Town Leadership
The Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Peter Lombardi
When a road goes unplowed or a permit stalls, the person with the most operational control over the response is appointed, not elected. Peter Lombardi is the Town Manager, hired by the five elected members of the Select Board, and he serves at their pleasure. The job is defined by Brewster’s own charter, Chapter 396 of the Acts of 2022, and the charter is specific. Section 4-1-4 makes the Town Manager the appointing authority for every town employee outside the school department, acting on the recommendations of the police and fire chiefs for their own departments. It hands him the annual operating budget, the capital budget and the five year capital improvement plan to build under the Select Board’s policy direction. It makes him the town’s chief procurement officer, with any contract over one million dollars needing the board’s approval. It puts the labor contracts on his desk to negotiate. And it gives him full authority to act for the town in an emergency, from opening shelters to spending emergency funds. Lombardi has held the office since before the charter existed: at the September 2021 special town meeting that bought the Sea Camps, the clerk’s own report names him, then titled Town Administrator, seconding the motions that moved a rained-out meeting to the next afternoon. So the plan to fix a problem usually starts here, then goes to the board, and then to the room where every registered voter can vote it down.
| Role | Town Manager (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board and serving at its pleasure, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 2198 Main Street, Brewster, MA 02631 |
| Phone | 508-896-3701 |
| Website | brewster-ma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints the town’s workforce. Charter section 4-1-4 makes the Town Manager the appointing authority for all town employees outside the school department, including civil service positions. For police officers and firefighters he acts on the recommendation of the chiefs; for other departments he consults the department head. The chiefs themselves are the one exception: the fire chief, the police chief and town counsel are appointed by the Select Board, after consulting the manager.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Town Manager prepares the financial forecast, the operating and capital budgets and the five year capital improvement plan, submits them to the Select Board and the Finance Committee, and administers them after Town Meeting votes.
- Signs the contracts. He is the town’s chief procurement officer and negotiates the labor contracts, and any contract over one million dollars needs the Select Board’s approval.
- Answers to the board. The Town Manager is responsible to the Select Board, works under its policy direction, and may be removed at its discretion.
- Answers to you, at Town Meeting. The charter requires the Town Manager to attend all sessions of Town Meeting and answer every question addressed to him about the warrant articles. If you are registered, you can be the one asking.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Brewster’s charter is new: the Legislature enacted the town’s first home rule charter, Chapter 396 of the Acts of 2022, on January 5, 2023, and the full text sits in the town’s own code as Chapter C, Charter. The charter divides the work three ways, and the division is worth knowing before you decide whom to write to.
- Town Meeting holds the legislative power outright, which means the budget and the bylaws. Nothing in the manager’s authority reaches that. The charter even schedules two of them a year: the annual meeting on the first Monday in May, and a fall session the Select Board may cancel by September 15.
- The Select Board is the executive policy board. It appoints the Town Manager, the fire chief, the police chief and town counsel, appoints the members of the town’s boards and committees, prepares the warrant that decides what Town Meeting gets to vote on, and grants the licenses.
- The Town Manager runs everything the charter gives him: the departments and their staff, the budget, the purchasing, the personnel policies and the labor contracts.
Here is that relationship in one visible act. At the board’s reorganization meeting of May 21, 2026, two days after the town election, it was the Town Manager who called the meeting to order and declared the quorum, and the board then voted its own chair. The manager runs the meeting until the board can run itself, and then he works for it.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 2198 Main Street, Brewster, MA 02631. Open Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 4pm, and Fridays by appointment.
- Town Manager’s Office: 508-896-3701, or email townmanager@brewster-ma.gov.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights and snow go to the Department of Public Works at 508-896-3212.
- Show up: the Select Board meets the first and third Mondays at 6pm at Town Hall, and the public is welcome. The Town Manager and board members also hold open office hours around town on the first Wednesday of each month, no appointment needed.
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