Yarmouth's election is May 21. Meet the five people competing for two Select Board seats.
The Yarmouth town election will be Tuesday, May 21, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. There will be no in-person early voting.
The Select Board has five candidates running for two open seats as a result of the retirements of Dan Horgan and Peter Smith. The Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School Committee has one open seat. No candidates for School Committee were able to get enough signatures to appear on the ballot, but Glenn J. Martin will be seeking write-in votes.
One ballot question will seek an $880,000 Proposition 2 ½ override to fund the shortfall in the town’s portion of the $43.8 million Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District budget. The same article at the recent town meeting passed easily.
Voters can find their precinct voting places on the town’s website.
Who are the Yarmouth Select Board candidates?
Joyce Flynn
Joyce Flynn is running for the first time to an elective office, but she has been very involved in town issues since retiring as a university professor. She educated herself on renewable energy issues and joined the town’s energy committee in 2008, which she currently chairs. She has also served on the Cape Light Compact governing board since 2010, six years as chair. She is running “to increase our efforts to foster our human community and the woods and water that surround us,” she said, referring to affordable workforce housing, the school system and strengthening local business districts as well as the natural environment.
“We need to rethink our zoning and the way we live,” she said, such as considering mixed use development, especially along Route 28.
Keith Kesten
Keith Kesten, who has lived on the Cape most of his life, remembers Yarmouth “as a fun town to come to” in the 1970s and ‘80s, with lots of venues and entertainment for young adults. He has a background in law and now works for the Public Works Department at the town transfer station. He said he is running for a town board for the first time because he is “not very happy with the amount of low-income housing that has been built along Route 28.” He said those residents don’t contribute to the town.
“We need to make Yarmouth much more attractive aesthetically and add new businesses,” he said.
He is disappointed that plans for improving Route 28 and building a marina off Parker’s River never came to fruition.
Tom Nickinello
Also a first-time Select Board candidate, Tom Nickinello has lived and owned a construction business in Yarmouth for a long time. He served on the Zoning Board of Appeals for many years and the Personnel Board and has been active in the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce, serving as board president and treasurer. He is most concerned that the businesses, along with the tax rate, have declined, noting that commercial taxes amount for only 4.5% and residential is 92% of the total revenue.
“I want to make sure the residents can stay here,” he said.
He is proud that Yarmouth is the only town to generate 30 million gallons of water with reclaimed water.
Tracy Post
Tracy Post is a familiar name in Yarmouth as she previously served four terms on the Select Board and a total of 20 years on town boards and committees. She took a respite while running for state representative in 2022 for the 1st Barnstable District, losing to Chris Flanagan. She is running for the Select Board again because she “missed the work very much, meeting people and the challenge.” With two selectmen leaving, she said she “can hit the ground running on Day 1” with her experience. She is interested in working for affordable housing and wastewater, strengthening the business base and living within Proposition 2 ½. She said she is proud of helping to bring the wastewater issues to the finish line.
Jeni Wheeler
Another first time Select Board candidate, Jeni Wheeler said she is running at a critical time in history when she believes people need choices. Her top issues of concern, like all Cape Cod, she said, are housing and wastewater. She believes her business experience in several food services is relevant, as is having an MBA in entrepreneurship. She is co-founder and executive director of the Family Table Collaborative in South Yarmouth that started in 2020 to address the immediate needs of families and seniors who struggled with food security during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wheeler said she is experienced at “coalition building and galvanizing people to act.” The reason the organization’s success is that hundreds of volunteers are working together, she said.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Yarmouth town election: Who are the candidates for Select Board?
