Town Leadership
The Town Administrator’s Office
The Town Administrator
Jay McGrail
Harwich runs day to day on a job nobody votes for. Jay McGrail is the Town Administrator, hired by the five elected members of the Select Board, and the same five can end that contract if they lose confidence in him. The Harwich Home Rule Charter vests the town’s executive powers in the Select Board itself, then directs the board to have the Administrator carry out the administrative work, which is the whole split in one sentence: the board decides what, and the Administrator decides how. In practice that means he appoints and supervises most department heads, assembles the annual budget department by department, and carries the town’s largest spending requests to Town Meeting, where the final vote is not his. The Select Board voted unanimously to offer him the job at a public meeting on January 12, 2026, finalised the contract on January 20, and he started work on March 16, coming from three and a half years as Middleborough’s Town Manager.
The reason this office matters to you is timing. Almost every town problem reaches him before it reaches anyone you elected. A flooded road, a broken beach gate, a permit that will not move, a school building question that turns into a borrowing article: the first plan for it is drafted inside this office, and only then does it go to the Select Board, and only then to Town Meeting. If you want to change what the town does about something, the earliest useful moment is while that plan is still being written. The Administration Department sits at Town Hall, 732 Main Street, and it answers the phone. So does the Assistant Town Administrator, James Mulcahy, who handles much of the day to day. A resident who calls in September about next spring’s budget is early. A resident who stands up at Town Meeting in May is voting on a plan that was set months before, which is still worth doing, and is simply later in the process.
| Role | Town Administrator (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board under contract, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 732 Main Street, Harwich, MA 02645 |
| Phone | 508-430-7514 |
| Website | harwich-ma.gov |
What the Town Administrator Does
- Runs the departments. Police, fire, public works, health, recreation, and the rest answer to the Town Administrator, who appoints most of their leaders.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Administrator proposes how the town will spend its money for the town and the schools, then defends that plan before the Select Board and Town Meeting, which holds the final vote.
- Answers to the board. The Administrator serves at the pleasure of the elected Select Board and carries out the policies it sets.
- Reports to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of Town Meeting, and in Harwich that means every registered voter who walks in.
The Administration
- Department heads are appointed by the Town Administrator and carry out policy, from plowing snow to inspecting restaurants.
- The Select Board is the check: it hires and can fire the Administrator, sets policy, and signs the warrants that put questions before Town Meeting.
- Boards and commissions, many of them appointed by the Select Board, decide questions like zoning, conservation, and licensing.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 732 Main Street, Harwich, MA 02645.
- Town Administrator’s Office: 508-430-7514.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights, and missed pickups go to the Department of Public Works at 508-430-7555.
- Show up: the Select Board meets at 6 pm every Monday at Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.