Four Candidates Vie For Two County Commissioner Seats
The race for two seats on the Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners finds two Democratic incumbents challenged by two Republicans.
Commissioners Mark Forest and Sheila Lyons are each seeking re-election to new terms. They’re being challenged by Cynthia Stead of Dennis and Ron Beaty of West Barnstable, who served one term as commissioner after being elected in 2016.
Sheila Lyons
Lyons, a Wellfleet resident and select board member, works as a healthcare access specialist for Outer Cape Health Services. She first served two terms as county commissioner from 2008 to 2016. She opted not to seek re-election to pursue other political opportunities but was elected back to the board again in 2021.
In talking to voters, Lyons said, many people are concerned about costs related to upgrading their septic systems. She credited the county’s Aquifund for providing low-interest loans to residents who need to update or replace their existing septic systems or connect to town sewer. But she said more can still be done to help property owners. Namely, there needs to be more competition among engineers and contractors able to do the septic work to help bring down costs.
“So how can a town negotiate an overall blanket price or reduction?” she said. “How can we encourage more providers to diversify and upgrade so there’s more competition to bring these prices down?”
“We have to make sure there’s equity there, that people who are paying for sewer, it’s all kind of comparable,” she added. “But it’s what we have to do to protect this beautiful place.”
Lyons said regional issues such as housing and the environment, including wind energy, have also been raised as concerns by voters she’s talked to. She credited the board of regional commissioners and county staff with setting up good financial practices that have positioned the county to effectively address those issues moving forward. Earlier this month, the county was awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada.
“That is really our finance and our administration that really pulled that together,” she said. “We encouraged it. We said that’s what we wanted to happen, but we invested in the right people.”
Lyons briefly considered pursuing the state representative seat vacated last month by longtime representative Sarah Peake, but ultimately opted instead to run for re-election as commissioner.
“I think I have served the county well to date,” she said. “I care about what happens to [voters]. I care about how we use their taxpayer dollars. I’m very conscious that we are using very local dollars, and how we can keep those dollars invested in this region.”
Mark Forest
Elected to the regional board in 2021, Forest boasts a varied municipal background. He is a select board member in Yarmouth in addition to his role as county commissioner and previously served as town administrator in Provincetown and on an interim basis in Brewster. He also previously worked as a legislative aide to Congressmen Gerry Studds and Bill Delahunt.
Forest also cited housing and the environment as key issues that voters want to see continued action on. But he also said he’s hearing a lot of support for the work the commissioners have put into shoring up the county’s finances in recent years. That includes helping the county secure a AA-plus bond rating.
“For the longest time, the county didn’t even have a bond rating,” he said. “And the fact that we’re at AA-plus and on the verge of getting a AAA [rating] I think is just something that’s very, very important and a sign of how far we’ve come.”
He said the county recently secured an additional $13 million for the Aquifund program, and that additional state funds are being invested into expanding the county’s alternative septic system test center.
“We’ve accomplished a lot, and [Sheila and I are] both anxious to get back at it and keep building on the progress we’ve made so far,” he said. “We know we have more work to do.”
That includes on the housing front. Forest expressed optimism about the gains that can be made in creating more housing on the county level on the heels of the new Affordable Homes Act.
While he said it’s “exciting” to see the state make such a large commitment to helping the Cape and the rest of the state tackle the housing problem that only continues to grow, going forward, the key will be “deploying the resources” that are being made available through the new legislation.
“Having the capacity at the regional and local level to take full advantage of these additional resources that are being made available to us,” he said. “That’s really what we need to zero in on.”
The environment will also be a priority for Forest. He said the county needs to up its investment in improving coastal resilience and addressing issues such as sea level rise and coastal flooding. He also wants to see gains made to better protect the region’s fisheries, including the local herring stock, which he said is being overfished.
“As we do that, we have other government agencies that are allowing those resources to be obliterated or be overharvested,” he said. “And we need to take a more aggressive approach with state and federal authorities to better protect herring and other marine resources.”
Part of supporting the region’s fisheries also includes supporting the county dredge program, Forest said. Specifically, he said he hopes to work to ease and streamline the process of obtaining state and federal dredging permits for Cape communities.
Forest said he is throwing his support behind Lyons in her bid for re-election. He said the county commissioner race is not about party, but rather “delivering for the voters and the communities.”
“This particular board has worked incredibly hard and had a great deal of success in delivering for our communities here on Cape Cod, and I think if something’s going well, why change?”
Cynthia Stead
Stead, a Dennis resident, has worked as a legislative aide and has also held positions with Mass Highway, the city of Worcester and the Internal Revenue Service, where she worked in the agency’s Hyannis office as a clerk from 1981 to 1984. She also served as executive director of Sight Loss Service, Inc. in South Dennis for seven years and currently works for Catholic Charities in Hyannis. She is also a housing commissioner for the town of Dennis.
“I’ve worked in government at the state, federal and local level for many, many years,” she said. “I know how to read a government budget.”
This is Stead’s first bid for a seat on the board of regional commissioners, and she said she’s running in the face of some uncertainty around the authority and jurisdiction of some county bodies, namely the commissioners and the 15-member assembly of delegates. She said she disagrees with the commissioners’ position on Question 6 and spoke in support of the assembly’s right to have some oversight on county finances and budgeting.
“I’m not crazy about having a six- and seven-figure budget totally under the control of three people,” she said. Stead said the assembly has veto power under the county charter on county finances, “and that’s the way it should be.”
Stead also is skeptical of commissioners’ concerns over how approval of Question 6 on the November ballot will lead to more legal spending at the county level to define the roles of the assembly.
Like her opponents, Stead also cited housing as a growing concern in the region. But she said more attention needs to be paid to the need for “all abilities housing,” where all units are built and designed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
“We have a chance to make a generational change in housing that will benefit the vast majority of the individuals here.”
As far as affordable housing, Stead said the existing state formula for determining who is eligible for it is too rigid. The state recognized those residents who earn at or less than 80 percent of area median income as qualifying for affordable housing, but she said multiple benchmarks are needed to adequately serve the number of people who need help with affording housing.
And while the county commissioners’ race has been framed as that between Democratic incumbents and Republican challengers, Stead said the labels are meaningless at a time on the Cape where the biggest issues cross party lines.
“We can disagree on a lot of things,” she said. “There is no gun control at the county level. There is no abortion at the county level. We don’t even have a county hospital. So other than that, what issues have you heard lately that are debated on party?”
Stead also voiced support for the county dredge, which she called the county’s best-run program alongside public health.
Ron Beaty
Beaty was first elected to the board of regional commissioners in 2016, He lost in his bid for re-election in 2020 and unsuccessfully ran again to rejoin the board in 2022.
A West Barnstable resident, Beaty is known as an Open Meeting Law advocate who regularly files complaints across the Cape. He holds two master’s degrees, one in administrative studies from Boston College and a second in educational technology from Lesley University. He has worked professionally in real estate management for more than 30 years.
"I'm running for Barnstable County Commissioner because I believe in the potential of our region and the urgent need for effective, transparent governance that truly reflects the needs and voices of Cape Cod residents,” he said in a statement to The Chronicle. “My history with the county, both as a former commissioner and as someone deeply involved in local issues, has shown me firsthand where our system works and where it needs improvement."
Beaty criticized the current regional board for “squandering” $160 million over the last four years, money he said could have been used to more effectively address issues such as housing and water quality. Instead, he said, those problems have only worsened under the current board.
In his statement, Beaty called himself an advocate for “local control,” and said if elected he will govern with an eye toward “transparency” and “accountability.”
“My goal is to create a Barnstable County where future generations can thrive, where our environment is preserved, and where every resident feels they have a stake in their local government,” he said.
Beaty said he’s critical of offshore wind, including threats turbine noise and placement can have for the marine ecosystem. He also raised concerns with the public health impacts for residents that can come with noise and vibration from the turbines, as well as impacts to local tourism and property values. The recent blade failure on one of the turbines erected as part of the Vineyard Wind project also raises concerns about the safety of offshore wind projects, he said.
Like Stead, Beaty is also critical of the regional board's position on Question 6. He also criticized Forest and Lyons for creating a toxic environment where power grabs are more common than genuine public service.
“Their refusal to acknowledge the assembly of delegates' rightful role has led to unnecessary bureaucratic battles and political posturing wasting taxpayer money that could have been better spent on Cape Cod's real issues like wastewater management, affordable housing, and protecting our environment."
If re-elected, Beaty pledged to keep public service at the forefront of his work as county commissioner.
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