Town Government
Boards & Commissions
What Boards & Commissions Are
Beyond the Select Board and the School Committee, most of Ipswich’s governing happens on volunteer boards and commissions, and the town’s own index runs to roughly ninety of them. They approve new development, hear zoning appeals, protect the town’s wetlands and open space, weigh in on historic places, and guide services for residents. They are the rooms where an ordinary resident can have the most direct hand in a decision.
Who appoints them is a real question here, and the charter answers it in three places. Ipswich voters elect five bodies and no more: the Select Board, the Town Moderator, a constable, the seven-member School Committee and the five-member Housing Authority. The Select Board appoints the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Town Accountant, the Trust Fund Commissioners, the registrars of voters, the election officers, the Treasurer and Collector and the Electric Light Manager. Everything else on that ninety-item list is the Town Manager’s to appoint, including the Planning Board, the Board of Assessors, the Board of Health, the Cemetery and Park Commissioners, the seven-member Recreation Committee, Town Counsel and the Town Clerk.
Key Boards & Commissions
- Planning Board reviews subdivisions, site plans and major development. Appointed by the Town Manager under charter section 13.
- Zoning Board of Appeals hears variances and special permits. Appointed by the Select Board under charter section 2.
- Conservation Commission protects Ipswich’s wetlands, rivers and open space, and it works under the town’s own Wetlands Protection Bylaw as well as state law.
- Finance Committee reviews the budget and advises Town Meeting on spending. It has nine members, three of them appointed by the Select Board.
- Board of Health oversees inspections, septic and housing, pools and beaches and public health rules. Appointed by the Town Manager under charter section 17.
- Historical Commission and the Architectural Preservation District Commission work on the town’s historic places and review changes inside the preservation district.
- Open Space Committee, created by the town in 1994, guides which land Ipswich protects.
- Shellfish Advisory Board and the Waterways Advisory Committee deal with the flats, the river and the harbor, which is not a small thing in a town whose clams are famous.
- Electric Subcommittee is one Select Board member, one Finance Committee member and four residents at large. It meets the second Wednesday of the month, opens with Citizens’ Queries, and advises on budgets, operations and rate design for the town’s own utility.
- Ipswich Human Rights Commission and the Ipswich Cultural Council are among the newer seats residents sit in.
For the full roster, current members, vacancies and schedules, see the town’s own index, split A to H and I to Z.
How to Serve
- Find an opening on the town’s boards, committees and commissions index.
- Send the form. Ipswich publishes a Board or Committee Appointment Request, and the Select Board office takes it.
- Interview if asked, and await appointment.
- Serve: attend the public meetings and help make decisions for your town.
Two things are worth knowing before you turn eighteen. Openings are advertised: in August 2026 the Select Board was taking applications for a three year seat on the nine-member Finance Committee, one of the three seats that board appoints. And in May 2026 the board voted to add a non-voting student member to the Shade Tree and Beautification Committee, for a one year term, effective immediately. That seat exists because somebody asked for it at a public meeting.
Serving on a board is one of the most direct ways to shape Ipswich.