Town Edition
Barnstable County
Truro, Massachusetts
Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
In May 2019 Truro voters agreed to raise their own taxes to buy about 70 acres of scrub oak and pine next to Truro Central School, 234 votes to 96, and then spent five years arguing over what should go there. Town Meeting settled it in April 2024: up to 160 year round homes on 28.5 acres, deed restricted so that the people who teach in that school and fish out of that harbor can afford to live in the town they work in. That is the shape of power in Truro. A handful of neighbors in a hall can vote to tax themselves and reshape a piece of their own town, because the legislative body here is not a committee. It is every registered voter who walks in. This guide shows you where the rooms are and how to get into them.
Truro at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Barnstable. Truro covers about 21 square miles at the narrow outer arm of Cape Cod, between Wellfleet and Provincetown, and over half of that land sits inside the Cape Cod National Seashore.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Kelly Sullivan Clark.
- Schools: the town runs Truro Central School for its youngest students, about 71 children, led by Superintendent Stephanie Costigan; older students continue to the Nauset schools in Eastham.
How Truro’s Government Works
Truro runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Truro 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 Truro 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
5 members, elected by the voters of the district the schools serve. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Manager and decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant.
- Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws, and every registered voter present can vote.
- You take part: register at 16, vote at 18, and once you are registered you are already a member of Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Select Board: meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 5:00 p.m. at Truro Town Hall, 24 Town Hall Road. Each agenda is posted in advance on the town’s website, 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. An elected Town Moderator presides. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting was held Saturday, May 16.
- Town elections: Truro votes as one town, with no precincts, every spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held Tuesday, May 19. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Truro Edition
- Town Manager’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Truro History1709, the sea, and the Seashore
- DemographicsWho lives in Truro
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataTruro schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected countywide. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. Both of them answer to the voters of Barnstable County, and that includes Truro. They appear on your ballot. Now you know what to look for.
Every county in Massachusetts elects its own, and 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.
Your First Civic Action in Truro
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.
- 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.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at Truro Town Hall, 24 Town Hall Road, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town’s website.
- Know your members. Five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. Meetings are open to the public and residents may address the board. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- 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: 24 Town Hall Road, P.O. Box 2030, Truro, MA 02666. Main line 508-349-7004.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-349-7004 x110, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at truro-ma.gov.
- Public schools: Truro Central School serves the town’s youngest students, and older students attend the Nauset schools in Eastham.
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.