Town Edition
Worcester County
Berlin, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In Berlin every budget and every borrowing gets decided by a show of hands at open Town Meeting, in a room any registered voter in town can walk into. That matters most when the project is as big as Tahanto, the middle and high school Berlin shares with Boylston, where the state agreed to cover only about half the cost of the new building and the two towns had to find the rest. Berlin has settled its business this way since it was set off as a district in 1784 and incorporated as a town in 1812. This guide shows you how to get into the room.
Berlin at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Worcester. Berlin sits in a low range of hills between the Nashua River and Assabet River valleys, about 12 miles northeast of Worcester and 29 miles west of Boston, on roughly 13 square miles of land.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Interim Town Administrator, Jeff Nutting.
- Schools: the Berlin-Boylston Regional School District, about 1,110 students across three schools, led by Superintendent Dr. Brent Conway.
How Berlin’s Government Works
Berlin runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Berlin 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 a School Committee, shared with Boylston, that oversees the regional 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 Berlin 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. Jeff Nutting holds the post on an interim basis.
School Committee
6 members, elected by the voters of Berlin and Boylston, the two towns the regional district serves. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Select Board and Berlin’s seats on the regional 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: meets on a published calendar at the Town Office Building, 23 Linden Street. Dates and start times vary, and the agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar 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.
- Town elections: Berlin holds its Annual Town Election in the spring, when the seats up that year on the Select Board and other town offices are on the ballot.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, with the primary in the late summer or fall and the general in November.
Explore the Berlin 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.
- Berlin HistoryNashaway land, a shoe town, and 1812
- DemographicsWho lives in Berlin
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataBerlin-Boylston 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 Worcester County, and that includes Berlin. 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 Berlin
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 a published calendar at the Town Office Building, 23 Linden Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. 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 downed limb to the Highway Department, which owns the repair.
- Town Offices: 23 Linden Street, Berlin, MA 01503. Select Board office 978-838-2442.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 978-838-2931, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at townofberlin.com.
- Public schools: the Berlin-Boylston Regional School District, 508-869-2837, bbrsd.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.