Town Edition
Bristol County
Rehoboth, Massachusetts
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In 1643, at only their second meeting, the settlers who founded Rehoboth voted that the schoolmaster would be paid out of a portion taken from every settler, not just from the families who happened to have children to teach. Rehoboth, Dedham and Boston have been arguing ever since over who did it first, but the idea you inherited is the same one either way: a town can decide, out loud and together, that a school is everybody’s bill to pay. Rehoboth still decides that way. On April 7, 2026, 1,030 residents walked into Francis Farm and filled ten different elected offices in a single morning, from Moderator to Water Commissioner. This guide shows you how to be one of them.
Rehoboth at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Rehoboth.
- County: Bristol. Rehoboth sits on the Rhode Island line, and its own historic guide records that the town was once far larger: the original settlement is in what is today Rumford, Rhode Island, and Seekonk, Pawtucket and East Providence were all carved out of it before the present boundaries were settled in 1861.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five member Board of Selectmen and an appointed Town Administrator, Susan M. Pimental.
- Schools: the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District, about 2,524 students across five schools, led by Superintendent Bill Runey.
How Rehoboth’s Government Works
Rehoboth runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Rehoboth is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Board of Selectmen to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Board of Selectmen 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 Board of Selectmen, 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 Rehoboth 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
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 Administrator.
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
10 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 Board of Selectmen and the School Committee.
- The Board of Selectmen 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: pre-register at 16. A pre-registrant is on the list but is not allowed to vote yet. Once you turn 18 that designation comes off on its own and you are a registered voter in Rehoboth, which makes you a member of Town Meeting with a vote on the floor. If you never pre-registered, register with the Town Clerk, and do it well ahead: the rolls close at 5 p.m. on the tenth day before any election or Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Board of Selectmen: Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. at Francis Farm, Francis Hall, 27 Francis Farm Road. Items for the agenda are due at the Selectmen’s Office by noon on the Wednesday before the meeting, which is a real deadline you can meet.
- Town Meeting: the 2026 Annual Town Meeting was held on Tuesday, June 2, and the town has called a Special Fall Town Meeting for Tuesday, November 17, 2026.
- Town elections: the 2026 Annual Town Election was Tuesday, April 7. All four precincts vote at Francis Farm, Heritage Meeting Hall.
- State and federal elections: the clerk posts the current State Primary and State Election dates.
Explore the Rehoboth Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Board of SelectmenYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Rehoboth HistoryA school vote, a militia beacon, a dam
- DemographicsWho lives in Rehoboth
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataDighton-Rehoboth schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected, and neither one sits on Beacon Hill. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. The sheriff is elected by the voters of Bristol County. The district attorney is elected by the voters of a prosecution district, and Massachusetts draws eleven of those across its fourteen counties, so a district attorney’s territory does not always follow a county line. Both appear on your ballot in Rehoboth. Now you know what to look for.
Massachusetts elects fourteen sheriffs, one for each county, and eleven district attorneys, one for each prosecution district. 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 Rehoboth
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 Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Board of Selectmen meets Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. at Francis Hall, 27 Francis Farm Road, and every agenda and set of minutes is posted on the town website.
- Know your members. All five Selectmen are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. The town’s own page invites the public to attend, and residents speak at the pole hearings and public hearings the Board schedules inside its regular meetings.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a washed out shoulder or a plowing problem to the Highway Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 340 Anawan Street, Rehoboth, MA 02769. Selectmen’s Office (508) 252-3758 Ext. 1.
- Town Clerk & agendas: (508) 252-1027, with every board’s agendas and minutes posted at rehobothma.gov.
- Public schools: the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District, 508-252-5000, drregional.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Board of Selectmen, speak at a Monday meeting, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.