Dunstable, Massachusetts

Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

On a September night in 2006, the people of Dunstable walked into a Special Town Meeting and voted to put a 3 percent surcharge on their own property tax bills. Five months later the town’s Community Preservation Committee approved the first project paid for with that money, the purchase of Ferrari Farm’s 135 acres of conservation land, and the same fund has been quietly buying back Dunstable’s land, ballfields, and records ever since. That is Dunstable in one story: a small rural town where the people in the room decide, and where a single vote can carry the whole thing. At the May 2026 town election, the race for one of the three Select Board seats ended in a tie on the recount, and the town voted again on July 21 to fill it. This guide shows you how to get into the room.

Dunstable at a Glance

3,358Residents (2020)

1673Incorporated

3Select Board Members

2,253District Students

Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Dunstable.

County: Middlesex. Dunstable is a rural town of under 17 square miles in the northwest corner of the county, bordered by Groton, Pepperell and Tyngsborough in Massachusetts and by Nashua and Hollis across the New Hampshire line. The Nashua River runs through its landscape.
Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Jason Silva.
Schools: the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District, which Dunstable shares with Groton, about 2,253 students district-wide, led by Superintendent Geoffrey Bruno.

How Dunstable’s Government Works

Dunstable runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Dunstable is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Select Board to set policy between meetings and a School Committee that oversees the regional 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 Dunstable 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

7 members, elected by the voters of the two towns the district serves, 5 by Groton and 2 by Dunstable. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.

Residents elect the 3 members of the Select Board and their town’s seats on 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 Dunstable, 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: generally meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month on the upper level of Town Hall, 511 Main Street. Each agenda, with its start time, is posted at least 48 hours ahead, so check the town calendar before you go.
Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring on a warrant issued by the Select Board, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. Town Moderator Rafael Glod presides.
Town elections: Dunstable votes in the spring. At the 2026 Annual Town Election the Select Board race ended in a tie on the recount, and a special election on July 21 filled the seat. The next is in spring 2027.
State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The state primary was held on September 1, 2026, and the state election is on November 3, 2026.

Explore the Dunstable Edition

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 Middlesex 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 Dunstable. Now you know what to look for.

District Attorney, Northern District (Middlesex County)

Marian T. Ryan

In office since 2013
Official site

Sheriff, Middlesex County

Peter J. Koutoujian

In office since 2011
Official site

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.

Officials for any Massachusetts town

Your First Civic Action in Dunstable

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 generally meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month on the upper level of Town Hall, 511 Main Street, and each agenda is posted at least 48 hours ahead.
Know your members. 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 tree, or a road problem to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.

Town Hall: 511 Main Street, Dunstable, MA 01827. Select Board office (978) 649-4514 ext. 224.
Town Clerk & agendas: (978) 649-4514 ext. 222, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at dunstable-ma.gov.
Public schools: the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District, (978) 448-5505, gdrsd.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.

Meet Your Select Board

Take Action in Your Town

MassCivics last checked this page on October 16, 2026.

Sources

Population and demographics: US Census Bureau, Census profile of Dunstable town, Middlesex County (American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2020-2024 and the 2020 Census), as of April 1, 2020 and December 31, 2024.
Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, Groton-Dunstable Student Profile (code 06730000), as of October 1, 2025.
Town records: Town of Dunstable, Departments, as of October 2026.
Town records: Town of Dunstable, Dunstable 2025 Annual Report of the Officers and Committees, as of 2025.
Town records: Town of Dunstable, Select Board, as of October 2026.
Town records: Town of Dunstable, Select Board Meeting Information, as of October 2026.
Town records: Town of Dunstable, Town Administrator, as of October 2026.
Town Clerk records: Town of Dunstable, Official Special Election Results, as of July 22, 2026.
Town Clerk records: Town of Dunstable, Select Board Re-Count Results, as of June 4, 2026.
Town Clerk records: Town of Dunstable, Town Clerk, as of October 2026.