Town Leadership
The Dudley Town Administrator’s Office
The Town Administrator
Jonathan Ruda
When a Dudley family finds PFAS in a private well, the person who has to turn that into a plan, a price and a warrant article is appointed, not elected. Jonathan Ruda is the Town Administrator, hired by the five elected members of the Board of Selectmen to run the town day to day, and they can let him go if they lose faith in him. The town describes the job plainly: he oversees daily town operations, implements the policies the Board of Selectmen sets, and manages departments, personnel, procurement and public information.
You can watch the office work in the town’s own records. At the October 20, 2025 Town Meeting, standing in front of 118 voters being asked for $14,200,000, he told the hall there was no signed cost-sharing agreement with Gentex yet, that the Department of Environmental Protection had named both the company and the town as responsible parties, and that residents along the new line would not be forced to connect. That is the shape of the job: build the plan, carry it to the board, then answer for it in the room where the vote happens. Nine months later his report to the board opened with closing the gaps in the FY2027 budget, item by item. Because Dudley hands the daily machinery to an appointed administrator, the plan to fix a problem usually crosses his desk first, then goes to the board, then to Town Meeting.
| Role | Town Administrator (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Board of Selectmen under contract, not elected |
| Office | Dudley Town Hall, 71 West Main Street, Dudley, MA 01571 |
| Phone | 508-949-8030 |
| Website | dudleyma.gov |
What the Town Administrator Does
- Runs the departments. Police, fire, highway, the library, the senior center, code enforcement and the rest answer up to the Town Administrator’s office, working alongside the Assistant Town Administrator, Olivia Antonson.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Administrator proposes how the town will spend its money, then defends that plan before the Board of Selectmen and Town Meeting, which holds the final vote.
- Answers to the board. The Administrator serves at the pleasure of the elected Board of Selectmen and carries out the policies it sets.
- Reports to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of Town Meeting, and in Dudley that means every registered voter who walks in.
The Administration
- Department heads carry out policy, from plowing Indian Road to inspecting a new build on West Main Street.
- The Board of Selectmen is the check: it hires and can fire the Administrator, sets policy, and signs the warrants that put questions before Town Meeting.
- A Government Study Committee has been reviewing the whole structure since June 2025. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services delivered a Financial Management Review of Dudley in December 2024, and its third recommendation was to create exactly this committee. It presented its final recommendations to the Board of Selectmen on July 13, 2026.
- Boards and commissions, many of them appointed by the Board of Selectmen, decide questions like zoning, conservation, and licensing.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 71 West Main Street, Dudley, MA 01571.
- Town Administrator’s Office: 508-949-8030.
- Report a problem: road, drainage and plowing questions go to the Highway Department at 508-949-8020.
- Show up: the Board of Selectmen meets Monday evenings at 6:30 in Room 321A, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.
MassCivics last checked this page on October 16, 2026.
Sources
- Town records: Town of Dudley, Board of Selectmen, as of October 2026.
- Town records: Town of Dudley, Government Study Committee, as of October 2026.
- Town records: Town of Dudley, Highway Department, as of October 2026.
- Town records: Town of Dudley, Town Administrator, as of October 2026.