Town Meeting User Guide

Producer’s Note:

Hey, everyone! Noah Johnson here, former senior community reporter at Lower Cape TV and editor of the Town Meeting User Guide. Town Meeting is a cornerstone of local government in Massachusetts, but it can be awfully confusing.

I covered town meeting affairs at LCTV for about four years and found myself researching unfamiliar terms and procedures on a regular basis. After a while, I got to thinking: wouldn’t it be great if there was a resource that aggregated general town meeting information all in one place? Thus, the Town Meeting User Guide was born.

Broadly speaking, this guide serves to educate the public on what town meeting is, what happens at town meeting and why local leaders believe town meeting is important.

The project was spearheaded by myself and LCTV Executive Director Teresa Martin and produced with significant contributions from Rafal Kowalczyk, Susan Bloom and Susan Vaughn Harris.

Special thanks to town managers Jacqui Beebe (Eastham), Peter Lombardi (Brewster), Kimberly Newman (Orleans), Darrin Tangeman (Truro) and Jill Goldsmith (Chatham) for their involvement in the project.

I hope this guide proves to be a valuable resource for those new to the town meeting scene and anyone looking for a little refresher on this most grassroots form of local government.