Chatham Civics Online
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Chatham town seal
Town Edition

Barnstable County

Chatham, Massachusetts

Photo: Bob Linsdell, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

In May 2025 the people of Chatham stood up at Town Meeting and voted to borrow about $32 million to extend the town’s sewer system. The vote was 426 to 75, and then it had to win a second time at the ballot box, because borrowing paid for outside the state’s limit on the property tax levy has to pass in two separate rooms. That is the shape of power in a town that runs on open Town Meeting. One room is a hall where every registered voter can stand up and speak. The other is a ballot every registered voter can mark. The town owns the fish pier at Aunt Lydia’s Cove, it owns the water system that fills your tap, and it decides what to do with both in rooms you are allowed to enter. This guide shows you where those rooms are and how to get into them.

Chatham at a Glance

6,594Residents (2020)
1712Incorporated
5Select Board Members
1,644District Students

Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Chatham.

  • County: Barnstable. Chatham sits at the elbow of Cape Cod, about 16 square miles of land nearly surrounded by water, and residents still name its parts: North Chatham, West Chatham, South Chatham and Chathamport.
  • Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Jill R. Goldsmith.
  • Schools: Chatham shares the Monomoy Regional School District with Harwich, about 1,644 students across four schools, led by Superintendent Robin A. Millen.

How Chatham’s Government Works

Chatham runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Chatham 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 Chatham 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

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

  1. Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
  2. The Select Board hires the Town Manager and decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant.
  3. Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws, and every registered voter present can vote.
  4. 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 Chatham, 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 on Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. at the Town Office Annex, 261 George Ryder Road. Each agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center, so check it before you go.
  • Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting was held on Monday, May 11. The Moderator, William G. Litchfield, presides.
  • Town elections: Chatham votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Thursday, May 14. The next is in spring 2027.
  • State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The September 1, 2026 state primary is past, and the state election is Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

Explore the Chatham 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 Chatham. 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 Chatham

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.

  1. 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.
  2. Find the meeting. The Select Board meets on Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. at the Town Office Annex, 261 George Ryder Road, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
  3. Know your members. Five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
  4. Speak. Meetings are open to the public and residents may address the board. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
  5. 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: 549 Main Street, Chatham, MA 02633. Main line 508-945-5100, Town Manager’s office 508-945-5105.
  • Town Clerk & agendas: 508-945-5101, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at chatham-ma.gov.
  • Public schools: Monomoy Regional School District, 508-945-5130, monomoy.edu.

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 26, 2026.

Sources