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Town Edition

Barnstable County

Dennis, Massachusetts

Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

On May 5, 2026, a community center for Dennis came down to raised hands in one room. Article 13 asked Town Meeting to pay for the project manager and the designers for a building at 901 Route 134. The hand count was 277 in favor and 454 against. Someone moved to reconsider, the hall voted a second time, and the count came back 129 to 296. That was 859 residents deciding, out of 13,298 registered voters, and the decision was theirs. This guide shows you how to get into that room.

Dennis at a Glance

14,674Residents (2020)
1793Incorporated
5Select Board Members
859At the 2026 Town Meeting

Sources: US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Dennis.

  • County: Barnstable. Dennis runs the width of the Cape, from Cape Cod Bay in the north to Nantucket Sound in the south, and holds five villages that each have their own post office: Dennis, Dennis Port, East Dennis, South Dennis and West Dennis. The Bass River is most of the western border with Yarmouth.
  • Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Elizabeth C. Sullivan
  • Schools: Dennis does not run a school district of its own. It shares one with Yarmouth, the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District, which enrolls about 2,905 students from both towns and is led by Superintendent Marc J. Smith.

How Dennis’s Government Works

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

Town Meeting

The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Dennis 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 Administrator.

Town Administrator

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

School Committee

7 members, elected in two towns. It sets district policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.

  1. Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and Dennis’s seats on the regional School Committee.
  2. The Select Board hires the Town Administrator 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 Dennis, 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 Tuesdays at 4:00 pm in the Stone Hearing Room at Dennis Town Hall, 685 Route 134, South Dennis, unless the agenda says otherwise. Each agenda is posted in advance.
  • Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting convenes on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in May, and it takes 150 registered voters to make a quorum. The 2026 annual meeting met on May 5 and 859 residents attended. A Special Town Meeting can be called whenever town business cannot wait, and needs a quorum of 75; the most recent one met on October 6, 2026 at the Dennis-Yarmouth Intermediate/Middle School.
  • Town elections: Dennis votes in the spring across five precincts. The 2026 annual town election was held on May 12, and the next one is in spring 2027.
  • State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state primary was held on September 1, and the state election is on November 3, 2026.

Explore the Dennis 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 Dennis. 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 Dennis

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 Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
  2. Find the meeting. The Select Board meets Tuesdays at 4:00 pm in the Stone Hearing Room at Dennis Town Hall, 685 Route 134, South Dennis, and the agenda is posted in advance.
  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: 685 Route 134, South Dennis, MA 02660. Town Administrator’s office 508-760-6148.
  • Town Clerk & agendas: 508-760-6112, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at town.dennis.ma.us.
  • Public schools: the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District, 508-398-7600, dy-regional.k12.ma.us.

Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a Tuesday meeting, 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 October 15, 2026.

Sources