Town Edition
Plymouth County
Middleborough, Massachusetts
Photo: Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
In June 2012 Middleborough’s Town Meeting voted to attach a twenty dollar ticket to an old town bylaw against swearing in public, and the vote made the national news. What happened next is the part worth knowing. Under state law the Town Clerk has to send every bylaw a Town Meeting passes to the Attorney General within thirty days, and the Attorney General then has ninety days to decide whether it agrees with the constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth. That October the Attorney General’s office found the ticket itself generally consistent with state and federal law, found that the decades old bylaws underneath it no longer met constitutional standards, and said they should be repealed and, in the meantime, not actively enforced. Open Middleborough’s bylaws today and there is no public profanity in them. Chapter 221 was rewritten at the October 2017 Special Town Meeting and approved by the Attorney General on January 18, 2018. A Town Meeting vote is real power. It is also not the last word, because a bylaw has to clear the constitution before anyone can be ticketed under it. Knowing both of those at once is most of what there is to know about how this town works.
Middleborough at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Plymouth. Middleborough covers 69.0 square miles of land, which is more ground than any other community in Massachusetts except Plymouth itself.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager. Joseph Perkins holds that office on an interim basis while a Town Manager Search Committee looks for a permanent one.
- Schools: Middleborough Public Schools, about 2,863 students across five schools, led by Interim Superintendent Dr. David L. Thomson.
How Middleborough’s Government Works
Middleborough runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Middleborough 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 Middleborough 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
7 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 on Monday nights at Middleborough Town Hall, 10 Nickerson Avenue, on a schedule the board votes and posts. Each agenda goes up in advance on the town’s Agenda Center, so check it before you go.
- Town Meeting: by town bylaw the Annual Town Meeting is held on the fourth Monday in April, and the Select Board can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait, which usually happens in October. It meets in the Middleborough High School Auditorium at 71 East Grove Street, and it takes 150 registered voters in the room to do business at all. Town Moderator David J. Cavanaugh presides.
- Town elections: the charter sets the annual town election on the first Saturday in April, and the town votes across seven precincts and two sub-precincts. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Saturday, April 4. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 State Primary is Tuesday, September 1, and the State Election is Tuesday, November 3.
Explore the Middleborough 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.
- Middleborough HistoryNemasket, the herring, and the cranberry
- DemographicsWho lives in Middleborough
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataMiddleborough 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 Plymouth County, and that includes Middleborough. 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 Middleborough
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 meets on Monday nights at Middleborough Town Hall, 10 Nickerson Avenue, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- 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. Items for the agenda are due to the Select Board’s office by noon on the Wednesday before the meeting, in writing.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a missed pickup to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 10 Nickerson Avenue, Middleborough, MA 02346. Select Board’s office 508-946-2405, Town Manager’s office 508-947-0928.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-946-2415, at 20 Centre Street, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at middleboroughma.gov.
- Public schools: Middleborough Public Schools, 508-946-2000, middleboro.k12.ma.us.
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.