For the first time in nearly two decades, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) will be ushering in a new head of its tribal council after the tribe’s general election on Sunday.
Fewer than 350 voters elected U.S. Army veteran Kevin Devine as the new tribal council chairman — the lead position in the Aquinnah tribe — ousting longtime incumbent Cheryl Andrews-Maltais.
Aquinnah Chief and election official Ryan Malonson confirmed that Devine had unseated Andrews-Maltais, with 180 votes compared with her 165 votes. Andrews-Maltais has been chair since 2013.
“It feels great,” Devine told The Times Monday morning. “This is a huge win for the people. We have been trying to make some changes for a long time, and gaining momentum with other folks stepping up and coming into council.”
Devine has served as a tribal councilman since 2021, and currently chairs the Aquinnah Wampanoag Housing Authority. Prior to the council, he was a sergeant major in the U.S. Army and served nearly 30 years, serving multiple deployments in some 50 countries across the globe.
During his candidacy, the councilman focused on providing housing for tribal members, improving communication, and building stronger ties with the broader Aquinnah and Vineyard community. Devine has also said that he wants to focus his efforts more locally, where Maltais-Andrews built ties to Washington, D.C. And he has suggested that trying to build a casino, once nearly realized by the outgoing administration, may not be feasible on the Island.
Devine tells The Times that he is ready to hit the ground running when he begins his three-year term at the start of the new year.
“Right when I’m sworn in, I’m going to march over to the town hall and see what their availability is,” he said of improving relations and communication with the town and tribe. “I’d like the community to know that we are here to communicate, and ask for help with understanding who we are as people. I want [the town] to support us in these efforts, and I’ll do my best to provide transparency for the Martha’s Vineyard community. We all need to work together on this.”
It wasn’t just Devine who was elected to tribal offices on Sunday. Voters also elected Tobias Vanderhoop, a former tribal council member, to the tribal secretary position over Christina McMullen. In a three-person race for two open seats on the council, incumbent Linda Coombs and Paul H. Jeffers-Mayhew were elected over Beverly M. Wright. The newly elected members will be sworn in on Jan. 3.
It was the change of leadership at the top of the ballot on Sunday that will have the most lasting impact, and Devine said that his focus — outside of improving communication — will be helping tribal members with affordability.
“We have a laundry list of things we want to accomplish, and the biggest piece is housing,” he told The Times, noting that the tribe’s staff has had difficulty finding a place to live. Devine’s focus will be to find suitable land and additional funding for housing construction. One possibility could be a low-income tax credit program.
“Affordable housing in Aquinnah is not affordable. Absolutely not. A one-bedroom house up there is $2,200 a month plus utilities,” Devine said. “Over 55 percent of our lands are wetlands, so it’s hard to do a whole lot of things construction-wise because of that; we have to see what is suitable and what we can do.”
One topic Devine plans to address during the beginning of his tenure is the possibility of a tribal casino. Under the Andrews-Maltais administration, the tribe for decades had pursued a small-scale operation, which was coined a bingo hall. Tribal lands in Aquinnah were even cleared for the hall in 2019, but a federal appeals court ruled that the tribe was required to go through local permitting for the project. The casino has since stalled.
In comments to The Times, Devine did not rule out pursuing a casino, but not one built on the Vineyard.
“There’s an opportunity for us, but not on Martha’s Vineyard. I just don’t think it’s feasible,” he said. “There’s opportunities elsewhere for us, but we just don’t really know what the update on this is. The tribal council has not been informed of anything going on with this process for many years.”
Moving forward for the tribe, Devine also highlighted the importance of tribal leaders who are actively present and engaged on-Island, and he stressed that he will focus on communicating locally.
“We have a lot of great people on council who are going to put a lot of effort into getting things accomplished. We have a great team,” Devine said.
He is also looking forward to working with the existing members of the council and newly elected members. “For the new folks on the board, I think everybody’s priorities and goals are pretty much aligned,” he added.
After his election win on Sunday, Devine was quick to acknowledge Andrew-Mailtais for her decades of leadership. “I just want folks to know that I thank Cheryl for her long years of service and what she’s done for the tribe,” he said. “I really do respect her, and she is highly intelligent and has a lot of connections, but it’s time for us to build on what she’s done over the past 15 or so years … It’s time for us to get caught up in today’s society.”
