Chatham Selectmen Decline To Support Articles

By unanimous vote, selectmen declined to endorse four petition articles for the upcoming Jan. 22 special town meeting. The first two articles seek to reverse the town manager's decision to have the harbormaster report to the police chief instead of the fire chief; a third seeks to establish a government advisory committee, and a fourth seeks to specify that the town will retain separate police and fire chiefs.

Board members cited conflicts between the articles and the town charter, and in some cases, state statute. They also denied allegations by petitioners that the realignment was politically motivated. Town Manager Jill Goldsmith made the realignment the subject of an administrative order, giving selectmen the right to overrule her decision. But on a 4-1 vote, selectmen upheld the reorganization.

Read the complete story in the Jan. 10 edition of The Cape Cod Chronicle.

01/02/13, 8 p.m.