Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Truro are remote. Go to truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. The agenda includes instructions on how to join.
Thursday, Dec. 22
- Economic Development Committee, 9 a.m.
- Climate Action Committee, 10:30 a.m.
- Pamet Harbor Commission, 12:30 p.m., Town Hall
Conversation Starter
Rec and Beach Dept. Gets New Deputy
Austin Smith was hired as deputy director of the recreation and beach dept. earlier this month.
“I’m trying to help revitalize the program and that means communicating not just with staff but with locals,” Smith told the Independent.
Damion Clements, the town’s director of community services, “has been in the interim position since April of this year as we reorganized and tried to post for the new position,” said Town Manager Darrin Tangeman.
The position was open for 30 days, and the town picked Smith from the first round of applicants, Tangeman said.
A director position at the council on aging was posted at the same time as the deputy director of recreation job, Tangeman said, and the town is reviewing the third round of applications for the COA post. “We’re working through qualified applicants right now and hope to fill the position in the next few weeks,” he said.
Smith comes to Truro from Brookline where he taught guitar at the Merry Melody Music Academy. Before that, he taught a seminar at UMass Amherst on composing music for guitar.
Smith is eager to “make everyone feel like they’re heard and have a place at the Community Center,” he said. Based on outreach so far, he said it’s clear to him that even though Truro “is such a small town [and] everything’s very tight-knit,” that doesn’t mean that people feel a sense of community. He is looking to bring people together.
Smith was inspired last week by community volleyball, which takes place on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Community Center.
“There was such a wide age range,” he said. The activity brought together Truro, Wellfleet, and Provincetown residents. “I thought to myself, ‘This is awesome,’ ” said Smith.
Smith plans to hold a meet-and-greet with town residents after New Year’s, he said. —Sophie Mann-Shafir
