BARNSTABLE – As COVID emergencies are rescinded and more relief funding is directed toward businesses, Barnstable County Assistant Administrator Vaira Harik looked back on taking on the Assistant Administrator role during the pandemic.
Originally joining the county as a policy and data analyst in the Human Services Department, Harik stepped into her role as Assistant Administrator in Summer 2021, bringing with her prior experience as a Public Health Director in Cochise County, Arizona.
When recalling the County’s decision to choose her from what she described as a deep and talented pool of candidates, Harik credited her ability to anticipate and breakdown relevant data in a timely fashion, likening her role to that of a funnel by which to streamline data to help town and county officials coordinate effective responses to pressing issues.
“Our fifteen towns are robust, responsible, talented, good at what they do, and great partners for us as a County,” said Harik. “But there are roles that our County Government is able to take of a regional nature which I think assists our towns, and that remains a boon to our region.”
“Sometimes you need regional scope and regional purpose in order to get things done and be able to plan accordingly.”
Retrospectively looking back to the early days of the pandemic, Harik lauded the teamwork and cooperation of regional and town officials in acting quickly to protect the citizens of the region.
“It was heartening to behold how quickly we came together as a region, and our legislative delegation to the state were phenomenal in helping us access resources, calling and participating in meetings across the board. We had all the access we needed to our legislative delegation to get our needs met.”
The county recently finished the allocation process for the dispersal of its $41.4 million in ARPA funding.
By, Matthew Tomlinson, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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