Town Edition
Norfolk County
Millis, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In December 2025 the voters of Millis agreed to raise their own property taxes to pay for a $125 million rebuild of the combined middle and high school, with the state School Building Authority covering roughly $68 million of the cost. Construction runs from 2027 to 2029, which means the neighbors who voted yes bought a building that a Millis student is the one who gets to walk into. That is how a small town spends real money: not in a distant capitol, but at a Town Meeting and a ballot box a few blocks from home, where the people in the room decide. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Millis at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Norfolk. Millis sits about 12 square miles west of Boston, with the Charles River and Bogastow Brook along its edges and the wide Great Black Swamp between it and Medway.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Michael Guzinski.
- Schools: Millis Public Schools, about 1,169 students, led by Superintendent Robert Mullaney.
How Millis’s Government Works
Millis runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Millis 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 a five-member 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 Millis 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, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
Five members, elected town-wide. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Select Board and the five members of the 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: meets most Monday evenings at Millis Town Hall, 900 Main Street. 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 at the Millis Middle and High School, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Millis votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on May 11, and the next is in the spring of 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Millis 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.
- Millis HistoryClicquot ginger ale, mills, and 1885
- DemographicsWho lives in Millis
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataMillis 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 Millis. 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 Millis
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 most Monday evenings at Millis Town Hall, 900 Main Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All 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 for how to sign up.
- 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: 900 Main Street, Millis, MA 02054. Town Administrator’s Office (508) 376-7041.
- Town Clerk & agendas: (508) 376-7046, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at millisma.gov.
- Public schools: Millis Public Schools, (508) 376-7000, millisps.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.