Town Edition
Hampshire County
Granby, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In the spring of 2025, Granby’s officials stood up at a special Town Meeting and asked residents for $10 million to rebuild the shuttered West Street School into a new town hall, and the room voted them down. What happened next is the part worth studying. The town did not walk away from the building. It rebuilt the plan to fit the money voters had already agreed to, and in April 2026 Granby broke ground on a $6.6 million town office that will finally put every department under one roof for the first time since 2010. That is Granby’s form of government in one story: the budget belongs to whoever shows up to vote it, and a plan that loses at Town Meeting comes back changed. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Granby at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Hampshire. Granby sits between South Hadley to the west, Amherst to the north, Belchertown to the east, and Ludlow and Chicopee to the south, with the Holyoke Range rising across the northern edge of town and Route 202 running through as East and West State Street.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Selectboard and an appointed Town Administrator, Ronald Aponte.
- Schools: Granby Public Schools, about 634 students in two schools, led by Superintendent Mary Jane Rickson.
How Granby’s Government Works
Granby runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Granby is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Selectboard to set policy between meetings and a School Committee that oversees the schools. The Selectboard 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 Selectboard, 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 Granby is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Selectboard
Three 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 administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Selectboard. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
Five members, elected town-wide. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Selectboard and the five members of the School Committee.
- The Selectboard 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: register at 16, vote at 18, and once you are registered you are already a member of Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Selectboard: meets on a published calendar at the Granby town offices, 10-B West State Street, off Route 202. Dates and start times vary, and 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 the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Granby votes in the spring. Selectboard seats run for three years on a staggered cycle, so a seat is on the ballot most years.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, in the fall.
Explore the Granby Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- SelectboardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at the town offices
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Granby HistoryFrom Hadley to a town of its own
- DemographicsWho lives in Granby
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataGranby 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 Hampshire County, and that includes Granby. 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 Granby
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 Selectboard. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Selectboard meets on a published calendar at the Granby town offices, 10-B West State Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All three Selectboard 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 plowing problem to the Highway Department, which owns the repair.
- Town offices: 10-B West State Street, Granby, MA 01033. Selectboard office 413-467-7177.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Emily Reed, 413-467-7178, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at granby-ma.gov.
- Public schools: Granby Public Schools, granbyschoolsma.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Selectboard, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.