Dykens, Schell To See Re-election To Chatham Select Board

 CHATHAM – Both the current chair of the select board and the board’s longest-serving member plan to run for additional three-year terms in the May annual town election.

 Jeffrey Dykens, who has been on the board for 12 years, and current chair Michael Schell have taken out nomination papers for the two board seats that will appear on the May 15 ballot.

 As of early this week, they were the only candidates to declare for the two select board seats. Also on the ballot are positions on the Monomoy Regional School Committee and the housing authority. No candidates had taken out papers for those seats as of Monday.

 Both select board candidates said they want to continue working on several projects, including the two affordable housing developments that are now in the works. With projects in West Chatham and South Chatham, the town has “never done so much” for affordable housing, and there’s more to come, Dykens said, including likely “attainable” housing projects on Stepping Stones Road and Old Harbor Road.

 Schell, a retired attorney who is also the chair of the town’s affordable housing trust board, said he hopes that by the end of his second term, if he’s re-elected, the West and South Chatham projects will be completed and occupied. He said he “firmly believes” both are good projects that will benefit the town, and added that developer Pennrose is a good partner.

 “That’s something I’d like to see through,” he said.

 Providing year-round housing is critical to maintaining the town and its institutions, including the schools, Schell said. He said he wants to work to find practical solutions to issues facing the town.

 “Let’s be a consensus town, if you will,” he said.

 He lauded the town’s administration for its “prudent” financial policies, calling the staff “first class.” 

 Other areas that will take up the board’s attention include renovation of the Center for Active Living and keeping up with sewer installation, “a massive project,” he said. He called for the replacement of siding at Monomoy Regional Middle School to be done as soon as possible. Although there are rumblings about revisiting the regional school agreement’s financial provisions, Schell said he’s not sure the political will to make changes exists in Chatham.

 The recent painting of a swastika on a Cedar Street home was disappointing, he said. “We have to recognize that there is an element of that kind of impetus to act out and speak out in unconscionable and frankly hateful ways,” he said. “We all need to gather together and say this is intolerable.”

 Officials will also have to watch what’s going on with federal funding. “We should be very, very vigilant” about the risk of losing that money, he said. 

 Dykens said he is “pumped” to run for a fifth term, especially since he is about to retire from a long career in health care.

 “It wasn’t even a hard decision for me to run,” he said. “We’ve got so much good stuff cooking. I really feel so positive about the progress of the town.”

 Dykens has been chief financial officer at Duffy Health Center for the past five years and worked for 28 years before that as a Cape Cod Healthcare financial officer. A former commercial fisherman, he spent 17 years on the school committee before being elected a selectman in 2013.

 He cited many of the same issues as Schell as needing attention from the board, adding that the current select board is “very functional” and “balanced.” He also applauded the town’s financial team.

 “We watch every dollar, and so does the finance committee,” Dykens said, adding that the town’s extremely low tax rate is the envy of other communities both on and off Cape. “We’re not going to mess that up.”

 Dykens said he favors paid parking in downtown lots — but not on Main Street — to help with the town’s perennial summer parking problem. “We’re leaving millions on the table,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of places to put the money: affordable housing, schools, infrastructure, pay down debt.” He also thinks that a shuttle bus is a “no brainer. I’d like to at least try it.” 

While paid parking is a “hot potato,” Schell agreed a shuttle should be looked at seriously.

 “I’m not prepared to dismiss it out of hand,” he said. “But I’m not ready to say let’s go.”

 Dykens said retiring will give him more time to devote to the board and liaison duties with other boards and committees, something he acknowledges he hasn’t been as attuned to as he should have been.

 “I’m more fired up about the town than I’ve ever been,” he said.

The last day for candidates to take out nomination papers is March 27.