Taxation Aid Fund Accepting Donations

Donations are now being accepted to the Town’s new Taxation Aid Fund!

The Taxation Aid Fund was created with the passage of Article 55 at the 2025 Annual Town Meeting adopting MA General Law Chapter 60, Section 3D, allowing the Town to establish a fund to aid the elderly and disabled of the Town, whose income is at or below low-income thresholds, to meet their property tax liabilities.

An option to donate to the fund will be included on all future real estate tax bills beginning with those issued in late September with a due date of November 1, 2025. But you don’t have to wait to contribute to the fund until you pay your taxes. Tax deductible donations can be forwarded to the Treasurer/Collector’s Office via check payable to the Town of Chatham with “Taxation Aid Fund” in the memo line. An option to donate to the fund online will be available in the coming months.

The soon to be appointed Taxation Aid Committee will adopt rules and regulations to administer distributions from the fund, identify recipients of aid, and determine the amount of aid to be distributed.

Fire Department Recognition Ceremony

The Fire-Rescue Department will host a recognition ceremony at their Headquarters, 135 Depot Road, on Monday, August 25th at 9 a.m. to present awards and citations to Fire Department personnel in recognition of years of service, contributions to the community, performance, and extraordinary or meritorious actions. Additionally, members of the community whose heroic actions contributed to the saving of lives will be recognized. 

The public is welcome to attend, and light refreshments will be provided at the end of the ceremony.

Select Board Action – August 19th

A public hearing scheduled to consider a petition from NSTAR Electric d/b/a Eversource Energy to install one (1) manhole 10238/010 and 97’ +/- 2-4”conduit to provide new underground service to the customer located at 38 Sandy Shoes Lane was not held as the petition was withdrawn by Eversource Energy.

The Select Board held a discussion of emergency communications between the Town of Chatham and Eversource, Personal Care Sites and Regional Shelters and a review of communication with Eversource and notifications to the public during power outage on April 26, 2025 as requested by Select Board Clerk Stuart Smith and Elaine Gibbs.

Phil Burt, Eversource Community Relations Specialist, discussed the utility’s need for residents to report outages and explained how that could be done and noted how residents could receive information on outages.

Elaine Gibbs questioned why the Town didn’t notify the public of an outage on April 26. Fire Chief Justin Tavano explained the role of emergency management during that storm. He said the Department was in communications with Eversource and it was determined that conditions and short restoration time did not warrant a need to put out any emergency communication to the public. Mr. Burt said information was relayed to the Department about the short restoration time.

Ms. Gibbs further requested the Town provide overnight accommodations for residents at the Community Center in the event of extended outages, particularly in the winter. She suggested staffing could be covered by personnel already on duty. Chief Tavano explained that overnight shelters require certain facilities that are not available at the Community Center and regional shelters are the preference in Barnstable County.

The Board took no action and will revisit the topic at a future meeting.

Town Counsel Jay Talerman discussed the legal obligation of the Select Board to support the development of housing at 1533 Main Street and 0 Meetinghouse Road under the conditions set forth in the Land Disposition Agreements the Town entered into with Pennrose. He discussed the Zoning Board of Appeals ability to impose reasonable conditions on the proposed development and the developer’s ability to go to the Housing Appeals Commission to appeal any of those conditions.

Select Board Clerk Stuart Smith made a motion to encourage the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to consider the concerns and impacts of the Affordable Housing Trusts affordable developments proposed for Main Street and Meetinghouse Road and any future projects have on the neighborhoods and the community at large. He suggested that the Select Board’s appointing authority for Board, Commission and Advisory Committee members and its role as the policy making body made it essential for the Board to provide input to them.  Town Counsel Talerman suggested that such direction to the ZBA from the Select Board could expose the Town to litigation. Clerk Smith withdrew the motion.

It was suggested that in the future the Board have ample time to review agreements and provide input on plans.

Director of Public Works Rob Faley provided an update on the Town’s drinking water supply for July 2025. He said wells are pumping  10-20 hours per day. He gave an update on Wells 5 & 8 treatment facility, and Wells 10 & 11. He said low level alarms were triggered twice for the water tanks. He said over $50,000 has been saved to date from working with our new water contractor. He said approximately 10 million gallons less has been pumped year to date than last year. 

After a presentation by the Ardelle Kelly, Director of Assessing, on the impact of implementing a residential tax exemption, and hearing from full-time and part-time residents, the Board voted 4-1 to adopt the residential exemption at 35% for FY2027.

Town Manager Jill R. Goldsmith reviewed the monthly report for June 2025.

The public is encouraged to view the meeting in its entirety through Chatham TVs on-demand archive.

Town Manager’s Report July 2025

The Town Manager's Report for the month of July 2025 was presented to the Select Board on August 19th.

The Monthly Report contains reports from all Town Departments and Divisions on their work during the preceding month including a wide range of statistics from building permits issued to service calls to the Fire/Rescue Department to the value of commercial shellfish landing. Take a deep dive into the workings of Team Chatham and read the Town Manager’s Monthly Report.

Music on the Veranda Series Concludes August 27th

The Chatham Marconi Maritime Center will host its final concert in this year’s “Music on the Veranda” series next Wednesday, August 27, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.  These events are held on the front lawn of the historic "Hotel Nautilus," 831 Orleans Road, North Chatham. Weather permitting, this concert will feature Matt Hamilton, Cape Cod singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician.   Matt has been a busker for most of his career, playing on the streets of Paris and Dublin, as well as Cambridge, Amherst, Great Barrington and Chatham.

Stop by for a relaxing late afternoon of a blend of sounds as well as some of Matt’s own music.  Enjoy a variety of classic rock, movie themes, gospel, traditional, and contemporary folk, rock and stadium-rock songs.

Bring a blanket, chairs, snacks or a picnic supper to this family-friendly concert. The performances are open to the public with no admission fee but a donation of $5 per person or $15 per family is suggested to help support the mission of the Marconi Center and more events like this in the future.  Parking and lawn space are available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more info on the Center's upcoming events, please visit their website.

The 2025 Music on the Veranda series is supported by donations.