With the partial shutdown of the federal government now in its third week, Coast Guard officers, some workers at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport and members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah (Gay Head) are all facing uncertainty over paychecks and funding for some programs.
Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, chairman of the Wampanoag tribe, said the government has an obligation to fund sundry services for the tribe including health care, education assistance, some meals distribution and maintenance of natural resources.
“I’m actually on a call addressing this very issue with other tribal leaders from across the country,” she said in a text message Tuesday evening. “This shutdown affects us here in Aquinnah as well.”
Ms. Andrews-Maltais said the tribe is currently paying for services from funding reserves, a practice that is not sustainable.
“We will be needing to get reimbursed for expending our extremely limited reserves in order to maintain our services and keep our employees paid,” Ms. Andrews-Maltais said.
She added that agencies the tribe relies on for support, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education, Housing and Urban Development and the Department of the Interior are short-staffed during the shutdown and largely unavailable for assistance.
“There is no one there to assist in grant preparation and certainly no one to assist with ... time sensitive issues,” Ms. Andrews-Maltais said.
Under the federal shutdown contingency plan for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, less than half the agency’s 4,000 employees are being retained.
At the Island airport, manager Ann Richart said transportation security officers are federal employees and are unsure when they will be paid next. Air traffic controllers work for Midwest Air Traffic Control under a contract with the Federal Aviation Administration, meaning they too are affected.
“So far we haven’t experienced any problems with TSA at MVY but every day will be a concern,” Ms. Richart said in a text message. “If this shutdown continues into our upcoming 2019 season, we can expect, at a minimum, a much slower response and turnaround time from all of our FAA and TSA partners.”
At the U.S. Coast Guard station Menemsha, the paychecks are due on Jan. 15. Officers are continuing training and duties as usual despite uncertainty about whether those checks will arrive on time, station Chief Robert Parent said.
He said pay and supply chain uncertainty are the two most acute issues affecting the Island station, but officers at the station are performing all the duties they would typically perform at this time of year.
“We’re exercising a little more discretion in how we’re utilizing our assets at the station,” Mr. Parent said. “We have the essentials here. From search and rescue safety standpoint, nothing has changed. Our ability to respond is completely intact as it was before.”
A Coast Guard spokesman in Boston said the agency is focusing on immediate safety and rescue operations. Some regional Coast Guard operations that are being delayed include recreational boating safety checks, issuing and renewals of merchant licensing, fisheries enforcement and maintenance of aids to navigation like buoys.
Station Menemsha Chief Parent said in his 21 years on the job, he has become accustomed to the government shutting down.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve done this,” the station chief said. “I think we’re kind of used to it unfortunately, which doesn’t make it right.”
In Chilmark, donations are being solicited for the Coast Guard Spouses Association of Menemsha in the event that the shutdown continues. The address is 20 Edy’s Island Way, Chilmark, MA 02535.
Maj. Sterling Bishop of the Dukes County sheriff’s department wrote an open letter to the community encouraging people to donate.
“They’re public safety officers just like us,” he said. “We know the risk they take every day.”
Mr. Parent said the 24 active duty personnel in Menemsha already feel buoyed by the Vineyard community.
“The community is hugely supportive of the Coast Guard, and that goes without saying,” he said. “This is easily one of the most supportive places to be stationed.”
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