Town Edition
Worcester County
Lunenburg, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
On Saturday, May 16, 2026, Lunenburg filled eleven town offices on one ballot and answered two questions about its own property taxes. Both questions asked permission to spend above the Proposition 2 1/2 cap, one for 2.4 million dollars and one for 3.6 million, and the town said no to both, 899 to 1,748 and 766 to 1,883. The 2,666 residents who cast a ballot that Saturday set the size of the town budget, the school budget inside it, and the membership of eleven boards, in a single morning. Here is what makes that possible: Lunenburg keeps an open Town Meeting, so the budget those two questions were about is voted by whoever is standing in the hall, and the town bylaw puts the bar for a legal Town Meeting at 50 voters in the room. This guide shows you where those rooms are, who is in them, and how you walk into one.
Lunenburg at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Lunenburg.
- County: Worcester. Lunenburg covers about 26.4 square miles of land north of Leominster and east of Fitchburg, at roughly 447 people to the square mile, and it votes in four precincts, A through D.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Jennifer Warren-Dyment.
- Schools: Lunenburg Public Schools, about 1,568 students across five schools, led by Superintendent Dr. Jodi Fortuna.
How Lunenburg’s Government Works
Lunenburg runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Lunenburg 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 Manager 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 Manager.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Lunenburg 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 Manager.
Town Manager
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 Manager 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 Lunenburg, 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 7 pm every Tuesday except the last Tuesday of the month, in the Joseph F. Bilotta Meeting Room on the second floor of Town Hall, 17 Main Street. Each agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center, so check it before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting opens on the first Saturday of May at 9 am under town bylaw chapter 81, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The Moderator, Timothy W. Murphy, presides. Lunenburg has called a Special Town Meeting for Thursday, September 3, 2026 at 7 pm in the Lunenburg Middle and High School auditorium, and the clerk posts what is current.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election falls on the third Saturday of May under the same bylaw, and the town votes in four precincts at the T.C. Passios Building, 1025 Massachusetts Avenue. The 2026 election was held on Saturday, May 16, and a Special Town Election on August 8, 2026 filled two Select Board seats.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Lunenburg Edition
- Town Manager’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.
- Lunenburg History1728, Whalom Park, and the charter
- DemographicsWho lives in Lunenburg
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataLunenburg 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 Lunenburg. 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 Lunenburg
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 7 pm most Tuesdays at Lunenburg Town Hall, 17 Main Street, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- 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: 17 Main Street, Lunenburg, MA 01462. Main line 978-582-4130, with the Town Manager’s office at extension 3.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 978-582-4130 extension 4, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at lunenburgma.gov.
- Public schools: Lunenburg Public Schools, 978-582-4100, lunenburgschools.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.