Bourne officials seek state guidance on enforcing motel-stay restrictions for migrants

BUZZARDS BAY — The Bourne Board of Health voted 5-0 on last week to prod the Gov. Maura Healey administration and state officials for clarity when dealing with migrants living in two local motels as well as other towns on the Cape and Martha's Vineyard.

Town of Bourne hotel and motel regulations call for guests to depart after three-week stays, and board members said this would include the 50 migrant and displaced families lodged in facilities in Bourne. Members said the regulation cannot be sidestepped or otherwise ignored.

The board, in addition to the message to the state drafted by Town Counsel Bryan Bertram, opted for a letter to motel owners about the local motel occupancy regulation, saying it will be enforced.

Select Board members, in the joint session with the elected health board and its agent Terri Guarino, agreed the department must enforce the motel-stay regulations as they have been applied in the past.

“This is a state problem,” Select Board member Jared MacDonald said. “We’re left to deal with it. This is an ongoing restriction that we’ve enforced in the town on a regular basis. For a long time. And it’s not something new. So, I think it’s important we stick to it. We’re a summer community, and that’s why we have those restrictions.”

In August, the Healey administration declared a state of emergency, citing an influx of migrants seeking shelter and services as the state already faces an affordable housing crunch. The state has tapped at least 120 shelter units on Cape Cod to house migrants and displaced people as demand for the Massachusetts emergency assistance system grows.

What to do? Four options discussed in Bourne

Health Board Chair William Doherty said the state has options. He said it could declare an extension of the Bourne regulation, designate the two motels as emergency shelters or allow the board to not enforce motel occupancy. Or do nothing.

Housing crisis: Cape Cod motels are part of an emergency shelter system for migrants, others. Here's why.

On a motel-stay extension: “My opinion is, the longer we allow, the longer it will take," Doherty said. "Because my experience dealing with state agencies is … if you say ‘it’s 14 days,’ they’ll ask for an extension. So, I’m sure if we do this with seven days, they’ll ask for an extension that we’ll probably grant.”

He said that “in the meantime” if his board opted to suspend the regulation, that would require direction from the Select Board “not to enforce it.”

Select Board Chair Mary Jane Mastrangelo, however, said members did not have any authority to suspend public health regulations.

Health Board member William “Dusty” Meier said members should not change any regulations, and he hopes the Bourne message to the state will force authorities “to step in and write something to deal with this situation if they get some push-back from other people.”

Doherty accented the point that migrants assigned to housing units on Joint Base Cape Cod would not be affected because those facilities are designated as an emergency shelter.

‘Getting rid of people you don’t want’

Inn at Buttermilk Bay owner Tabitha Vasconcelos spoke to the boards.

"I find this issue to very concerning. And I'll speak freely,” she said. “I think this is a race matter. I don't think if this was a bunch of white people, who were well-behaved, we would not have a problem with it. I feel someone does have to speak up.”

Vasconcelos said occupancy enforcement would adversely impact families, single mothers and military veterans in need of housing.

"We don't have enough places for a family to live,” she said. “You'll get rid of the people that you don't want here. But there are so many decent people that have no place to live. Because during the pandemic, the rich people came down and kicked the poor people out. And now those people have no place to go."

Her sentiment did not prompt comments from the two boards.

Members of both boards did not publicly name the two motels sheltering migrants.

Town Administrator Marlene McCollem earlier this month was charged by the Select Board with compiling a report about the Bourne experience to date with migrants and displaced families in the community and any impacts on the delivery of municipal services.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Bourne asks state for help with migrants staying beyond 3-week limit