Welcome to the Provincetown Town Meeting Database. We hope you will find this database useful in a number of ways. The following describes its coverage, provides examples of its contents, and offers guidance in researching by-laws and appropriations.
This is a database of all articles approved and reports accepted and read into the records of Provincetown's Town Meetings since 1784. Description of a defeated article is included in only one of two cases: when its absence would make it difficult to follow discussion of another article; or when the vote on another article is tabled pending the vote on the defeated article. Reports referred to but not actually entered into meeting records are also not included. Some coverage of elections is also included (see below).
All entries in this database, except for the "headlines" and annotations contained in square brackets are taken verbatim from town meeting records. In other words, all descriptions of activity on town meeting articles and all committee reports are recorded exactly as they appear in the town meeting records. Differences in the formality, detail and general style of description of actions on articles depend on the Town Clerk and, occasionally, on Town Meeting decisions guiding him. For example, some Town Clerks record the Selectman or committee member who moves each article, while others do not. Discussion of articles first begins to receive substantial coverage in town meeting records towards the end of the 1930's. That coverage wanes in subsequent decades, to swell again in the late 1970's; where it appears, it is included here.
The verbatim entry extends to the spelling of words. In the records from colonial times through the early 1800's it is not unusual to find a town clerk using different spellings for the same word, even in the context of recording a single decision.
Much of the time the motion or action taken with respect to an article paraphrases it, so it is clear what is at issue. At other times, the vote taken is difficult to understand without the article to reference. In these instances a verbatim copy of the article is either included in square brackets or opens the description of the article.
It is not unusual for an article to be tabled pending temporary adjournment, break for elections, awaiting additional information, or pending action on another article. In general, article descriptions only record such actions when the tabling hinges on action on another article.
Other Coverage Issues
Differences in coverage in different years are usually the result of changes in coverage in the original record, but sometimes reflect changes in our choice of what to include. Decisions to expand coverage could usually only affect records entered later, as there simply was not the funding available to revamp earlier entries.
Elections -- The first action recorded in the earliest meeting records at our disposal is the election of town officials. Names of those elected are entered here for the years 1798 through 1812. Thereafter, generally only the names of those chosen to be Selectmen are reported -- and that only starting again in 1910. Note is also made of the election of women, until the 1960's when it ceases to be unusual.
In every year, the titles of the offices filled are recorded. For 1798 until 1954, when the number of elected positions drops dramatically, these entries offer one view of the development of town government. Votes for elected officials appear as a single entry for each year, except for 1813-1866, when votes on separate offices were treated as separate articles. (Search tip: the words "chose" or "chosen," rather than "elected" were generally used in the descriptions for 1813-1866.) The decision to send a Representative, or Representatives, to the General Court of Massachusetts for the year is recorded until 1943. It had become routine well before that.
The number of ballots cast in these elections is tracked once it begins to be reported, starting in 1895. Women are first allowed to participate in town elections in 1896. From then until 1921 record appears of their having to use special ballots -- during this period it was common in the U.S. for women to be restricted in terms of the offices on which they were allowed to vote. The numbers of these ballots are recorded separately. In the few instances after 1895 where ballot numbers do not appear, they were not reported in the original records.
Committee Membership -- Provincetown Town Meetings have appointed committees to perform myriads of functions. In one instance, they even appointed a committee to examine a dead body on Long Point! From 1911 to 1923, unlike the original record, this database usually only details the inclusion of town officers on a committee, and its size. In entries for other years, names of committee members are noted whenever they appear in the original record. Similarly, the names of committee members signing reports only begin to be entered in this database starting with 1923. Town meeting records stop recording committee member names in xx.
Committee Findings and Recommendations -- When a committee's report is accepted and entered into the town meeting record, it is recorded here. Generally, voters must decide not only whether or not to accept a report, but further whether to adopt its recommendations. However, only with the 1934 By-Law revisions is the distinction between these two decisions clarified. Prior to that date, acceptance of a report is sometimes clearly interpreted as also meaning the adoption of its recommendations and sometimes not.
Beginning in the mid-1960's, the view of the Finance Committee is given following each article, usually with the simple notation "Recommended" or "Not recommended." While those notations are often captured in these records, especially in later years, users should be aware that this only occurred when it did not slow the data transfer process, e.g. when the surrounding text was copied into the database. Interestingly, even a cursory review of town meeting records shows that voters freely disregarded these recommendations.
Article Numbers -- Tracking of these starts with 1923.
Records for 1954-- In this year alone, articles were reported on in summary form in the town meeting record. Voters responded immediately with an article instructing the Town Clerk to revert to the customary detailed reportage.
Examples
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Guide to By-Law Records
Different versions of town by-laws were in force at different times. In searching for the by-law governing a particular matter, it is important to first ensure you are referencing the basic version relevant to the time period with which you are concerned. Second, since piecemeal revisions to these laws occur constantly, you then need to check if the subsequent revisions affected the particular section or regulation of the issue you are researching. Finally, since by-law revisions need to be approved by the State Legislature before taking effect, they generally do not become enforceable until the year following town meeting adoption. The dates listed above chronicle town meeting votes, not the dates any changes actually entered into force.
The following is a survey of the major by-laws and codes and dates of substantial revisions.
General By-Laws -- first adopted 1865 (several sections of this first "Code of By-Laws" are entitled "Order," rather than "By-Law"); replaced by newer version in 1891; compilation of amendments made 1891-1913 reported in 1913; wholesale revision 1934. Committees were appointed in 1950, 1951 and 1970 to overhaul these by-laws, but no significant changes resulted. In 1978, a handful of significant specific issue sections were added. In 1981, the General By-Laws were entirely replaced by a revised version whose text was not incorporated into town meeting records.
Zoning By-Laws -- first adopted 1950; replaced by newer version in 1957, extensively revised in 1977 and early 1978, replaced by newer version in November 1978.
Personnel by-Laws -- first adopted 1958 as Employee Compensation By-Law; renamed Personnel By-Law in 1960. Position classifications and salary schedules updates are voted generally every few years.
Building Code -- first adopted 1966.
Sign Code -- adopted as a separate code in 1970 (previously signs were regulated by sections of the General By-Laws); incorporated into the 1978 Zoning By-Law.
Search tips: By-laws are often dealt with separately, so using the singular "by-law," rather than "by-laws," produces more inclusive results. While the headlines consistently use the hyphenated spelling "by-law," starting in the late 1970's the town meeting text often omits the hyphen.
Tracking Expenditures
The allocation of funds for any given year is determined by:
(1) the annual operating budget;
(2) votes on additional item-specific funding articles;
(3) end of year supplementary allocations;
(4) payments made in later years on outstanding bills from that year.
Town meeting votes on all of these. Further, funds are allocated through appropriation, transfer between accounts, distribution of grants from other sources (e.g. federal or state government), and decisions to borrow.
The Annual Operating Budget
The process of determining the annual operating budget has varied considerably since the town's inception. The following is a survey. In the town's early years, one vote determines the amount to raise/tax/budget generally; another determines the amount for schools. These decisions were made separate from, and usually prior to, the votes on expenditures. They were also sometimes made separately from decisions as to how those funds were to be raised (e.g. property assessments, borrowing, minister's fees, highway tax). From 1837-1840, another vote is taken to determine the highway budget.
From 1841-1870, annual appropriations are combined in a single article. Beginning with 1845, voters annually establish a committee to recommend the amounts to be voted on in that article. As the town matures, the description of annual appropriations in that article become gradually more detailed and allied to specific expenditures.
During these early years, the funding of a number of routine town operations occurs apart from the annual budget. Voters often decide to pay officials enforcing town laws a share of the fines collected. Further, some offices are bid out at town meeting. Tax collection, for example, is generally awarded to the man bidding to accept the lowest percentage of taxes taken in.
The simplicity of the appropriations process begins to break down in 1871. For the next fifty-five years the budgetary recommendations of the various departments (e.g. school, fire, health, water, roads or highways) and the selectmen are considered as well. Voters sometimes approve these recommendations and sometimes only accept departmental reports. These actions involve varying numbers of separate articles. During most of this period, voters annually establish a committee to vet these appropriations recommendations -- alternately called the Committee on Estimate(s), Committee on Appropriations, Finance Committee. (For 1886 through 1892, voters require the Selectmen to perform this function.) But in some years it has little independent role, given voter action on selectmen's and departmental recommendations. Starting in 1887, each meeting ends with an article containing all appropriations approved in that meeting, and, in the case of the annual meeting, any additional annual budget elements not yet handled. Thus, most appropriations end up being voted on twice. The second vote is often taken by ballot.
In 1926, the process is again consolidated. From that point to the present, annual appropriations or the annual operating budget are voted in a single article early in the meeting. In many years, the meeting decides to vote on each element of the budget separately, but these actions are still taken in the context of the single article. The level of detail provided in the annual appropriations article expands considerably over time, until 1965 when breakdown of aggregate appropriations is almost wholly abandoned.
Supplementary Allocations and Bills From Prior Years
Although the first supplementary allocation is made in 1855, these end-of-year funding votes do not become a regular occurrence until the early 1930's. From then until the mid 1950's, they occur in virtually every year, in some years involving allocations to virtually every department. (From 1952-1954, they are always implemented via transfers of funds from free cash or between accounts.) From the late 1970's to xx, these again become a regular occurrence.
The issue of unpaid bills from prior years becomes a regular concern for a number of years starting with 1911, as voters annually consider articles to address the previous year's "deficiency."
It emerges to again become an annual issue from the early 1930's to the mid 1960's. In these years, voters consider specific outstanding bills, in groups or individually. Most of the individual bills are small, but in some years their total is sizeable. In the late 1930's and early 1940's, the bills paid in any given year often go back several years. In 1941, payment was finally made on one bill owed since 1934! From the latter half of the 1970's until xx, outstanding bills from the previous year crop up occasionally.