Town Edition
Berkshire County
Peru, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In the town with the highest mean altitude in Massachusetts, the legislature is a room full of neighbors in folding chairs. Peru runs on open town meeting, which means there is no town council and no board that can pass a budget on its own. Every registered voter in Peru is a member of the body that votes the money and writes the bylaws, and when the town has faced a hard question, like how to bring high-speed internet up this hill, it has been settled the same way every big question here is settled, by the people who show up. Peru has governed itself this way since it was incorporated as Partridgefield in 1771. This guide shows you how to get into the room.
Peru at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Berkshire. Peru sits on the Berkshire plateau in the far west of the state, its village center standing at roughly 2,064 feet, and with neighboring Windsor it is one of only two Massachusetts towns entirely above 2,000 feet.
- Government: open town meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board chaired by Edward Munch and a part-time Town Administrator, Terry Walker, who handles the daily administration.
- Schools: the Central Berkshire Regional School District, about 1,530 students across seven towns, led by Superintendent Michael Henault.
How Peru’s Government Works
Peru runs on an open town meeting, which means there are no elected town meeting members at all: every registered voter in Peru is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Select Board to set policy between meetings, and they elect Peru’s seat on the regional School Committee. The Select Board hires a part-time Town Administrator to handle the daily administration. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, the direction is set by the elected Select Board, and the daily paperwork runs through the administrator the board appoints.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Peru 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
Three 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 staff officer who handles the town’s daily administration and budget preparation, working out of a part-time office at Town Hall and answering to the elected Select Board.
School Committee
Fifteen members from the seven district towns, each elected by its own town’s voters. The committee sets school policy, approves the district budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Select Board and Peru’s seat on the regional 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 Mondays, weekly or every other week, at 6:00 PM at Peru Town Hall, 3 East Main Road. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Peru holds an annual town election, and the three Select Board seats come up on a staggered three-year cycle.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, with the primary in the late summer and the general in November.
Explore the Peru Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeWho runs the daily administration
- Select BoardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Peru HistoryPartridgefield and the mountain town
- DemographicsWho lives in Peru
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataCentral Berkshire 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 Berkshire County, and that includes Peru. 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 Peru
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 Mondays at 6:00 PM at Peru Town Hall, 3 East Main Road, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All three 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 downed tree, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 3 East Main Road, Peru, MA 01235. Select Board office (413) 655-8312 Ext. 107.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Town Clerk Kim Leach, (413) 655-8312 Ext. 102, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at townofperuma.com.
- Public schools: the Central Berkshire Regional School District, (413) 684-0320, cbrsd.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.