Town Election Watch: Here's Who Running For The Two-Year Select Board Seat

Below is a breakdown of the two candidates in the running for the two-year seat on the select board. This is the second installment of a series of articles highlighting the candidates in each of the races that will be decided by the May 10 election.

Tracy Kelley

Tracy Kelley is a lifelong resident of Mashpee, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and a parent who is actively involved in Mashpee schools.

“I am from Mashpee, born and raised. ...I was a graduate at Mashpee-Middle High School; I was actually the first class to go from grades 7 through 12 [in Mashpee],” Ms. Kelley told the Enterprise over the phone on Tuesday, April 1.

Ms. Kelley earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and her master’s degree in linguistics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With her background, she was able to launch the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s first online language learning platform.

She has 20 years of experience in nonprofit organizations, where she focused on public health with youth development, capacity building and community driven wellness, and said that her career has given her a strong skill set in working collaboratively with others.

“I lead and direct teams and individuals. Sometimes those teams can be as large as 20 folks. And also manage individuals on those teams,” Ms. Kelley said. “I also support budgets for projects, contracts, strategic planning—quite a few things that I think would really support the direction of the Mashpee Select Board.”

Throughout her lifetime, she said, there have been “some challenges in staying here in Mashpee.”

“I really got inspired to run based on equitable housing,” she said, “and also the intersection of our environment. Clean water is really important to me.”

Growing up, Ms. Kelley said she was always in Mashpee’s waters. The town’s waters once served as her family’s food source, too, as they would fish and shellfish in the area.

“It was really tough, more and more, just experiencing not being able to go to the lakes and ponds to enjoy the water, sometimes unable to fish in the waters depending on what’s going on with algae blooms, cyanobacteria, the pollution, nitrogen levels—it’s just been really disheartening and sad to experience,” Ms. Kelley told the Enterprise. “I just have a really personal, vested interest in making sure we have clean water and also making sure we have places where working families can afford to live so that they can stay in the town that they love and that they call home.”

Ms. Kelley’s goal of bettering housing and affordability in Mashpee is a personal one.

“I’ve always wanted to have a place in my name to call home in Mashpee; it’s been a goal of mine for a long time. At a couple of key points in my lifetime, I have been really and truly priced out and out of luck,” Ms. Kelley said. “I know that I’m not the exception to that. Unfortunately, I’ve had to see a lot of my peers relocating out of Mashpee or even over the bridge so that they can find affordable rental units for themselves or for their growing families. The housing market for purchasing a home has also come with its own set of challenges.”

Ms. Kelley said that her goal was to purchase a home in Mashpee after finishing graduate school in 2020.

“The housing market went cuckoo. In 2020, I just really again got priced out. I didn’t have a million dollars for a reasonably sized family home,” Ms. Kelley said. “I’m really hoping that I bring, in a genuine way, experiences and the voices of a generation of Mashpee that I haven’t quite seen reflected on the select board or often in the housing market, whether its rental or to purchase a home for folks who really want to work here, live here, and raise children here.”

If elected, Ms. Kelley says she would like to research and collaboratively address the intersection between Mashpee’s environmental protections and the town’s need for equitable housing. She said that she’d like to have more input from residents.

“I’d love to have more listening sessions and really engage people across ages, across income levels,” she said, “so that decisions and the direction and vision of the town is really reflective of who is living here.”

Ms. Kelley also stressed the importance of having diverse voices on the board, including the voice of a local parent.

“I’m really hoping to bring an intergenerational voice to the select board, should I earn the town’s votes,” Ms. Kelley said. “I think it’s really important to have a diversity of thought, experience and leadership on a select board so that it’s representative of the town’s demographics.”

She said that being involved in the school system keeps her connected with the town.

“I think that’s also just a big piece of what I can bring to the select board—not only an intergenerational voice, but also the voice of a local parent,” Ms. Kelley said. “So, really focusing on any support or needs that the school system may have, wanting to bring that type of voice to the select board as well.”

Ms. Kelley expressed her experience and values with behavioral health.

“Throughout my life, in professional capacities and individually within my own family and circle of friends and colleagues, I have really sought to support people in need to encourage systems or policies at places that I’ve worked that can really increase access and resources to address behavioral health—that could be substance use, it could be for more increased resources to access mental health services,” Ms. Kelley said.

She said that local behavioral health services on Cape Cod have wait lists that go as far out as nine and 12 months.

“For general maintenance or upkeep, some people could try to navigate that, but if it’s a mental health crisis, then certainly not; you don’t have nine to 12 months to get connected with someone,” she said. “I’m certainly looking forward to supporting, at a local level, any behavioral health initiatives that come to the town’s way, and also just bring my grant writing experience to explore opportunities that maybe we just don’t have yet here in town, but we could have if there’s support around resources and accessing those resources at a municipal level. I’d be really passionate and excited about that.”

Gregory McKelvey

A. Gregory Mckelvey serves on multiple committees in Mashpee, including the finance committee, the charter review committee and the capital improvement program committee.

He moved to Mashpee in 2010 and first got involved in the town by volunteering at the Mashpee Senior Center, where he helped residents navigate technology.

“I was helping older folks figure out technology; that was really rewarding. In 2015, I was appointed to the waste management committee,” Mr. McKelvey told the Enterprise on Thursday, April 3. “I was on that [committee] for about a year or so. I joined the finance committee; I’ve been doing that for about nine years now.”

Mr. McKelvey said that serving on the finance committee has allowed him to see where Mashpee is moving financially, as well as keeping him in the know about what is happening in the town.

“We started to see things early on, probably when we started doing the development of the design of the wastewater facility. Following those numbers and knowing where those numbers lead you is very important when you’re trying to run the town,” Mr. McKelvey said. “Citizens should have the right to know where their money is being spent and how it’s being spent, and making sure it’s done in a responsible way.”

Mr. McKelvey has been an American Baptist minister in Hanover for 10 years, a career that has taught him skills like in collaborating with committees, putting together budgets and managing property.

“I know that when people hear the word ‘Baptist’ they have a certain reaction,” Mr. McKelvey said. “I want to distinguish that I am an American Baptist. American Baptists were the abolitionists. They believed and worked for women’s suffrage and championed civil rights.”

Through his work with the Mashpee Kiwanis, which he joined in 2020, Mr. McKelvey says he has learned the importance of giving back to the community.

“We’ve been able to help family after family in Mashpee. We give backpacks to the school system. We give other gifts to different families at Christmas time. We give Christmas gifts to the Boys & Girls Club,” Mr. McKelvey said. “That’s been very rewarding and it’s allowed me to meet some wonderful people in Mashpee. Mashpee has a heart of generosity and I see that every year as I work with the Kiwanis.”

He said that on Saturday, the Mashpee Kiwanis gathered together with four to five other Cape Cod Kiwanis groups to package and distribute 10,000 meals to those who need them on Cape Cod.

“It’s about giving back. I grew up in rural North Carolina and had to scrap my way through things sometimes,” Mr. McKelvey said. “Families in this economy are struggling. It’s important that we remember each other and that we’re all in this together and to help each other where we can.”

Among Mr. Mckelvey’s top priorities for serving on the select board are the town’s wastewater and water quality, affordable housing, and transparency and communication in local government.

“My absolute top priority is the wastewater initiatives. We [Mashpee] started that. I support that. I’d like to continue that because if we don’t continue that, then we’re going to pay the price environmentally and financially,” Mr. McKelvey said. “The cleanup that we started has to keep going so that the town can clean up the waters and preserve what we can for future generations.”

He said continuing to look for no-interest financing, loan forgiveness and state and federal opportunities will support the moving of this project. He also emphasized the importance of cleaning the Mashpee-Wakeby Pond “by putting that cluster system in there.”

“I also think it’s important to have some kind of agreement or understanding with Sandwich so they can join in with that, if they will,” Mr. McKelvey added. “Of course, that’s their issue; you can’t force that, but it would be nice to share the load a little bit.”

Mr. McKelvey is aware that affordable housing is a complicated issue.

“Affordable housing is a conundrum. I don’t believe we can build our way out of this problem,” Mr. McKelvey said. “It’s going to take a multifaceted approach in getting all of the players around the table and thinking out of the box. I think municipalities have a way of doing things, but sometimes we really just need to brainstorm ideas, even if we’re just putting it on the table so that they can see that we are trying to think of new things.”

He said that repurposing buildings is a part of solving the issue, as well as a voluntary deed restriction, but “none of it is easy.”

“It is going to take people sitting around the table, cooperating and dialoguing together,” he said. “I think there needs to be more of that. ...Things need to be streamlined so they are simple for people to understand and gain access to information that they need.”

Mr. McKelvey said he would “recommend that the town website be updated at some point to make it easier to navigate and for people to find information.”

“I’d also love to see greater communication between the select board and citizens outside of meetings,” he said. “Maybe two select board members have a coffee hour or time or a house meeting with constituents.”

He also suggested having more communication between the select board and the town’s other appointed boards and committees.

“We should have an ongoing dialogue with those boards to bring someone in and say, ‘It’s nice to have you, Mr. Chairman; tell us what is happening in your committee and how can we help?’” Mr. McKelvey said. “That type of dialogue is really important and needs to continue in the town. I’d love to see more people talk, cooperate and work together to unify and to bring Mashpee back into a place where we can have a conversation that leads to solutions.”

When it comes to Mashpee, he said there is a lot to appreciate, but one thing in particular tops the list.

“One thing I appreciate about the town is its honoring of our veterans, how they’ve done the memorial in the park, and how we come forward every year to honor those men and women who have served,” Mr. McKelvey said. “I think that is really touching. This community does it really well. I love being a part of that. In fact, I just love being a part of Mashpee. When I moved here, I felt very welcomed. I still feel very welcomed. It’s a place that is close to my heart. If elected, I will serve the town with my whole heart, with fairness and with integrity.”