Town Edition
Plymouth County
Plympton, Massachusetts
Photo: T.S. Custadio aka ToddC4176 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The 135 acres of forest, brook, and old cranberry bog you can walk at Two Brooks Preserve belong to you because Plympton voted for them twice: once in 2008 to tax itself under the Community Preservation Act, and again in 2018 to spend that money buying the land. In a town this small, the few hundred neighbors who fill the seats at Town Meeting inside Dennett Elementary are the government, and what they decide on a night in May is what Plympton becomes. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Plympton at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Plymouth. Plympton is a small, mostly rural town of about 14.7 square miles, crossed by the Winnetuxet River and dotted with working and retired cranberry bogs.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Board of Selectmen and an appointed Interim Town Administrator, Robert Fennessy.
- Schools: Plympton runs Dennett Elementary for its youngest students and sends grades 7 to 12 to the Silver Lake Regional School District, shared with Halifax and Kingston. Superintendent Jill Proulx leads both.
How Plympton’s Government Works
Plympton runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Plympton is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Board of Selectmen to set policy between meetings and a School Committee that oversees Dennett Elementary. The Board of Selectmen hires a professional Interim Town Administrator to run the town day to day. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, the direction is set by the Board of Selectmen, and the daily work is carried out by the Interim Town Administrator.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Plympton 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 hire and supervise the Interim Town Administrator.
Interim Town Administrator
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Board of Selectmen. 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 helps hire the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee.
- The Board of Selectmen hires the Interim 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
- Board of Selectmen: meets twice a month on Monday afternoons at the Town House, 5 Palmer Road. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in May at Dennett Elementary School, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. Any registered voter may speak and vote.
- Town elections: Plympton holds its Annual Town Election in the spring. After the May 2026 election, the Board of Selectmen reorganized on May 18, 2026. The next town election is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state primary is September 1 and the general election is this November.
Explore the Plympton Edition
- Interim Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Board of SelectmenYour three selectmen
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Plympton HistoryFrom 1707 to Deborah Sampson
- DemographicsWho lives in Plympton
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataPlympton 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 Plympton. 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 Plympton
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 twice a month on Monday afternoons at the Town House, 5 Palmer Road, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All three Board of Selectmen 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 broken light, or a missed pickup to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town House: 5 Palmer Road, Plympton, MA 02367. Board of Selectmen office 781-585-2700.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Tara Shaw, 781-585-3220, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at town.plympton.ma.us.
- Public schools: Dennett Elementary, 781-585-3659, and the Silver Lake Regional School District at slrsd.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Board of Selectmen, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.