Town Edition
Berkshire County
Richmond, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In January 2025 the Berkshire Hills Regional School District asked Richmond a blunt question: would the town give up its own school and become the fourth town in somebody else’s district? Richmond’s School Committee voted unanimously to say no, the Select Board put the refusal in writing, and Richmond Consolidated stayed exactly what it has been, a Pre-K to grade 8 school that absorbs close to half of what the whole town spends and then sends its eighth graders on to high school elsewhere. A town of about 1,400 people, pressed against the New York line just southwest of Pittsfield, made that call in the same room where it votes its budget every May. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Richmond at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Richmond.
- County: Berkshire. Richmond covers about 19 square miles of hill country in the far west of the state, sharing its whole western edge with Columbia County, New York, and sitting just southwest of Pittsfield.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Danielle Fillio.
- Schools: Richmond Consolidated School, the town’s own Pre-K to grade 8 district of about 157 students, led by Superintendent and Principal Beth Choquette.
How Richmond’s Government Works
Richmond runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Richmond 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 a School Committee that oversees Richmond Consolidated School. 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 Richmond 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
5 members, elected town-wide by Richmond voters. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Select Board and the 5 members of 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: 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 Richmond, 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
- Select Board: meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 6:00 PM at Richmond Town Hall, 1751 State Road. The agenda is posted in advance, so check it before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in May, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. Any registered voter of Richmond may speak and vote.
- Town elections: Richmond holds its annual town election in May, with one Select Board seat on the ballot in most years.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, with the state primary and general in the fall.
Explore the Richmond 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.
- Richmond HistorySettlement, the 1765 charter, and the name
- DemographicsWho lives in Richmond
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataRichmond 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 Berkshire 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 Richmond. 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 Richmond
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 on the second and fourth Wednesdays at 6:00 PM at Richmond Town Hall, 1751 State Road, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. 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 broken culvert, or a plowing problem to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 1751 State Road, Richmond, MA 01254. Select Board and Town Administrator office 413-553-7793.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Town Clerk Angela Garrity, 413-553-7793, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at richmondma.org.
- Public schools: Richmond Consolidated School, 413-698-2207, richmondconsolidated.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.