Town Edition
Franklin County
New Salem, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Three roads out of New Salem’s common simply stop at a Quabbin gate. In 1938 the Commonwealth dissolved four neighboring towns to flood the valley for Boston’s drinking water, then handed most of what was left of Prescott to New Salem, which is how this hill town became the largest by land area in all of Franklin County. Boston made that call. The budget, the roads, and the school assessment are still New Salem’s own call, settled by a show of hands at open Town Meeting, and any registered voter here can be one of those hands. This guide shows you how to get into the room.
New Salem at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Franklin. New Salem spreads across nearly 45 square miles of hill country on the west shore of the Quabbin Reservoir, which makes it the largest town by land area in the county and one of the largest by area in western Massachusetts.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Board of Selectmen that serves as the town’s executive. Richard Taupier chairs the board, and a part-time Town Coordinator staffs the office.
- Schools: the Swift River School serves New Salem and Wendell together, about 140 students from preschool through grade 6; older students go on to Ralph C. Mahar Regional in Orange. Shannon White-Cleveland is Superintendent of the elementary district.
How New Salem’s Government Works
New Salem runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in New Salem is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Board of Selectmen and the regional School Committee that oversees the elementary school. The Selectmen serve as the town’s chief executive officers: they set policy, approve the bills, make appointments to town boards and offices, and carry the town’s business between Town Meetings, working out of a town office staffed by a part-time Town Coordinator rather than run by an appointed town administrator. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, and the direction and the daily work both belong to the board the voters elect.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in New Salem is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Board of Selectmen
Three members elected town-wide to staggered three-year terms. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and serve as the town’s chief executive officers.
The Selectmen’s Office
The board’s own office at 19 South Main Street carries the town’s daily paperwork, staffed by a part-time Town Coordinator who works for the three elected members.
School Committee
Elected by the voters of the New Salem and Wendell district. It sets policy for the Swift River School, approves its budget, and hires and evaluates the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Board of Selectmen, the regional School Committee, and a ballot of working town offices.
- The Board of Selectmen runs the town between meetings: it sets policy, decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant, and carries out what Town Meeting votes.
- 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
- Board of Selectmen: meets at 7:00 PM on alternating Monday evenings at 19 South Main Street and on Zoom, and each agenda is posted in advance on the town website.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held each spring at the Swift River School, where every registered voter may speak and vote on the budget and the bylaws.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election is held each spring, with board seats filled on staggered three-year terms.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, and the Town Clerk offers early voting and vote by mail.
Explore the New Salem Edition
- Selectmen’s OfficeThe board that runs the town
- Board of SelectmenYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- New Salem HistoryThe town the Quabbin remade
- DemographicsWho lives in New Salem
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataNew Salem 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 Franklin County, and that includes New Salem. 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 New Salem
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 licenses go to the Board of Selectmen. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Board of Selectmen meets at 7:00 PM on alternating Monday evenings at 19 South Main Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. Three Selectmen 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. The town posts a way to get on the board’s agenda.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a washed-out shoulder, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department at 978-544-2303, which owns the repair.
- Town offices: 19 and 24 South Main Street, New Salem. Board of Selectmen 978-544-6437.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Town Clerk Stacy Senflug, 978-544-6437, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at newsalemma.org.
- Public schools: Swift River School (New Salem and Wendell) and Ralph C. Mahar Regional in Orange; the elementary Superintendent’s office is Erving School Union 28.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Board of Selectmen, speak at a meeting on a Monday evening, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.