At a hybrid hearing on Wednesday, March 9, state Rep. William Straus D-Mattapoisett, chair of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation, told Dukes County Commissioner Tristan Israel that a bill to set term limits for Steamship Authority board members and to establish a chief operating officer position “is not micromanaging” legislation. Moments earlier Israel testified that “to try to micromanage the Steamship Authority through legislation is not good practice.”
Straus, who represents the 10th Bristol District, which includes Fairhaven and New Bedford, noted a portion of the SSA is encompassed in the area he represents. While Straus didn’t spell it out further, one of the five board seats hails from New Bedford, one of the seven port council seats hails from Fairhaven, and the SSA’s maintenance facility is in Fairhaven.
He further noted the SSA was “decades and decades ago a creation of the legislature.”
Israel asked the committee to “table or take no action” on the bill.
Straus said the record would be left open for a week to allow for further comment.
Later in the same day, Israel told the Dukes County Commissioners he “urged” the committee not to advance the legislation and to let the Vineyard have more time to “digest these proposals.”
Israel suggested there remains a fear factor in that other port communities with more political clout based on their populations could alter the bill.
Commission chair Christine Todd said state Rep. Dylan Fernades, D-Falmouth, has agreed to come to the next county meeting “to address the matter with us directly.” Fernandes and state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, sponsored the bill. Cyr was also invited, Todd said, but he is unable to attend.
“I think I’m going to have bumper stickers made up: ‘Don’t legislate about us without us.’ Right?” Commissioner Peter Wharton said. “That’s the main point.”
Wharton said whether the changes seem like good ideas or not, “I certainly don’t want to hear about it after the fact.”
Commissioner John Cahill, who is also Tisbury’s port council member, said his primary problem with the bill is the lack of “process” — that feedback wasn’t sought. Cahill said he was in favor of a COO, but didn’t like “how this whole thing went down.”
Commissioner Keith Chatinover said it “probably would have behooved Julian and Dylan to come to one of our meetings and explain this to us.” Chatinover added there may not be a clear understanding of whom they should present the bill to on the Vineyard.
Cahill disagreed.
“I think fundamentally for off-Island folks, government is so dysfunctional on the Island, they would rather not deal with it,” Chatinover said. However, Chatinover said that’s no excuse for Fernandes and Cyr not to have come. Nevertheless, he said he felt their lack of discussion ahead of time shouldn’t derail beneficial legislation.
Todd said the Dukes County Commission is the appointing body, and “should have been included in this conversation.” Todd added, “I see absolutely no excuse why we were not approached and engaged from the get-go.”
Cahill said he received a brief legislative call the day before the bill was filed, but he questioned whether Todd, the chair, was ever looped in.
“According to Dylan, he tried to call me, but he was using a phone number that is defunct for me, and has been for at least five years,” Todd said.
The commission took no action on the issue, and closed the subject with the expectation of speaking with Fernandes shortly.
The precise genesis of this bill remains a mystery. For our state representative and state senator to have conceived of this bill entirely on their own is hard to believe. And then filing it with no consultation with the communities that appoint SSA board members is a nasty surprise. It’s very disappointing behavior on their part, and one has to wonder what’s driving it. It’s not too late to withdraw the bill, and begin a round of discussions with all involved especially the Islands. I hope they can be persuaded to step back and listen to their constituents.