Town Edition
Franklin County
Ashfield, Massachusetts
Photo: Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In September 2015, Ashfield voters went to a Special Town Meeting and agreed, by better than four to one, to borrow $2.3 million and build the town its own fiber optic internet network, because no cable company was ever going to run a line this far up the hills. The gigabit connection in an Ashfield house today is a public utility your neighbors voted to tax themselves for, and the Select Board still runs it as the town’s Municipal Light Plant. That is what an open Town Meeting is: a room of about 1,695 neighbors that can borrow millions of dollars to build a utility, because every registered voter in town is a member of it. This guide shows you how to walk into that room.
Ashfield at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Franklin. Ashfield covers about 40 square miles of hill country between the Connecticut River valley and the Berkshires, at roughly 42 residents per square mile, with Ashfield Lake at the edge of the village center.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Paul McLatchy III.
- Schools: the Mohawk Trail Regional School District, about 758 students across four schools, led by Superintendent Sheryl L. Stanton. Ashfield’s own elementary school is Sanderson Academy.
How Ashfield’s Government Works
Ashfield runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Ashfield is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 3 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Administrator to run the town day to day. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, the direction is set by the Select Board, and the daily work is carried out by the Town Administrator.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Ashfield is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Select Board
3 members elected town-wide. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and hire and supervise the Town Administrator.
Town Administrator
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
16 members, elected by the voters of the district the schools serve. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Administrator and decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant.
- Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws, and every registered voter present can vote.
- You take part: register at 16, vote at 18, and once you are registered you are already a member of Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Select Board: every other Monday at 7:00 PM at Ashfield Town Hall, 412 Main Street, with budget meetings on the alternating Mondays from January through April. The agenda is normally posted on the Thursday afternoon before a Monday meeting.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The most recent Annual Town Meeting was on May 2, 2026.
- Town elections: Ashfield votes on the day of the Annual Town Meeting in May. One Select Board seat is on the ballot each year for a three-year term, and the Town Moderator is elected annually.
- State and federal elections: the 2026 State Primary is Tuesday, September 1 and the State Election is Tuesday, November 3. Polls are open 7:00am to 8:00pm at Town Hall, and the town also runs early in-person voting there.
Explore the Ashfield Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Ashfield HistoryHuntstown, Sanderson, and the fiber vote
- DemographicsWho lives in Ashfield
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataMohawk Trail schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected countywide. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. Both of them answer to the voters of Franklin County, and that includes Ashfield. They appear on your ballot. Now you know what to look for.
Every county in Massachusetts elects its own, and the job is the same everywhere: the charging decisions, the jail. Look up any town in the state and see who holds these two offices there.
Your First Civic Action in Ashfield
You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard in your own town. Here is how to take a real concern to the people who decide.
- Pick the right body. Town policy, roads, and police or fire go to the Select Board. Schools go to the Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee. The budget and the bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets every other Monday at 7:00 PM at Town Hall, 412 Main Street, and the agenda goes up in advance.
- Get on the agenda. The town asks you to contact the Town Administrator at townadmin@ashfield.org or 413-628-4441 ext. 7 by 3:00 on the Wednesday before the Board meets.
- Speak. Meetings are open to the public and residents may address the board. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. A pothole, a washout, or a plowing problem goes to the Highway Department at 413-628-4448, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 412 Main Street, PO Box 560, Ashfield, MA 01330. Main line 413-628-4441.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 413-628-4441 ext. 5, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at ashfield.org.
- Public schools: the Mohawk Trail Regional School District, 413-625-0192, mtrsd.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.