Town Edition
Bristol County
Berkley, Massachusetts
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In November 2024 the voters of Berkley agreed to raise their own taxes. They approved a debt exclusion to help build a new Berkley Community School, the state School Building Authority approved a grant of up to $38,869,560, and a town of about 6,764 people took on the rest. That is roughly the largest decision Berkley has ever made, and it was made in a room any registered voter could have walked into. Berkley runs on open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members to send in your place: if you are registered here, you are already a member. This guide shows you how to take your seat.
Berkley at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Berkley.
- County: Bristol. Berkley sits between the Taunton River and Assonet Bay in the southeastern corner of the Commonwealth, bordered by Dighton, Taunton, Lakeville and Freetown, and it covers about 17.4 square miles.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Board of Selectmen and an appointed Town Administrator, Matthew Chabot.
- Schools: Berkley Public Schools, a Pre-K to grade 8 district of about 846 students, led by Superintendent Melissa Eakins-Ryan.
How Berkley’s Government Works
Berkley runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Berkley is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 3 member Board of Selectmen to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Board of Selectmen 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 Board of Selectmen, 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 Berkley is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Board of Selectmen
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 Board of Selectmen. 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 3 members of the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee.
- The Board of Selectmen 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: pre-register at 16. A pre-registrant is on the list but is not allowed to vote yet. Once you turn 18 that designation comes off on its own and you are a registered voter in Berkley, which makes you a member of Town Meeting with a vote on the floor. If you never pre-registered, register with the Town Clerk, and do it well ahead: the rolls close at 5 p.m. on the tenth day before any election or Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Board of Selectmen: meets generally every other Wednesday evening in the Moitoza-Pettey Hearing Room at Berkley Town Hall, 1 North Main Street. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is set by bylaw for the first Monday in June, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Berkley holds its annual town election in the spring. In May 2026 the Town Clerk’s official results reported 2,419 ballots cast. Those ballots settled every seat except the Board of Selectmen seat, which the Registrars of Voters decided by official recount on May 28, 2026. The next annual election is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The Massachusetts state primary was held September 1, 2026, and the state election follows on November 3, 2026.
Explore the Berkley Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Board of SelectmenYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Berkley HistoryDighton Rock, and a town named for a bishop
- DemographicsWho lives in Berkley
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataBerkley schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected, and neither one sits on Beacon Hill. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. The sheriff is elected by the voters of Bristol County. The district attorney is elected by the voters of a prosecution district, and Massachusetts draws eleven of those across its fourteen counties, so a district attorney’s territory does not always follow a county line. Both appear on your ballot in Berkley. Now you know what to look for.
Massachusetts elects fourteen sheriffs, one for each county, and eleven district attorneys, one for each prosecution district. 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 Berkley
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 Board of Selectmen. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Board of Selectmen meets in the Moitoza-Pettey Hearing Room at Berkley Town Hall, 1 North Main Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All three Board of Selectmen 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 downed limb, or a transfer-station question to the Highway Department, which owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 1 North Main Street, Berkley, MA 02779. Board of Selectmen office 508-824-6794.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-822-3348, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at townofberkleyma.gov.
- Public schools: Berkley Public Schools, a Pre-K to grade 8 district, reached through Town Hall at 508-738-6057.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Board of Selectmen, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.
MassCivics last checked this page on September 14, 2026.