Town Edition
Worcester County
Mendon, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In 2002 the people of Mendon stood up at Town Meeting and voted to raise their own property tax bills by 3 percent. That single vote has since pulled in roughly 3.7 million dollars of local money and about 2.5 million more in state matching funds, and you can walk on what it bought: the woods and the nine acre pond at Meadow Brook Woods, the ballfields at Veterans Field, the playground at Memorial Park, and town records from the 1600s that were saved before they crumbled. Here is the part worth knowing. That vote was open to every registered voter in Mendon, and it still is. This guide shows you how the town works and where you can put your hand on it.
Mendon at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Worcester. Mendon sits in the Blackstone Valley of southern Worcester County, across about 18 square miles, on the Mill River and around Nipmuc Pond.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Jeremy P. Stull.
- Schools: the Mendon-Upton Regional School District, about 2,039 students, led by Superintendent Maureen Cohen, Ed.D.
How Mendon’s Government Works
Mendon runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Mendon is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a five-member Select Board to set policy between meetings, and they fill Mendon’s seats on the regional 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 Mendon 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
Five 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.
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
Six members serving the Mendon-Upton Regional School District, three elected by Mendon voters and three by Upton voters. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the five members of the Select Board and Mendon’s seats on the regional 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: posts every agenda at least 48 hours before it meets at Mendon Town Hall, 20 Main Street. Dates and start times are on the town calendar, so check before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held within the first two weeks of May, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Mendon votes in the spring. Select Board members serve staggered three-year terms, and the Town Moderator is elected each year.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, with the primary in the late summer and the general in November.
Explore the Mendon Edition
- Town Administrator’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.
- Mendon HistoryMother Mendon, and the 2002 vote
- DemographicsWho lives in Mendon
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataMendon-Upton 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 Worcester County, and that includes Mendon. 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 Mendon
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, and police or fire go to the Select Board. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board posts each agenda at least 48 hours before it meets at Mendon Town Hall, 20 Main Street.
- Know your members. Five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. Meetings are open to the public and residents may address the board. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a downed tree to the Highway Department, which owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 20 Main Street, Mendon, MA 01756. Select Board office 508-473-2312.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-473-1085, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at mendonma.gov.
- Public schools: the Mendon-Upton Regional School District, mursd.org.
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.