Chatham and the Fine Art of Almost Informing the Public (be sure to read the update at the end of the article)

Last month the town promised to post agendas and all correspondence to the public prior to Town Board meeting. Who knew “prior” was so…nebulous.

Well, they tried. Or did they. It’s the eternal question in Chatham governance, isn’t it: the gesture toward openness, followed swiftly by the retreat into fog. That’s the entire issue behind Bashford Road. Not being in the know.

Last month Chatham’s own website makes the promise, in a reassuring bureaucratic prose: Agenda packets, it says, are made available to the public prior to Town Board meetings, intended to help residents stay informed about matters before the Board. A lovely sentiment. The kind you’d frame or needlepoint onto a pillow.

Except here we are, the morning of the meeting, and the packets are nowhere to be found. Not a whisper. One begins to wonder what “prior to” means in Chatham. An hour before the gavel drops? Like church bulletin you get as you walk into mass?

Correction Note: The incomplete packet was posted under “agenda” on the calendar at some point late in the day 7.15.26

There is something almost quaint about a town in 2026 unable to manage what any mid-size PT…