Town Edition
Worcester County
Leicester, Massachusetts
Photo: Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
On March 4, 1861, the people of Leicester stood up at town meeting and voted, unanimously, that their town would have a free public library. Their descendants finished the argument: the 1896 library building on the common reopened in June 2019 after an $8.9 million restoration, paid for with a state construction grant and more than $3 million raised by residents, including one anonymous gift of $2 million. Both of those decisions were made the same way, by voters in a room. Leicester still runs on an open town meeting, where every registered voter is a member and the budget is decided by whoever walks in. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Leicester at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Leicester.
- County: Worcester. Leicester is a hilltop town of about 23 square miles in central Massachusetts, just west of the city of Worcester, and its mills once produced roughly a third of the hand cards made in the whole country.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, David A. Genereux.
- Schools: the Leicester Public Schools, about 1,323 students, led by Superintendent Brett Kustigian.
How Leicester’s Government Works
Leicester runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Leicester is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. 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 Leicester 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
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 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
5 members, elected town-wide. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent who runs the Leicester Public Schools.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and 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: pre-register at 16. A pre-registrant is on the list but is not allowed to vote yet. Once you turn 18 that designation comes off on its own and you are a registered voter in Leicester, which makes you a member of Town Meeting with a vote on the floor. If you never pre-registered, register with the Town Clerk, and do it well ahead: the rolls close at 5 p.m. on the tenth day before any election or Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Select Board: meets at 6:00 PM on the first and third Tuesday of each month at Leicester Town Hall, 3 Washburn Square. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held on the first Tuesday in May, and in 2026 it met on May 5. The town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election is held on the second Tuesday in June. In 2026 it was Monday, June 9, with all four precincts voting at the Town Hall Gymnasium. The next is in June 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The clerk posts the current state primary date, and the general follows that autumn.
Explore the Leicester 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.
- Leicester HistoryHand cards, Leicester Academy, and a library
- DemographicsWho lives in Leicester
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataLeicester schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected, and neither one sits on Beacon Hill. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. The sheriff is elected by the voters of Worcester County. The district attorney is elected by the voters of a prosecution district, and Massachusetts draws eleven of those across its fourteen counties, so a district attorney’s territory does not always follow a county line. Both appear on your ballot in Leicester. Now you know what to look for.
Massachusetts elects fourteen sheriffs, one for each county, and eleven district attorneys, one for each prosecution district. 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 Leicester
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 at 6:00 PM on the first and third Tuesday of the month at Leicester Town Hall, 3 Washburn Square, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. Five 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 broken light, or a missed pickup to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 3 Washburn Square, Leicester, MA 01524. Main line 508-892-7000; Select Board office 508-892-7077.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-892-7011, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at leicesterma.org.
- Public schools: the Leicester Public Schools, led by Superintendent Brett Kustigian, at lpsma.net.
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.