Town Leadership
The Town Administrator’s Office
The Town Administrator
Bryan Smith
When a culvert washes out on River Road or the town has to decide what to do with 43 acres of empty mill, the person with the most operational control over the answer is appointed, not elected. Bryan Smith is Erving’s Town Administrator. The three elected members of the Select Board hired him, they supervise him, and they can end the contract if they lose confidence in him. That single line of accountability is the whole design: the town wanted a full-time professional running a general operating budget that came to $8,105,149 for fiscal year 2027, and it wanted that professional answerable to people the voters choose.
The job is bigger than the title suggests in a town this size. The Administrator appoints and supervises most department heads, so the Highway Superintendent, the Town Planner, and the office staff all report up through his office. He assembles the annual budget line by line out of what every department asks for and what the Finance Committee says the town can afford, and then he has to defend it twice: once to the Select Board, which decides whether it goes on the warrant at all, and once on the floor of Town Meeting, where any registered voter can move to cut a line. He runs the town’s procurement, which is why the requests for proposals on the former International Paper mill site carry his office’s name, and he administers the grants that pay for a great deal of what a town of 1,665 people could not otherwise afford.
Here is the part worth knowing if you want to change something. The Administrator can usually tell you in one conversation whether your idea is a budget question, a bylaw question, or a scheduling question, and each of those goes to a different room. A budget question ends at Town Meeting. A bylaw question ends at Town Meeting too, but it starts with the Select Board deciding whether to put the article on the warrant. A scheduling or service question, a road that needs grading or a program the Senior and Community Center could run, often never leaves his office at all, because it is exactly the kind of decision the town hired him to make. That is why a resident who wants a result usually starts here rather than waiting for May.
| Role | Town Administrator (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board under contract, not elected |
| Office | Town Offices, 12 East Main Street, Erving, MA 01344 |
| Phone | (413) 422-2800 ext. 1102 |
| administrator@erving-ma.gov | |
| Website | erving-ma.gov Administration |
What the Town Administrator Does
- Runs the departments. Police, fire, highway, water and wastewater, health, planning, the library and the Senior and Community Center all sit under the Administrator, who appoints most of their leaders.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Administrator proposes how the town will spend its money for the town and for Erving Elementary School, then defends that plan before the Select Board and Town Meeting, which holds the final vote.
- Answers to the board. The Administrator serves at the pleasure of the elected Select Board and carries out the policies it sets.
- Reports to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of Town Meeting, and in Erving that means every registered voter who walks in.
The Administration
- Department heads are appointed by the Town Administrator and carry out policy, from plowing Route 63 to inspecting a septic system.
- The Select Board is the check: it hires and can release the Administrator, sets policy, and signs the warrants that put questions before Town Meeting.
- Boards and commissions, many of them appointed by the Select Board, decide questions like zoning, conservation, and licensing.
- The Finance Committee reviews every money article before Town Meeting and prints its recommendation right in the warrant, so you can read the town’s own advice before you vote.
Contact & Engage
- Town Offices: 12 East Main Street, Erving, MA 01344.
- Town Administrator’s Office: (413) 422-2800 ext. 1102, administrator@erving-ma.gov.
- Report a problem: potholes, downed limbs, and road washouts go to the Highway Department at (413) 423-3500 ext. 1400.
- Show up: the Select Board meets on its published calendar at the Senior and Community Center, 1 Care Drive, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.