Town Leadership
The Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Michael E. Boynton
Michael E. Boynton runs Medway day to day, and the five people who hired him are the five you elect. That is the whole arrangement, and Medway’s charter, Chapter 61 of the Acts of 2020, spells out how much it carries. Section 5-1-1 makes the Town Manager the chief administrative officer of the town, appointed by the Select Board for a three year term, and it sets a bar for the job: at least a bachelor’s degree and at least seven years of professional experience that includes full time paid service running something in public or business administration.
Section 5-2-2 is the clause that matters most to a resident. It gives the Town Manager the appointment and the removal of every department head, officer and employee of the town, with four carve outs: the School Committee’s employees, the Library Trustees’ employees, appointments the Commonwealth makes, and offices the charter hands to somebody else. There is no confirmation vote in that sentence. When Medway hires a police chief or a public works director, the Select Board does not sign off; the manager appoints, and the board’s remedy is the manager. The same clause requires him to weigh what a department head recommends and to tell that department head in writing before appointing against the recommendation, and it requires the list of positions he appoints to be kept on file in the Select Board’s office and the Town Clerk’s office, where anyone can ask for it.
The rest of the office is budget and contract. Section 5-2-6 puts the annual capital outlay programme on his desk. Section 7-2-6 puts the comprehensive draft budget and its explanatory message there too. Section 5-2-14 makes him the town’s certified chief procurement officer, so he approves the award of every town contract outside the schools and the library. Section 5-2-5 makes him chair of the town’s financial review team, which meets monthly and reports variances to the Select Board, the Finance Committee and the School Committee.
Two clauses put him in front of you rather than behind a desk. Section 5-2-7 says he attends every Select Board meeting and may take part in the discussion, but has no vote. Section 5-2-8 says he attends every session of Town Meeting and answers every question a voter directs to him. If you are registered in Medway, you can be the person asking.
| Role | Town Manager, the town’s chief administrative officer |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board for a three year term, by at least 3 affirmative votes; removal takes 4 |
| Office | Town Hall, 155 Village Street, Medway, MA 02053 |
| Phone | (508) 533-3264 |
| Website | medwayma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints the department heads. Charter 5-2-2 gives the Town Manager the appointment and removal of every department head, officer and employee of the town, outside the schools, the library, and state appointments. No Select Board confirmation step stands in the way, which is the sharpest single difference between Medway and many neighbouring towns.
- Builds the budget. He receives every department’s request, assembles the comprehensive draft budget and writes the message that explains it, and prepares the annual capital outlay programme.
- Signs the contracts. As the town’s certified chief procurement officer he approves the award of town contracts outside the school department and the library.
- Answers to the board. He is responsible to the Select Board for the operation of town affairs, sits at its table without a vote, and is reviewed by it every year against goals set in advance.
- Answers to you, at Town Meeting. Charter 5-2-8 requires the Town Manager to attend every session and answer every question a voter puts to him.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Medway wrote its current charter in 2020, when the Legislature enacted Chapter 61 of the Acts of 2020 and repealed the town’s previous charter, Chapter 84 of the Acts of 2008. The act divides the work three ways, and the division is worth knowing before you decide whom to write to.
- Town Meeting holds the legislative power outright, which means the budget and the bylaws. Nothing in the manager’s authority reaches that. Section 2-1-1 says it in one line: the legislative powers of the town shall be exercised by a town meeting open to all voters.
- The Select Board is the chief executive office of the town under section 3-2-2 and its chief policy making agency. It appoints the Town Manager, and under section 4-1-1 it appoints Town Counsel, the Board of Assessors, the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Affordable Housing Committee, the Capital Improvements Committee, the Conservation Commission, the Disability Commission, the town’s representatives to the Charles River Pollution Control District and the Southwest Advisory Planning Committee, and the members of the Community Preservation Committee. The same section bars any member, or any majority of them, from the day to day administration of a town agency.
- The Town Manager runs everything else: the departments and the people in them, the draft budget, the purchasing, the town’s leases and its buildings outside the schools, the library, the parks and the conservation land.
Section 5-6-1 adds one more thing, and it is unusual enough to be worth naming. The Select Board is required to keep an open door policy and to have written procedures for resolving a policy conflict between town officials when that conflict could affect the health, safety or welfare of the town.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 155 Village Street, Medway, MA 02053. 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.
- Town Manager’s Office: (508) 533-3264. The office is Michael E. Boynton, Assistant Town Manager Allison Potter and Executive Assistant Sophie Boucher.
- Report a problem: potholes, water, snow and streetlights go to the Department of Public Works at (508) 533-3275, and after hours at (508) 533-3212.
- Show up: the Select Board meets in Sanford Hall at Town Hall and the public is welcome. Agendas are posted at medwayma.gov/meetings.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.