Town Leadership
The Oxford Town Manager's Office
The Town Manager
Justin M. Leduc, Acting Town Manager
When a road goes unplowed or a permit stalls in Oxford, the official with the most operational control over the answer is appointed, not elected. Justin M. Leduc signs the town's budget message as Acting Town Manager, and the office he holds is defined in Chapter 5 of the Town of Oxford Charter, the charter the town adopted in 1972.
Chapter 5, Section 1 says the Board of Selectmen appoints a town manager by an affirmative vote of at least three of its five members, for an indefinite term, to serve at the board's pleasure. Section 2 says the office is filled solely on educational, executive and administrative qualifications, requires a bachelor's degree and three years of compensated executive service or seven years as a town or city manager, and requires a nationwide search including an advertisement in a current national town manager publication. Section 6 covers the situation Oxford is in today: during a temporary vacancy the board designates a qualified person to exercise the powers of the office, for a period of no more than ninety days, renewable once for another ninety, and no member of a selectman's family may be designated.
Section 3 is where the daily power sits. The town manager is the chief administrative officer, directly responsible to the Board of Selectmen, and is responsible for four functions: finance, public safety, public service and public works. The manager appoints, and may suspend or remove, the fire chief, the town accountant, the town collector, town counsel, the town treasurer, three assessors, seven members of the Planning Board, three members of the Board of Health, five members of a Personnel Board, seven members of the Historical Commission with the board's approval, and every division and department head under those four functions. The Town Clerk is a manager appointment too, with the approval of a majority of the full Board of Selectmen, which is why Oxford voters do not elect a clerk. Section 3 also gives the manager purchasing for every town office except the schools and the library, and the power to reorganize or abolish a department with the board's approval.
Two things the manager does not hold are worth knowing before you decide whom to write to. Oxford's Chief of Police is appointed by the Board of Selectmen under Chapter 3, Section 3, not by the manager, which is unusual among Massachusetts manager towns. And the school budget arrives from the School Committee, not from the manager's desk. Everything else in the operating budget starts here, goes to the board, and ends in the hall where every registered voter can vote it down.
| Role | Town Manager, the chief administrative officer of the town |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Board of Selectmen on a vote of at least three members and serving at its pleasure, not elected |
| Office | Oxford Memorial Town Hall, 325 Main Street, Oxford, MA 01540 |
| Phone | 508-987-6038, ext. 8 |
| Website | oxfordma.us |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints most of the town's workforce. Charter section 5-3-9 gives the manager the appointment of the fire chief, the town accountant, the town clerk, the collector, town counsel, the treasurer, the assessors, the Planning Board, the Board of Health, the Personnel Board, the Historical Commission, and every division and department head. The Chief of Police is the exception and belongs to the Board of Selectmen.
- Builds the budget. The charter requires the manager to submit a budget and a budget message at a joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee at least forty five days before the Annual Town Meeting. The FY2027 message put a balanced $53,020,283 budget on the table, an increase of $1,632,027 or 3.18 percent.
- Reports to the board in writing. Section 5-3-5 requires periodic written reports on departmental operations, general problems and administrative actions, and section 5-3-3 gives the manager the right to speak at every board meeting and no right to vote.
- Answers for the money in public. Oxford has held the Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Presentation Award five years running as of 2025, one of thirty five of the Commonwealth's 351 cities and towns, and the town's independent audit made no management recommendations.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Oxford has run on a Board of Selectmen and a Town Manager since it adopted its charter in 1972, and the current text is the version dated March 16, 2022. The charter divides the work three ways.
- Town Meeting holds the legislative power, which means the budget and the bylaws. Nothing in the manager's authority reaches that.
- The Board of Selectmen holds all the executive powers of the town except where the charter says otherwise. It appoints the town manager, the Chief of Police and other police officers, three registrars of voters, election officers and the Zoning Board of Appeals, and it signs the warrant that decides what Town Meeting gets to vote on. Section 3-2-4 requires the board to review and update its own written policies within ninety days of each annual election.
- The Town Manager runs what the charter assigns: the four administrative divisions, the department heads, the budget, purchasing, personnel policy and the union contracts.
Charter section 10-4-1 adds one rule that applies to all of them and is easy to miss: every board, commission and committee of the town organizes annually and elects a chairman and other necessary officers. That is why the Board of Selectmen reorganized on May 27, 2026, eight days after the annual election, and voted on each officer separately in open session.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 325 Main Street, Oxford, MA 01540. Open Monday and Tuesday 9 am to 5 pm, Wednesday 9 am to 7 pm, Thursday 9 am to 5 pm, and Friday 9 am to 12:30 pm.
- Town Manager's Office: 508-987-6038, ext. 8, or manager@oxfordma.us. Adam Menard is the Assistant Town Manager.
- Report a problem: potholes, streets, sewer, trees and snow go to the Department of Public Works at 450 Main Street, 508-987-6006.
- Show up: the Board of Selectmen meets the first and third Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at Memorial Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
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