Town Edition
Berkshire County
Egremont, Massachusetts
Photo: Dougtone, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Egremont is two villages, North and South, spread across about eighteen square miles of Berkshire hill country on the New York line, and it runs itself the old way. There is no mayor here, and no town manager or appointed administrator. Three neighbors you elect to the Select Board carry the town’s business between meetings, and once a year every registered voter who walks into the Annual Town Meeting becomes the town’s legislature for the night, voting the budget one article at a time. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Egremont at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Berkshire. Egremont sits in the far southwest corner of Massachusetts, bordering Great Barrington, Sheffield, Alford, Mount Washington, and the New York towns of Copake and Hillsdale, and it has been a leader among Berkshire County towns in building town-wide fiberoptic broadband.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board that serves as the town’s executive. Lucinda Fenn-Vermeulen chairs the board.
- Schools: every Egremont student attends the Southern Berkshire Regional School District, shared with Sheffield, Alford, Monterey, and New Marlborough, about 593 students across four schools. Brian Ricca is Superintendent.
How Egremont’s Government Works
Egremont runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Egremont is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Select Board and the town’s seats on the regional School Committee. The Select Board serves as the town’s executive: it sets policy, approves the bills, appoints residents to town boards and offices, and carries 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 Egremont 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
Three members elected town-wide to staggered three-year terms. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and serve as the town’s executive.
The Select Board’s Office
The board’s own office at Town Hall carries the town’s daily paperwork, staffed by an administrative assistant who works for the three elected members.
School Committee
Egremont voters elect the town’s seats on the Southern Berkshire Regional School Committee, which sets policy for the five-town district, approves its budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Select Board, the town’s regional School Committee seats, and a long ballot of working town offices.
- The Select Board 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
- Select Board: meets on Tuesdays, and each agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center at egremont-ma.gov.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring; the 2026 meeting was on May 5, and the clerk posts the certified minutes afterward.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election falls on the second Tuesday in May, set by the town’s General Bylaws. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The state primary is September 1, 2026, and the clerk offers early voting and vote by mail.
Explore the Egremont Edition
- Select Board’s OfficeThe board that runs the town
- Select BoardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Egremont HistoryTwo villages and the Knox Trail
- DemographicsWho lives in Egremont
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataEgremont 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 Berkshire County, and that includes Egremont. 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 Egremont
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 Select Board. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets on Tuesdays, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- Know your members. All 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. The town posts a form to ask to be added to an agenda.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken sign, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department at 413-528-1106, which owns the repair.
- Town offices: 171 Egremont Plain Road (Route 71), Egremont, MA 01258. Town Hall 413-528-0182, open weekdays 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 413-528-0182, ext. 11, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at egremont-ma.gov.
- Public schools: Southern Berkshire Regional School District, 413-229-8778, sbrsd.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a meeting on a Monday evening, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.