Town Edition
Hampden County
Hampden, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In May 2025, rather than build a new town hall, Hampden’s voters stood in a room together and decided to move the town’s departments and the library into the old Thornton W. Burgess School on Wilbraham Road. They put up $80,000 for the move and $75,000 to repair the building, and a closed school got a second life. That is Town Meeting: a few hundred neighbors, one show of hands, and a real decision made in the open. This guide shows you how to get into that room, and every other one where Hampden governs itself.
Hampden at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Hampden. The town sits about 10 miles southeast of Springfield, bordered by East Longmeadow, Wilbraham, and Monson, with Somers and Stafford, Connecticut, along its southern line.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Selectboard and an appointed Town Administrator, Brian Domina.
- Schools: the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District, shared with Wilbraham, about 2,836 students, led by Superintendent John Provost.
How Hampden’s Government Works
Hampden runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Hampden 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 regional 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 Hampden 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
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
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 Hampden-Wilbraham regional district. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Selectboard and Hampden’s seats 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 on Monday evenings, usually twice a month, at 85 Wilbraham Road. Each agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held on the second Monday in May (it was May 11 in 2026), and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. A Fall Special Town Meeting was scheduled for October 26, 2026.
- Town elections: Hampden holds its Annual Town Election in May. The 2026 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 Hampden 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.
- Hampden HistoryMinnechaug, John Hampden, and 1878
- DemographicsWho lives in Hampden
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataHampden-Wilbraham 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 Hampden. 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 Hampden
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 regional School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Selectboard meets on Monday evenings, usually twice a month, at 85 Wilbraham Road, 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 downed limb, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town offices: 85 Wilbraham Road, Hampden, MA 01036. Selectboard office 413-566-2151 Ext. 100.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 413-566-2151 Ext. 103, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at hampdenma.gov.
- Public schools: the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District, hwrsd.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.