Town Edition
Hampden County
Granville, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Granville’s highway garage went up in the 1940s, and replacing it has never been the Selectboard’s call to make. Buying land in this town takes a two thirds vote at open Town Meeting, which is why a parcel on Barnard Road fell short in 2022, and why in 2024 the board walked into the gym at Granville Village School to ask the town for 235 acres on Reagan Road. In a hilltown of about 1,538 people on the Connecticut border, the deciding room is not a council chamber. It is Town Meeting, and any registered voter can stand up in it. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Granville at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Hampden. Granville is a hilltown of about 42 square miles in the southwest corner of the county, on the Connecticut border and roughly 18 miles west of Springfield.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Selectboard and an appointed Town Administrator, Matthew Streeter.
- Schools: the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District, which Granville shares with Southwick and Tolland, about 1,250 students, led by Superintendent Jennifer Willard.
How Granville’s Government Works
Granville runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Granville is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 3 member Selectboard to set policy between meetings and the 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 Granville is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending, and buying town land takes a two thirds vote of the room.
Selectboard
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. In Granville the Selectboard also serves as the Board of Health.
Town Administrator
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Selectboard. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
7 members, elected by the voters of the three towns the regional district serves. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Selectboard, along with the Moderator and the town’s seat on the regional 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 Monday nights at 7 pm at Granville Town Hall, 707 Main Road, and every other week during June, July and August. The agenda is posted on the town website in advance, so check it 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. A Special Town Meeting was scheduled for September 21, 2026.
- Town elections: Granville holds its Annual Town Election in the spring, with one Selectboard seat on the ballot most years.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Granville Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- SelectboardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Granville HistorySettled 1736, incorporated 1754
- DemographicsWho lives in Granville
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataSouthwick-Tolland-Granville Regional 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 Hampden County, and that includes Granville. 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 Granville
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 Monday nights at 7 pm at Granville Town Hall, 707 Main Road, and the agenda is posted on the town website in advance.
- Know your members. 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 missed pickup to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 707 Main Road, PO Box 247, Granville, MA 01034. Selectboard and Town Administrator office 413-357-8585 ext. 0.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 413-357-8585 ext. 3, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at granville-ma.gov.
- Public schools: the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District, with its district office in Southwick, at stgrsd.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.