Town Government
Boards & Commissions
What Boards & Commissions Are
Beyond the Select Board and the School Committee, most of Medfield’s governing happens on boards and commissions made up of residents. They approve new development, hear zoning appeals, protect the wetlands and the ponds, guard four local historic districts, run public health rules and shape services for older residents. They are the rooms where an ordinary resident can have the most direct hand in a decision.
Some are elected on the annual town ballot and some are appointed by the Select Board, and all of them serve fixed terms. The meetings are public, and seats open up regularly.
Boards Medfield Elects
These seats appear on the annual town ballot in late March, which is worth knowing before you decide a town election is a small event. In 2026 the ballot carried the Select Board, the Moderator, an Assessor, two School Committee seats, two Library Trustees, two Park Commissioners, a Planning Board seat, a Housing Authority seat and a Trust Fund Commissioner.
- Planning Board: five voting members elected to five-year terms, meeting at 7:30 p.m. on the first and third Monday of the month. Chair Teresa James, Vice Chair Seth Meehan, Clerk Paul McKechnie, with Doug Larence and Corinne Schieffer.
- Board of Assessors, Library Trustees, Park Commissioners, Housing Authority and Trust Fund Commissioners are all elected town-wide.
- A vacancy is real. The 2026 Housing Authority seat drew no candidate at all, and the votes cast for it were all write-ins. If you have ever wondered whether an ordinary resident could win a seat, that is the answer.
Boards the Select Board Appoints
- Board of Health enforces state and local public health rules and can write its own. Five members, meeting the first Tuesday of the month: Chair Carol Read, Vice Chair Kathleen Thompson, Jeff Kane, John Cadigan and Colleen Corrodi. It also invites residents to serve as Associate Members.
- Zoning Board of Appeals hears variances and special permits.
- Conservation Commission reviews work near wetlands and manages the properties in its own care, custody and control.
- Warrant Committee reviews the whole budget and reports to Town Meeting. Its members are appointed by the Town Moderator, and its chair is Stephen Callahan.
- Historic District Commission reviews changes to property inside the Town Center, Clark-Kingsbury Farm, John Metcalf and Hospital Farm historic districts.
- Board of Council on Aging guides senior services. Five members on three-year terms, chaired by Robert Heald.
- Board of Registrars oversees voter registration with the Town Clerk as its clerk.
- Affordable Housing Trust, Personnel Board, Sign Advisory Board, Historical Commission, Cemetery Commission and the Transfer Station and Recycling Committee round out the list, each with its own page and its own meeting schedule.
For the full index, current members, vacancies and schedules, see the town’s own Boards, Commissions and committee pages.
How to Serve
- Find an opening on the town’s boards, commissions and committees pages, or watch the annual ballot for an elected seat.
- Submit a letter of interest to the Select Board through the Town Administrator’s office at 459 Main Street.
- Interview if asked, and await appointment by the Select Board.
- Or take signatures. An elected seat needs nomination papers from the Town Clerk, and a seat with no candidate is a seat waiting for one.
- Serve: attend the public meetings and help make the decisions.
Serving on a board is one of the most direct ways to shape Medfield.