A long line of people waiting the the Annex hallway to buy beach and transfer station stickers.

Online Beach & Transfer Sticker Sales

Your time is too valuable to spend it standing in line at the Sticker Office.

Order your stickers online and have them in hand (or on your car) well before your current sticker expires on June 30th! Beach and Transfer Station stickers are available online March 1st.

Red white and blue buttons with Vote written on them in the middle

Presidential Primary Tuesday

The Massachusetts Presidential Primary will be held on Tuesday, March 5th. Polls will be open at the Community Center, 702 Main Street, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The deadline to apply for an in-person absentee ballot is Monday, March 4th at 12 noon at the Town Clerk's office, 549 Main Street.

Community Visioning Forum Scheduled for Housing Production Plan Update

The Town, in coordination with planning and housing advisors JM Goldson, will hold a Community Visioning Forum on the update of the Town's Housing Needs Assessment and Housing Production Plan on Wednesday March 20 in the Small Meeting Room, Town Offices Annex, 261 George Ryder Road, from 5:00-7:00 pm.

The Chatham Affordable Housing Trust invites residents and those with a connection to Chatham to participate in an interactive Community Visioning Forum to help guide Chatham’s housing policies and initiatives as part of the 2024 Housing Production Plan (HPP) Update. Chatham’s last Housing Production Plan was completed in 2018.

The community forum will be professionally facilitated by JM Goldson, along with the Department of Community Development and the Affordable Housing Trust. The forum will begin with a hybrid (in person and online) presentation of information on Chatham’s housing needs and accomplishments. The second portion of the forum will be an in-person “Open House” with interactive activities to better understand the community’s vision for affordable and attainable housing in Chatham.

The Town will also issue a Community Visioning Survey, which will provide another opportunity for members of the Chatham community to provide feedback for the Housing Production Plan.

An important part of the Housing Production Plan process is community outreach and engagement to build consensus regarding the Town’s specific needs for and benefits of affordable and attainable housing. Feedback gathered from the Community Visioning Forum and the survey will help form the basis of the update to the Housing Production Plan, which is the Town’s primary guide for developing affordable and attainable housing opportunities that will help Chatham meet its housing goals for its residents, workforce, and school community.

COVID-19 Test Kits Available

The Health Division has a supply of COVID-19 test kits with a short expiration date (March 25, 2024) available to the community. The Health Division is located at the Town Office Annex, 261 George Ryder Road.

Blue pennant with Team Chatham spelled out in white letter on a wooden dowel stuck in a spray of gold foil ona table covered with a blue plastic tablecloth

Join Team Chatham!

We are hiring! The Town has several year-round full-time and part-time positions available and is beginning to post seasonal positions.

Are you looking for a change or are you interested in furthering your career? Check out the full job descriptions for the following positions to see if any are the right opportunity for you!

Chatham Town Seal with the silhouette of a speaker at a podium in the center

Upcoming Public Hearings

The Select Board will hold the following public hearings during its regularly scheduled meetings beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the large meeting room at the Town Office Annex, 261 George Ryder Road.

Remote participation is available through the link in the posted agendas.

March 12

To consider proposed increases to the Annual Shellfish Permit Fees.

March 26

To consider a petition from NSTAR Electric Company d/b/a Eversource Energy to install 40’ +/- of 1”-4” PVC conduit encased in concrete from new handhold 108/H1A at base of pole 108/1 to customer installed handhole 108/H1B on Youngs Road. The installation is being requested by Eversource to provide new underground service to the customer located at 132 Barn Hill Road.

Aerial view of boats with Seafaring Stories in stylized text

Seafaring Stories Featuring Dick Hosmer

If you were not able to attend the second presentation of Seafaring Stories at the Center for Active Living on Wednesday, February 21st you can still share in the reminisces of Dick Hosmer about his years on and around Chatham's waterways.

Check out the video on Chatham TV's YouTube channel. If you missed the first episode featuring Captain Sam Linnell you'll find it posted there too, along with episodes of Backstage and Flash TV. Enjoy!

Red caboose located behind the Chatham Railroad Museum.

Railroad Museum Seeking Volunteers

The Chatham Railroad Museum is seeking volunteers for its 2024 season.

No experience need! A "train"-ing session will be conducted in the spring! Volunteers can fill as many or as few shifts as they want - shifts are 3 hours (10 a.m.-1 p.m. /1 p.m. - 4 p.m.). The Museum is open Tuesdays - Saturdays from June 11 to August 31 and weekends from Labor Day to Columbus Day.

Volunteer application is available on the Museum's website.

Ask the Town Manager

Do you have a question about Town government or are curious about how or why it works the way it does? Are you interested to know the status of a project?

Please email your question to Shanna Nealy and we will use this space to bring the answers to you.

Fun Facts - Transfer Station

In the month of January 2024, the Transfer Station shipped out 191.00 tons of recyclable materials which was down slightly from the 191.78 tons shipped out in December 2023. In January, 404.43 tons of trash was shipped to SEMASS in Rochester. This was up from the 343.82 tons shipped in December.

For tips to increase your recycling and waste diversion efforts visit the Transfer Station webpage or Chatham Recycles.

"Sweetheart Dance" a Night to Remember

The 12th Annual Sweetheart Dance was held at the Community Center on Friday, February 16th. Forty-four girls were escorted to the event by their sweethearts! This chance to dress up and dance is always a highlight and a memory to cherish for all.

Gold cod fish in a blue circle with County of Barnstable Massachusetts in a white circle around it

Assistance for Sewer & Septic Upgrades

The Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners voted to expand the County's AquiFund Program, which provides low interest loans to Cape Cod homeowners for septic system upgrades and sewer connections. This action enables the County to move forward in applying for $13 million in new funding from the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust.

Since its inception in 2006, the County's AquiFund program has assisted 4,814 homeowners by providing $62.4 million in low interest loans for septic system upgrades. In 2021 the program began offering $0-4% loans to homeowners based on income and expanded the program to include sewer hook-ups and alternative septic systems.

For more information and to apply online, visit the AquiFund webpage.

Cathy Weston standing in a garden on a sunny day

Tuesday Talks at the Atwood

The "Tuesday Talks" lecture series continues at the Atwood House Museum on March 12th with a presentation by Cathy Weston on 5 Projects to Make Your Home Landscape More Eco-Friendly beginning at 5 p.m. in the Mural Barn at the Museum, 347 Stage Harbor Road.

As awareness of our environmental challenges increases, many people want to do their part by improving eth eco-friendly nature of their homes and backyards. This lecture will help you get started. Ms. Weston will share five concrete and manageable projects with a focus on adding native plants to an existing landscape, including lant recommendations and layouts for each project.

Tickets ($10 for non-members, free for members) are available by reservation. Seating is very limited so don't delay and purchase your tickets today.

The Mainsheet

The name of our e-newsletter was selected from submissions by our community.
In nautical terms a mainsheet is the line connected to the boom which allows a sailor to control the speed of a boat. We think that is fitting for an e-newsletter that can be used to quickly send out important information to our community or at a more leisurely rate for less pressing matters. It reflects Chatham’s maritime history, is reminiscent of the front page of a newspaper, and it is a fun play on Main Street, where you go to be part of all that is happening in Town!

Subscribe to The Mainsheet

Subscribe today to have the latest issue of The Mainsheet delivered directly to your inbox each week! Sign-up through Notify Me! by entering your email address and clicking on the envelope icon next to the "Government" subscription list.

Town of Chatham website www.chatham-ma.gov