Town Edition
Norfolk County
Cohasset, Massachusetts
Photo: Tichnor Bros. Inc., Boston, Mass., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
On Saturday, May 9, 2026, 1,679 Cohasset residents walked into three precincts and chose the people who run the town: three Select Board seats, two School Committee seats, the Town Moderator, the Town Clerk, and the elected boards that handle health, planning, water and sewer. That was about 26 percent of the town’s registered voters, and the residents who came settled every one of those seats for all 8,381 people who live here. The same ballot carried one big borrowing question, a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion to rebuild the town-owned building at 135 King Street for public safety, and the voters turned it down, 900 to 715. That is the shape of power in Cohasset: the budget is voted in a hall where every registered voter can stand and speak, and the biggest borrowing has to clear a ballot every registered voter can mark. This guide shows you where those rooms are and how to get into them.
Cohasset at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Cohasset.
- County: Norfolk. Cohasset covers about ten square miles on the Atlantic shore where greater Boston Harbor gives way to Massachusetts Bay, and it is an exclave of Norfolk County, cut off from the rest of the county by the Plymouth County towns of Hingham and Hull.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Michelle Leary.
- Schools: Cohasset Public Schools, about 1,382 students across four schools, led by Superintendent Sarah Shannon.
How Cohasset’s Government Works
Cohasset runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Cohasset is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Manager 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 Manager.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Cohasset 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. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and hire and supervise the Town Manager.
Town Manager
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
5 members, elected town-wide by Cohasset voters. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Manager 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 Cohasset, 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 Tuesday evening at Willcutt Commons, 91 Sohier Street. Each agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center, so check it 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. The next Special Town Meeting is Monday, October 26, 2026, at 7 p.m. The Moderator, Robert D. Hillman, presides.
- Town elections: Cohasset votes in the spring, across three precincts. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Saturday, May 9, 2026. A Special Town Election is on Saturday, December 5, 2026, and the next Annual Town Election is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state election is on November 3.
Explore the Cohasset Edition
- Town Manager’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Cohasset History1647, the harbor, and Minot’s Ledge
- DemographicsWho lives in Cohasset
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataCohasset schools by the numbers
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 Norfolk 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 Cohasset. Now you know what to look for.
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.
Your First Civic Action in Cohasset
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 Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets every other Tuesday evening at Willcutt Commons, 91 Sohier Street, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- 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. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a missed pickup to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 41 Highland Avenue, Cohasset, MA 02025. Main line 781-383-4100, which reaches the Select Board and Town Manager’s office.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 781-383-4100, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at cohassetma.gov.
- Public schools: Cohasset Public Schools, cohassetk12.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.
MassCivics last checked this page on October 14, 2026.
Sources
- Population and demographics: US Census Bureau, Census profile of Cohasset town, Norfolk 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, Contact Information, as of October 2026.
- Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, district profile, Enrollment Data (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, Patrick W. McDermott, as of November 8, 2022.
- Town records: Town of Cohasset, 2026 Special Town Meeting and Special Town Election Calendar, as of October 2026.
- Town records: Town of Cohasset, Cohasset Select Board, as of March 6, 2026.
- Town records: Town of Cohasset, Staff Directory, as of October 2026.
- Town Clerk records: Town of Cohasset, Annual Town Election, May 9, 2026, Official Results, as of May 9, 2026.
- Town Clerk records: Town of Cohasset, Town Clerk, as of February 23, 2026.
- Charter and bylaws: Massachusetts General Court, Acts of 2014, Chapter 3, An Act relative to the town manager in the Town of Cohasset, as of January 16, 2014.
- History and incorporation: Secretary of the Commonwealth, City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates, as of September 24, 2026.
- School district records: Cohasset Public Schools, Cohasset Public Schools, home, as of October 2026.
- School district records: Cohasset Public Schools, School Committee Members, as of October 2026.