Brimfield, Massachusetts

Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

By 1877 the fees Brimfield collected for licensing dogs had quietly piled up in the town treasury, and on April 9 the voters gathered and decided to spend all of it on something the town did not yet have: a free public library. Brimfield still has a public library on Main Street, which tells you where power in this town actually sits: in a room full of neighbors raising their hands. The room still works that way. At the Annual Town Meeting on May 18, 2026, voters pressed electronic clickers instead of raising hands, and one floor amendment moved $50,000. This guide shows you how to get into the room.

Brimfield at a Glance

3,694Residents (2020)

1731Incorporated

5Select Board Members

261Students

Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Brimfield.

County: Hampden. Brimfield sits in the hill country of south central Massachusetts, first settled in 1706, part of Hampshire County until 1812, and home to the largest outdoor antiques show in New England three times every year.
Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board that serves as the town’s executive. Martin Kelly chairs the board.
Schools: Brimfield Elementary is its own district of about 261 students; older students attend the Tantasqua Regional schools in Sturbridge. Deborah J. Boyd is Superintendent of both.

How Brimfield’s Government Works

Brimfield runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Brimfield is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board and the School Committee that oversees the town’s elementary school. The Select Board serves as the town’s executive: it sets policy, approves the bills, appoints residents to town boards and offices, and carries the town’s business between Town Meetings, working out of an office staffed by an administrative assistant rather than through an appointed administrator. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, and the direction and the daily work both belong to the board the voters elect.

Town Meeting

The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Brimfield 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 to three-year terms. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and serve as the town’s executive.

The Select Board’s Office

The board’s own office at 23 Main Street carries the town’s daily paperwork, staffed by an administrative assistant who works for the five elected members.

School Committee

Elected by the town’s voters. It sets policy for Brimfield Elementary, approves its budget, and shares a Superintendent with the Tantasqua Regional district.

Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board, the School Committee, and a long ballot of working town offices.
The Select Board runs the town between meetings: it sets policy, decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant, and carries out what Town Meeting votes.
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 Brimfield, 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 every other Monday at 6:00 PM at Brimfield Elementary School, and each agenda is posted in advance on the town website.
Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring; the 2026 meeting was May 18, and the clerk posts the vote on every article afterward.
Town elections: the 2026 Annual Town Election was held May 21, and 515 voters decided thirteen town offices. The next is in spring 2027.
State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The clerk posts the current primary and election dates, and offers early voting and vote by mail.

Explore the Brimfield Edition

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 Hampden 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 Brimfield. Now you know what to look for.

District Attorney, Hampden District

Anthony D. Gulluni

In office since 2015
Official site

Sheriff, Hampden County

Nicholas Cocchi

In office since 2017
Official site

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.

Officials for any Massachusetts town

Your First Civic Action in Brimfield

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 licenses 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 every other Monday at 6:00 PM at Brimfield Elementary School, 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. The town even posts a Request to be on Agenda form.
Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken sign, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department at 413-245-4103, which owns the repair.

Town offices: 23 Main Street. Select Board office 413-245-4100 Ext. 1104, open to the public Monday through Thursday 9:00 to 5:00.
Town Clerk & agendas: 413-245-4100 Ext. 1107, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at brimfieldma.org.
Public schools: Tantasqua Regional and School Union 61 Districts, 508-347-3077, tantasqua.org.

Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a meeting on a Monday evening, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.

Meet Your Select Board

Take Action in Your Town

MassCivics last checked this page on September 25, 2026.

Sources

Population and demographics: US Census Bureau, Census profile of Brimfield town, Hampden County (American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2020-2024 and the 2020 Census), as of April 1, 2020.
Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, district profile, Enrollment Data (2025-26), as of October 1, 2025.
Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, district profile, general information (2025-26), as of October 1, 2025.
Elections and voter enrollment: Secretary of the Commonwealth, candidate profile, Nick Cocchi, as of November 8, 2022.
Town records: Town of Brimfield, Highway Department, as of September 17, 2026.
Town records: Town of Brimfield, Select Board, as of September 17, 2026.
Town records: Town of Brimfield, Town Clerk, as of September 17, 2026.
Town Clerk records: Town of Brimfield, Annual Town Election Results May 21, 2026, as of May 21, 2026.
Town Clerk records: Town of Brimfield, The 296th Annual Town Meeting, May 18, 2026, Minutes and Actions, as of May 18, 2026.
History and incorporation: Secretary of the Commonwealth, City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates, as of December 24, 1731.
County offices: Hampden County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Cocchi, as of January 2017.