Town Edition
Hampden County
Holland, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The lake at the center of Holland is not a work of nature. In the 1860s the Hamilton Woolen Company dammed the Quinebaug River to power its mills downstream in Southbridge, the water rose over farmland and never left, and today more than 400 acres of it sit in the middle of a town of about 2,600 people. What happens to that water, to the one elementary school, and to every dollar the town spends is decided the old way here: by residents who stand up and vote at open Town Meeting. There is no seat to win first. If you are registered to vote in Holland, you are already in the legislature. This guide shows you how to use that.
Holland at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Hampden. Holland sits in the southeastern corner of the county on the Connecticut line, about 13 square miles of hills and woods wrapped around the Hamilton Reservoir.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Stacy Stout.
- Schools: Holland runs its own PreK to grade 6 district at Holland Elementary, about 218 students, and sends grades 7 to 12 to Tantasqua Regional in Sturbridge. Superintendent Deborah J. Boyd leads both.
How Holland’s Government Works
Holland runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Holland is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget and the bylaws. Voters also elect a three-member Select Board to set policy between meetings and a School Committee that oversees the elementary school. The Select Board 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 Select Board, 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 Holland 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
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 Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
Elected by the town’s voters. It sets policy for Holland Elementary, approves its budget, and shares a Superintendent with the Tantasqua Regional district.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Select Board and the members of the School Committee.
- The Select Board 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
- Select Board: meets on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at 6:00 PM in the Community Room at Holland Town Hall, 27 Sturbridge Road, or as posted. Each agenda goes up in advance, so check the town calendar 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. This is where the budget and the bylaws are actually voted.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election is held on the second Tuesday in June. In the June 2026 election Holland seated a new Select Board member, Sherida Hibbard.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Holland Edition
- Town Administrator’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.
- Holland HistoryThe made lake, and a town cut from Wales
- DemographicsWho lives in Holland
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataHolland 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 Holland. 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 Holland
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. The elementary school goes to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at 6:00 PM in the Community Room at Holland Town Hall, 27 Sturbridge Road, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All three 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 downed limb, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 27 Sturbridge Road, Holland, MA 01521. Select Board office (413) 245-7108 ext. 101.
- Town Clerk & agendas: (413) 245-7108 ext. 102, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at town.holland.ma.us.
- Public schools: Holland Elementary, (413) 245-9644, and the Tantasqua Regional and School Union 61 Districts, (508) 347-3077, tantasqua.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.