Town Edition
Bristol County
Raynham, Massachusetts
Photo: Emw, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The library at 760 South Main Street stood in Raynham for seventy-one years without belonging to Raynham. It was built in 1949 by the Raynham Public Library Association, a private non-profit founded in 1888, and at the annual Town Meeting in June 2020 residents voted unanimously to take title to the building and run it themselves. That is this town’s whole machinery in a single motion: an open meeting, a room of neighbors, a show of hands, and a library that changed owners. Six years later the same kind of room voted a $52,992,457 town budget for the year, and every registered voter in Raynham had the right to walk in and vote on it. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Raynham at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Bristol. Raynham covers 20.477 square miles between Taunton and Bridgewater, with the Taunton River along its western edge, and it began as the east end of Taunton, where iron ore was found on the Two Mile River in 1652.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board that also sits as the Board of Health, and an appointed Town Administrator, Gregory Barnes.
- Schools: the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District, about 5,458 students, led by Superintendent Ryan T. Powers.
How Raynham’s Government Works
Raynham runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Raynham is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 3 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board 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 Select Board, 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 Raynham 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
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 Town Administrator.
Town Administrator
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
Raynham shares one regional School Committee with Bridgewater, and its seats are assigned by town. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Select Board and the 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 Tuesday evenings every other week at 7:00 pm in the Donald L. McKinnon Meeting Room at Veterans Memorial Town Hall, 558 South Main Street. Agendas are posted in advance on the town website.
- Town Meeting: the town’s own bylaw sets the date. Chapter 123 says the Annual Town Meeting shall be held on the third Monday in May at 7:00 p.m. In 2026 that was May 18, at the Raynham Middle School Auditorium, 420 Titicut Road. A Special Town Meeting can be called when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Raynham votes on a Saturday in April. The 2026 Annual Town Election was April 25, with all four precincts voting at Raynham Middle School and polls open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state primary and general election are this fall, and the Town Clerk posts the early voting schedule.
Explore the Raynham Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- 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.
- Raynham HistoryIron, schooners, and 1731
- DemographicsWho lives in Raynham
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataBridgewater-Raynham 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 Bristol County, and that includes Raynham. 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 Raynham
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, licences and public health go to the Select Board, which sits as the Board of Health as well. Schools go to the regional School Committee. The budget and the bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets Tuesday evenings every other week at 7:00 pm in the Donald L. McKinnon Meeting Room at Town Hall, 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 they are broadcast live on the Raynham Channel, Comcast Channel 98 and Verizon Channel 34, and recorded by RayCAM for replay. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: Veterans Memorial Town Hall, 558 South Main Street, Raynham, MA 02767. Select Board office (508) 824-2707.
- Town Clerk & agendas: (508) 824-2700, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at town.raynham.ma.us.
- Public schools: the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District, (508) 279-2140, bridge-rayn.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.