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Town Meeting
Welcome to Yarmouth’s Town Meeting Page.
Here you’ll find everything you need to prepare and participate in Town Meeting!
Yarmouth Annual Town Meeting 2021
When: Saturday, May 22, 2021 @ 9:00AM
Where: Mattacheese Middle School (outside): 400 Higgins Crowell Road West Yarmouth, MA
Past Town Meeting Resources
NOTE: 2020 Special Town Meeting Results: Voters approved articles 1-6 while articles 7-15 were indefinitely postponed. Watch a Video Replay of the Annual Town Meeting Here
View: 2020 November Special Town Meeting Warrant
View: Guide to Town Meeting
Visit: Citizens Guide to Town Meetings-Secretary of the Commonwealth of MA
View Recent Past Town Meeting Information below.
Please note: Articles 11, 13, and 14 are expected to be withdrawn from the Town Meeting floor.
Town Meeting Videos & Information
Watch our Introduction to Town Meeting video below as well as access more videos on Town Meeting and Warrant articles so you can be prepared to participate here on our YouTube Channel: 2020 Special Town Meeting Articles
2020 Yarmouth Town Meeting Social Distancing Protocols
We are looking forward to a safe, healthy and productive Yarmouth Town Meeting this year, despite the COVID-19 crisis and current conditions. Please view the protocols listed on the tabs to ensure you are properly prepared and to keep EVERYONE safe.
Social Distancing
- Seating will be arranged to permit attendees to sit at least 6 feet apart. Members of the same immediate household will be allowed to sit together and less than 6 feet apart.
- Lines at microphones for questions or comments will be taped to keep people six feet apart. Microphones will be disinfected after each speaker.
- Signage or floor markings will be posted to have one-way aisles or otherwise direct attendees to follow certain pathways for entering and exiting the meetings.
- If a line forms outside of the meeting, those waiting will be directed to maintain social distancing. Tape or other markings on the ground outside of the meeting will be placed to encourage attendees to maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet.
- Staff will direct people in high traffic areas to help maintain social distancing.
- Town officials or other staff will direct successive, row-by-row exiting.
Face Coverings
- All residents over the age of 5 and staff must wear face coverings or masks in accordance with COVID-19 Order No. 31 and the Department of Public Health’s Guidance while inside and while entering and exiting locations of town meeting or otherwise participating in in-person meetings, except where a person is unable to wear a face covering or mask because of a medical or disabling condition.
- A person who declines to wear a face covering or mask because of a medical or disabling condition shall not be required to produce documentation verifying the condition.
- Individuals addressing town meeting may remove his or her face covering while doing so, provided that he or she is able to maintain a distance of at least 6 feet from other persons present.
Cleaning and Disinfecting and Hygiene Protocols
- Meeting spaces will be cleaned and disinfected before and after Town Meeting, including disinfection of heavy transit areas and high-touch surfaces (e.g., doorknobs, bathrooms, microphones, shared instruments).
- Markings will be placed outside of bathrooms to adhere to the 6 ft. distance between each attendee.
- Town meeting officials will ensure that officials and residents have access to handwashing facilities, including soap and running water, and allow workers sufficient break time to wash hands, as necessary.
- Town Warrants and other paper that is distributed at a meeting will be done so in a manner to ensure social distancing and not be shared between attendees.
- If town meeting officials learn that an individual with COVID-19 attended a meeting or otherwise entered the building, the town will conduct a deep cleaning and disinfecting of any areas visited by the infected individual consistent with the Centers for Disease Control guidance. Town meeting officials will also work with the Board of Health to identify and contact meeting attendees to notify them of the positive case.
Video Explanation of Town Meeting Warrant Articles
The Town will soon be publishing video explanation of each Warrant Article. Videos will be published on the Town’s Youtube Channel. For video explanations of the 2020 Annual Town Meeting articles, please visit here.
Click the video on the left below to view "Why Town Meeting Matters Now!
2020 Annual Town Meeting Results
Articles 1-20 were approved at the 2020 Yarmouth Annual Town Meeting. Articles 21-23 were postponed until the fall Town Meeting.
Watch Town Meeting: 2020 Annual Town Meeting video replay
View Warrant: 2020 Annual Town Meeting Warrant
View Warrant Articles Handout: Handout Articles 1 & 2
2019 Town Meeting Information
2019 Fall Town Meeting - October 29, 2019
2019 Spring Town Meeting - May 4, 2019
An Important Message for all Massachusetts Town Residents
The purest form of democratic governing is practiced in a Town Meeting. In use for over 300 years and still today, it has proven to be a valuable means for many Massachusetts taxpayers to voice their opinions and directly effect change in their communities. Here in this ancient American assembly, you can make your voice heard as you and your neighbors decide the course of the government closest to you. This website outlines the forms and procedures used in Massachusetts Town Meetings. As the Commonwealth’s information officer, I urge you to read it and make use of it as you engage in the debates and votes that give shape to your Town Government.
William Francis Galvin Secretary of the Commonwealth