A Cape Cod politician has been caught on hot mic insulting residents at a special town meeting which was livestreamed on YouTube.
Yarmouth Select Board member Joyce Flynn could be heard saying: ‘God, I’m sick of these people’ at the end of the almost two-hour long meeting. She has since apologized for the ‘expression of impatience’.
Residents in Yarmouth, a small Massachusetts town in the north of the ritzy Cape Cod enclave, had been voting on whether they supported relocating a small pumping station away from a cranberry bog.
Father and son duo Brian and Chris Wilson, who operate the 36-acre Fresh From The Vine cranberry farm which is located beside the bog, slammed Flynn for the ‘incredible’ insult.
‘It amazes me that we have no support from any of them, none at all,’ Brian Wilson told the Boston Herald on Saturday. ‘Not only do we have zero support but they bad mouth as well. It’s just incredible.’
Flynn, who is in her first term on the board, wrote an apology to residents which was posted on the town website on Thursday.
‘I would like to apologize to Yarmouth residents for a remark I made near the end of the Monday, December 9th Special Town Meeting,’ Flynn wrote.
‘In frustration when someone shouted an objection to hand counting the votes, I made an unguarded comment.
Cape Cod politician Joyce Flynn has been caught on hot mic insulting residents at a special town meeting which was livestreamed on YouTube. She has since apologized for the comment
Flynn could be heard saying: ‘God, I’m sick of these people’ at the end of the almost two-hour long meeting (pictured). She has since apologized for the ‘expression of impatience’
SCROLL TO 1h42m50s TO HEAR THE INSULT
‘I apologize for my expression of impatience. I remain committed to serving the residents of Yarmouth and ensuring our meetings are spaces where everyone feels valued and heard.’
But Chris Wilson said the damage could not be undone with an apology. ‘There is no acceptable response to that,’ he told the Herald. ‘That’s not how a town official is supposed to be.’
The Wilsons prompted the meeting where the hot mic moment shocked residents. They had been requesting officials to decide on an alternative site for the pumping station rather than it being beside their land.
More than 1,000 residents from the small town, which had a population of just over 25,000, signed a petition supporting them.
However, the vote ended up being non-binding, with officials saying the location had already been settled.
The meeting was held for Yarmouth residents to cast non-binding votes on whether they supported relocating a small pumping station away from a cranberry bog in their hometown
Residents in Yarmouth, a small town on the north of the ritzy Cape Cod enclave, had been voting on whether they supported relocating a small pumping station away from a cranberry bog. (Pictured: Boats docked along Bass River at South Yarmouth in Cape Cod)
Plans to build the pumping station as part of a $207.2 million wastewater project were approved by residents at a town hall meeting in the spring of 2023.
The pumping station will be smaller than 200 square feet in size, and ‘aims to restore water quality and protect local ecosystems’ without ‘intruding’ on the cranberry bog, Town Administrator Robert Whritenour told the Herald.
Wilson, who makes around $50,000 annually from the stand, said the project presents a ‘massive’ risk to his livelihood.
Select Board member Tracy Post said administrators have no ill will towards the cranberry bog.
