Town Edition
Worcester County
Holden, Massachusetts
Photo: Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Holden has owned its own electric company since Town Meeting voted to build one in September 1911, and the five people you elect to the Board of Selectmen sit as its Light Commissioners. On May 11, 2026 this town reached for that same power again. Its Town Manager had told the Finance Committee in February that the Wachusett Regional School District assessment was rising by at least $3.5 million and that the budget could not carry it, and 3,350 of Holden’s 15,939 registered voters turned out across the town’s six precincts and voted to raise their own property taxes anyway, 1,839 to 1,503. That is one ballot in five deciding the year for everybody, which tells you exactly what a single ballot is worth in a town election. This guide shows you where those rooms are and how to get into them.
Holden at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Worcester. Holden covers 35.1 square miles of land just north of the city of Worcester, and residents still name its parts: Jefferson, Chaffin, Quinapoxet, Springdale, Eagleville and Dawsonville.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Board of Selectmen and an appointed Town Manager, Peter Lukes
- Schools: Holden’s schools are regional. The town belongs to the Wachusett Regional School District with Paxton, Princeton, Rutland and Sterling, and the district’s 6,427 students, 13 schools and every state figure on this site cover all five towns together, led by Superintendent James M. Reilly.
How Holden’s Government Works
Holden runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Holden is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Board of Selectmen to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Board of Selectmen 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 Board of Selectmen, 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 Holden 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
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 Board of Selectmen. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
16 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 Board of Selectmen and the School Committee.
- The Board of Selectmen 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: 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 on the first and third Monday of the month, at 6:30 in the evening at the Senior Center, 1130 Main Street. Each agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center, 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. Holden’s bylaws set the quorum at one percent of the registered voters. The Moderator, Kenneth Vincent Mills, presides.
- Town elections: Holden votes on a Monday in May, across six precincts. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Monday, May 11. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Holden Edition
- Town Manager’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- 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.
- Holden History1741, the mill villages, and the wires
- DemographicsWho lives in Holden
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataThe Wachusett district 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 Worcester County, and that includes Holden. 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 Holden
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, licences and public safety go to the Board of Selectmen. Schools go to the Wachusett Regional School District Committee. The budget and the bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Board of Selectmen meets on the first and third Monday at 6:30 in the evening at the Senior Center, 1130 Main Street, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- Know your members. All five Selectmen are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to every voter in Holden.
- Speak. Every regular meeting opens with Citizens Address, and the minutes record what residents say by name. Check the agenda for the time it starts.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a water break or a downed wire to the Department of Public Works at 508-210-5550, or to the Light Department at 508-210-5400 if it is the electricity.
- Town Hall: 1196 Main Street, Holden, MA 01520. The Town Manager and the Board of Selectmen work from the Starbard Building at 1204 Main Street, 508-210-5501.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-210-5532, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at holdenma.gov.
- Public schools: Wachusett Regional School District, 1745 Main Street in the Jefferson village of Holden, (508) 829-1670, wrsd.net.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Board of Selectmen, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.