Plymouth County
Pembroke, Massachusetts
Photo: T.S. Custadio aka ToddC4176 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Massachusetts counts its river herring one fish at a time, and one of the three biggest runs in the state climbs Herring Brook right through Pembroke. The Division of Marine Fisheries keeps an electronic counter on that brook that logs every fish that passes, and the numbers it has logged are worth sitting with: about 570,000 in 2023, about 444,000 in 2024, and 32,298 in 2021. That run was very nearly lost in the 1990s and was restocked between 1995 and 1997, and it is back because people keep deciding it should be. Pembroke has been passing rules about these fish since 1741, it keeps a Herring Fisheries Commission to keep the ladders flowing, and it pays for the work out of a Community Preservation fund the town’s own voters chose to create in 2006. That is the shape of power in this town, and you can see the whole of it in one year. On Saturday, May 16, 2026, 3,488 residents went to the polls and filled ten separate offices, from two Select Board seats to the Town Clerk, the Board of Health, the Planning Board and a Water Commissioner. Then the biggest decisions of all, the budget and the bylaws, went somewhere else entirely: to Town Meeting, where every registered voter in Pembroke is a member and can stand up, speak and vote. This guide shows you where both rooms are and how to get into them.
Pembroke at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Plymouth. Pembroke covers 21.8 square miles of land on the South Shore, about 26 miles south of Boston, and water shaped all of it: the North River and the Indian Head River on its borders, and Oldham, Furnace, Great Sandy Bottom, Little Sandy Bottom and Stetson Ponds inside them.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, William D. Chenard
- Schools: Pembroke Public Schools, about 2,343 students across five schools, led by Superintendent Erin Obey.
How Pembroke’s Government Works
Pembroke runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Pembroke 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 Manager 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 Manager.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Pembroke 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 Manager.
Town Manager
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
5 members, elected by the voters of the district the schools serve. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Manager 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: the town’s own answer is that the board meets generally every two weeks on Wednesday evenings at 7PM, 25 to 30 times a year, usually in Veterans Hall at Pembroke Town Hall, 100 Center Street. The cadence tightens in budget season, when it can sit on consecutive Wednesdays, and it moves to a bigger room when it expects a crowd, so read the agenda for the location as well as the time.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting opens on the second Tuesday in May at 7:00 PM and continues on the following Thursdays and Tuesdays for as long as the warrant takes, and it meets at Pembroke High School, 80 Learning Lane. Town Meeting Moderator Stephen C. Dodge presides. It takes 150 voters in the room to call the meeting to order and 100 to keep it going, which is the whole quorum for a town of 18,361 people, so in Pembroke a hundred and fifty residents are the legislature. The town can also call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait, and the warrant for one has to be posted fourteen days ahead instead of seven.
- Town elections: Pembroke votes on a SATURDAY, which is unusual and worth putting in your calendar. The by-law sets the annual election for the Saturday following the second Tuesday in May, with the polls open 9AM to 7PM, and all five precincts vote in one place, the Pembroke Community Center at 128 Center Street. The 2026 election was Saturday, May 16. To vote in it you have to be registered 10 days beforehand, and the same 10 day rule covers Town Meeting.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Pembroke Edition
- Town Manager’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.
- Pembroke History1712, the shipyards, and the herring
- DemographicsWho lives in Pembroke
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataPembroke 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 Plymouth County, and that includes Pembroke. 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 Pembroke
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 licensing 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 Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM in Veterans Hall at Pembroke Town Hall, 100 Center Street, and every agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- Know your members. 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 water problem, or a downed tree limb to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 100 Center Street, Pembroke, MA 02359. Main line 781-709-1400, Town Manager’s office 781-293-3844.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 781-293-7211, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at pembroke-ma.gov.
- Public schools: Pembroke Public Schools, 781-829-0832, pembrokek12.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.