YARMOUTH – Families that have been living at the Harborside Suites Hotel in Yarmouth as part of the state’s migrant shelter emergency are moving out.
The Yarmouth public health director told the Board of Selectmen about the update at a meeting on Tuesday. The plan is to continue the move-out until Thursday.
During public comment on the contentious issue, a resident asked the select board to use all legal means available to remove the migrants from the hotel, and to deter what they described as “future plans to warehouse migrants” in the town. Select Board chair Michael Stone responded.
“We do not take action against migrants. It’s anyone who stays in occupancy for a period of over 30 days, which in this case may very-well have included the migrants, but if they were non-migrants that were there in excess of 30 days, they would be also subject to the town’s enforcement actions,” said Stone.
The board also listened to a presentation from the police and fire chiefs on a combined dispatch center with the towns of Sandwich and Barnstable. Those two towns have already approved the agreement. Yarmouth selectmen were receptive to the idea, but a vote that was scheduled to be taken was postponed, as they said they wanted to get the proposal in front of the public first.
Board member Mark Forest spoke about the potential downside of these types of partnerships using the Dennis-Yarmouth School District as an example.
“We thought it was a great idea with the D-Y school agreement. Think of all the meetings where we were sort of lamenting how we were stuck with an agreement that really put the town in a very distinct financial situation. We’ve spent years wrestling with that,” said Forest.
By Jim McCabe, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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