Town Edition
Dukes County
Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts
Photo: Dougtone, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
On one April night in 2024, more than 400 Oak Bluffs residents packed a town meeting, voted down a plan to open new light-industrial zones in their neighborhoods by about nine to one, and then turned around and spent $4.8 million of their own money rebuilding the harbor jetties. That is the whole machine in a single evening: in this town on Martha’s Vineyard, the people in the room are the government, and a raised hand is the lever. There is no mayor and no city council to appeal to. The budget is voted by whoever shows up. This guide shows you how to get into the room.
Oak Bluffs at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Dukes. Oak Bluffs sits on the northeast shore of Martha’s Vineyard, facing Nantucket Sound, and it is the island’s only town founded on summer resort life rather than farming or fishing. Its harbor, its Camp Ground of gingerbread cottages, and Ocean Park sit within a short walk of Town Hall.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Wendy Brough.
- Schools: the Oak Bluffs School, a K-8 school of about 390 students, part of the shared Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools led by Superintendent Jaime L. Curley.
How Oak Bluffs’s Government Works
Oak Bluffs runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Oak Bluffs 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 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 Oak Bluffs 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 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
3 members, elected town-wide by Oak Bluffs voters. It oversees the K-8 Oak Bluffs School, sets school policy, and approves the school budget alongside the shared island superintendent.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and 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 on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 4:30 p.m. in the meeting room at Oak Bluffs Town Hall, 56 School Street. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held each April at the regional high school, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. At the 2026 annual meeting the town approved a $1.9 million override for its budget.
- Town elections: Oak Bluffs votes in the spring. The next Annual Town Election is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Oak Bluffs Edition
- Town Administrator’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.
- Oak Bluffs HistoryWesleyan Grove, gingerbread cottages, 1880
- DemographicsWho lives in Oak Bluffs
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataOak Bluffs 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 Dukes County, and that includes Oak Bluffs. 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 Oak Bluffs
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 the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 4:30 p.m. at Oak Bluffs Town Hall, 56 School Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All 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. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a washed-out road, or a downed limb to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 56 School Street, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557. Select Board office 508-693-3554 ext. 115.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-693-3554 ext. 120, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at oakbluffsma.gov.
- Public schools: the K-8 Oak Bluffs School, 508-693-0951, oakbluffsschool.com.
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.