Falmouth Select Board Appoints 21-Year-Old To County Assembly
Falmouth Select Board unanimously voted to appoint 21-year-old Daniel Gessen to the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates at its meeting on Monday, April 4.
The select board, meeting before Town Meeting got underway, interviewed two candidates—Mr. Gessen, and Jack O’Connor—to serve as Falmouth’s replacement to the assembly following select board chairman Douglas C. Brown’s resignation from it at the end of March due to a conflict of interest.
Prior to the interviews, Mr. Brown told the two applicants that the select board has taken a firm stance on the issue of ARPA funds, which they hoped that the appointed delegate would support. To that end, Mr. Brown said that the board has sent two letters, the first of which asked for the forwarding process of ARPA funds to be expedited, and the second expressing that Falmouth is hoping the funds will be distributed directly to the towns by population.
Mr. Brown introduced Mr. Gessen, the first interviewee, saying Mr. Gessen ran for the position in 2020.
“I barely eked it out and stole the election from him,” Mr. Brown said. “I shouldn’t have.”
During his interview, Mr. Gessen said that he originally ran for the assembly because that specific form of county government is largely unique to Cape Cod, and he was drawn in by their out-of-the-box approach to regional issues.
“We’re one of the only counties in Massachusetts that actually has a county government such as this and of the counties that do have a government, we have the most robust by far, and I think that’s important,” he said. “There are a lot of issues up and down the Cape that towns share, whether it’s affordable housing or wastewater management, dealing with our unique environment on the Cape, as well as our unique business climate. I think that there are a lot of issues that our county is able to counter regionally with out-of-the-box solutions that end up being efficient and save towns money in the end.”
When it comes to ARPA funding, Mr. Gessen said he agrees in large part with the position taken by the town.
“It’s a shame that it’s being dealt with in this way,” he said. “I think that the county really benefits from being a cohesive body and when, regardless of the decision, it turns into a combative situation with the county commissioners and the assembly of delegates, there’s little benefit to be derived from it.”
The county is in a unique position, he said, of having twice the amount of money it would have in any other given year that is intended to relieve pressure imposed on the community by the pandemic.
“I think that there are some plans in the county government to distribute it regionally, but I don’t think they’ll be able to do it as efficiently or effectively as the towns would do in that position,” Mr. Gessen said.
After Mr. Gessen’s interview, board member Samuel Patterson asked him to address an email the board received regarding a fine of $1,075 owed by Mr. Gessen to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign & Political Finance “for failure to file mandated financial disclosures with their office as required by law.”
Mr. Gessen said that he had been made aware of the outstanding fine earlier that morning and learned from the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance that it was a clerical issue and miscommunication regarding whether his 2020 campaign was still active.
Mr. Gessen applauded the campaign finance office on its transparency and timely requirements for candidate reporting and noted that, in large part to be effective, it imposes high fines to quell misreporting.
“I think it was $50 a day when something was misreported, so that’s how it added up to a large amount—$1,000, I think around those marks—over the last couple of months,” Mr. Gessen said.
He said that the Massachusetts Office of Campaign & Political Finance was able to resolve the issue clerically and is looking into waiving the fee, as it was an oversight due to miscommunication.
A senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Mr. Gessen is set to graduate next month. He said that in the meantime, he still plans to attend all necessary meetings for the assembly in person. After graduation, he said, he looks forward to relocating back to Falmouth and being closer to Barnstable.
“Being a representative of Falmouth, I think that the giveback, the return on investment that we get, is going to be directly proportionate to the dedication of the person that’s going to be representing them,” Mr. Gessen said.
The second interviewee was Mr. O’Connor, who said he has had more than 35 years in finance and has experience working with both smaller municipalities like Falmouth and large cities like Boston, Oakland, and Los Angeles.
The recent retiree said he has been a full-time Falmouth resident for three years, having spent time here since 1999.
“I have a lot of time available and I wanted to make the best use of it and I thought the best use of my time now was to be able to give back to the community,” Mr. O’Connor said. “This seemed like a great way to do that. I’ve enjoyed [and] always followed what’s gone on in Falmouth and have enjoyed living here and I think this would be a great way for me given the experience that I bring.”
On the subject of ARPA funding, Mr. O’Connor said he agrees with the board’s position that the money should be sent to the towns directly.
“My concern is at the county level, you have a situation where people get used to having a certain amount of money and then don’t have it the following year, and that is going to be the case here, so my concern is definitely that we allocate the assets to the towns and let them make the best decisions on that. I don’t think there is any question that that’s the right thing in particular with this.”
Mr. O’Connor said he believes that the government that is run at the most basic level is also most critical, and his goal is to make sure Falmouth is represented in the process.
When asked by Mr. Patterson, he listed wastewater treatment, affordable housing, transportation, and addiction counseling as important issues for Falmouth.
“My wife is in the midst of finalizing her addiction counseling certification; she went back to school for that,” Mr. O’Connor said. “We both made a decision a couple of years ago that we were in a position to give back to the community. She decided that that was the best way for her to do it, to earn that accreditation, but we think that’s a significant issue both in Falmouth and throughout the Cape, and that’s something that we absolutely have to address and deal with.”
After the interviews concluded, the board had minimal discussion.
Mr. Patterson said that he has been impressed with not just Mr. Gessen, but also his family and their general level of community responsibility.
“I would just say that he’s a bright young man, and youth is going to be important in representing that part of our population,” Mr. Patterson said. “I’m very strongly inclined to—in fact, I’ll nominate Dan Gessen as our replacement to the Assembly of Delegates.”
The subsequent vote was unanimous.
Mr. Brown apologized to Mr. O’Connor, saying that he did not know there would be such a good second candidate. Board members expressed their satisfaction with the thoroughness of Mr. O’Connor’s application, and recommended he look at other open positions that would suit his background. Mr. Patterson, who is also a member of Falmouth Economic Development and Industrial Corporation, suggested that Mr. O’Connor apply to the EDIC, where his experience in finance would be greatly beneficial.