Town Edition
Essex County
Boxford, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In May 2001 the voters of Boxford raised their own taxes on purpose, adopting a 3 percent Community Preservation surcharge so the town could buy and protect its own land. The Conservation Commission now looks after more than 750 acres that anyone can walk into, and every acre of it was approved the way Boxford still approves everything, at a meeting where any registered voter can stand up, speak, and vote. Town Meeting is the legislature here. The budget and the bylaws belong to whoever fills the room. This guide shows you how to be one of them.
Boxford at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Boxford.
- County: Essex. Boxford is a heavily wooded town of about 23.6 square miles in northeastern Massachusetts, centered on two historic villages, East Boxford and West Boxford, and crossed by ponds and trails.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Matthew Coogan.
- Schools: Boxford runs its own PreK to grade 6 district, about 760 students in two schools, and sends grades 7 to 12 to Masconomet Regional, shared with Topsfield and Middleton.
How Boxford’s Government Works
Boxford runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Boxford 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 Elementary School Committee that oversees the town’s own 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 Boxford 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 Administrator.
Town Administrator
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 town-wide, who oversee Boxford’s own PreK to grade 6 district. A separate regional committee governs the Masconomet middle and high schools.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the Elementary 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: 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 Boxford, 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
- Select Board: meets bi-weekly on Monday evenings at 6:30 in Meeting Room 1 of Boxford Town Hall, 7A Spofford Road, with reduced frequency over the summer. The agenda is posted in advance.
- 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 2026 Annual Town Meeting was held on May 12 at Masconomet.
- Town elections: Boxford votes in the spring, across its three precincts. The next annual town election is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state election is on November 3.
Explore the Boxford Edition
- Town Administrator’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.
- Boxford HistorySettled 1646, a town since 1685
- DemographicsWho lives in Boxford
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataBoxford 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 Essex 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 Boxford. 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 Boxford
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 bi-weekly at Boxford Town Hall, 7A Spofford Road, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. Five 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: 7A Spofford Road, Boxford, MA 01921. Select Board office 978-887-6740.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 978-887-0710, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at boxfordma.gov.
- Public schools: the Boxford elementary district, part of the Tri-Town School Union, tritownschoolunion.com.
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.
MassCivics last checked this page on September 24, 2026.
Sources
- Population and demographics: US Census Bureau, 2020 Census, P1, Boxford town, as of April 1, 2020.
- Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, district profile, Enrollment Data (2025-26), Boxford, as of October 1, 2025.
- Elections and voter enrollment: Secretary of the Commonwealth, Upcoming Elections, as of September 1, 2026.
- Town records: Town of Boxford, Agenda Center, Select Board, as of May 12, 2026.
- Town records: Town of Boxford, Town Administrator, as of September 14, 2026.
- Town records: Town of Boxford, Town Clerk, as of September 14, 2026.