Town Edition
Middlesex County
Ayer, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In November 2012, Ayer and Shirley voters were handed a bill and asked to sign it: a fifty six million dollar rebuild of their shared regional high school, with the state covering roughly thirty seven million and the two towns borrowing the rest through a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion. They said yes, and the 145,000 square foot school those votes paid for is the one Ayer Shirley students walk into every morning. That vote is a fair picture of how Ayer decides almost everything. The town runs on open Town Meeting, where the budget and the bylaws are settled by whoever is a registered voter and shows up in the hall, and on a three member Select Board that hires a professional Town Manager to run the town day to day. On May 12, 2026, the town held its annual election and filled the Select Board, the School Committee, the Board of Health, the Planning Board and the Town Moderator’s chair for a community of about 8,479 people. This guide shows you where those rooms are and how to get into them.
Ayer at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Middlesex. Ayer covers about nine square miles at the junction of the Nashua River and a web of rail lines, north of Boston and just west of the old Fort Devens.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Robert Pontbriand.
- Schools: the Ayer Shirley Regional School District, about 1,656 students across four schools, led by Superintendent Adam Renda.
How Ayer’s Government Works
Ayer runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Ayer is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three member Select Board to set policy between meetings and, with the voters of Shirley, a regional School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Manager 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 Manager.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Ayer 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
Three 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 Manager.
Town Manager
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
Six members in a regional district, three elected by Ayer voters and three by Shirley voters. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Select Board and Ayer’s three seats on the regional School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Manager 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: meets at 6:00 pm on the first and third Tuesday of each month at Ayer Town Hall, 1 Main Street. Each agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center, so check it before you go.
- 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 Moderator, Geoffrey L. Tillotson, presides.
- Town elections: Ayer votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Tuesday, May 12. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Ayer Edition
- Town Manager’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.
- Ayer History1871, the railroads, and Fort Devens
- DemographicsWho lives in Ayer
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataAyer Shirley 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 Middlesex County, and that includes Ayer. 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 Ayer
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 School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets on the first and third Tuesday of the month at Ayer Town Hall, 1 Main Street, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- Know your members. All three Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- 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. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a missed pickup to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 1 Main Street, Ayer, MA 01432. Main line 978-772-8220, Town Manager’s office extension 149.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 978-772-8220, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at ayer.ma.us.
- Public schools: the Ayer Shirley Regional School District, asrsd.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.