Town Edition
Worcester County
Boylston, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Walk into Tahanto Regional and you are standing in a building two towns paid for on the floor of a town meeting. Boylston runs on open Town Meeting, which means the budget that keeps the lights on in your school is not handed down by a distant council. It is decided by whoever fills the seats at the annual meeting, held this year on May 4, 2026 in the Tahanto auditorium at 1001 Main Street. Any registered voter in Boylston can stand up there, speak, and vote on the money. The town has governed itself this way since it was incorporated in 1786, and this guide shows you how to take your seat in the room where the decisions get made.
Boylston at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Worcester. Boylston sits just north of Worcester, and the Wachusett Reservoir, part of the water supply for Greater Boston, fills roughly 5,000 acres of its northwestern corner.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, April Steward.
- Schools: the Berlin-Boylston Regional School District, about 1,110 students across both towns, led by Superintendent Brent Conway.
How Boylston’s Government Works
Boylston runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Boylston 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 send members to the regional School Committee that oversees the 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 Boylston 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.
School Committee
6 members, elected by the voters of Berlin and Boylston to run the regional district together. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Select Board and Boylston’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 twice a month on Monday evenings at Town Hall, 221 Main Street. 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. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting was held on May 4, 2026 in the Tahanto auditorium at 1001 Main Street.
- Town elections: Boylston holds its annual town election in the spring. In 2026 the Town Clerk recorded 215 ballots cast. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Boylston 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.
- Boylston HistoryWard Nicholas Boylston to the reservoir
- DemographicsWho lives in Boylston
- 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 Boylston. 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 Boylston
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 twice a month on Monday evenings at Town Hall, 221 Main Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All 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 washed-out road to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 221 Main Street, Boylston, MA 01505. Town Clerk 508-869-2234.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-869-2234, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at boylston-ma.gov.
- Public schools: the Berlin-Boylston Regional School District, 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.