Town Edition
Berkshire County
Hancock, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Hancock runs its own school. In a town of about 757 people strung along a narrow valley on the New York line, the voters keep Hancock Elementary open for their youngest students and pay tuition to send the rest to Mount Greylock, Richmond, McCann Technical, and across the border to New Lebanon. No town administrator makes those calls. The three neighbors the town elects to the Board of Selectmen run Hancock themselves, and every spring the whole town settles the budget in one room at open Town Meeting. This guide shows you how to get into the room.
Hancock at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Berkshire. Hancock is a long, narrow valley town walled by the Taconic Mountains along the New York line, first settled in 1762 as the Plantation of Jericho and incorporated in 1776. With about 21 people per square mile, it is the least densely populated town in Berkshire County, and it is home to Jiminy Peak and part of Hancock Shaker Village.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Board of Selectmen that serves as the town’s executive. Sherman L. Derby, Sr. chairs the board.
- Schools: Hancock Elementary is its own single-town district of about 44 students; older students are tuitioned out to Mount Greylock Regional, Richmond, McCann Technical, and New Lebanon. Dr. Rebecca Phillips is Superintendent.
How Hancock’s Government Works
Hancock runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Hancock is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Board of Selectmen and the School Committee that oversees the town’s elementary school. The Board of Selectmen serves as the town’s executive: it sets policy, approves the bills, appoints residents to town boards and offices, and carries the town’s business between Town Meetings, working out of the town office staffed by town staff rather than through an appointed administrator. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, and the direction and the daily work both belong to the board the voters elect.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Hancock is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Board of Selectmen
Three members elected town-wide to staggered three-year terms. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and serve as the town’s chief executive officers.
The Selectmen’s Office
The board’s own office at Hancock Town Hall carries the town’s daily paperwork, staffed by town office staff who work for the three elected members.
School Committee
Five members elected town-wide. It sets policy for Hancock Elementary, approves its budget, and shares a Superintendent with New Ashford and Lanesborough through School Union #70.
- Residents elect the three members of the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee, and a long ballot of working town offices.
- The Board of Selectmen runs the town between meetings: it sets policy, decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant, and carries out what Town Meeting votes.
- 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
- Board of Selectmen: meets twice a month on Wednesday afternoons at Hancock Town Hall, and each agenda is posted in advance.
- School Committee: meets the first Tuesday of each month, except July, at 6:00 PM at Hancock Elementary School.
- Town Meeting and town elections: the Annual Town Meeting and the Annual Town Election are held in the spring, and the clerk posts the results afterward.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, with early voting and vote by mail offered through the Town Clerk.
Explore the Hancock Edition
- Board of Selectmen’s OfficeThe board that runs the town
- Board of SelectmenYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Hancock HistoryFrom Jericho to the Shaker Village
- DemographicsWho lives in Hancock
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataHancock 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 Berkshire County, and that includes Hancock. 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 Hancock
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 licenses go to the Board of Selectmen. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Board of Selectmen meets twice a month on Wednesday afternoons at Hancock Town Hall, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All three Board of Selectmen 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.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken sign, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department; for a highway emergency the town lists 413-464-5916.
- Town offices: Hancock Town Hall, 3650 Hancock Road, PO Box 1084, open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to noon. Main number 413-738-5225.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Linda Burdick, 413-738-5225 ext. 2, clerk@town.hancock.ma.us.
- Public schools: Hancock Elementary School and the Superintendent’s office, 413-738-5676.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Board of Selectmen, speak at a meeting on a Wednesday afternoon, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.