Town Leadership
The Belmont Town Administrator’s Office
The Town Administrator
Patrice Garvin
The person who makes Town Hall run is Patrice Garvin, the Town Administrator, hired by the three elected members of the Select Board rather than by the voters. She is the town’s chief administrative officer, and the town describes the job in three parts: she directs the delivery of municipal services, except those under the town’s independently elected boards; she gives the Select Board the groundwork for its strategic planning; and she runs the Office of the Select Board itself. In practice that means the departments answer to her, and she answers to the board.
The budget is where the office shows its reach. Each year the Town Administrator’s Office prepares the annual operating and capital budgets, folding in the work of appointed citizen committees like the Warrant Committee and the Capital Budget Committee so that residents sit inside the process rather than outside it, and working with the School Committee and the school administration on the School Department budget. What her office assembles, Town Meeting ultimately votes, article by article, which is why the official warrant her office prepares with Town Counsel is the town’s real agenda. She also negotiates contracts with the town’s labor unions as the board’s agent, publishes the Annual Town Report, and serves as Belmont’s link to state, federal, and regional government.
Garvin came to Belmont in 2018. In 2025, when she was a finalist for a similar position in Danvers, the Select Board approved a pay increase to keep her in Belmont, which tells you how the board weighs the office: the Town Administrator is the officer the board reviews every year.
For a resident, her office is the front door of town government. It is the place to ask which department handles a problem, to report something when no department obviously fits, to sign up for a volunteer seat on a town committee, or to schedule time to speak with a member of the Select Board. Because Belmont hands the daily machinery to an appointed administrator, the plan to fix a problem usually crosses her desk first, then goes to the board and to Town Meeting.
| Role | Town Administrator (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| In office | Since 2018 |
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board under contract, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 455 Concord Avenue, 1st Floor, Belmont, MA 02478 |
| Phone | 617-993-2610 |
| Website | belmont-ma.gov |
What the Town Administrator Does
- Runs the departments. The Town Administrator directs and manages the delivery of municipal services, except those under the jurisdiction of the town’s independently elected authorities. The Select Board appoints the Police Chief, the Fire Chief, the Director of Public Works and Town Counsel itself.
- Builds the budget. Her office prepares the annual operating and capital budgets, folds in the work of the Warrant Committee and the Capital Budget Committee, then carries the plan to the Select Board and Town Meeting.
- Answers to the board. The Administrator serves the elected Select Board, carries out the policies it sets, and directs the board’s own office.
- Reports to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of the representative Town Meeting members elected from your precinct.
The Administration
- Department heads answer to the Town Administrator and carry out policy, from plowing snow to inspecting restaurants.
- The Select Board is the check: it hires the Administrator, sets policy, and signs the warrants that put questions before Town Meeting.
- Boards and commissions, many of them appointed by the Select Board or the Town Moderator, decide questions like zoning and conservation. Licensing is the elected Select Board’s own power.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: Belmont Town Offices, 455 Concord Avenue, Belmont, MA 02478.
- Town Administrator’s Office: 617-993-2610, first floor of Town Hall.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights, and missed pickups go through Connect & Report on belmont-ma.gov.
- Show up: the Select Board typically meets two Monday evenings a month at 7 pm at Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.