Town Edition
Hampshire County
Chesterfield, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The fiber optic cable carrying internet into a house in Chesterfield does not belong to Comcast or Verizon. It belongs to the town. When the big carriers decided a thousand people scattered across the Hampshire hills were not worth the wire, Chesterfield voters used a power Massachusetts law hands to any town: they stood up at Town Meeting, voted, created a Municipal Light Plant, and built their own gigabit fiber network with it. That is the whole point of this town. The budget, the bylaws, and even the decision to become an internet provider are settled in a room any registered voter can walk into. This guide shows you how to get into the room.
Chesterfield at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Hampshire. Chesterfield is a hilltown of about twelve hundred people in the hills west of Northampton, on the East Branch of the Westfield River, best known for Chesterfield Gorge.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Brenda Lessard.
- Schools: the youngest grades at the New Hingham Regional Elementary School, shared with Goshen, and grades 7 to 12 at Hampshire Regional in Westhampton, led by Superintendent Vito J. Perrone.
How Chesterfield’s Government Works
Chesterfield runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Chesterfield 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 to serve as the town’s chief executive, along with the committees that oversee the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Administrator to handle the town’s daily work. 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 the board hires.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Chesterfield is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
The Select Board
Three members elected town-wide. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town offices, and hire and supervise the Town Administrator.
Town Administrator
The appointed administrator who carries the town’s business between board meetings. Builds the budget, oversees the offices, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committees
Chesterfield voters elect members to two regional committees, one for the elementary school it shares with Goshen and one for Hampshire Regional. They set school policy, approve the school budgets, and share a Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Select Board and the town’s seats on the school committees.
- 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 on a published calendar, generally every other Monday, at the Town Office, 422 Main Road. The agenda is posted at Town Hall and on the town website in advance, so check it before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring at the Chesterfield Community Center, 400 Main Road, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Chesterfield holds its Annual Town Election in May. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Chesterfield Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeWho runs the town day to day
- The Select BoardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committees
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Chesterfield HistoryThe Gorge, the mills, and the fiber network
- DemographicsWho lives in Chesterfield
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataHampshire Regional 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 Hampshire County, and that includes Chesterfield. 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 Chesterfield
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 committees. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets on a published calendar at the Town Office, 422 Main Road, 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 culvert, or a road washout to the Highway Department, which is the office that owns the repair.
- Town Office: 422 Main Road, PO Box 299, Chesterfield, MA 01012. The Town Administrator and Select Board office can be reached at 413-296-4771.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 413-296-4771, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at townofchesterfieldma.com.
- Public schools: the Hampshire Regional School District central office, 413-527-7200, hr-k12.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.