Town Edition
Hampshire County
Middlefield, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Before Middlefield had a church, it had an argument. It took the brand new town six years and thirty separate town meetings to agree on where the meetinghouse should sit, and the corner they finally chose, where Skyline Trail meets Town Hill Road, is where the Middlefield Church stands today. Two and a half centuries later the town still runs the same way, on an open Town Meeting, which means the people in the room are the government. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Middlefield at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Middlefield.
- County: Hampshire. Middlefield is a hilltown of about 24 square miles in the western part of the state, and with roughly 385 residents that works out to about 16 people to the square mile, among the most thinly settled towns in the region.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Evan Kenney.
- Schools: the Gateway Regional, about 721 students across six hilltowns, led by Superintendent Melissa Matarazzo.
How Middlefield’s Government Works
Middlefield runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Middlefield is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Select Board to set policy between meetings and choose Middlefield’s seat on the regional School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a 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 Middlefield 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
Three 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, helps build the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
A regional committee of fifteen, elected by the voters of the six towns Gateway Regional serves. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Select Board and Middlefield’s seat 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: pre-register at 16. A pre-registrant is on the list but is not allowed to vote yet. Once you turn 18 that designation comes off on its own and you are a registered voter in Middlefield, which makes you a member of Town Meeting with a vote on the floor. If you never pre-registered, register with the Town Clerk, and do it well ahead: the rolls close at 5 p.m. on the tenth day before any election or Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Select Board: meets at 6:30 pm every other Wednesday at Middlefield Town Hall, 188 Skyline Trail. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Middlefield fills its Select Board seats for three-year terms, staggered so one seat comes up most years. Recent seats run to 2029, so the roster on this site reflects the most recent election.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Middlefield Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Middlefield HistoryFive towns, wool mills, and 1783
- DemographicsWho lives in Middlefield
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataGateway schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected, and neither one sits on Beacon Hill. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. The sheriff is elected by the voters of Hampshire County. The district attorney is elected by the voters of a prosecution district, and Massachusetts draws eleven of those across its fourteen counties, so a district attorney’s territory does not always follow a county line. Both appear on your ballot in Middlefield. Now you know what to look for.
Massachusetts elects fourteen sheriffs, one for each county, and eleven district attorneys, one for each prosecution district. 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 Middlefield
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 at 6:30 pm every other Wednesday at Middlefield Town Hall, 188 Skyline Trail, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. Three 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 to see how.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a washed-out culvert, or a downed limb to the Highway Department, which owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 188 Skyline Trail, PO Box 238, Middlefield, MA 01243. Main line 413-623-2079.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 413-623-2079, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at middlefield-ma.gov.
- Public schools: Gateway Regional, grsd.org, district office at 12 Littleville Road, Huntington.
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.