Eastham Select Board Votes 4-0 to Offer Town Manager Job to Internal Candidate

EASTHAM -- January 14, 2026, Eastham Select Board unanimously backs internal candidate Richard Bienvenue as next town manager. The four-member quorum present voted 4-0 Wednesday night to extend an offer to Bienvenue, the town's Assistant Town Manager and Finance Director for the past five and a half years, following a public interview at Town Hall's Earle Mountain Meeting Room. Fifth member Jamie Demetri was absent; Chair Jerry Cerasale noted the town charter requires four affirmative votes and said he expected Demetri would support the decision. Outgoing Town Manager Jacqui Beebe, who retires after 10 years this spring, introduced Bienvenue with prepared remarks, telling the Board that "East Ham without Rich was good, but East Ham with Rich is much better." During the interview, Bienvenue cited a 15-percent reduction in town-wide energy use, more than $400,000 in leveraged energy-efficiency improvements, a rebuilt IT infrastructure, and a successful appeal to the state DEP that placed Eastham above the funding threshold for State Revolving Fund financing, arriving roughly two days before a Town Meeting vote on the wastewater project. Contract negotiations will be conducted privately, with Cerasale as lead negotiator; no contract will be signed until Beebe's departure date is confirmed.