Essex County
Lynnfield, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In June 2025 Lynnfield voted to raise its own property taxes. Question 1 asked whether the town could collect an extra $4,650,000 for the year ahead, and 1,897 residents voted yes against 1,042 who voted no. Ten months later, on April 14, 2026, 2,008 ballots settled a Select Board seat 1,086 to 842. Two questions, two spring afternoons, and in a town run by three elected board members and an open Town Meeting, a few hundred residents decided both the tax bill and the board that spends it. This guide shows you how to be one of them.
Lynnfield at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Essex. Lynnfield covers 9.9 square miles of land, and it votes in four precincts.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Robert Dolan
- Schools: Lynnfield Public Schools, about 2,159 students in five schools, led by Superintendent Thomas Geary.
How Lynnfield’s Government Works
Lynnfield runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Lynnfield is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 3 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 Lynnfield 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
3 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 3 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: register at 16, vote at 18, and once you are registered you are already a member of Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Select Board: meets on a published calendar, usually on a Monday evening. The location moves between Town Hall, the Al Merritt Center and Lynnfield Middle School, and it is named on each agenda, so read the agenda before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting was held on April 28.
- Town elections: Lynnfield votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on April 14 across four precincts, and 2,008 ballots were cast. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Lynnfield Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Lynnfield HistoryA meeting house older than the town
- DemographicsWho lives in Lynnfield
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataLynnfield schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected countywide. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. Both of them answer to the voters of Essex County, and that includes Lynnfield. They appear on your ballot. Now you know what to look for.
Every county in Massachusetts elects its own, and 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 Lynnfield
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 posts each agenda in advance with the night and the room on it.
- Know your members. All three 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: 55 Summer Street, Lynnfield, MA 01940. Main number 781-334-9400.
- Select Board office: 590A Summer Street, 781-334-9410, with agendas and minutes posted at lynnfieldma.gov.
- Public schools: Lynnfield Public Schools, 525 Salem Street, 781-334-9200.
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.