Edgartown, Massachusetts - Government

Government

On the national level, Edgartown is a part of Massachusetts's 10th congressional district, and is currently represented by William R. Keating. The state's junior (Class I) member of the United States Senate is Scott Brown. The senior (Class II) Senator is John Kerry.

On the state level, Edgartown is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a part of the Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket district, which includes all of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, as well as a portion of Falmouth. The town is represented in the Massachusetts Senate as a portion of the Cape and Islands district, which includes all of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and most of Barnstable County (with the exception of Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth and a portion of Barnstable). All of Dukes County is patrolled by the Fifth (Oak Bluffs) Barracks of Troop D of the Massachusetts State Police.

Edgartown is governed on the local level by the open town meeting form of government, and is led by an executive secretary and a board of selectmen. The town has its own police and fire departments, both located just west of the historic center of town. The current police chief is Tony Bettencourt. The town has one post office, located further west and south of the wildlife preserve at Sengekontacket Pond. The town's Free Public Library is located in the center of town. Edgartown is also the site of the Dukes County Courthouse, the only courthouse on the island.

Read more about this topic:  Edgartown, Massachusetts

Famous quotes containing the word government:

    Democracy is not so much a form of government as a set of principles.
    Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)

    A woman does not have to make decisions based on the need to survive. She can cut through issues, call shots as she sees them.... Many bad decisions are made by men in government because it is good for them personally to make bad public decisions.
    Dianne Feinstein (b. 1933)

    Visit the Navy-Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts,—a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniments.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)