Town Edition
Essex County
Georgetown, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In May 2026, the 802 residents who cast a ballot in Georgetown’s annual town election picked two Selectmen, two School Committee members, an assessor, and a full slate of other town officers for a town of more than 8,000 people. That is a small enough room that the neighbors who came set the year for everyone, which is exactly what makes one more voter in it matter so much. Georgetown has governed itself this way since it broke off from Rowley in 1838: an open Town Meeting where every registered voter is a member, a five-member Select Board to steer things between meetings, and a hired Town Administrator to run the daily work. This guide shows you how to get into the room.
Georgetown at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Georgetown.
- County: Essex. Georgetown is a town of about 13 square miles north of Boston, bordering Groveland, Newbury, Rowley and Boxford.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Orlando Pacheco.
- Schools: the Georgetown Public School District, about 1,061 students, led by Superintendent Dr. Margaret Ferrick.
How Georgetown’s Government Works
Georgetown runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Georgetown is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a five-member Select Board to set policy between meetings and a School Committee that oversees the 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 Georgetown 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
Five 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 administrative officer. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
Five members, elected town-wide by Georgetown voters. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the five members of the Select Board and 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 Georgetown, 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: usually meets at 7:00 pm in the third-floor Meeting Room at Georgetown Town Hall, 1 Library Street. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is warned each spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Georgetown votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on May 11 across the town’s three precincts. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Georgetown Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- 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.
- Georgetown HistoryFrom New Rowley to today
- DemographicsWho lives in Georgetown
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataGeorgetown 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 Georgetown. 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 Georgetown
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 meets in the third-floor Meeting Room at Georgetown Town Hall, 1 Library Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All five 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 broken light, or a road problem to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 1 Library Street, Georgetown, MA 01833. Town Clerk (978) 352-5711.
- Town Clerk & agendas: (978) 352-5711, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at georgetownma.gov.
- Public schools: the Georgetown Public School District, (978) 352-5777, georgetown.k12.ma.us.
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.