Most meetings in Eastham are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you are interested in on the calendar at eastham-ma.gov for details. All meetings are at Town Hall unless otherwise indicated.
Thursday, July 31
- Board of Health, 3 p.m.
- Cape Cod Commission Subcommittee Regional Policy Plan Public Hearing, 5 p.m., Public Library
Monday, Aug. 4
- Select Board, 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 5
- Historical Commission, 10:30 a.m., 435 Shurtleff Road
- Board of Library Trustees, 3 p.m., Public Library
Thursday, Aug. 7
- Zoning Board of Appeals — canceled
Conversation Starter
Quorum Trouble
Karen Strauss came before the select board on July 21 with a familiar concern: vacancies on the conservation commission that make it difficult to attain a quorum of four members.
“I’m in my ninth year on the commission and it’s been a problem for every one of those years,” Strauss said. The commission has seven seats and no alternates, and two of those seats are vacant, with one of the vacancies dating back to June 2023.
Strauss said that many members of her commission have day jobs and family obligations, and that even with six members, there have been many “near misses” in which a quorum for important business was just barely secured.
Select board chair Jerry Cerasale said he had been encouraging an applicant who he “thought would be great” — but that person wasn’t ready to commit just yet.
“It’s hard to jump onto the conservation commission,” Town Manager Jacqui Beebe said. Having alternates on the commission might help ease people into the complex work of that committee, she suggested.
Strauss agreed that the commission can be intimidating for newcomers — the first year, in particular, can make new appointees feel “like a deer in headlights,” she said. The Mass. Association of Conservation Commissions does provide important training for new members, she added. —Parker Mumford
