Town Leadership
The Carver Town Administrator’s Office
The Town Administrator
Glenn Cannon
When a road goes unplowed after a storm, or a solar array is proposed on an old cranberry bog, the person with the most day to day control over the town’s response is appointed, not elected. Glenn Cannon is Carver’s Town Administrator, hired by the five elected members of the Select Board to run the town, and the board can let him go if it loses confidence in him. He is the chief administrative officer, and the job is best understood as the split between what a town decides and how a town runs. The Select Board and Town Meeting decide. The Town Administrator makes it run.
In practice that means Cannon supervises the department heads who report to Town Hall, carries out the personnel and contract work of a town of more than eleven thousand people, and answers to the board at its public meetings. He also works with the state and regional agencies Carver deals with. When the board sat down after the April 2026 election to reorganize, one of its first acts was to ratify contracts he had negotiated, including the new Police Chief’s, a reminder that the administrator does the bargaining and the elected board takes the vote.
The budget is where the office matters most. Each winter Cannon builds a spending plan for the coming year, weighing what the schools, the public safety departments, and public works say they need against what the town can raise. He presents that plan to the Select Board, and then the two of them carry it to Town Meeting, where the registered voters in the room hold the final vote. He cannot raise a dollar or pass a bylaw on his own. What he can do is shape the proposal that reaches the floor, which is why a resident with a concern about staffing, roads, or a town service usually starts with a call to his office. The plan to fix a problem tends to cross his desk first, then goes to the board, and then to the voters.
| Role | Town Administrator (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board under contract, not elected |
| Office | Carver Town Hall, 108 Main Street, Carver, MA 02330 |
| Phone | 508-866-3401 |
| Website | carverma.gov |
What the Town Administrator Does
- Runs the departments. Public works, health, building, planning, veterans services, and the rest report up to the Town Administrator, who supervises the department heads and their daily work.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Town Administrator proposes how the town will spend its money, then defends that plan before the Select Board and Town Meeting, which holds the final vote.
- Answers to the board. The Town Administrator serves at the pleasure of the elected Select Board and carries out the policies it sets.
- Reports to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of Town Meeting, and in Carver that means every registered voter who walks in.
The Administration
- Department heads carry out policy, from plowing snow to inspecting restaurants, and report to the Town Administrator.
- The Select Board is the check: it hires and can fire the Town Administrator, sets policy, and signs the warrants that put questions before Town Meeting.
- Boards and commissions, many of them appointed by the Select Board, decide questions like zoning, conservation, and licensing.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 108 Main Street, Carver, MA 02330.
- Town Administrator’s Office: 508-866-3401.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights, and missed pickups go to the Operations and Maintenance Department.
- Show up: the Select Board meets on the first and third Tuesday of the month at Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.
MassCivics last checked this page on September 26, 2026.
Sources
- Town records: Town of Carver, Town Administrators Office, as of September 8, 2026.