Brewster, Massachusetts

Photo: Emw, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

In the fall of 2021, Brewster’s voters walked into a special town meeting and spent about twenty-six million dollars of their own money on 121 acres: the old Cape Cod Sea Camps, fifty-five acres running down to Cape Cod Bay and sixty-six more reaching back toward Long Pond. A private buyer wanted that land. A room full of your neighbors raised their hands instead, which is why the beach and the pond shore now belong to you. That room still runs the town. In May 2026 it voted a 29 million dollar budget and sent three tax override questions to the ballot, and two weeks later the 2,097 voters who turned out passed all three, because in Brewster a tax increase has to win twice: once in a hall where any registered voter can stand up and speak, and once on a ballot any registered voter can mark. This guide shows you where the rooms are and how to get into them.

Brewster at a Glance

10,318Residents (2020)

1803Incorporated

5Select Board Members

417Students

Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Brewster.

County: Barnstable. Brewster covers about 23 square miles on the bay side of Cape Cod, with over 325 acres of bay-facing beach and marshland, more than 80 freshwater ponds, and the 1,900-acre Nickerson State Park inside the town line.
Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Peter Lombardi
Schools: two town elementary schools, Stony Brook and Eddy, about 417 students, then the Nauset Regional district from grade 6, all led by Superintendent Glenn Brand.

How Brewster’s Government Works

Brewster runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Brewster is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Manager to run the town day to day. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, the direction is set by the Select Board, and the daily work is carried out by the Town Manager.

Town Meeting

The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Brewster is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.

Select Board

5 members elected town-wide. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and hire and supervise the Town Manager.

Town Manager

The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.

School Committee

5 members, elected by the voters of the district the schools serve. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.

Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
The Select Board hires the Town Manager and decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant.
Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws, and every registered voter present can vote.
You take part: pre-register at 16. A pre-registrant is on the list but is not allowed to vote yet. Once you turn 18 that designation comes off on its own and you are a registered voter in Brewster, which makes you a member of Town Meeting with a vote on the floor. If you never pre-registered, register with the Town Clerk, and do it well ahead: the rolls close at 5 p.m. on the tenth day before any election or Town Meeting.

Civic Calendar

Select Board: meets the first and third Mondays of each month at 6pm at Brewster Town Hall, 2198 Main Street, with additional meetings as needed. Each agenda is posted in advance on the town’s site, so check it before you go.
Town Meeting: the charter sets the Annual Town Meeting for the first Monday in May, at the Stony Brook Elementary School, 384 Underpass Road, and also provides a fall annual town meeting the Select Board may cancel by September 15. The Moderator, Charles L. Sumner, presides.
Town elections: the third Tuesday in May, and all three precincts vote in one place, the Brewster Baptist Church at 1848 Main Street. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Tuesday May 19. The next is in spring 2027. Dates, warrants and results are on the clerk’s Town Meetings & Elections page.
State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The clerk posts the current state primary and state election dates.

Explore the Brewster Edition

Your County Officials

Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected, and neither one sits on Beacon Hill. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. The sheriff is elected by the voters of Barnstable County. The district attorney is elected by the voters of a prosecution district, and Massachusetts draws eleven of those across its fourteen counties, so a district attorney’s territory does not always follow a county line. Both appear on your ballot in Brewster. Now you know what to look for.

District Attorney, Cape & Islands District

Robert Galibois

In office since 2023
Official site

Sheriff, Barnstable County

Donna D. Buckley

In office since 2023
Official site

Massachusetts elects fourteen sheriffs, one for each county, and eleven district attorneys, one for each prosecution district. The job is the same everywhere: the charging decisions, the jail. Look up any town in the state and see who holds these two offices there.

Officials for any Massachusetts town

Your First Civic Action in Brewster

You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard in your own town. Here is how to take a real concern to the people who decide.

Pick the right body. Town policy, roads, and police or fire go to the Select Board. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
Find the meeting. The Select Board meets the first and third Mondays at 6pm at Brewster Town Hall, 2198 Main Street, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town’s site.
Know your members. Five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
Speak. Meetings are open to the public, and the board takes public announcements and comments at the start of each meeting.
Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a missed pickup to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.

Town Hall: 2198 Main Street, Brewster, MA 02631. Main line 508-896-3701, open Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 4pm and Fridays by appointment.
Town Clerk & agendas: 508-896-3701, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at brewster-ma.gov.
Public schools: Nauset Public Schools, 508-255-8800, nausetschools.org.

Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.

Meet Your Select Board

Take Action in Your Town

MassCivics last checked this page on September 25, 2026.

Sources

Population and demographics: US Census Bureau, 2020 Census, P1, Brewster town, as of April 1, 2020.
Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, district profile, Enrollment Data (2025-26), as of October 1, 2025.
Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, district profile, general information (2025-26), as of October 1, 2025.
Town records: Town of Brewster, Select Board & Town Manager, as of August 28, 2026.
Town Clerk records: Town of Brewster, Town Clerk, as of August 28, 2026.
Charter and bylaws: Massachusetts General Court, Acts of 2022, Chapter 396, the Brewster home rule charter, as of January 5, 2023.
School district records: Nauset Public Schools, Nauset Public Schools, as of May 19, 2026.
County offices: Cape and Islands District Attorney, Meet the District Attorney, as of January 2023.