Town Leadership
The Chatham Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Jill R. Goldsmith
When a road goes unplowed or a permit stalls, the person with the most operational control over the response is appointed, not elected. Jill R. Goldsmith is Chatham’s Town Manager, hired by the five elected members of the Select Board, and she serves at their pleasure. The office matters because of what Chatham’s charter puts in it. The town runs under a Home Rule Charter, Chapter C, and that charter vests the administration of all the town’s fiscal, prudential and municipal affairs in an executive branch headed by the Select Board and the Town Manager together. The Select Board sets policy and appoints the manager. The manager runs the town. The charter makes her responsible for the overall operation of the community and the management of every town department, and it gives her the power to appoint, on merit and fitness alone, the department heads and the staff for whom the charter provides no other method of selection. That is a power a Town Administrator in many Massachusetts towns does not hold, and it is why the office is called Manager here. She also builds the budget the town votes on. Each year the operating budget starts on her desk, department by department, before it goes to the Select Board and then to Town Meeting. She oversees the town’s purchasing, its personnel and its contracts, and she answers to the board in public, at meetings anyone may attend. So the plan to fix a problem usually starts here, then goes to the board that hired her, and then to the one room she cannot overrule: the Town Meeting where every registered voter can vote it up or down.
| Role | Town Manager (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board and serving at its pleasure, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 549 Main Street, Chatham, MA 02633 |
| Phone | 508-945-5105 |
| Website | chatham-ma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints the department heads. The charter gives the Town Manager the appointment of the town’s department heads and their staff, on merit and fitness alone, wherever the charter names no other method of selection. This is the power a Town Administrator in many Massachusetts towns does not hold, and it is why the office is called Manager here.
- Builds the budget. Each year the operating budget starts with the Town Manager, department by department, before it goes to the Select Board and then to Town Meeting for the vote.
- Answers to the board. The Town Manager works under the Select Board’s policy direction and serves at its pleasure, and the board evaluates her performance every year.
- Answers to the public. The manager and the officials she oversees report in open meetings that any resident may attend, and the money she proposes is not final until the registered voters at Town Meeting say so.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Chatham is governed under a Home Rule Charter that puts the town in the hands of a Select Board and a Town Manager together. 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 Select Board is the chief policy making board. It appoints the Town Manager, evaluates her each year, appoints the boards the charter assigns to it, and signs the warrant that decides what Town Meeting gets to vote on.
- The Town Manager runs everything the charter gives her: the departments and their heads, the budget, the purchasing, the personnel policies and the town’s contracts.
The line between them is deliberate. Voters elect the board, the board hires the manager, and the manager runs the town day to day and answers back to the board. That way the person with the most operational power is accountable to five people you did put on the ballot.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 549 Main Street, Chatham, MA 02633. Main line 508-945-5100.
- Town Manager’s Office: 508-945-5105.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights, water and snow go to the Department of Public Works at 508-945-5154.
- Show up: the Select Board meets on Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. at the Town Office Annex, 261 George Ryder Road, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.
MassCivics last checked this page on September 26, 2026.
Sources
- Town records: Town of Chatham, Staff Directory, as of September 1, 2026.
- Town records: Town of Chatham, The Mainsheet, July 24, 2026, as of July 24, 2026.
- Town records: Town of Chatham, Town Manager, as of September 1, 2026.
- Charter and bylaws: Town of Chatham, Home Rule Charter, Chapter C, as of September 1, 2026.