of Wellfleet and Mark Forest of Yarmouth have joined Ron Bergstrom of Chatham, in his second term as chair.

    County Administrator Jack Yunits, hired by the commissioners, has had the helm for five years.

    Probably the best-known regional agency is the Cape Cod Commission, now taking the lead role in climate change mitigation and adaptation for this at-risk, water-girdled peninsula. Other departments are doing water quality monitoring for beaches and wells, alternative septic system testing, Lyme disease surveillance and research, public health support for towns, police and victim support in cases of child abuse, and other forms of human services assistance.

    On Jan. 6, while events in Washington were exploding, the 17th session of the Assembly of Delegates opened, with Pat Princi, the long-serving delegate from Barnstable, elected speaker. Mary Chaffee of Brewster became deputy speaker. Both votes were unanimous.

    Orleans, Yarmouth, and Bourne each elected a new delegate in November. Although delegates don’t run on party affiliation, all are political animals. That’s why we’re here. Before her retirement, Delegate Linda Zuern of Bourne injected regular doses of right-wing talk-radio opinion on climate change, food assistance, Covid-19, and human rights into our discussions, and could be counted on for her regular sole dissenting “no” vote.

    Our January meetings focused on the county’s response to Covid-19. Case counts, hospitalizations, and deaths were all increasing in the wake of the holidays, although the Outer Cape continued to register among the lower-risk areas of the state. Testing is slowly becoming available at more sites, and vaccinations are also increasing, though the federally controlled supply is less than projected.

    Categories of eligible recipients are set by the commonwealth. All vaccinations are by appointment, with online registration required. But the process is challenging, and will be impossibly complicated for some of our most vulnerable neighbors. An information line has been established by the county to help residents navigate testing and immunization access, at 774-330-3001 weekdays. Please let me know whether it is working as it should.

    With our economy largely shuttered, hunger and access to fresh, healthful, affordable food have worsened. Even before the pandemic, food pantries and soup kitchens were serving growing numbers of clients. In a newly funded county position, Food Access Coordinator Angela Marczely is working to facilitate local efforts meet these needs. Opportunities for locally sourced produce, fish, and shellfish will be encouraged. She anticipates working with all community food providers.

    The Assembly of Delegates meets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 4 p.m. The public is welcome to join these (currently) remote sessions, and public comment has a regular agenda slot. Details, including agendas, are available at barnstablecounty.org.

    Brian O’Malley, M.D., is Provincetown’s elected delegate to the Barnstable County Assembly. Write him at [email protected].

    CIVICS

    3 Democrats Compete to Unseat Beaty

    Andrews, Forest, and Lyons are on Sept. 1 primary ballot

    By

    In the Sept. 1 primary election, three Democratic candidates for the Barnstable County Commission are vying for two places on the Nov. 3 ballot. They’re hoping to replace Mary Pat Flynn, a Democrat who is not running for re-election, and to unseat Republican incumbent Ron Beaty.

    The third seat on the commission is held by Democrat Ron Bergstrom, whose term ends in 2022.

    The county commission is the three-person executive branch of county government, with a budget of about $29 million a year to support Cape-wide efforts on coastal erosion, climate change, wastewater, homelessness, housing, health care, fire and police training, dredging, and insect control.

    Beaty, who on Twitter calls himself “The Donald Trump of Cape Cod,” served 16 months in federal prison for making death threats against President George H.W. Bush, U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, and state Sen. Lois Pines. His comments last year about gay politicians being “self-absorbed and self-centered” led to calls for his resignation.

    Sheila Lyons.

    Two of the three Democrats are from the Outer Cape — Cheryl Andrews, 60, of Provincetown, and Sheila Lyons, 63, of Wellfleet. The third Democrat, Mark Forest, 64, of South Yarmouth, is a former Provincetown town manager.

    Sizing up Beaty, Lyons said, “All he is doing is spouting so he can get the attention he desires. It doesn’t lead to any progress.”

    Lyons served as a county commissioner from 2008 to 2016, when she left to run for the state senate, a race she lost to Julian Cyr. Lyons did not plan to return to the commission, but the coronavirus became a factor, she said, because she believes experience is especially important now.

    “We don’t have the luxury of time to learn on the job,” she said.

    Lyons’s first term as a commissioner was during a recession, when the county had few financial resources. Now, she said, county government is in a more secure place, but Cape Cod towns are suffering from Covid-related financial turmoil.

    This, she said, is the perfect opportunity for the county to step up its role and help.

    “We need a county that handles the large physical issues that transcend the issues of each town,” she added.

    In her first term, Lyons took up the issue of wastewater. “Nobody wanted to talk about wastewater back then,” she said. She recalled assembling a team, finding state funding for outreach, and now, years later seeing the groundwork result in a new system in Yarmouth.

    “That’s how government works,” she said. “It is slow, but it can get things done.”

    Cheryl Andrews.

    Cheryl Andrews, like Lyons, sees increasing the role of county government as a priority.

    “You don’t see the county very active in communities, and I think that’s exactly what you are about to see change,” she said.

    Andrews is a veteran of Provincetown government, having been elected nine times to various positions, most recently serving on the select board. After serving five terms, she lost her re-election bid in 2019. She has also spent two terms on the Provincetown Housing Authority and was elected twice as Provincetown’s representative on the county Assembly of Delegates.

    The Mass. Chapter of the Sierra Club, the nation’s largest environmental organization, recently endorsed Andrews’s county commission campaign.

    “We don’t have a great deal of money or regulatory authority at the county level,” she said. “But what you have is a lot of expertise in environmental work.”

    Andrews said she has been disappointed with the county commission’s attention to the Outer Cape and hopes to change that.

    Andrews has been practicing dentistry in Provincetown since 1986. Her health-care background, she says, gives her an advantage, as the first order of business the new county commissioner will be tackling is Covid-19.

    Now a Yarmouth selectman, Mark Forest ran unsuccessfully for county commissioner in 2016. This time he received the endorsement of departing Commissioner Flynn.

    Forest began his career in government as Provincetown town manager from 1980 to 1985. He expects to lean on his experience working in Provincetown during the AIDS crisis in the ’80s as he focuses on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

    “Provincetown is where I learned about the critical role that local communities and governments can play in people’s lives,” he wrote.

    But local government can only handle so much, which is why the county needs to step up, he said.

    “When we look at the economic and public health challenges that we are facing right now, there is more that we can be doing; the county government is an underused resource,” Forest said.

    For example, he continued, county funding played an instrumental part in rebuilding Provincetown’s MacMillan Pier in 1987. That, Forest said, could be a blueprint for the county commission’s role on Cape Cod.

    Mark Forest.

    “We need that same mindset now,” he said.

    Voters in the Democratic primary can vote for two candidates on the September ballot; the two with the most votes will appear on the November ballot with Beaty.

    The “pick two” vote has been historically confusing to voters, with many voting for only one. Although voting for just one candidate can be strategic.

    Andrews believes voter confusion was a reason Beaty won the seat in 2016.

    “He only won last time because there were over 15,000 blanks in a ‘choose no more than 2’ race,” she said.

    COUNTY SEAT

    Assembly Vote on Covid Rules Shows East-West Divide

    The Outer Cape’s delegates, and Sen. Cyr, beg to differ

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates adopted a resolution on June 17 questioning the legality of Gov. Charlie Baker’s Covid-19 response. The Outer Cape’s delegates opposed the resolution, but were in the minority. The vote was 66 percent in favor, 15 percent opposed, 18 percent absent.

    The debate on the largely meaningless resolution did have a certain significance: it exposed Cape Cod’s longstanding east-west progressive-conservative divide — at least within the assembly.

    Proposed by Christopher Kanaga of Orleans and John Ohman of Dennis, the resolution states that “the Citizens of Barnstable County have been deprived of property and liberty” because of the governor’s Covid-19 declarations. It mentions especially “those in the restaurant, hotel, resort, retail, and service businesses,” and decries what it calls the governor’s exercise of “unfettered power.”

    In response, Brewster Delegate Mary Chaffee said the governor had acted within the legal authority granted to him by the state legislature 70 years ago. “His actions have reduced the spread of disease, loss of life, and harmful impact on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Chaffee said.

    The town by town breakdown on the resolution was seven votes in favor and five opposed. Two delegates were absent, and Falmouth’s seat was vacant at the time. The assembly’s votes are weighted by population, based on the 2010 census. Thus, the Truro delegate’s vote counts for less than one percent of the total, while the delegate from Barnstable, the county’s largest town, gets more than 20 percent of the total.

    Brian O’Malley, Provincetown’s delegate to the assembly, is regularly in the minority with other Outer Cape delegates. (Photo Olivia Weeks)

    “The way the vote went was almost cleanly divided by east and west — Upper Cape and Outer and Lower Cape,” said Dr. Brian O’Malley, Provincetown’s delegate. Eastham’s Terry Gallagher and Wellfleet’s Lilli Ann Green also voted against the resolution, while Truro’s Deborah McCutcheon was absent.

    This is a typical dividing line for the assembly; voting along a conservative versus progressive divide is something O’Malley said he’s seen again and again.

    But this time, the vote especially annoyed state Sen. Julian Cyr. Cyr, a Democrat from Truro who also serves as public information officer for the Cape Cod Reopening Task Force, said the assembly’s resolution was “profoundly disrespectful to county staff. County staff has been invaluable throughout the epidemic. Part of the success we’ve had on Cape Cod is due to the concerted efforts of county government.”

    Cyr called the resolution “a bit of a political stunt,” and pointed out the assembly has no authority on the matter. “Right now,” Cyr said, “I think Cape Codders want us focused on keeping people safe and reopening in a way that prevents community spread.”

    But at a July 8 meeting of the Barnstable County Commissioners, Speaker of the Assembly E. Suzanne McAuliffe of Yarmouth defended the vote as “a good government resolution.”

    The commissioners have no authority over resolutions passed by the Assembly. The July 8 meeting served only as a forum for further discussion.

    McAuliffe reported that County Administrator Jack Yunits had criticized the assembly’s resolution, calling it “repugnant and constitutionally inept and vague.”

    For that reason, McAuliffe asked the commissioners to take action against Yunits. “The county administrator has an article in his contract that calls for an annual evaluation,” McAuliffe said. “And I would request respectfully on behalf of the assembly that there would be a discussion with the administrator about working with county government.”

    “Sometimes, in the heat of the moment,” Yunits replied, “you may answer a question in a way you probably shouldn’t have. But I don’t want to take it back because I do believe in my position on that.” He added, “When it comes to defending the actions and efforts of county employees, Suzanne and I are on the same page.”

    The chair of the commissioners, Ronald Bergstrom of Chatham, said that a discussion of renewing Yunits’s contract would go on the board’s agenda.

    “But,” Bergstrom said, “what’s in front of us right now is to get through this crisis, both from the standpoint of health and the economy.”

    POLITICS

    Lyons Joins Andrews in County Commission Race

    Three Democrats will try to dislodge Republican Ron Beaty from board

    By

    The race is on for two Barnstable County Commission seats, and two experienced Outer Cape politicians are among the contestants.

    Former Select Board Member Cheryl Andrews, 60, of Provincetown, announced her candidacy in December. This week, Wellfleet resident Sheila Lyons, 62, told the Independent that she would join the race. Yarmouth Selectman Mark Forest, 64, has also announced his candidacy, according to the Cape Cod Times.

    All three are Democrats; they must overcome social distancing barriers to get the required 500 signatures on nomination papers by April 28.

    The only announced Republican for the November election is incumbent Commissioner Ronald Beaty Jr. of Barnstable, a Trump supporter who is a prime target for Democratic challengers. The other incumbent is Democrat Mary Pat Flynn, 86, of Falmouth, who is retiring from the three-member county board. The Democratic primary is scheduled for Sept. 1.

    Cheryl Andrews
    Cheryl Andrews. (Photo courtesy Cheryl Andrews)

    Andrews, a dentist with 30 years in town and county government, has been collecting signatures since January. She still doesn’t have 500 collected and certified, she said this week. The certification process entails town clerks in 15 towns checking the information on each signer, which is a challenge when town halls are closed, Andrews said.

    Lyons said she plans to send out emails with information on how to sign her nomination papers. She asked that supporters watch for information on Facebook on where to sign. “You’ll be able to bring your own pen, or sign with a pen and keep the pen,” she said.

    Lyons served as a county commissioner from 2009 to 2016.

    A Wellfleet resident since 2003, Lyons is employed by Outer Cape Health Services, where she assists people in signing up for MassHealth as a health care specialist. She has a background in geriatric social work.

    Sheila Lyons photo
    Sheila Lyons. (Photo Ed Miller)

    “I do feel that county government is very important for Cape Cod,” Lyons said. “It’s a regional hub that can do for a town what it cannot do for itself.”

    She said her leadership helped create the county’s emergency response system, which now has been coordinating the regional response to the coronavirus pandemic. She helped start the regional network on homelessness, which improved identification of the most vulnerable residents in the county, she said.

    She also served two years on the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates. Currently Lyons is president of the Wellfleet Community Forum and a board member of FORWARD (Friends Or Relatives With Autism & Related Disabilities), which is building housing for adults with autism in Dennis. She serves on the board of WOMR-FM.

    Andrews began volunteering on the Provincetown Board of Health in 1990 and has served on multiple boards and committees, including the select board for 14 years. Her county experience includes four years on the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates. She has been Provincetown’s representative on the Cape Cod Commission since 2018.

    “I’m walking into this with a breadth of experience that no one else has,” Andrews said. “I’m thrilled that there are at least two other candidates.”

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