Town Government
Lunenburg Select Board
About the Board
The Select Board is elected town-wide, so every Lunenburg voter helps choose all five, and each seat runs three years on a staggered schedule that puts two of them on the ballot in a normal spring. Under Chapter 113 of the Acts of 2009 this board holds the executive powers of the town, serves as its chief policy-making agency and its licensing board, and appoints the Town Manager who runs the town day to day. Open Town Meeting remains the legislature, so the board’s warrant decides what that meeting gets to vote on. When a daily problem becomes town policy, this is the room where it happens.
- Holds the executive powers of the town and sets its policy direction.
- Appoints the Town Manager, choosing from the candidates a five-member screening committee puts forward.
- Controls the warrant, deciding what business reaches Town Meeting for a vote.
- Sits as the licensing board, which is why liquor, common victualler and entertainment licenses come to this table.
Board Members
All five members are elected town-wide, and after each annual town election the board reorganizes and picks its own officers from among themselves. Watch how close that vote can be. On May 19, 2026, three days after the annual election, two separate nominations for Chair were made and neither one drew a second, so both failed on the spot. Brian Lehtinen then nominated Renee Emkey, Glenn McLeod seconded, and the roll call elected her Chair 3 to 1. Lehtinen was elected Vice Chair 4 to 0 on Emkey’s own nomination. Five members, four minutes of nominations, and the town’s chief policy-making board had a new chair.
The Clerk’s seat then moved again. The board elected Caesar Nuzzolo Clerk that same night, he resigned from the board effective May 22, and on June 2 the board reorganized the seat a second time and Glenn McLeod took it. Two of the five seats sat empty until the Special Town Election of August 8, 2026 filled them, which is why a town of this size held a separate election in August at all. Damon J. McQuaid took the three year seat and Thomas A. Alonzo the one year seat. Those two results come from the Town Clerk’s UNOFFICIAL tally, which is the only posting the town has published so far, so treat them as the count rather than the certification until the official sheet appears.
Renee Emkey
Brian Lehtinen
Glenn McLeod
Damon J. McQuaid
Thomas A. Alonzo
The town routes contact to board members through the Town Manager’s Office, whose Executive Assistant keeps the records of Select Board meetings, at 978-582-4130 extension 3. The member roster is posted at lunenburgma.gov.
Meetings & How to Participate
- When: 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. The town posts each agenda in advance.
- Agendas & minutes: posted on the town’s Agenda Center, with agendas up before the meeting and minutes after the board approves them.
- Watch: the town runs its own Public Access Cable department, which records and carries town meetings and board meetings.
- Public comment: residents may address the board. Check the agenda for the procedure.
- Town Meeting: for the budget and bylaws, the deciding vote belongs to the registered voters in the hall, which can include you.
What this seat decides
Your Select Board
Streets and sidewalks, licenses, a crosswalk or a speed limit, and how something gets onto the Town Meeting warrant. Ask the engineering department who owns the road before you write: a numbered state route is MassDOT's rather than your town's, and your State Representative is who can ask them. It runs the town day to day, or hires the Town Manager or Town Administrator who does, and new bylaws are voted by Town Meeting rather than by the board.
Public hearings and meetings are where residents shape town decisions.