Town Edition
Worcester County
Hopedale, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
On an October night in 2020, Hopedale packed a Special Town Meeting and voted unanimously to spend $1.175 million buying 130 acres of forest on West Street rather than let a railroad turn it into a freight yard. The town has defended that vote in court in the years since, which is what a Town Meeting decision looks like once it has to hold up under pressure. That vote was cast in the same open Town Meeting that has run Hopedale since it separated from Milford in 1886: every registered voter is a member, fifty voters make a quorum, and the budget passes or fails by the people in the hall. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Hopedale at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Worcester. Hopedale fits about six thousand residents into a little over five square miles around Hopedale Pond, the mill village the Draper family built, and the 275 acre Parklands.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator. Eugene Phillips has served as Interim Town Administrator since August 10, 2026.
- Schools: the Hopedale Public Schools, about 1,111 students in three schools, led by Superintendent Karen M. Crebase.
How Hopedale’s Government Works
Hopedale runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Hopedale is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 3 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board appoints a Town Administrator to run the Select Board office and supervise the department heads 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 coordinated by the Town Administrator.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Hopedale is a member, and fifty voters make a quorum. 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 to staggered three year terms. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint the department heads, and appoint and supervise the Town Administrator.
Town Administrator
The appointed administrator. Manages the Select Board office, supervises the department heads, and serves as the town’s chief procurement officer. Appointed by the Select Board, not elected.
School Committee
5 members, elected by the town’s voters. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board appoints 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 the second and fourth Monday of the month at 6:30 pm in the Draper Room at Town Hall, 54 Hopedale Street, in person and on Zoom. After a Monday holiday the meeting moves to Tuesday, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held on the third Tuesday of May, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: the annual town election is held on the second Tuesday of May at the Draper Gym, 13 Dutcher Street, with the polls open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state primary is September 1 and the general election is November 3.
Explore the Hopedale Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s appointed administrator
- Select BoardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Hopedale HistoryAdin Ballou, the Drapers, and 1886
- DemographicsWho lives in Hopedale
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataHopedale 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 Worcester County, and that includes Hopedale. 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 Hopedale
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. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets the second and fourth Monday at 6:30 pm in the Draper Room at Town Hall, in person and on Zoom, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. 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 or a plowing problem to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 54 Hopedale Street (P.O. Box 7), Hopedale, MA 01747. Select Board office 508-634-2203 ext. 210.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-634-2203 ext. 215, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at hopedale-ma.gov.
- Public schools: the Hopedale Public Schools, 508-634-2220, hopedaleschools.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.