How the Eastham Select Board voted, from the Select Board’s official minutes. 5 Select Board members elected townwide. Hope Plavin joined the board after the May 19, 2026 town election, when Bob Bruns was re-elected and Aimée Eckman did not run again. On June 1, 2026 the board chose Suzanne Bryan as Chair and Bob Bruns as Vice Chair (4-0, Bruns absent), and Hope Plavin as Clerk (4-0). Covers 12 meetings so far, June 1 to September 8, 2026.
A monthly email on what it voted on, starting in November.
What does the Select Board do? It is the town’s executive board. It prepares the Town Meeting warrant (the list of articles voters decide), appoints members of many town boards, hires the town’s top staff, signs warrants to pay town bills, and grants licenses and permits.
Town Meeting, not the Select Board, votes the town budget and town bylaws.
How easy Eastham makes it to see, online, how each member votes. It scores the town’s records, not any official. Checked October 4, 2026.
✓Minutes postedMinutes are posted for nearly every meeting more than three months old.Full points: 2/2
~Each vote namedRoll calls name each member, but some split votes give only a count.Part points: 2/3
✕Posted quicklyA meeting more than three months old still has no minutes.No points: 0/2
✓Past years onlineSelect Board minutes from 2017 to today are online.Full points: 1/1
✓Readable textThe minutes are text you can search and copy.Full points: 1/1
✕Member photosThe town’s website does not show the members’ photos.No points: 0/1
How the town can raise its score
Each vote named (+1): On any vote that isn’t unanimous, write how each member voted. For example: “Motion passed 3–2. Yes: Smith, Jones, Lee. No: Brown, Silva.” A roll call on split votes is the simplest way to do this.
Posted quickly (+2): Post minutes within 30 days. If approval takes longer, post a draft marked “Draft – not yet approved” and replace it later.
Member photos (+1): Show a photo of each member on the board’s web page, with their name, the date their term ends and how to contact them. A group photo of the members, with everyone named in the caption or on the same page, earns half a point.
Under the state Open Meeting Law, boards post notice at least 48 hours ahead, not counting weekends and legal holidays.
What Town Meeting decided
In Eastham, Town Meeting — not the Select Board — votes the town budget, bylaws and zoning. Here is what it did with each article, in the Town Clerk’s own words. Any registered voter can take part, and most votes are by voice or show of hands, so there is no list of who voted which way.
Annual Town Meeting · May 4, 2026 38 votes: 30 passed, 1 failed, 2 indefinitely postponed, 4 referred, 1 advisory
Titles are short descriptions of each article from the official record; the quoted words are the Town Clerk’s. A vote at Town Meeting is not the final word on everything: some articles also need a ballot vote (such as a tax override) or the Attorney General’s approval (bylaws).
"At X of Y meetings" counts the members the minutes list as present at the start of each meeting in this record. Members who step out are listed on each meeting page.
Attendance
24 full-board meetings so far this year, through September 8. Ties share a rank.
From the official minutes: full-board meetings only (committee meetings are not counted). Members are counted only for meetings held while they served, and arriving late counts as attending. The minutes rarely say why a member was absent.
A monthly email on its votes and who was there, starting in November.
Meetings
About missing minutes
Loaded: Select Board minutes (the board was called the Board of Selectmen until September 2019) from January 2, 2018 through September 8, 2026, from the town’s online Agenda Center, which holds minutes back to 2017 (MassVoter has loaded 2018 on). Not here: executive-session minutes; one set of minutes for which the town posted the wrong file (September 27, 2021, which holds the Housing Production Plan instead); minutes the town has not posted, including the February 26, 2026 emergency meeting and June 22, 2026; and every meeting after September 8, 2026. Most minutes are typed; 11 are scanned copies, which MassVoter read with text-recognition software and checked by hand. Eastham’s minutes give the mover, the seconder and a count for each motion, such as “VOTE: Yes 5, No 0” or “VOTE: Yes 4, No 1 (Jamie Rivers)”; many votes, especially from 2018 to 2023, are roll calls that list each member’s vote by name (since 2025 sometimes by first name only, as in “Jerry, Yes”). Warrant-article recommendations in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023 are recorded in tables. When the count matches the members present, we show every member present as voting yes, and when the minutes name the members who voted no or abstained, everyone else present as voting yes. Where the minutes give only a split count without names, a roll call leaves out a member who was there or names one who was not, or the count does not match the members present, we show the count only and add a note. A few motions have no vote written down; we show those with no count. Members who stepped aside (recused), had not yet arrived or had left are left out of that vote. Votes taken by other boards at joint meetings (such as the Finance Committee) are not included. We will ask the town to confirm any noted vote.
Most board votes are unanimous. These are the ones where at least one member voted no or abstained, newest first.
Aug 17Continue the implementation of the Residential Tax Exemption for…Motion: To continue the implementation of the Residential Tax Exemption for FY27.Passed 4–1 · No: Bruns
August 17, 2026: Continue the implementation of the Residential Tax Exemption for FY27
ApprovePassed · 4–1
To continue the implementation of the Residential Tax Exemption for FY27.
Yes: Bryan, Cerasale, Demetri, PlavinNo: Bruns
From the minutes
“Jamie made a motion to continue the implementation of the Residential Tax Exemption for FY27. Hope seconded the motion. Roll Call Vote: Suzanne, Yes, Bob, No, Hope, Yes, Jerry, Yes, Jamie, Yes.” (Motion: Demetri, second: Plavin)
Aug 17Set the FY27 Residential Tax Exemption at 8%Motion: To set the FY27 Residential Tax Exemption at 8%.Passed 3–2 · No: Bruns, Cerasale
August 17, 2026: Set the FY27 Residential Tax Exemption at 8%
ApprovePassed · 3–2
To set the FY27 Residential Tax Exemption at 8%.
Yes: Bryan, Demetri, PlavinNo: Bruns, Cerasale
From the minutes
“Jamie made a motion to set the FY27 Residential Tax Exemption at 8%. Hope seconded the motion. Roll Call Vote: Suzanne, Yes, Bob, No, Hope, Yes, Jerry, No, Jamie, Yes.” (Motion: Demetri, second: Plavin)
The minutes say "VOTE: 3, Yes, 0, No", but 4 members were present for this vote (Suzanne Bryan, Hope Plavin, Jerry Cerasale and Bob Bruns). Showing the count only.
From the minutes
“Jerry made a motion to deem Thor a nuisance dog. Suzanne seconded the motion. VOTE: 3, Yes, 0, No.” (Motion: Cerasale, second: Bryan)
Jun 8Impose the following conditions regarding ThorMotion: To impose the following conditions regarding Thor.Passed 3–0 · see note
June 8, 2026: Impose the following conditions regarding Thor
ApprovePassed · 3–0
To impose the following conditions regarding Thor.
The minutes say "VOTE: 3, Yes, 0, No", but 4 members were present for this vote (Suzanne Bryan, Hope Plavin, Jerry Cerasale and Bob Bruns). Showing the count only.
From the minutes
“Jerry made a motion to impose the following conditions regarding Thor. Suzanne seconded the motion. VOTE: 3, Yes, 0, No.” (Motion: Cerasale, second: Bryan)
From the Eastham Select Board’s official minutes, posted in the town’s Agenda Center. We check every vote against the Select Board members present and quote the exact wording. MassVoter never grades or scores officials. Photos: The Provincetown Independent (courtesy of the members, or by Nigel Diamond and Joe Navas).