Town Edition
Middlesex County
Groton, Massachusetts
Photo: Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
At 4:30 in the afternoon on November 20, 1909, 184 street lights came on at once in Groton, because a Town Meeting had voted to build the power plant itself for a little under $18,000 rather than buy the electricity from a company. Groton still owns that utility, and every spring its voters still elect the three Light Commissioners who run it. That is the shape of power here: the big decisions are made by whoever walks into the room. The budget and the bylaws are voted at an open Town Meeting where every registered voter in town is a member, and the officers who carry them out are chosen at a spring election. On May 19, 2026, 1,167 of Groton’s 9,106 registered voters filled the Select Board, the School Committee, the Board of Health, the Planning Board, the Library Trustees and a dozen other seats for a town of 11,315, which tells you what a single ballot is worth here. This guide shows you where the rooms are and how to get into them.
Groton at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Groton.
- County: Middlesex. Groton covers about 33 square miles of northern Middlesex County, including the village of West Groton and the town centre.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Mark Haddad.
- Schools: Groton shares the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District with Dunstable, about 2,253 students across five schools, led by Superintendent Geoffrey Bruno.
How Groton’s Government Works
Groton runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Groton is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Manager 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 Manager.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Groton 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
5 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 Manager.
Town Manager
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
7 members, elected by the voters of the district the schools serve. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Manager 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 Groton, 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: meets on Monday evenings, generally every other Monday, at Groton Town Hall, 173 Main Street. Each agenda is posted in advance, so check it before you go.
- Town Meeting: Groton holds two open Town Meetings a year, a Spring meeting on the last Monday in April for the budget and a Fall meeting on the third Monday in October, both at 7:00 p.m. in the Groton-Dunstable Middle School auditorium. The town can also call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The elected Town Moderator, Jason Kauppi, presides.
- Town elections: Groton votes in May, across three precincts. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on May 19. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Groton Edition
- Town Manager’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.
- Groton History1655, the mills, and the light plant
- DemographicsWho lives in Groton
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataGroton 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 Middlesex 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 Groton. Now you know what to look for.
District Attorney, Northern District (Middlesex County)Marian T. Ryan
Official site
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 Groton
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 on Monday evenings at Groton Town Hall, 173 Main Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. 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 missed pickup to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 173 Main Street, Groton, MA 01450. Main line 978-448-1100, Town Manager’s office 978-448-1111.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 978-448-1100, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at grotonma.gov.
- Public schools: Groton-Dunstable Regional School District, 978-448-5505, gdrsd.org.
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.