Town Edition
Norfolk County
Medfield, Massachusetts
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In the spring of 2026 Medfield answered the same question twice, in person both times. On Monday, May 4, Town Meeting voted Article 15 and set a $1.5 million operating override for the schools and the town. Five weeks later, on June 8, the town walked into the Center at Medfield and made it real, 1,824 to 604. That two step is not a quirk of this town. It is what Proposition 2 1/2 requires, and it means the money behind your school year is settled by the people who are in the hall and then at the polls. This guide shows you how to be one of them.
Medfield at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Norfolk. Medfield covers 14.409 square miles of land, about 888 residents to the square mile, with the Charles River along its western edge.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Kristine Trierweiler.
- Schools: Medfield Public Schools, a single-town district of about 2,442 students in five schools, led by Superintendent Jeffrey Marsden.
How Medfield’s Government Works
Medfield runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Medfield 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 Medfield is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. It takes a quorum of 250 voters for the meeting to act at all.
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. Under the charter they also sit as Commissioners of the Police Department and as the town’s Local Licensing Authority.
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 town-wide by Medfield voters to three-year terms. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires and evaluates the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Select Board and the 5 members of 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: Tuesday evenings, roughly twice a month, at the Town House, 459 Main Street. Meetings run in a hybrid format and are recorded, and every agenda is posted in advance in the town’s Agenda Center.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held on the first Monday in May at 7:00 p.m. at the Amos Clark Kingsbury High School, and it continues in further sessions until every article has been acted on. In 2026 it opened on May 4.
- Town elections: Medfield votes in late March. The 2026 Annual Town Election was Monday, March 30, with the polls open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Center at Medfield, 1 Ice House Road, across four precincts.
- Special elections: the Select Board can put a question on its own ballot. The Special Town Election of June 8, 2026 decided the operating override for fiscal year 2027.
Explore the Medfield Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at the Town House
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Medfield History1651, a hat factory, and 134 acres bought back
- DemographicsWho lives in Medfield
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataMedfield 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 Norfolk County, and that includes Medfield. 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 Medfield
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, licences and public safety go to the Select Board. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and the bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets on Tuesday evenings at the Town House, 459 Main Street, and every agenda is posted in advance in the town’s Agenda Center.
- Know your members. All three Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. Meetings are open and residents may address the board. Check the agenda for how to sign up, and be ready to give your name and street.
- Or skip the trip. A pothole, a broken light or a water problem goes to Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town House: 459 Main Street, Medfield, MA 02052. Main line 508-359-8505.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Town Clerk Marion Bonoldi, 508-906-3024, with agendas and minutes posted in the town’s Agenda Center.
- Public schools: Medfield Public Schools, 508-359-2302, medfield.net.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a Tuesday meeting, or register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.