After 34 years as a journalist, almost all of them on Cape Cod, K.C. Myers has resigned from the staff of the Provincetown Independent, where she has worked since its founding in 2019, to become director of communications for Barnstable County Sheriff Donna Buckley.

Buckley, a Democrat and former general counsel for the sheriff’s office, narrowly defeated Republican Tim Whelan in November in a Democratic Party sweep of county election races. Her campaign emphasized improving mental health and substance abuse treatment for people caught up in the criminal justice system. Myers is known for her enterprising and hard-hitting stories about the Cape’s opioid addiction crisis and other health and social justice issues.

Myers, who lives in Wellfleet, started her career in 1989 as a reporter for the Provincetown Advocate, then worked at the Cape Codder and briefly for the Springfield Union-News before moving to the Cape Cod Times in 1995. After 23 years at the Times, she was named editor of the Provincetown Banner in January 2018. She became a senior reporter for the Independent in September 2019, shortly after the new Outer Cape weekly was launched, and was promoted to managing editor in February 2022.

Her articles for the Times about opioids twice won the Publick Occurrences Award of the New England Newspaper and Press Association.

“I really like Buckley’s mission,” Myers said this week. “So many people who struggle with mental health and poverty, who society has failed, end up in jail. We can continue to punish and traumatize them or try to change the things that cause them to do bad things. It’s an uphill battle, but it’s worth the effort. With a Democrat in the governor’s office, this is an exciting time to enter the world of criminal justice reform.”

Myers said her tentative start date in her new job in Bourne is April 24. Her annual salary will be $107,000; she was making $58,000 at the newspaper. Publisher Teresa Parker said that Myers is not just a stellar reporter but also an invaluable newsroom colleague. “K.C. was a voice of experience who mentored younger writers,” said Parker. “She wrote about hard issues but always with compassion. We will miss her so much.”

“I loved working at the Independent,” said Myers. “It’s great to do high-quality work in your own community. I’ve never done anything else professionally but journalism, so this is going to be interesting.”