Town Government
Dudley Board of Selectmen
About the Board
Dudley calls this board what it has always called it, and that is a decision the town made out loud. In October 2025 an article to rename the Board of Selectmen the Select Board came to Town Meeting, and Town Meeting turned it down. So these five people are the Board of Selectmen, and they are the town’s chief executive board. They are elected town-wide to three-year terms on a staggered schedule that puts a seat or two on the ballot each June.
The board holds all the executive authority the law does not assign to some other office. It sets policy, signs the warrants that decide what Town Meeting gets to vote on, appoints residents to many town boards, and hires and supervises the Town Administrator who runs the town day to day. It also sits as the town’s Highway Commissioners and Cemetery Commissioners, and as the licensing authority for liquor and business licenses, which is why a restaurant’s application for an all-alcohol license comes before the same five people who set the plowing policy.
- Sets policy and direction for the whole town.
- Hires the Town Administrator and holds the Administrator accountable.
- Controls the warrant, deciding what business reaches Town Meeting for a vote.
Board Members
All five members are elected town-wide. After each annual town election the board reorganizes and chooses its own officers, and it did so on July 13, 2026, a month after the June election.
Christopher Starczewski
Jason Johnson
Jana Deschenes
Steve Sullivan
Cynthia Iwanski
The town routes contact to board members through the Board of Selectmen office at Dudley Town Hall, 71 West Main Street, 3rd Floor, which can be reached at 508-949-8001. The current roster is posted at dudleyma.gov.
Town Meeting and the Moderator
The board runs the town between Town Meetings, but Town Meeting itself is run by an elected Moderator, who serves a three-year term and is chosen town-wide like any other town office. The Moderator recognizes speakers, rules on amendments, and declares whether an article carried. Christopher Starczewski held that job for years, was elected to the Board of Selectmen in June 2025, and moderated one last session that October, so Dudley has recently seen the same person on both sides of that microphone.
What a Moderator does is worth watching once. At the October 2025 meeting, two amendments to the water main article were ruled out of order after the Moderator consulted town counsel, and the meeting then voted the original article as printed in the warrant. Those rulings decided what 118 people got to vote on.
Meetings & How to Participate
- When: Monday evenings at 6:30, roughly every two weeks, in Room 321A of the Dudley Municipal Complex, 71 West Main Street. The town posts the calendar and each agenda in advance.
- Agendas & minutes: posted on the town website at dudleyma.gov.
- Public comment: Citizens’ Comments is item 3 on the standing agenda, right after the call to order and the approval of minutes.
- Town Meeting: for the budget and bylaws, the deciding vote belongs to the registered voters in the hall, which can include you.
Public hearings and meetings are where residents shape town decisions.
MassCivics last checked this page on October 16, 2026.
Sources
- Town records: Town of Dudley, Board of Selectmen, as of October 2026.
- Town Clerk records: Town of Dudley, Fall 2025 Special Town Meeting Minutes, as of October 20, 2025.