Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts

How Manchester-by-the-Sea’s Government Works

Manchester-by-the-Sea runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Manchester-by-the-Sea 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.

1. Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
2. The Select Board hires the Town Administrator and decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant.
3. Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws, and every registered voter present can vote.
4. 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 Manchester-by-the-Sea, 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 on the first and third Monday evening of each month at Manchester-by-the-Sea Town Hall, 10 Central Street. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
• Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting convenes on the fourth Monday in April, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. Any registered voter may speak and vote, and there is no absentee or proxy voting, so you have to be in the room.
• Town elections: Manchester-by-the-Sea votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on May 19. The next annual election is in spring 2027, and a Special Town Election is set for Thursday, December 10, 2026.
• State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state primary was held on September 1, and the state election on November 3.

Explore the Manchester-by-the-Sea 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.
• Manchester-by-the-Sea HistoryFishing port, summer town, and the 1989 name
• DemographicsWho lives in Manchester-by-the-Sea
• Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
• Student DataManchester Essex Regional 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 Essex 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 Manchester-by-the-Sea. 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 Manchester-by-the-Sea

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.

1. 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.
2. Find the meeting. The Select Board meets on the first and third Monday evening of each month at Manchester-by-the-Sea Town Hall, 10 Central Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
3. Know your members. Five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
4. Speak. Meetings are open to the public and residents may address the board with the chair’s permission. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
5. 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: 10 Central Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA 01944. Main line 978-526-2000.
• Town Clerk & agendas: 978-526-2040, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at manchester.ma.us.
• Public schools: the Manchester Essex Regional School District, 978-526-4919, mersd.org.