Barnstable Swears In 4 New Town Councilors

BARNSTABLE, MA — Four newly elected and three re-elected town councilors were sworn into office. New faces Kris Clark, Tracy Shaughnessy, David Bogan and Gordon Starr took the oath to office, along with returning councilors Jennifer Cullum, Jessica Rapp Grassetti and Paul Hebert. The ceremony took place Monday morning at the James Crocker Jr. hearing room at Town Hall, which the council voted unanimously last Thursday to name after Crocker following his sudden death Oct. 18.

During the election season, Patch spoke with Bogan, Shaugnessy and Clark, and all three of the new councilors identified water quality as one of the town's most important issues going forward.

Bogan argued that business district changes can have negative implications for town water systems, and the town needs a permanent solution to keeping water clean. He said public awareness and input need to be taken into account when making these decisions.

"If we don't remediate the situation, then we have significant problems in terms of tourism and our own quality of life," Bogan said.

Clark told Patch preserving the town's water supply is the most pressing issue in Barnstable. In her candidate profile, she spoke in support of the town's upcoming sewer project.

"The upcoming sewering project in Barnstable has many good elements to get a handle on our wastewater management," Clark said. "To preserve the integrity of our drinking water, we need to keep our wastewater away from our public water sources. Identifying new water sources will also be prudent for our future — residential and business viability depends on it."

Shaugnessy said the town has a good wastewater management plan, but more needs to be done faster to keep the water supply clean.

"I worry that the extensive timeline will not happen quickly enough to mitigate the damage that we are already experiencing," she said. "Hyannis Water is contaminated and with a single source aquifer for the entire Cape this is not something we can avoid tackling. We need to push for federal aid and state funding, also to have PFAS regulated on a federal level."