Town Government
Marshfield Select Board
About the Board
Marshfield’s Select Board has three members, and the charter arranges their three-year terms so that exactly one seat comes up each spring. That is a small board with a large reach: three people, elected by the whole town, and one of them on your ballot every single year. The board sets town policy, signs the warrants that decide what Town Meeting gets to vote on, appoints the Town Administrator and the town’s department heads, and serves as the licensing authority for alcohol and motor vehicle retailers. When a daily problem becomes town policy, this is the room where it happens.
- Sets policy and direction for the whole town, and the charter vests the executive powers of Marshfield in this board.
- Appoints the Town Administrator and, under Charter Article 3-2, the town’s department heads.
- Controls the warrant, deciding what business reaches Town Meeting for a vote.
- Two departments sit outside its policy reach: the schools answer to the elected School Committee, and the Department of Public Works answers to an elected Board of Public Works.
Board Members
All three members are elected town-wide. After each annual town election the board reorganizes and chooses its own officers. At the reorganization on May 11, 2026, the board elected Rick Smith as Chair and Eric Kelley as Vice Chair. Smith had won his seat nine days earlier, taking 2,985 of the 4,179 ballots cast in a three-way race.
Rick Smith
Eric Kelley
Chris Rohland
The town routes contact to board members through the Select Board office, which can be reached at (781) 834-5563 or selectboard@townofmarshfield.org. The roster is posted at marshfield-ma.gov.
Meetings & How to Participate
- When: at least twice a month on Mondays at 5:30 p.m., in the Select Board Chamber at Town Hall, 870 Moraine Street. Meetings are hybrid, so you can attend in person or join on Zoom.
- Agendas & minutes: posted at marshfield-ma.gov. The charter requires the agenda to be posted at least twenty-four hours ahead, and the board cannot act on an item that is not on it unless it first votes that there is a reasonable cause and says what the cause is.
- Watch it: Marshfield Community Media records the meetings and carries them on Verizon channel 35 and Comcast channel 15.
- Public comment: residents may address the board. Check the agenda for the procedure.
- Call a meeting yourself: under Charter Article 7-1, a petition signed by twenty-five registered voters and filed with the Town Clerk requires any board, commission or committee to hold a special meeting within two weeks on the purpose you name.
- Town Meeting: for the budget and bylaws, the deciding vote belongs to the registered voters in the hall, which can include you.
Public hearings and meetings are where residents shape town decisions.