Town Edition
Worcester County
East Brookfield, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
East Brookfield is the youngest town in Massachusetts. On March 24, 1920, the state Senate passed the bill that split it from Brookfield, and Governor Calvin Coolidge signed it into law the next day, which is why the town still calls itself the Baby Town of the Commonwealth. It runs the way the oldest towns do: not through a hired manager, but through a room. There is no town administrator here. The three people the voters elect to the Board of Selectmen run the town themselves, and the budget and the bylaws are settled at an open Town Meeting where any registered resident can stand up, speak, and vote. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
East Brookfield at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Worcester. East Brookfield covers about 10 square miles of hill country and lake shore in central Massachusetts, and is the newest incorporated town in the Commonwealth, set off from Brookfield in 1920.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Board of Selectmen that runs the town itself, with no appointed administrator. Andrew Lynch chairs the board.
- Schools: East Brookfield shares the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District with Spencer, about 1,443 students across four schools from East Brookfield Elementary to David Prouty High. Paul Haughey is Superintendent.
How East Brookfield’s Government Works
East Brookfield runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in East Brookfield 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 and a long list of other working offices, from the Treasurer and Collector to the Board of Health and the Planning Board. The Selectmen serve as the town’s chief executive officers: they set policy, approve the bills, make appointments to town boards and offices, and carry the town’s business between Town Meetings, working out of an office staffed by an administrative assistant rather than through an appointed administrator. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, and the direction and the daily work both belong to the board the voters elect.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in East Brookfield 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 to three-year terms, one seat up each year. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to town boards, and serve as the town’s chief executive officers.
The Selectmen’s Office
The board’s own office at the Memorial Town Complex carries the town’s daily paperwork, staffed by an administrative assistant who works for the three elected members.
School Committee
Elected by the voters of East Brookfield and Spencer. The seven-member regional committee sets policy for the shared Spencer-East Brookfield district, approves its budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Board of Selectmen, the town’s seats on the regional School Committee, and a long ballot of working town offices.
- The Board of Selectmen runs the town between meetings: it sets policy, decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant, and carries out what Town Meeting votes.
- 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 every Monday evening at 6:00 PM in Meeting Room A at the Memorial Town Complex, and each agenda closes the Wednesday of the week before and is posted in advance.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and any registered voter may attend, speak, and vote on the budget and the bylaws.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election is held each spring; in 2026 it fell on May 12, and one Selectmen’s seat is on the ballot every year.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The clerk offers early voting and vote by mail from the Town Clerk’s office.
Explore the East Brookfield Edition
- Board of Selectmen’s OfficeThe board that runs the town
- Board of SelectmenYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- East Brookfield HistoryThe newest town in Massachusetts
- DemographicsWho lives in East Brookfield
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataEast Brookfield 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 Worcester County, and that includes East Brookfield. 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 East Brookfield
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 licenses 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 every Monday at 6:00 PM in Meeting Room A at the Memorial Town Complex, 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. Phone ahead to be placed on the agenda, which closes the Wednesday of the prior week.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken sign, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department at (508) 867-6575, which owns the repair.
- Town offices: Memorial Town Complex, 122 Connie Mack Drive. The Selectmen’s Office is at (508) 867-6769 Ext. 300.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Town Clerk Susan V. Jacobs, (508) 867-6769 ext. 301, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at eastbrookfieldma.us.
- Public schools: Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District, 306 Main Street, Spencer, (508) 885-8500, sebrsd.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Board of Selectmen, speak at a meeting on a Monday evening, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.