In this year’s contentious race for the Select Board, Betty Cavacco is trying to reclaim a spot atop town government by touting her experience, her efforts to save taxpayers money, and a return to what she describes as a more collegial relationship on the five-member board.
She and her supporters tick off a list of accomplishments during her two-term tenure from 2017 to 2023 – including millions in savings on healthcare costs and finding creative ways to fund infrastructure improvements like roads. But on the campaign stump, she has said her decision to come out of retirement and run again centered on the current acrimony on the board.
“You look back at the past 11 months and it’s really hurtful to see how the board is working with each other, or shall I say not working with each other,” Cavacco said in a Local Seen interview published on May 1. “What I have seen on the Select Board is so dysfunctional and so inappropriate and not respectful … the bickering needs to stop.
“Trust me, I have lost my temper quite a few times,” she continued. “But as long as you can talk to each other there’s always a compromise – always, always, always.”
But an Independent investigation into Cavacco’s previous tenure on the board reveals a different, less compromising side of the longtime Manomet politician – she was a lightning rod for allegations of inappropriate meddling in town affairs, internal conflicts of interest, and even an accusation of larceny involving the proceeds of a $5,000 check she cashed for her private foundation in 2018. The donors still say they don’t know where the money ended up.
Cavacco adamantly denies the allegations, most of which were levied well before the Independent was created in 2023, and which only became relevant again after she announced her run for Select Board earlier this year. Dozens of interviews and internal records obtained since then attempt to document these stories, which for years were whispered among town officials and political activists – but never before published.
“I don’t know where this is all coming from a week before the election,” Cavacco said in an interview on Wednesday. “But I think it’s probably a reflection of all that’s going on in this race. I think it’s ridiculous.”
Allegations of meddling
One particularly acrimonious episode during Cavacco’s time on the board involved a well-publicized email scandal in late 2020, when then Town Manager Melissa Arrighi was caught privately reviewing Cavacco’s emails at Town Hall. The controversy eventually led to Arrighi’s 2021 departure, along with a severance package of more than $300,000.
Although Arrighi’s flame-out was the subject of news accounts, little was written about the reasons she may have wanted to review the emails in the first place.
Arrighi declined to be interviewed for this report. But three high-ranking town officials at the time who had knowledge of the relationship – and who spoke on the condition of anonymity – said Arrighi’s frustration stemmed from Cavacco’s constant interference in lower-level hires and the appearance she was working on behalf of the employees in contract negotiations instead of representing the town’s interests.
“There is a provision in the charter that gives the Select Board the right to appoint one member to participate in collective bargaining,” one town employee at the time said. “But we all thought it was inappropriate that she take the other side. She’s supposed to be negotiating on behalf of all the taxpayers and town management, not for the unions.”
Cavacco told the Independent the allegations she meddled inappropriately are “flatly, 100% untrue.”
“I was involved in collective bargaining, we all were,” she said. “It’s not supposed to be a war where people take sides. It is supposed to be a negotiation. You need equity and fairness. It is a give and take. Most town employees are taxpayers, too.”
Town officials interviewed for this story said there was a particular incident shortly after Arrighi left that involved interim Town Manager Lee Hartmann, who Cavacco was pressuring to make concessions to the union representing Department of Public Works employees. One provision demanded by Cavacco, they said, involved her attempts to bring emergency snow removal compensation for town workers more in line with the rates the town paid private contractors.
Cavacco said it never happened.
“First of all, the compensation could never be as much as the private contractors,” she said. “We could never afford that.”
Hartmann, who retired last year after serving decades as planning and development director, declined to comment.
One documented case illustrating Arrighi’s frustration with Cavacco’s alleged interference came in a 29-page report in 2023 by the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission, which investigated a case involving then-Plymouth Police officer Scott Vecchi, who accused the town of unfairly passing him over for two promotions. Vecchi is now a candidate against Cavacco for one of the two open seats on the Select Board.
“Cavacco and Town Manager Arrighi had ‘spirited’ discussions in which Cavacco attempted to dissuade Town Manager Arrighi from promoting the Appellant,” the ruling said. “Arrighi told Cavacco that she should not be trying to influence the Town Manager’s decision, as the Town charter does not allow the Select Board to interfere with promotions.”
The report also quoted from Arrighi’s handwritten notes documenting the calls.
On April 20, 2021, Arrighi wrote in her notes: “[Cavacco] relentless ‘override/veto my decision.’ I’m doing 2nd interview – back off!”
In the end, Arrighi did not promote Vecchi and the Civil Service Commission upheld her decision, but not without criticizing the interference.
“After rebuffing the efforts of numerous Town and County employees and office holders who overtly sought to interfere … the Town Manager ultimately conducted a fair, thorough review and provided sound and sufficient reasons for bypassing the officer for promotions,” the commissioners wrote.
During his campaign for Select Board, Vecchi, has targeted Cavacco, even posting online an AI-generated meme of her behind bars.
Another documented case of the tense relationship between Cavacco and Arrighi came on Nov. 30, 2021, when Arrighi made a lengthy statement to the board after being called into an executive session to discuss her departure package and to answer questions about a complaint filed against her by her then Director of Public Works, Jonathan Beder, known as JB.
“Once I became aware it was JB who was unhappy, I reached out to him to meet,” Arrighi told the board, according to a letter she read during the executive session and reviewed by the Independent. “JB clearly acknowledged he had been angry with me about an issue and we talked through it. JB stated to both me and the Human Resources Director that “they made me do it” and he was never going to put one in writing. It appeared to me he had just been venting to a Select Board Member.”
Contacted by the Independent, Beder confirmed the account Arrighi provided to the board. He said when he told Arrighi “they made me do it,” he was referring to Cavacco and Select Board Member Richard “Dickie” Quintal. Quintal currently sits on the Select Board and is running for reelection on a slate with Cavacco. Quintal did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
“I did meet with Betty and Dickie on occasion when they were looking for information about the things she was doing,” Beder told the Independent in a recent interview. He also confirmed Cavacco and Quintal promised him their support to have him replace Arrighi as town manager. “All that sounds accurate to me,” Beder said.
“I chose to withdraw,” he said, referring to the town manager selection process. “There was a lot of blood in the water over what was happening with Melissa, and frankly, I didn’t want to work with that board … I have nothing good to say.”
Beder is now town administrator in Avon.
Cavacco denied the meeting took place and said Beder never had her support for town manager.
“Mr. Beder has a terrible reputation in this town,” Cavacco said. “You think people hated me? They hated him even more.”
The $5,000 check
On Nov. 29, 2017 – about six months after she first was elected to the Select Board – Cavacco deposited a $5,000 check into the account of Plymouth Youth Foundation, a nonprofit she established in 2014 to preserve the Manomet Youth Center.
A giant replica of the check was presented to Cavacco, with much fanfare, by the leaders of the Herring Ponds Watershed Association.
The money was raised to help renovate a nearby clubhouse at Hedges Pond in Cedarville, which is owned by the Town of Plymouth along with the 30-acre pond and 113 surrounding acres of woodlands, beach, and a campground. The members of the Herring Ponds association hoped they would be able to use the renovated clubhouse at Hedges Pond for meetings.
An original plan for the town to turn over the clubhouse to another nonprofit which would buy and maintain it had fallen through, and the town was left with the decision whether to fund the renovations directly. According to interviews and email traffic obtained by the Independent, the $5,000 donation couldn’t be spent until Town Meeting approved it. In the interim, there was nowhere set up to hold the money. That’s when the elected Cavacco stepped in to help.
According to records, the agreement was for Cavacco’s youth foundation to simply keep the money until Town Meeting signed off on the expenditure, then turn it over for the renovation project.
That’s when the trouble started. Town Meeting never approved the project, and it died, according to records and interviews.
Years passed before the Herring Ponds Watershed Association began officially inquiring about the donated funds being held by Cavacco.
“Betty, I am president of the Herring Ponds Watershed Association,” Don Williams wrote in a May 13, 2022, email to Cavacco. “An internal audit showed that we had cut a check for the Plymouth Youth Foundation on Nov. 29, 2017, for $5,000 that was cashed (signature endorsed) by you. We had intended the check to help with the Hedges Pond Park building repairs. We have heard nothing back from the Plymouth Youth Foundation about how this money was used. Could you please provide receipts, etc. to settle this issue. We never heard anything back from the Plymouth Youth Foundation and are concerned.”
Less than an hour later, Cavacco replied.
“There is no reason for concern,” she wrote. “We had accepted the check with the intention of dedicating the money to the Great Hall renovation project at Hedges Pond when the [Community Preservation Committee] makes the recommendation at Town Meeting. As you know, they have not made the recommendation yet, but when they do and the recommendation passes Town Meeting the PYF will be there with the 5K to help with those repairs.”
In 2022, the Plymouth Youth Association changed its name to the Quintal Family Foundation, according to records filed with the Massachusetts Secretary of State.
On Dec. 8, 2022, Williams sent a message to Select Board Member Richard “Dickie” Quintal asking for proof the money was still there and available for restoration of the clubhouse.
Quintal wrote back saying he knew nothing about the Herring Ponds Watershed Association or the merger of any nonprofit and asked Williams to send a “corrected” letter to the town immediately, clearing his family’s name, and threatening to turn the matter over to his attorney otherwise.
Quintal told the Independent in a recent interview Cavacco had asked him if he wanted to take over the Plymouth Youth Foundation account, but he never put in any money nor took any out of the account.
“I know nothing about this $5,000,” Quintal said.
By September 2023, the letters between Williams and Cavacco were less polite.
“Herring Pond has made repeated requests to you for proof that its donation was in fact deposited into the Foundation’s account at Rockland Trust Company, but to date you have not provided such proof,” Williams wrote on Sept. 19 2023, giving Cavacco a week to comply or “the Board will thereafter regretfully consider filing at the Plymouth District Court an application for the issuance of a criminal complaint against you for larceny.”
Cavacco replied to Williams in her own terse email, providing the bank receipts.
“The threats made in your current correspondence are neither appropriate or necessary,” she wrote. “That donation was timely and appropriately deposited into the PYFC bank account at Rockland Trust, evidence of which is attached. The monies were then used solely for the charitable purposes of the Foundation,” Cavacco said.
But in an email the next day, Williams told Cavacco the foundation’s filing for fiscal year 2018 with the Massachusetts attorney general’s office reported no contributions. The fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30th so the fiscal year 2018 report would have covered the November 2017 check cashed by Cavacco and deposited into her foundation account.
The form, obtained by the Independent, confirms the Plymouth Youth Foundation reported no contributions in that year. Tax returns from the foundation the same year show a $2,000 payment to Cavacco’s husband, Kristain Cavacco, listed as president and director.
Available tax returns show it was the only year an officer of the foundation received a payment.
Cavacco told the Independent she had no recollection of the payment to her husband that year, but that he took over operations for a year after she won her seat on the Select Board.
“We are talking about things that happened eight years ago,” she said. “I really don’t remember.”
Later in September 2023, attorney Richard Serkey, representing the Herring Ponds association, sent Cavacco an email asking for statements from Rockland Trust from the time the check was deposited to June 30, 2018, as well as copies of the checks for disbursements, so that Town Meeting could determine what happened to the $5,000. He never received them.
Shortly after Serkey’s e-mail to Cavacco, Williams decided not to pursue the matter any further for fear the association’s relationship with the town could be jeopardized, and Serkey dropped the matter.
“All I know is that the status of that donation has not changed,” Serkey said. “We have no idea how the money was spent, but it wasn’t spent on what we intended.”
David Kidwell can be reached at david@plymouthindependent.org.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org.