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

3,439Residents (2020)

1718Incorporated

3Select Board Members

288Students

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

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 Town Administrator, Ryan Egan.
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 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 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 Town Administrator.

Town Administrator

The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Appointed by the Select Board, 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 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 Brookfield, 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 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 state election is on November 3.

Explore the Brookfield 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 Worcester 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 Brookfield. Now you know what to look for.

District Attorney, Middle District

Joseph D. Early Jr.

In office since 2007
Official site

Sheriff, Worcester County

Lew Evangelidis

In office since 2011
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 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.

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 Brookfield town, Worcester 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, Upcoming Elections, as of September 1, 2026.
Elections and voter enrollment: Secretary of the Commonwealth, candidate profile, Joseph D. Early, Jr., as of November 7, 2006 and November 8, 2022.
Elections and voter enrollment: Secretary of the Commonwealth, candidate profile, Lewis G. Evangelidis, as of November 8, 2022.
Laws and the constitution: Massachusetts General Court, General Laws, Chapter 51, Section 26, Registration sessions, as of June 22, 2022.
Town records: Town of Brookfield, Annual Town Meeting, Thursday, June 4, 2026, as of June 4, 2026.
Town records: Town of Brookfield, Highway Department, as of September 16, 2026.
Town records: Town of Brookfield, Select Board, as of September 16, 2026.
Town records: Town of Brookfield, Town Administrator, as of September 14, 2026.
Town Clerk records: Town of Brookfield, Town Clerk, as of September 16, 2026.
History and incorporation: Secretary of the Commonwealth, City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates, as of November 12, 1718.