Town Edition
Worcester County
Princeton, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The electricity in your house does not come from a company answering to shareholders in another state. It comes from the Princeton Municipal Light Department, the town’s own electric utility since 1912, and its two wind turbines stand on the south flank of Wachusett Mountain. You and your neighbors elect the three commissioners who run it, on the same spring ballot that fills the Selectboard. That pattern runs through the whole town: Princeton is a community of about 3,500 people that still decides its own budget in one room, at an open Town Meeting where every registered voter is a member. This guide shows you how to get into that room, and how to reach the people you already put in office.
Princeton at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Worcester. Princeton sits on the slopes of Wachusett Mountain in central Massachusetts, about 35 square miles of hills, farms, and forest, laced with roughly 83 miles of town road, some of it still gravel.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Selectboard and an appointed Town Administrator, Sherry Patch.
- Schools: the Wachusett Regional School District, shared with Holden, Paxton, Rutland and Sterling, about 6,427 students, led by Superintendent James Reilly.
How Princeton’s Government Works
Princeton runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Princeton is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Selectboard to set policy between meetings, and they elect Princeton’s seats on the regional School Committee that oversees the schools. The Selectboard 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 Selectboard, 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 Princeton is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Selectboard
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 chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Selectboard. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
A sixteen-member regional committee, elected by the voters of the five member towns. Princeton holds two of its seats. It sets school policy, approves the district budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Selectboard and Princeton’s seats on the School Committee.
- The Selectboard 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
- Selectboard: meets roughly every other Wednesday afternoon at Princeton Town Hall, 6 Town Hall Drive. Dates and start times vary, and 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. Every registered voter in Princeton is a member.
- Town elections: Princeton votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on May 11, and the Town Clerk certified 1,046 ballots cast, about a third of the town’s registered voters. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Princeton Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- SelectboardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Princeton HistoryThomas Prince, the mountain, and 1771
- DemographicsWho lives in Princeton
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWachusett Regional 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 Worcester County, and that includes Princeton. 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 Princeton
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 Selectboard. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Selectboard meets roughly every other Wednesday afternoon at Princeton Town Hall, 6 Town Hall Drive, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All three Selectboard 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 line to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 6 Town Hall Drive, Princeton, MA 01541. Town Administrator’s Office 978-464-2102.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 978-464-2103, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at princetonma.gov.
- Public schools: the Wachusett Regional School District, 508-829-1670, wrsd.net.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Selectboard, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.