Chatham Approves $31.8 Million Budget at Historic Outdoor Town Meeting

CHATHAM — June 23, 2020 — Chatham held its first-ever outdoor annual town meeting Monday, approving a $31.8 million operating budget and postponing ten articles to a September special town meeting. Moderator Bill Litchfield presided over the session, conducted under COVID-19 protocols at an outdoor venue arranged by Town Manager Jill Goldsmith and a coalition of town departments. Selectmen Chair Shireen Davis and Finance Committee Chair Stephen Daniel served as the sole board speakers, moving through more than twenty articles. The sole contested vote was a citizen amendment by resident Seth Taylor to cut the operating budget by $1 million, which failed on a card vote; the full $31,826,211 appropriation then passed. Voters also approved a $9,019,089 Monomoy Regional School District assessment, $701,800 in scaled-back Eldridge Public Library exterior repairs, $500,000 for harbor dredging, and a debt-exclusion-contingent $470,000 transfer station renovation — with all petitioned articles and any Council on Aging facility discussion deferred to September.