How the Eastham Select Board voted, from the Select Board’s official minutes. 5 Select Board members elected townwide. Bob Bruns joined the board after the May 2024 town election, elected to the last two years of Art Autorino’s term; Jamie Demetri was re-elected. On June 3, 2024 the board chose Aimée Eckman as Chair (5-0), and Jerry Cerasale as Vice Chair and Suzanne Bryan as Clerk (5-0). Covers 24 meetings, June 3 to May 19, 2025.
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.
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.
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.
May 19Nominate Joanna Stevens and David Crary as Eastham's representatives…Motion: To nominate Joanna Stevens and David Crary as Eastham's representatives to…Passed Unanimous, 3 present · see note
May 19, 2025: Nominate Joanna Stevens and David Crary as Eastham's representatives to the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission
AppointPassed · Unanimous, 3 present
To nominate Joanna Stevens and David Crary as Eastham's representatives to the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission
Aimée Eckman stepped aside (recused) and did not take part in this vote.
From the minutes
“Jerry Cerasale made a motion to nominate Joanna Stevens and David Crary as Eastham's representatives to the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission Suzanne Bryan seconded the motion ROLL CALL VOTE: Suzanne Bryan,Yes; Jerry Cerasale, Yes; Bob Bruns, Yes; Aimée Eckman, Recused.” (Motion: Cerasale, second: Bryan)
Mar 17Approve Little Cod, Common Victualler licenseMotion: To approve Little Cod, Common Victualler license.Passed 3–0 · see note
March 17, 2025: Approve Little Cod, Common Victualler license
ApprovePassed · 3–0
To approve Little Cod, Common Victualler license.
The minutes say "Vote: 3-0", but 4 members were present for this vote (Aimée Eckman, Jerry Cerasale, Jamie Demetri and Suzanne Bryan). Showing the count only.
From the minutes
“Jerry Cerasle made a motion to approve Little Cod, Common Victualler license. Seconded by Suzanne Bryan. Vote: 3-0.” (Motion: Cerasale, second: Bryan)
Mar 3Accept joining the regional CDBG grantsMotion: To accept joining the regional CDBG grants.Passed 4–0 · see note
March 3, 2025: Accept joining the regional CDBG grants
ApprovePassed · 4–0
To accept joining the regional CDBG grants.
The minutes say "Vote: 4-0", but 5 members were present for this vote (Aimée Eckman, Jerry Cerasale, Jamie Demetri, Suzanne Bryan and Bob Bruns). Showing the count only.
From the minutes
“Jerry Cerasale made a motion to accept joining the regional CDBG grants. Seconded by Jamie Demetri. Vote: 4-0.” (Motion: Cerasale, second: Demetri)
Jan 13Approve the band renewal with the language included in…Motion: To approve the band renewal with the language included in the…Passed 4–0 · see note
January 13, 2025: Approve the band renewal with the language included in the packet
ApprovePassed · 4–0
To approve the band renewal with the language included in the packet.
The minutes say "Vote: 4-0", but 5 members were present for this vote (Aimée Eckman, Jerry Cerasale, Jamie Demetri, Bob Bruns and Suzanne Bryan). Showing the count only.
From the minutes
“Suzanne Bryan made a motion to approve the band renewal with the language included in the packet. Seconded by Jerry Cerasale. Vote: 4-0.” (Motion: Bryan, second: Cerasale)
Jan 6Approve the Entertainment (11:30am-9pm, acoustic music only, restaurant location)Motion: To approve the Entertainment (11:30am-9pm, acoustic music only, restaurant location).Passed 3–1 · see note
January 6, 2025: Approve the Entertainment (11:30am-9pm, acoustic music only, restaurant location)
ApprovePassed · 3–1
To approve the Entertainment (11:30am-9pm, acoustic music only, restaurant location).
The minutes give only the count (3-1-1), not how each member voted.
From the minutes
“Bob Bruns made a motion to approve the Entertainment (11:30am-9pm, acoustic music only, restaurant location). Seconded by Suzanne Bryan. Vote: 3-1-1.” (Motion: Bruns, 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).