Town Edition
Middlesex County
Bedford, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The oldest complete flag known to exist in the United States is not in Washington and not in Boston. It is in a climate controlled room on the Flag Balcony of Bedford’s own public library, and any afternoon the library is open you can walk to the circulation desk, hand over your driver’s licence, and be given a magnetic key that opens the door. Behind it is a square of crimson silk that Nathaniel Page, a Bedford minuteman, carried toward the Concord Bridge on the morning of April 19, 1775. The town that keeps it still governs itself the old way too. On March 14, 2026, 1,412 Bedford voters filled eleven elected seats and rewrote part of their own charter, 782 to 410, and every budget in this town is still decided by whoever walks into the high school auditorium on the fourth Monday in March. This guide shows you where those rooms are and how to get into them.
Bedford at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Middlesex. Bedford covers 13.662 square miles about fifteen miles northwest of Boston, roughly 1,053 people to the square mile, and its neighbours are Lexington, Concord, Carlisle, Burlington, Billerica and Lincoln.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Matthew J. Hanson.
- Schools: Bedford Public Schools, about 2,397 students across four schools, led by Superintendent Cliff Chuang.
How Bedford’s Government Works
Bedford runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Bedford is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the 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 Bedford 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
5 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
5 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 5 members of the Select Board and the 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
- Town Caucus: every January, under Article 2.4 of the General Bylaws, Bedford holds a caucus that takes nominations from the floor for every elective office. You have to be in the room to be nominated. This is the first door of the whole election year.
- Select Board: Monday evenings, roughly twice a month, at Town Hall, 10 Mudge Way. Agendas go up in advance on the town’s Agenda Center, and most meetings open with a public comment period.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting convenes on the fourth Monday in March, in the Bedford High School Auditorium. The Moderator, David E. Powell, presides, and a quorum is one hundred registered voters.
- Town elections: the second Saturday in March, at one polling place for the whole town, the John Glenn Middle School at 99 McMahon Road. The 2026 Annual Town Election was March 14. The next is in March 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, in September and November.
Explore the Bedford Edition
- Town Manager’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Bedford History1729, the flag, and the charter
- DemographicsWho lives in Bedford
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataBedford 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 Bedford. 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 Bedford
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 the bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets Monday evenings at Town Hall, 10 Mudge Way, and each agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- Sign up to speak. Select Board agendas typically open with a public comment period. You are encouraged, though not required, to email SBcomment@bedfordma.gov or call 781-275-1111 first with your name and your topic.
- Know your members. All five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to every street in Bedford.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light or a water problem to the Department of Public Works at 781-275-7605, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 10 Mudge Way, Bedford, MA 01730. Main directory 781-918-4000, Select Board and Town Manager’s Office 781-275-1111.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 781-275-0083, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at bedfordma.gov.
- Public schools: Bedford Public Schools, 781-918-4444, bedfordps.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.