Town Leadership
The Town Administrator’s Office
The Town Administrator
Robert Graves
When a road goes unplowed or a water main breaks on a winter night, the person with the most operational control over the response is appointed, not elected. Robert Graves is the Town Administrator, hired by the three elected members of the Select Board to run the town day to day, and they can let him go if they lose faith in him. He is the chief administrative officer. He helps appoint and supervise department heads, shapes and presents the annual budget, and carries the town’s biggest spending requests to Town Meeting for the final vote. He serves under a contract with the Select Board rather than a fixed elected term. Because Hinsdale hands the daily machinery to an appointed administrator, the plan to fix a problem usually crosses his desk first, then goes to the board, and then to Town Meeting, where the registered voters have the last word. That last step is the one worth remembering: the Town Administrator can propose, and the Select Board can put an item on the warrant, but in an open Town Meeting town the budget is not real until the people in the room vote it. The office exists to make the machinery run well enough that the vote is about choices, not emergencies.
| Role | Town Administrator (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board under contract, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 39 South Street, Hinsdale, MA 01235 |
| Phone | 413-655-2300 ext. 355 |
| Website | hinsdalemass.com |
What the Town Administrator Does
- Runs the departments. Police, fire, highway, water and sewer, and the rest report up to the Town Administrator, who helps appoint most of their leaders.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Town Administrator proposes how the town will spend its money, then defends that plan before the Select Board and Town Meeting, which holds the final vote.
- Answers to the board. The Town Administrator serves at the pleasure of the elected Select Board and carries out the policies it sets.
- Reports to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of Town Meeting, and in Hinsdale that means every registered voter who walks in.
The Administration
- Department heads carry out policy, from plowing snow to inspecting restaurants.
- The Select Board is the check: it hires and can replace the Town Administrator, sets policy, and signs the warrants that put questions before Town Meeting.
- Boards and commissions, many of them appointed by the Select Board, decide questions like zoning, conservation, and licensing.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 39 South Street, Hinsdale, MA 01235.
- Town Administrator’s Office: 413-655-2300 ext. 355, town.administrator@hinsdalema.gov.
- Report a problem: road and drainage problems go to the Highway Department, 413-655-2300 ext. 304.
- Show up: the Select Board meets the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.