Town Leadership
The Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
C. Elizabeth Gibson
When the ferry is late, a permit stalls or a road washes out, the person with the most operational control over the answer is appointed, not elected. C. Elizabeth Gibson is the Town Manager, hired by the five elected members of the Select Board. The town’s own page records that she has held the office since 1995 and has worked for the town since 1988, that she grew up on Nantucket and went to Nantucket High School and then to Wheaton College in Norton, that she earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration in 1998, and that she is a Credentialed Manager through the International City Manager’s Association.
What the office holds is written into the town’s charter, which the Legislature enacted as Chapter 289 of the Acts of 1996. Section 4.1 vests the administration of the town in the Town Manager and makes her responsible for the efficient administration of every officer, board, council, commission and committee she appoints. Section 4.3 gives her the appointment of the heads of all Town Administration departments other than any elected heads, subject to a resolution of disapproval by the Select Board. Section 4.1 also puts every annual operating and capital budget on her desk to prepare and submit, has her prepare the Town Meeting warrant for the board to adopt, and lets her take part in every Select Board deliberation without the right to vote. 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 for an initial term of two years, with any successive term no longer than three, and required to live on the island within six months of appointment |
| Office | Town Hall, 16 Broad Street, Nantucket, MA 02554 |
| Phone | 508-228-7255 |
| Website | nantucket-ma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints the department heads. Charter section 4.3 gives the Town Manager the appointment of the heads of all Town Administration departments other than any elected heads. The Select Board has fifteen days from the day notice of a proposed appointment is filed with its Chair to vote disapproval, and if it does not, the appointment takes effect.
- Builds the budget. Section 4.1 has the Town Manager prepare and submit every annual operating budget and capital budget, set the schedules and procedures every department and committee follows, and direct all phases of the budget process through the fiscal year.
- Writes the warrant. The same section has her prepare the Town Meeting warrant for the Select Board to adopt, on a schedule the board sets. What reaches the floor of Town Meeting is drafted in this office first.
- Signs the contracts. She negotiates and signs the town’s contracts and contract amendments and can start a termination or an enforcement action, in every case subject to a resolution of approval or disapproval by the Select Board.
- Sits at the board table without a vote. Section 4.1 lets her be present at all meetings of the Select Board and take part in all deliberations, without the right to vote. It is a real distinction: she is in every conversation and in none of the decisions.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Nantucket is governed under two charters that the Legislature passed in the same year, 1996. Chapter 289 of the Acts of 1996 is the charter of the Town. Chapter 290 of the Acts of 1996 is the charter of the County, and it was put to the voters of the town on the ballot at an annual election for town officers. The town’s own site records that the voters adopted the charter in 1996 at Town Meeting and that the vote substantially changed town government in Nantucket. The division of work is worth knowing before you decide whom to write to.
- Town Meeting holds the legislative power of the town outright, which means the budget and the bylaws. Nothing in the manager’s authority reaches that.
- The Select Board appoints the Town Manager and may remove her by a majority of the full count of members then in office. It appoints Town Counsel and the registrars of voters. It appoints and, for cause, removes the members of the Airport Commission, the Conservation Commission, the Commission on Disability, the Council on Aging, the Council for Human Services, the Finance Committee, the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals, plus any committee acting for both the Town and the County. And it may acquire real estate for the town without a Town Meeting vote, which is why the charter also gives ten registered voters the right to petition Town Meeting to veto that purchase.
- The Town Manager runs what the charter gives her: the departments and their heads, the budgets, the warrant, the contracts, and the power to remove, suspend or discipline any of her own appointees for cause.
- The County Commission is the same five people wearing a second hat, and it holds the county’s own budget, its own ordinances and its own offices. The county charter protects four offices from the county government itself: the Sheriff, the Register of Probate, the Clerk of the Courts and the Register of Deeds cannot be abolished by county ordinance.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 16 Broad Street, Nantucket, MA 02554. Open Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.
- Town Manager’s Office: 508-228-7255, and the main town line is 508-228-7200.
- Report a problem: potholes, water and solid waste go to the Department of Public Works at 188 Madaket Road, 508-228-7244. The town also runs Click and Fix Nantucket for reporting from a phone.
- Show up: the Select Board meets most Wednesday evenings, the meetings are hybrid, and the public is welcome in the room or on the call.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.