Town Leadership
The Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Steve Bartha
Lexington has never had a mayor, and the person with the most day-to-day control over the town was never on a ballot you could mark. He was hired. Steve Bartha is Lexington’s Town Manager, chosen by the five elected members of the Select Board to run the town, and they can let him go if they lose confidence in him. He is the chief administrative officer: he writes the budget that Town Meeting debates, hires and supervises the department heads from the police chief to the public works director, and carries out the decisions the elected bodies make. Bartha took the job in the fall of 2024, after a public search, to succeed James Malloy. He was not new to the work. From 2014 to 2024 he was Town Manager of Danvers, and before that he was Assistant Town Manager in Avon, Connecticut. When the board hired him it pointed to his record on housing, sustainability, and budgeting. Because Lexington hands the daily machinery to an appointed manager, the plan to fix a problem usually crosses his desk first, then goes to the Select Board and to Town Meeting.
| Role | Town Manager (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| In office | Since the fall of 2024 |
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board under contract, not elected |
| Office | Town Office Building, 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA 02420 |
| Phone | 781-698-4540 |
| townmanager@lexingtonma.gov | |
| Website | lexingtonma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Runs the departments. Police, fire, public works, health, recreation, and the rest answer to the Town Manager, who appoints and supervises most of their leaders.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Manager proposes how the town will spend its money, then defends that plan before the Select Board and Town Meeting.
- Answers to the board. The Manager serves at the pleasure of the elected Select Board and carries out the policies it sets.
- Reports to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of the representative Town Meeting, the nearly two hundred elected members.
Why It Matters to You
- Your school building. Lexington is in the middle of a major high school building project, one of the largest financial decisions a town ever makes, and the Town Manager helps shape how the town pays for it.
- The everyday machinery. The plowed road, the library hours, the field your team plays on: all of it runs through the budget the Manager writes and the departments he runs.
- The Select Board is the check. It hires and can fire the Manager, sets policy, and signs the warrants that put questions before Town Meeting.
Contact & Engage
- Town Office Building: 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA 02420.
- Town Manager’s Office: 781-698-4540, townmanager@lexingtonma.gov. Open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Report a problem: service requests like potholes and missed pickups go through the town’s online tools at lexingtonma.gov.
- Show up: the Select Board meets on Monday evenings at the Town Office Building, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.