'Something always comes up.' Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe blocked from town committee seats?

Appointments to town committees in Mashpee, and elections for committee leadership roles, show bias against the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, according to tribe members.

Instances have occurred with the Community Preservation Committee, the Select Board and the School Committee, members said.

“Whenever there's a candidate that's a tribal citizen, there's always a problem, an obstacle, a barrier or a procedural problem," Community Preservation Committee member B. Lynne Barbee said. "Something always comes up and blocks that person from a position of power.”

The Community Preservation Committee makes recommendations to town meeting on how to spend the town's Community Preservation Act money on open space, affordable housing, historic preservation and outdoor recreation. The Select Board appoints the committee members from other town boards or at-large.

An at-large vacancy currently exists on the committee.

Yvonne Avant, a Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe member, was unanimously recommended recently as a new member over candidate Terrie Cook.

Town Manager Rodney Collins though, has requested an administrative investigation surrounding the recommendation in favor of Avant.

There were several "concerns" that were expressed that need to be fully vetted, Collins said in an email to the Times.

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"I do not want to contribute to any speculation while this matter is pending other than to say there is no gross misconduct suspected," said Collins. Collins said an issue came to his attention from a member of the committee but he declined in the email to name the individual.

Avant's committee membership was delayed at the May 15 Select Board meeting. Select Board members reserved the right to interview Avant and Cook, despite Avant's unanimous endorsement by the Community Preservation Committee.

In a May 15 letter, Avant withdrew her letter of interest to be on the Community Preservation Committee. Collins provided a copy of the letter to the Times. Avant could not be immediately reached for comment.

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When tribal members run for key positions in the town, Barbee said, they are often treated unfairly.

The holdup surrounding Avant's appointment was discrimination, said Brian Weeden, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council. Brian Weeden is also a member of the School Committee.

"What community are you preserving because it doesn't look like the community we represent," said Weeden.

Town officials pick and choose what policies they want to follow, he said.

Was the Community Preservation Committee's recommendation process clouded by racism?

The vacancy opened after Ed Larkin resigned Jan. 7, according to Mary Waygan, a Planning Board member who represents that board on Community Preservation Committee. Cook submitted a letter of interest Jan. 12, and Avant sent hers March 17, according to documents provided by Collins.

After the annual town election in May, the Community Preservation Committee re-organized, and both candidates were considered, said Barbee. During that process, Barbee said she was voting for Avant, in part, because she was a tribal member.

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“Yvonne has historic roots in this town,” she said. “She also has a lot of experience obtaining and following up on grants. That’s why I wanted her on the board.”

While several committee members expressed support for both candidates during a discussion, ultimately Avant was recommended to the Select Board unanimously, said Barbee.

Once the committee meeting adjourned, Barbee said fellow committee member Brian Hyde said Barbee was racist for choosing Avant based on tribal status.

"Both Brian and Terrie stood there challenging my vote for Yvonne," she said. "It was uncalled for."

Neither Hyde nor Cook returned emails sent by the Times requesting comment.

Was Cook's candidacy a conflict of interest?

Cook is an administrative assistant in the Select Board and the town manager's office, according to the town website.

That connection makes her potential seat on the Community Preservation Committee a conflict, said Barbee.

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The timing of Cook's letter of interest — Jan. 12. — was significant, said Waygan.

Larkin's resignation wasn't accepted by the Select Board until Jan. 23, and the vacancy wasn't announced until March. The committee didn't discuss Larkin's resignation or the vacancy prior to Cook's letter of interest.

"Did she, as a staff member, take advantage of privileged information in applying for the position?" said Waygan. "It seems like she did."

Select Board chair says he was following procedure

The Select Board is charged with evaluating and selecting qualified applicants to serve on boards, commissions, committees or councils, according to board policy.It's initially the Community Preservation Committee's responsibility to interview applicants, and recommend candidates based on an evaluation method that includes ratings: strongly recommended, recommended, recommended with hesitation, or not recommended. Committee members are then required to provide a minimum of two candidates to the Select Board to interview, along with a summary of the interview process, and recommendation ratings, according to the board policy.

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John Cotton, chair of the Select Board, said during the May 15 meeting, only Avant was invited to be interviewed. According to Select Board policy, he said Cook should have been there also.

"We found out only one candidate was coming before us and we heard it was because she was a tribal member," he said. The town manager didn't want to have any possibility of bias consideration, which is why he ordered an investigation, Cotton said.

For Barbee, it was clear the committee strongly recommended Avant.

"If somebody wanted to vote or recommend Terrie — they should've said that. Nobody made a motion to support Terrie's candidacy," she said.

David Weeden describes struggle to attain key town positions

In July 2022, Andrew Gottlieb resigned from the Select Board where he had served as chair. David Weeden, also a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, was vice chair. Usually, Weeden said, the chair position is automatically passed to whoever is in the vice chair position. Instead, the Select Board chose to re-organize after Gottlieb's resignation and elected John Cotton to the chair position.

At the following week's Select Board meeting, Weeden said, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe members and non-Native town residents protested Cotton's appointment. In response, the group again re-organized and elected Weeden chair.

Weeden was reelected in May to the Select Board. After the election, the Select Board reorganized during their May 15 meeting. Because Weeden hadn't yet been chair for one year, Select Board member Michaela Columbo made a motion to keep Weeden on as chair. The Select Board ultimately elected Cotton.

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That same week, Brian Weeden — a relative of David Weeden, who is on the Select Board — ran for chair of the School Committee, and read a speech before committee members about his ancestors, who controlled town affairs prior to 1870 when Mashpee was an Indian plantation reservation, he said.

"All elected positions were held by Wampanoag people up until the 1970s," said Brian Weeden, in an interview with the Times. After that, Wampanoag people were largely pushed out of key town positions, which contributed to land loss, and power conflicts between the town and the tribe, Brian Weeden said.

Brian Weeden is the first Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe member to be elected to the School Committee since Alice Hicks left in 1969, he said. If Weeden was elected as chair of the School Committee, he would have been the first tribal member to do so in 54 years.

"My great-great-grandmother Amanda Stella Hicks served on the School Committee for over 30 years, along with being chairperson for seven years," said Weeden. "Her final term as chairperson was in 1963 — exactly 60 years from the day I ran for chair. It would have been my honor to follow in her footsteps."

The School Committee elected Cathy Lewis as chair instead, on May 17. Brian Weeden is vice chair.

As a Mashpee Middle-High School alumnus, the Tribe chairman and co-chair of the Massachusetts State Seal Commission, Brian Weeden feels he was more than qualified for the chair position. Since he joined the School Committee, the group was recognized with a 2021 Magna Award for equity from the National School Board Association for its collaborations with the town and the tribe, he said.

Can the town reserve seats for indigenous people?

Waygan calls the situations surrounding Avant, and Brian Weeden and David Weeden implicit bias.

"When you start to pull together what happened to Ms. Avant, and Brian, and now David, there starts to be a pattern of blocking Native Americans from positions of power," said Waygan. "Whether people are doing it actively or subconsciously, it's not OK."

Waygan said there should be seats reserved for tribal citizens on boards and committees. The Cape Cod Commission, she said, reserves a seat on its board for a Native American person.

Sarah Colvin, communications manager for the Cape Cod Commission, confirmed that the Cape Cod Commission Act outlines a seat on the commission board for an Indigenous member. David Weeden currently serves as the commission's Native representative.

"They are an important minority and they should be represented," said Waygan. "We had this wonderful candidate in Yvonne Avant, who has now walked away because of stress and tension."

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Warm welcomes scarce: Mashpee Wampanoag say town committee seats rare