Town Edition
Berkshire County
Dalton, Massachusetts
Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Pull a dollar bill out of your pocket and you are holding paper that was made in Dalton. Since 1879 the Crane mills in this town have supplied the paper for United States currency, and they still do. But the sharper lesson about power here is hiding in your kitchen tap. The water that comes out of it is not run by the Town of Dalton at all. It belongs to the Dalton Fire District, a separate government with its own elected water commissioners, its own tax, and its own annual meeting, where the residents who show up approve the budget for the water you drink and the ambulance that would come for you. Dalton is really two governments stacked on the same map. This guide shows you where the rooms of both are and how to get into them.
Dalton at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Berkshire. Dalton sits along the Housatonic River in the Central Berkshires, covers about 21.8 square miles, and is home to the Crane paper mills and to Wahconah Falls.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Eric Anderson.
- Schools: the Central Berkshire Regional School District, about 1,530 students across five schools in seven towns, led by Superintendent Michael Henault.
How Dalton’s Government Works
Dalton runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Dalton 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 Dalton 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
15 members, elected by the voters of the district the schools serve. 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: register at 16, vote at 18, and once you are registered you are already a member of Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Select Board: generally meets at the Dalton Senior Center on the second and fourth Monday of the month at 7 p.m. Each agenda is posted in advance with the Town Clerk, so check it before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held each May, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The Town Moderator, Anthony Doyle, presides.
- Town elections: Dalton holds its annual town election each spring. The 2026 election was held on Monday, May 11. The next is in spring 2027.
- Fire District: the Dalton Fire District is a separate government and holds its own annual district meeting, apart from the town’s, to set the budget for the water supply, the Fire Department and the ambulance.
Explore the Dalton 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.
- Dalton History1784, Crane paper, and the Fire District
- DemographicsWho lives in Dalton
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataDalton 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 Berkshire County, and that includes Dalton. 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 Dalton
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 the police go to the Select Board and the Town Manager. Water, fire and the ambulance belong to the separate Dalton Fire District. Schools go to the Central Berkshire Regional School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board generally meets at the Dalton Senior Center on the second and fourth Monday of the month, and the agenda is posted in advance with the Town Clerk.
- 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 plowing problem to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 462 Main Street, Dalton, MA 01226. Main line 413-684-6111, Town Manager’s office ext. 201.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 413-684-6111 ext. 210, with meeting notices and minutes posted at dalton-ma.gov.
- Public schools: the Central Berkshire Regional School District, 413-684-0320, cbrsd.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.