Town Edition
Worcester County
Brookfield, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The water that comes out of your tap in Brookfield is not sold to you by a company. The town owns the system, and the three Water Commissioners who run it are elected by the people who live here, the same way the town decides almost everything else. Brookfield has been governing itself this way for a very long time. It began as the Quaboag Plantation, first settled in 1660 and one of the earliest inland towns in Massachusetts, and its legislative body is still open Town Meeting, where any registered voter can walk in, take the floor, and vote on the budget in person. This guide shows you how to get into that room and how to reach the people who run the town between meetings.
Brookfield at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Worcester. Brookfield sits in the southwestern part of the county along the Quaboag River, about 18 miles west of the city of Worcester, with Quaboag Pond and Quacumquasit Pond on its eastern edge.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Interim Town Administrator, Blythe Robinson.
- Schools: Brookfield Elementary serves prekindergarten through grade 6, and students in grades 7 to 12 attend the Tantasqua Regional district. Both are led by Superintendent Deborah Boyd.
How Brookfield’s Government Works
Brookfield runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Brookfield is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 3 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Interim 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 Interim Town Administrator.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Brookfield 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 Interim Town Administrator.
Interim 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
The Brookfield Elementary School Committee is elected by the town’s voters. It sets school policy, approves the elementary budget, and works with the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Interim 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 the first and third Wednesday of each month at Brookfield Town Hall, 6 Central Street, with additional meetings added as needed. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town website 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: Brookfield holds an annual town election in the spring. Each Select Board seat is a three-year term, and one of the three comes up for election each year.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Brookfield 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.
- Brookfield HistoryQuaboag Plantation and the Brookfields
- DemographicsWho lives in Brookfield
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataBrookfield 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 Brookfield. 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 Brookfield
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. The elementary school goes to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets on the first and third Wednesday of each month at Brookfield Town Hall, 6 Central 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 road problem to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 6 Central Street, Brookfield, MA 01506. Select Board office (508) 867-2930, Ext. 10.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Michael Seery, (508) 867-2930, Ext. 12, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at brookfieldma.us.
- Public schools: Brookfield Elementary School, 37 Central Street, and the Tantasqua Regional district for grades 7 to 12.
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.