Town Edition
Middlesex County
Littleton, Massachusetts
Photo: Victor Grigas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In Littleton, the people who set the price of the electricity running your kitchen lights are not executives in some other state. They are five commissioners you elect to three-year terms, running a power company the town has owned for more than a century, one that still offers among the lowest residential electric rates in Massachusetts and sells power to neighboring Boxborough besides. That is the pattern for almost everything here: the budget is voted by the registered voters who walk into Town Meeting, the Select Board that signs the warrant is five neighbors you elect, and even the library trustees and the Board of Health are on your ballot. This guide shows you how every one of those rooms works, and how to get into them.
Littleton at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Littleton.
- County: Middlesex. Littleton covers about 16.5 square miles of land crossed by Interstate 495 and Route 2, and the MBTA Fitchburg Line stops at the Littleton/Route 495 station on its way to Boston’s North Station.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, James A. Duggan
- Schools: Littleton Public Schools, four schools and about 1,632 students, led by Superintendent Dr. Michael Caira.
How Littleton’s Government Works
Littleton runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Littleton 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 Littleton 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 by the voters of the district the schools serve. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- 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 Littleton, 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 about twice a month on Monday evenings in Room 103 at Town Hall, 37 Shattuck Street. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in early May. The 2026 session met on May 5 and voted the budget for the fiscal year 2027, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Littleton votes on a Saturday in May. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held May 9, and the next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The clerk posts the current state primary date, with the general election following that autumn.
Explore the Littleton 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.
- Littleton HistoryNashoba, apple orchards, and 1715
- DemographicsWho lives in Littleton
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataLittleton 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 Middlesex 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 Littleton. Now you know what to look for.
District Attorney, Northern District (Middlesex County)Marian T. Ryan
Official site
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 Littleton
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 in Room 103 at Town Hall, 37 Shattuck Street, 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, and members hold drop-in office hours posted on the town calendar.
- 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 plowing problem to the Department of Public Works at 978-540-2670, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 37 Shattuck Street, Littleton, MA 01460. Town Administrator’s office 978-540-2460.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 978-540-2401, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at littletonma.org.
- Public schools: Littleton Public Schools, 978-540-2500, littletonps.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.