Town Edition
Plymouth County
Rochester, Massachusetts
Photo: T.S. Custadio aka ToddC4176 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In Rochester the town budget gets settled inside a school building. About 270 residents filled Rochester Memorial School on the evening of May 18, 2026, and voted from the floor to spend $716,000 to close a health insurance shortfall at the Old Rochester Regional district and $250,000 more on students whose needs are met outside it. That is direct democracy in its literal sense. Every registered voter of Rochester is a member of Town Meeting, there is no delegate to send and no committee to petition first, and the neighbors who show up decide the year for everyone. Rochester was incorporated in 1686, and it still settles its budget on the floor of an open Town Meeting. This guide shows you how to get into the room.
Rochester at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Plymouth. Rochester is a rural, inland town of about 33.6 square miles, one of the three towns of the Tri-Town it shares with Marion and Mattapoisett. Cranberry bogs, working farms and forests still cover much of it, and its brooks and ponds drain toward Buzzards Bay.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Cameron Durant.
- Schools: Rochester Memorial School, the town’s own PreK-6 school of about 451 students, led by Superintendent Michael S. Nelson; older students attend the Old Rochester Regional schools shared with Marion and Mattapoisett.
How Rochester’s Government Works
Rochester runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Rochester 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 the School Committee that oversees the town’s 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 Rochester 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
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 Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
The Rochester Memorial School Committee, five members elected town-wide, sets policy for the town’s school and approves its budget. Rochester also elects members to the regional committees it shares with Marion and Mattapoisett.
- Residents elect the three 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 on Monday evenings at the Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way. Dates and start times are posted in advance with each agenda, 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. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting drew about 270 voters to Rochester Memorial School on May 18, 2026.
- Town elections: Rochester votes in the spring. In the 2026 Annual Town Election on May 27, 2026, residents cast 1,133 ballots. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Rochester 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.
- Rochester HistorySeppecan, mills, and 1686
- DemographicsWho lives in Rochester
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataRochester 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 Rochester. 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 Rochester
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 Monday evenings at the Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way, 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 residents may address the board. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a downed tree, or a road problem to the Highway Department, which owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 1 Constitution Way, Rochester, MA 02770. Select Board office 508-763-3871.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Town Clerk Marjorie Barrows, 508-763-3871 ext. 117, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at townofrochestermass.com.
- Public schools: Rochester Memorial School and the Old Rochester Regional district, oldrochester.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.