Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Truro are remote. Go to Truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in. The agenda includes instructions on how to join.
Thursday, Oct. 19
- Board of Registrars, 3 p.m., Town Hall
- School Committee, 4:30 p.m., Truro Central School
Friday, Oct. 20
- Finance Committee, 8:30 a.m., virtual
- Board of Library Trustees, 3:30 p.m., Public Library
Saturday, Oct. 21
- Special Town Meeting, 10 a.m., Truro Central School
Monday, Oct. 23
- Concert Committee, 10 a.m., Town Hall
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 5:30 p.m., virtual
Tuesday, Oct. 24
- Human Services Committee, 10 a.m., Town Hall
- Select Board, 5 p.m.
Conversation Starters
New Registrars
The select board made two appointments to the board of registrars on Oct. 13. Julie Cataldo and Heather Harper each have 60-day terms filling the board’s two Republican seats.
Cataldo was recently hired as a fire & EMS administrator in town. Harper is an administrator at Truro Central School.
Susan Chapman, Wes Chapman, and Juliana MacAller had also applied. MacAller withdrew her application because she is secretary of the town’s Republican committee.
Tim Hickey, a town resident, MacAller’s husband and chair of the Republican committee, had endorsed Susan and Wes Chapman and encouraged the select board not to interview the two candidates they wound up appointing.
“It doesn’t sound like we’re trying to get this done for any other reason than to contest votes this town meeting, and that’s troubling to me,” Hickey said.
“I want to make it clear that what triggered this was not town meeting, it was my hiring,” said Town Clerk Elisabeth Verde, who started the job in September. Her ex officio membership on the board of registrars, she said, made her examine its composition.
Since the departure of former Town Clerk Kaci Fullerton, a registered Republican, there had been no Republicans on the committee.
Now, the four-member board suddenly has an unforeseen task on its hands: reviewing 67 voter registration challenges.
“The registrars must examine each complaint they receive,” according to state law. “If they are satisfied that there are sufficient grounds against the voter for a hearing, they will summon the voter to appear before them.” —Sophie Mann-Shafir
A related story about a recent surge in voter registrations in Truro can be found by clicking here.
