View the Amherst HandbookTown Leadership
The Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Paul Bockelman
When an Amherst street goes unplowed or the town budget squeezes the schools, one official owns the result, and it is not a mayor. Amherst has none. Under the council-manager charter voters adopted in 2018, the elected Town Council hires a professional Town Manager to run the town, and that manager is Paul Bockelman, brought on in 2016 as Amherst’s sixth town manager and kept on through the switch to the new charter. He oversees every department, appoints department heads, and prepares the budget the Council then votes on. He came to the job knowing both sides of the table: before Amherst he was the director of administration and finance for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, earlier the town administrator in Manchester-by-the-Sea, and for ten years an elected member of the Somerville School Committee. He is a Hampshire College graduate. What he does not have is a personal mandate from voters. He answers to the thirteen people Amherst elects, and the Council can replace him, which keeps a trained manager in charge of the machinery while elected residents stay in charge of the manager.
| Role | Town Manager (appointed chief executive) |
|---|---|
| In office | Since 2016 |
| Appointed by | The Town Council |
| Office | Town Hall, 4 Boltwood Avenue, Amherst, MA 01002 |
| Phone | 413-259-3002 |
| Hours | Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Thursday 12:00 PM to 4:30 PM |
| Website | amherstma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Runs the departments. Police, fire, public works, health, and the rest all answer to the Town Manager, who appoints their leaders.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Manager proposes how the town will spend its money, then sends it to the Council to debate and vote.
- Carries out the Council’s votes. The Council sets policy and the budget, and the Manager turns those decisions into the services you see on the street.
- Answers to the Council. The thirteen councillors hire, evaluate, and can replace the Manager, who has no separate vote of his own from the public.
The Administration
- Department heads are appointed by the Town Manager and carry out policy, from plowing snow to inspecting restaurants.
- The Town Council is the check: it must adopt the budget and it hires and evaluates the Manager.
- Boards and commissions, appointed by the Manager or the Council, decide questions like zoning, conservation, and historic preservation.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 4 Boltwood Avenue, Amherst, MA 01002. Town Manager’s office 413-259-3002.
- Email: townmanager@amherstma.gov.
- Report a problem: potholes, missed trash, and other service requests go through AmherstConnect at amherstma.gov.
- Show up: the Council meets in the Town Room on the first and third Mondays, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.