Town Edition
Essex County
Essex, Massachusetts
Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In 1668 the Town of Ipswich set aside an acre of common land in Chebacco Parish, now Essex, as a yard to build vessels, and over the centuries more than 4,000 wooden vessels were built in Essex, including the fishing schooners that made the town famous. That trade is not a museum piece. The Essex Shipbuilding Museum still builds wooden boats with students and volunteers and launches them from that same acre of public land, the oldest shipyard in the United States, so when Town Meeting votes on what happens along this riverfront, it is deciding the future of a living craft. And in Essex the meeting really is the government. At the annual town election on May 11, 2026, 760 residents cast ballots, about one registered voter in four, and any registered voter can walk into Town Meeting, stand up, speak, and vote on the budget and the bylaws. This guide shows you how to take your seat.
Essex at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Essex.
- County: Essex. The town sits on the Essex River within the Great Marsh, on the western edge of Cape Ann, about 26 miles north of Boston.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Board of Selectmen and an appointed Town Administrator, Brendhan Zubricki.
- Schools: the Manchester Essex Regional School District, shared with Manchester-by-the-Sea, about 1,156 students, led by Superintendent Pamela Beaudoin.
How Essex’s Government Works
Essex runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Essex 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 to set policy between meetings, and they help elect the regional School Committee that oversees the schools. The Town Administrator reports directly to the Board of Selectmen and works to keep the town’s departments coordinated. So the money is voted by the registered voters at Town Meeting, the direction is set by the Board of Selectmen, and the daily work is carried out by the town’s departments.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Essex is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. Town Moderator Jeffrey D. Jones, re-elected in May 2026 to a three-year term, presides over the meeting and runs the debate. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Board of Selectmen
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
Appointed, not elected. Coordinates the town’s departments without supervising them, serves as Personnel Officer and Chief Procurement Officer, and reports directly to the Board of Selectmen.
School Committee
7 voting members, four elected by Manchester-by-the-Sea voters and three by Essex voters. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Board of Selectmen and Essex’s share of the regional School Committee.
- The Board of Selectmen 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 Essex, 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
- Board of Selectmen: meets twice a month on Monday evenings at Essex Town Hall, 30 Martin Street. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and a second Town Meeting follows in the fall. The town can also call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Essex votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on May 11. A Special Town Election is set for December 10, 2026, and the next annual election is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state election is on November 3.
Explore the Essex Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- 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.
- Essex HistoryShipyards, schooners, and Chebacco Parish
- DemographicsWho lives in Essex
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataManchester Essex Regional schools by the numbers
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 Essex 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 Essex. Now you know what to look for.
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.
Your First Civic Action in Essex
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 Board of Selectmen. Schools go to the regional School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Board of Selectmen meets twice a month on Monday evenings at Essex Town Hall, 30 Martin Street, 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. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a missed pickup to the Board of Public Works, which owns the repair, at 978-768-6262.
- Town Hall: 30 Martin Street, Essex, MA 01929. Board of Selectmen office 978-768-6531.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 978-768-7111, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at essexma.org.
- Public schools: the Manchester Essex Regional School District, 978-526-4919, mersd.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Board of Selectmen, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.
MassCivics last checked this page on October 20, 2026.
Sources
- Population and demographics: US Census Bureau, 2020 Census, P1, Essex town, as of April 1, 2020.
- Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, district profile, Enrollment Data (2025-26), as of October 2026.
- Elections and voter enrollment: Secretary of the Commonwealth, candidate profile, Paul F. Tucker, as of November 8, 2022.
- Town records: Town of Essex, Board of Public Works, as of October 2026.
- Town records: Town of Essex, Board of Selectmen, as of October 2026.
- Town records: Town of Essex, Town Administrator, as of October 2026.
- Town records: Town of Essex, Town Meeting, as of May 4, 2026.
- Town Clerk records: Town of Essex, Official Election Results, Annual Town Election, May 11, 2026, as of May 11, 2026.
- Town Clerk records: Town of Essex, Town Clerk, as of October 2026.
- History and incorporation: Secretary of the Commonwealth, City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates, as of October 2026.
- School district records: Manchester Essex Regional School District, School Committee, as of October 2026.
- County offices: Essex County District Attorney, Office of Essex County District Attorney, as of October 2026.