The Town of Mashpee has hired Patrick Cassidy, a former reporter and news editor at the Cape Cod Times, to manage communications related to the town’s $54 million sewer construction project.
In the temporary role, Mr. Cassidy, who also runs his own fly fishing guide business, has worked with town staff to gather and present information about the sewer project through public forums and postings to the town’s website and social media.
Mr. Cassidy said that the 12 years he spent as a reporter covering Cape Cod “puts me in a position where not all of this is new to me” as he aims to provide information to voters “in a way that is informative, factual, prompt and accurate.”
“This [is a] kind of intersection of my main job, fishing, fisheries policy and clean water,” he said.
While getting up to speed on the particular issues facing Mashpee, Mr. Cassidy said that he has found that the town has developed “an innovative way of dealing with the cost [of the project] in a way that doesn’t put undue burden on the taxpayer.”
The sewer project includes the construction of a wastewater treatment plant adjacent to the town’s transfer station and a sewer system to service more than 400 properties from Drew and Butler Lanes in the north to about where Simons Narrows Road intersects with Yardarm Drive in the south.
To pass, the project will require a two-thirds majority vote at Town Meeting scheduled for May 3 at the Mashpee Middle-High School and a majority vote in response to a ballot question at town elections scheduled for May 8 at the Quashnet Elementary School.
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