Town Government
Rockland Select Board
About the Board
Every Rockland voter helps choose all five members of the Select Board, because all five run town-wide. Each serves a three-year term on a staggered schedule, so two or three seats appear on the ballot every April. The town’s own description of the board is blunt about what that buys you: as the chief elected and executive officers of the town, the Select Board holds all the municipal authority not specifically kept by Town Meeting or by another elected board. It sets policy, signs the warrants that decide what Town Meeting gets to vote on, appoints residents to most town boards and commissions, and hires and supervises the Town Administrator who runs the town day to day. When a daily problem becomes town policy, this is the room where it happens.
- Sets policy and fiscal guidelines for the whole town, and makes recommendations to Town Meeting.
- Hires the Town Administrator and holds that office accountable.
- Controls the warrant, deciding what business reaches Town Meeting for a vote.
- Acts as the licensing authority, issuing more than twenty categories of licences and permits and holding the hearings that go with them.
Board Members
All five members are elected town-wide. In the April 11, 2026 election Michael P. O’Loughlin was returned with 631 votes and John J. Ellard Jr. with 543, filling the two seats on that ballot. After the election the board reorganized, and its approved minutes from that spring name Michael P. O’Loughlin as Chair and Lori Childs as Vice Chair.
Michael P. O’Loughlin
Lori Childs
Tiffanie Needham
John J. Ellard Jr.
Steven G. O’Donnell Jr.
The town routes contact to board members through the Select Board office, which can be reached at 781-871-1874, ext. 1100. Current members, terms and vacancies for every town body are posted at onboard.rockland-ma.gov.
Meetings & How to Participate
- When: the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7 pm, in the H. Bernard Monahan Memorial Room at Town Hall, 242 Union Street, unless otherwise posted.
- Agendas & minutes: posted in advance in the town’s Agenda Center at rockland-ma.gov, with approved minutes added afterward.
- Public comment: residents may address the board. Check the agenda for the procedure.
- Watch from home: WRPS carries town government meetings on its government access channel.
- Town Meeting: for the budget and bylaws, the deciding vote belongs to the registered voters in the hall, which can include you.
Public hearings and meetings are where residents shape town decisions.