A Cape Cod town official has apologized after getting caught on a hot microphone at the end of a special town meeting saying “God, I’m sick of these people.”

Yarmouth Select Board member Joyce Flynn made the comment during a non-binding vote on whether residents supported relocating a small pumping station away from an iconic cranberry bog and farmstand.

Chris Wilson, operator of Fresh From the Vine, and his father Brian Wilson, co-owner of the 36-acre land along Route 28, say they believe the comment represents a direct attack on their livelihood and the support they’ve received during a fight with the town.

“It amazes me that we have no support from any of them, none at all,” Brian Wilson told the Herald on Saturday. “Not only do we have zero support but they bad mouth as well. It’s just incredible.”

Flynn, in her first term, issued a written apology to residents, 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,” she added, “I made an unguarded comment. 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.”

Over 1,000 residents signed a petition prompting the Wilsons’ request for officials to decide on an alternative site for the pumping station to be discussed at a special town meeting. The vote, however, ended up being non-binding, with officials saying the location had already been settled.

“There is no acceptable response to that,” Chris Wilson told the Herald. “That’s not how a town official is supposed to be.”

Yarmouth officials have developed plans to build the pumping station on a nearby property as part of a $207.2 million wastewater project that voters approved at a town meeting in the spring of 2023.

The pumping station is designed to be less than 200 square feet, which “aims to restore water quality and protect local ecosystems,” Town Administrator Robert Whritenour told the Herald. It would be under separate ownership and would “not intrude upon the cranberry bog or the Farm Stand,”

The project presents “massive” risks to his harvesting operations, “not to mention the obstruction it will be to the farmstand which is our main source of income,” Chris Wilson said in an interview with Herald. He generates roughly $40,000 to $50,000 every year from the stand.

“What’s been put out in public has been a little bit frustrating because it’s been made to make people believe that we aren’t supporting farming and that we are trying to impact the cranberry bog,” Select Board member Tracy Post said. “That is very far from the case.”