Town Edition
Norfolk County
Dover, Massachusetts
Photo: Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The 1910 schoolhouse on Springdale Avenue now holds a cafe, a gym where you can play pickleball, and the Parks and Recreation offices, and none of it happened because a mayor decided so. It happened because Dover residents stood up at a Special Town Meeting in June 2021 and voted to borrow $18,850,000 to rebuild the old Caryl School into the town’s community center, then came back in June 2023 and voted to put another $6.6 million behind it. That is how this town settles its biggest questions: not in a mayor’s office, but in a hall where any registered voter can stand and vote. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Dover at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Norfolk. Dover sits west of Boston along the Charles River, a wooded town whose conservation land includes Noanet Woodlands and the reconstructed ruins of the Dover Union Iron Mill.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Board of Selectmen and an appointed Town Administrator, Michael Blanchard.
- Schools: the Dover Public Schools, about 457 students at Chickering School, kindergarten through grade five, led by Superintendent Elizabeth M. McCoy. Grades six through twelve are shared with Sherborn in the Dover-Sherborn Regional School District.
How Dover’s Government Works
Dover runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Dover is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Board of Selectmen to set policy between meetings and a School Committee that oversees the schools. The Board of Selectmen 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 Board of Selectmen, 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 Dover is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Board of Selectmen
Three members elected town-wide, one seat filled each year for a three-year term. 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 Board of Selectmen. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
The five-member Dover School Committee oversees Chickering School, and three Dover members also sit on the six-member Dover-Sherborn Regional School Committee. Together they set school policy and hire the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Board of Selectmen and the members of the School Committee.
- The Board of Selectmen 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
- Board of Selectmen: meets on a published calendar at the Dover Town House, 5 Springdale Avenue. Dates and start times vary, and the agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in May in the Mudge Auditorium at Dover-Sherborn High School, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Dover votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Monday, May 18, with the polls open from 7:00am to 8:00pm in the Great Hall of the Town House. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Dover Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Board of SelectmenYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at the Town House
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Dover HistorySpringfield Parish, iron mill, and 1836
- DemographicsWho lives in Dover
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataDover 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 Norfolk County, and that includes Dover. 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 Dover
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 Board of Selectmen. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Board of Selectmen meets on a published calendar at the Dover Town House, 5 Springdale Avenue, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All three Board of Selectmen 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 Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town House: 5 Springdale Avenue, Dover, MA 02030. Board of Selectmen office 508-785-0032 Ext. 221.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-785-0032 Ext. 226, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at doverma.gov.
- Public schools: the Dover Public Schools and the Dover-Sherborn Regional School District, doversherborn.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Board of Selectmen, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.