Norfolk County
Medway, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The colonial farmhouse where Medway now holds weddings belongs to the town because voters in a room said so. In 2006 Town Meeting spent Community Preservation money on a homestead that the Partridge family had farmed since 1653, and a private farm became something the whole town owns. That is not a story about the past. On May 11, 2026 the same kind of room did it again, voting unanimously to buy the Winthrop Street properties, and then passed all twenty six articles of the annual warrant, most of them unanimously too. Three weeks earlier, at the annual town election, 842 of Medway’s 11,134 registered voters had filled the Select Board, the School Committee, the Board of Health, the Parks Commission, the Library Trustees, the Planning and Economic Development Board, the Housing Authority, the Water and Sewer Advisory Board and the Moderator’s chair, and settled a ballot question by 35 votes. That is what one ballot is worth in a town election here. This guide shows you where those rooms are and how to get into them.
Medway at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Norfolk. Medway covers 11.535 square miles on the western edge of the county, about 1,137 people to the square mile, bordered by Holliston, Millis, Milford, Bellingham and Franklin, with Route 109 running the length of the town from east to west.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Michael E. Boynton.
- Schools: Medway Public Schools, about 2,125 students across four schools, led by Superintendent Armand Pires.
How Medway’s Government Works
Medway runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Medway 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 Manager 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 Manager.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Medway 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
5 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 Manager.
Town Manager
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 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Manager 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 about twice a month, most often on a Monday evening at 7:00 pm in Sanford Hall at Town Hall, 155 Village Street. Each agenda is posted in advance, so check it before you go.
- Town Meeting: the charter sets the Annual Town Meeting on the second Monday in May and the fall town meeting no later than the third Monday in November. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting was May 11. Town Moderator Christina K. Oster presides.
- Town elections: the charter sets the annual town election on the third Tuesday in May, across four precincts. The 2026 election was May 19.
- State and federal elections: even numbered years, with the state primary and the general election in the autumn.
- Every agenda and every set of minutes for every board in town is posted at medwayma.gov/meetings, and you can search it by board and by date.
Explore the Medway Edition
- Town Manager’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.
- Medway History1713, the mills, and Millis
- DemographicsWho lives in Medway
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataMedway 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 Medway. 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 Medway
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 in Sanford Hall at Town Hall, 155 Village Street, and every agenda and every set of minutes in town is posted at medwayma.gov/meetings.
- Know your members. All five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. Meetings open with public comment and residents address the board by name and street. Check the agenda for the procedure.
- Or skip the trip. A pothole, a broken streetlight or a missed pickup goes to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 155 Village Street, Medway, MA 02053. Main line (508) 533-3200. Open Monday 8:00 am to 5:30 pm, Tuesday to Thursday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, and Friday 8:00 am to 12:00 pm.
- Select Board and Town Manager’s office: (508) 533-3264, or bos@medwayma.gov.
- Town Clerk and agendas: (508) 533-3204, with every agenda and set of minutes posted at medwayma.gov/meetings.
- Public schools: Medway Public Schools, 45 Holliston Street, (508) 533-3222.
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.