Steel from the World Trade Center and a plaque memorializing September 11th

September 11th Memorial Ceremony

Join Town officials at 9 a.m. on Thursday, September 11th for our annual remembrance of the events of September 11, 2001. The brief ceremony will take place at the front of the Fire Station, 135 Depot Road, at the 9/11 Memorial Garden.

CredibleMind Online Resource Launched

A coalition of Lower and Outer Cape towns have launched CredibleMind, a free, confidential, and science-based online platform that helps residents discover expert-vetted, evidence based, mental health and wellbeing resources and local supports. The initiative offers an accessible entry point for people to learn, self-assess, and connect to help before they are in crisis.

Residents of Brewster, Chatham, Eastham, Harwich, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro and Wellfleet can visit https://lowercape.crediblemind.com/ to explore hundreds of curated videos, articles, podcasts, apps, and books on topics such as stress, anxiety, sleep, parenting, grief, and substance use. Designed as a prevention-first resource - especially helpful for parents and caregivers - the platform meets people where they are with vetted, peer reviewed content and clear pathways to local services, so residents can take practical steps right away. Users can take self-assessments, save favorites, and return anytime - anonymously. Participating towns will only receive aggregate, de-identified insights about what topics people are exploring. These trends will help local Health and Human Services teams tailor outreach, inform programming, and address the region’s provider gap while strengthening overall quality of life.

The regional rollout is fully supported by grant funding from Cape Cod Healthcare, National Association of County and City Health Officials, opioid settlement funds, and Barnstable County Health Agent’s Coalition through the Public Health Excellence Grant funded by the MA department of Public Health. Barnstable County funding supports translation into Haitian Creole, Spanish, and Portuguese to expand access for Cape residents.

Important: CredibleMind is for education and self-help and is not a crisis service. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger or experiencing a mental-health emergency, call 911. For urgent emotional support, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

SAVE THE DATE!

Click above to register.

Hearings Scheduled on Real Estate Transfer Fees

MA State Legislature - Chatham

The Commission on Revenue will hold a hearing on Tuesday, September 9 at 10 a.m. at the Gardner Auditorium, 24 Beacon Street, Boston, and remotely on bills pending before the Legislature pertaining to Real Estate Transfer Fees and Higher Education.

H4300, An Act establishing a real property transfer fee in the town of Chatham, is on the agenda for the hearing. This Home Rule Petition was originally approved by 2021 Annual Town Meeting and filed with the Legislature in 2021. It has subsequently been approved for re-filing in 2022 and 2025.

The public is invited to participate in this hybrid hearing, which will be livestreamed on the General Court website, https://malegislature.gov/. Hearings will be recorded and posted publicly on the Joint Committee on Revenue page, https://malegislature.gov/Committees/Detail/J26/Hearings .

Written testimony submissions for House Bills may be emailed to Anestis.Kalaitzidis@mahouse.gov or sent via US Mail to Chair Adrian Madaro, Joint Committee on Revenue, ATTN: Anestis Kalaitzidis, 24 Beacon St, Room 34, Boston, MA 02133.

All written testimony received by the committee will be made publicly available. At the discretion of the Chairs and per committee rules, limitations and redactions shall exist for sharing testimony that includes sensitive personal information or information that may jeopardize the health, wellness or safety of the testifier or others.

The deadline to submit written testimony is 53 days from the date of the hearing. This will ensure that the committee has time to review all testimony before the deadline to act on the bills being considered.

In-person oral testimony and remote testimony sign-up via this form. For those testifying remotely, you will receive a Microsoft Teams link with more information prior to the start of the hearing. The deadline for signing up to testify is the day before the hearing at 12:00 PM.

Assembly of Delegates

The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates will convene a special hearing on Wednesday, September 24th at 4:00 p.m. in the Mary Pat Flynn Conference Room, 3195 Main Street, Barnstable County Complex, to consider a regional luxury real estate transfer fee as part of its ongoing work to address Cape Cod’s housing crisis.

The special hearing will provide a forum for members of the public to share comments and testimony. In addition, each delegate will have the opportunity to invite experts and community leaders from their respective towns to testify and answer questions from the Assembly.

Following the hearing, the subcommittee of the Assembly will begin drafting a home rule petition and ordinance for consideration by the full Assembly later this fall.

Irrigation Systems on Municipal Water

The Town of Chatham Water Rules and Regulations, Article VI – Irrigation Systems Connected to the Public Water Supply requires all irrigation systems connected to the municipal water supply to be registered with the Chatham Water Division no later than January 1, 2018 and prohibits the connection of any new irrigation system to the municipal water supply as of January 1, 2021.

Further, all irrigations systems connected to the municipal water supply are required to be placed on a separate water meter no later than January 1, 2022.

All irrigation systems connected to the municipal water supply must be equipped with a timing device that can be set to conform with local watering restrictions and a rain and/or soil sensing device that will prevent the system from starting automatically during periods of rain or high soil moisture.

If you have an irrigation system on the municipal water supply and are unsure if you are in compliance with these Rules and Regulations, please contact the Water Division at 508-945-5150.

Relocation Lunch and Learn at the Center for Active Living on September 8 at 12 noon

Welcome to the Team!

We are pleased to welcome Stephen Santos to the Parks, Grounds, and Cemeteries Division of the Department of Public Works.

Steve has over 20 years of experience as a laborer and handyman in the construction, roadway, and waste disposal industries. He most recently worked with ACE Handyman Services in Eastham and prior to that worked as a Laborer assisting with paving, seal coating and roadway repairs and worked for M.A. Frazier in Eastham for 12 years performing waste removal, plowing and light mechanical and equipment operation.

Steve grew up and resides in Wellfleet and is a graduate of Nauset High School.

Welcome to Team Chatham, Steve!

Select Board seated at the dais in the large meeting room

Select Board Action – September 2nd

The Select Board, acting as Water & Sewer Commissioners, approved an increase in sewer flow for Hey Joe and Jam, 16 Seaquanset Road, to accommodate the property’s change of use.

After a presentation from Assistant Assessor Candace Cook, the Board voted to continue all tax classes at a single rate for FY2026 at $3.67. It was noted that the Board had previously voted to implement a residential tax exemption for FY2027 and would need to re-vote that action at next year’s tax classification hearing.

The Board declared September as Suicide Prevention Month in Chatham, accepted approximately 17,000 seed oysters from the Chatham Shellfish Company, and approved the use of Harding’s Beach for Monomoy Middle School’s Back to School Party on Friday, September 5th.

The Board voted to approve a Conservation Restriction for Well 10 in its final form and authorized Dean Nicastro as the Chair of the Select Board and Water & Sewer Commissioners to sign the Restriction as a representative of both bodies.

After discussion on a draft Request for Proposals for the development of affordable and attainable housing at Town-owned property for home ownership on Stepping Stones Road the Board voted 4-1 to approve the release of the RFP with suggested revisions.

The Board discussed the continued appointment of Town Counsel Jason Talerman of Mead, Talerman & Costa LLC and voted 4-1 in favor of re-appointment.

After a brief discussion, the Board made no changes to its meeting schedule and will continue to meet every other week through October 14th.

The Board approved amendments to the Select Board Meeting Public Participation Policy which will allow contemporaneous public comments on agenda items at the discretion of the Chair and reduce the time allotted to each speaker to 3 minutes from 5 minutes.

The Board made the following appointments:

Historical Commission Representative to the Community Preservation Committee: Nancy Barr

Taxation Aid Committee: Seth Taylor, Stephen Daniel, Anne Marie Litchfield

Cultural Council: Jennifer Jones, Alice Bartram

Airport Commission: Peter Farber

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 their regularly scheduled meetings on Tuesdays, beginning at 5:00 p.m., in the large meeting room at the Town Office Annex, 261 George Ryder Road.

September 16

To consider installation of two (2) rapid flashing beacons on Sam Ryder Road at the intersection of Sam Ryder Road and the Old Colony Rail Trail.

To consider a request for a new Seasonal All Alcoholic Beverages Restaurant license for CCNY, LLC. d/b/a Pain d’Avignon, Mario Mariani, Manager. The owners are seeking this license in addition to the Annual Wine and Malt Only Beverages Restaurant license already in place at this location.

All interested parties are encouraged to attend in-person or through the link in the posted agenda.

Emergency Preparedness Month

Governor Maura Healey has declared September 2025 as Emergency Preparedness Month to highlight the importance of emergency preparedness and to encourage planning for disasters and other types of emergencies.

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), and other state, local, and nonprofit agencies including the Town of Chatham will promote preparedness through various public outreach efforts throughout the month. These efforts are part of a month-long national campaign themed “Preparedness Starts at Home.”

“Emergencies come in many forms, from severe flooding to structure fires and wildfires, which is why it is essential to be prepared,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Being prepared for the unexpected emergency starts at home with each of us.”

“Getting prepared for an emergency doesn’t have to be an expensive or time-consuming process,” said MEMA Director Dawn Brantley, “Creating an emergency plan for your family, including your pets, takes just a few minutes, and you may already have many of the items to include in your emergency kit around your house. Emergency Preparedness Month is the perfect time to get started.”

Fire Chief/Emergency Management Director Justin Tavano said “September is Emergency Preparedness Month, and here in Chatham, we know how important it is to be ready for anything - from hurricanes and tropical storms to severe winter weather. Preparedness starts at home, but it strengthens our entire community. I encourage all Chatham residents to take time this month to make a plan, build an emergency kit, and stay informed. When we each do our part, we help keep Chatham safe, resilient, and ready.”

If you haven’t already, sign up for local emergency alerts (Smart911) through the Town’s website.

Visit Mass.gov/ready to find emergency preparedness tips available in several different languages, safety tips for specific threats and hazards, preparedness resources from the MEMA, DPH, and the Massachusetts Office on Disability, and other information. And watch this space throughout September for more local information!

Person in orange vest standing on a large pipe in the ground with an excavator in the background

Sewer Construction Update

September 8-12th

Oyster Pond Sewer Extension Project

No work is planned.

Stage Harbor Road Sewer Extension Project

Intermittent site work is tentatively scheduled at the pumping station site at the Old Mill Boat Yard/Harbormaster’s Garage.

Commercial Fisheries Meeting

The Commercial Fisheries Commission (CFC) will meet on Monday, September 8, 2025. The meeting will be held in-person in Room 108 at MassWildlife Field Headquarters, 1 Rabbit Hill Road, Westborough, MA 01581, at 1:00 pm.

A listen-in-only option will be available for this meeting through Zoom, which will allow you to tune in through your phone, computer, or tablet if you’re unable to physically attend. Meeting materials, including the agenda and Zoom information, have been posted to the CFC’s website.

If you wish to directly receive future meeting notices and materials or have any questions about the CFC, please contact us at marine.fish@mass.gov.

Next Select Board Meeting - September 16, 2025 @ 5:00 p.m.

All are welcome to attend and participate in our open and public meetings. The agenda for each meeting is posted 48 business hours prior to the scheduled meeting time and can be accessed through the Select Board's webpage.

Attend in-person at the Town Office Annex, Large Meeting Room. Join the meeting on-line or participate by phone by dialing 1-508-945-4410 and entering Conference ID 203 386 491#.

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.