Town Edition
Franklin County
Conway, Massachusetts
Photo: Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Once a year, on the first Saturday in June, the voters of Conway walk into the Conway Grammar School and stop being an audience. For one meeting every registered voter in town is a member of the legislature, setting the budget line by line and writing the bylaws the town will live under. That is the whole idea of an open Town Meeting, and this guide shows you how to take your place in it.
Conway at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Conway.
- County: Franklin. Conway is a hilltown of about 37.8 square miles in the foothills of the Berkshires, and the South River was once the main source of waterpower for its mills.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Véronique Blanchard.
- Schools: the town runs the Conway Grammar School for PreK through grade 6, about 146 students, and sends grades 7 through 12 to Frontier Regional School. Superintendent Darius Modestow leads both.
How Conway’s Government Works
Conway runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Conway 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 Conway 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. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
5 members, elected town-wide, who oversee the Conway Grammar School. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and works with the shared Union 38 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 Conway, 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 Monday at 6:00 pm at Town Hall, 5 Academy Hill Road, and moves to weekly through budget season from January to May. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting falls on the first Saturday in June at the Conway Grammar School, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Conway votes in June. The next is in June 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state election is November 3, and in-person early voting in Conway runs October 17 through October 29.
Explore the Conway 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.
- Conway HistoryA hilltown, a covered bridge, and a library
- DemographicsWho lives in Conway
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataConway Grammar 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 Franklin 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 Conway. 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 Conway
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 Monday at 6:00 pm at Town Hall, 5 Academy Hill 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 downed limb, or a road problem to the Highway Department, which owns the repair.
- Town offices: 32 Main Street, PO Box 240, Conway, MA 01341. Town phone 413-369-4235.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 413-369-4235 ext. 4, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at conwayma.gov.
- Public schools: Conway Grammar School and the Frontier Regional and Union 38 district office, 413-665-1155, frsu38.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, Decennial Census 2020, P1, Conway town, as of April 1, 2020.
- Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, Contact Information, Conway (00680000), as of October 2025.
- Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, Enrollment Data (2025-26), Conway (00680000), as of October 2025.
- Town records: Town of Conway, About Conway, as of October 13, 2026.
- Town records: Town of Conway, School Committee, as of October 13, 2026.
- Town records: Town of Conway, Select Board, as of October 13, 2026.
- Town records: Town of Conway, Town Administrator, as of October 13, 2026.
- Town records: Town of Conway, Town Meeting, as of June 6, 2026.
- Town records: Town of Conway, Town of Conway, home, as of October 2026 and October 13, 2026.
- Town Clerk records: Town of Conway, Town Clerk, as of October 13, 2026.
- County offices: Northwestern District Attorney, Northwestern District Attorney, as of October 2026.