Town Edition
Worcester County
North Brookfield, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fire took North Brookfield’s meeting hall in 1862, and with the Civil War still grinding on the town rebuilt anyway, spending $20,000 on a Town House whose 60 foot tower still stands over North Main Street. The town has owned it ever since, it has been closed since 2002, and a town wide survey found 81 percent of residents want it back, so what happens to the biggest building in town gets settled the way it was settled in 1864: by your neighbors, out loud, in a room. This guide shows you how that room works, and how to take your seat in it.
North Brookfield at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of North Brookfield.
- County: Worcester. North Brookfield sits in central Massachusetts, about 25 miles from Worcester and 55 from Boston, bordered by West Brookfield, New Braintree, Oakham, Brookfield and East Brookfield.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Board of Selectmen that serves as the town’s chief executive. Jamie Gilman chairs the board.
- Schools: North Brookfield Public Schools, about 389 students across two schools, led by Superintendent Timothy McCormick.
How North Brookfield’s Government Works
North Brookfield runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in North Brookfield is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 3 member Board of Selectmen and the School Committee that oversees the schools. 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 an office staffed by an executive assistant rather than through an appointed 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 North Brookfield 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
3 members elected town-wide. 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 215 North Main Street carries the town’s daily paperwork, staffed by an executive assistant and an administrative assistant who work for the three elected members.
School Committee
5 members elected town-wide. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Board of Selectmen, the School Committee, and many of the town’s other boards and 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: 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 North Brookfield, 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
- Board of Selectmen: meets Tuesday evenings at 6 pm at the Police Department, 55 School Street. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town’s Agenda Center before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held the second Friday in June, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting was held June 12 at the North Brookfield Elementary School auditorium.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election is held the first Monday of May at the Senior Center, 29 Forest Street, with the polls open from 7:00am to 8:00pm. The next is in May 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The clerk posts the current State Primary date, with the general following that autumn.
Explore the North Brookfield 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.
- North Brookfield HistoryShoe shops, showmen, and the Town House
- DemographicsWho lives in North Brookfield
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataNorth Brookfield 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 Worcester 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 North Brookfield. 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 North Brookfield
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 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 Tuesday evenings at 6 pm at the Police Department, 55 School Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All 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. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department at 508-867-0213, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Offices: 215 North Main Street, the brick Duncan Building with the awning. Board of Selectmen office 508-867-0200.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-867-0203, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at northbrookfield.net.
- Public schools: North Brookfield Public Schools, 508-867-9821, nbschools.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Board of Selectmen, speak at a Tuesday evening meeting, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.