Town Edition
Worcester County
Royalston, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
On September 4, 2025, Royalston put three tax questions on a single ballot and 275 voters turned out to answer them. Two of the three failed. The one that paid for the town’s police officers passed by five votes, 140 to 135. That is what a small town looks like when its whole government fits in one room: a few dozen neighbors, on one evening, decided whether Royalston would keep its police funded, and five ballots settled it. Royalston runs on open Town Meeting and an elected Select Board with no appointed administrator, which means the people who decide are the people you can walk up to. This guide shows you how to get into the room.
Royalston at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Worcester. Royalston sits in the hill country of north central Massachusetts, near the New Hampshire line, settled in 1762 and incorporated in 1765. It is waterfall country: Royalston Falls and Doane’s Falls are Trustees of Reservations lands open to the public.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board that serves as the town’s own chief executive, with no appointed administrator. William Chapman chairs the board.
- Schools: Royalston is too small to run its own district, so it shares the Athol-Royalston Regional School District with Athol. Royalston Community School teaches the town’s youngest students, and older students attend the district’s middle and high schools in Athol. Matthew Ehrenworth is Superintendent.
How Royalston’s Government Works
Royalston runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Royalston is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Select Board and the regional School Committee that governs the Athol-Royalston schools. The Selectmen serve as the town’s chief executive officers: they set policy, approve the bills, make appointments to town boards and offices, and carry the town’s business between Town Meetings, working out of an office staffed by an executive assistant rather than through an appointed administrator. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, and the direction and the daily work both belong to the board the voters elect.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Royalston 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 to staggered three-year terms. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and serve as the town’s chief executive officers.
The Selectmen’s Office
The board’s own office at Town Hall, 13 On the Common, carries the town’s daily paperwork, staffed by administrative assistants who work for the three elected members.
School Committee
Elected by the voters of Athol and Royalston. The ten-member Athol-Royalston Regional School Committee sets policy for the shared district, approves its budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Select Board, the regional School Committee seats, and a long ballot of working town offices.
- The Board of Selectmen runs the town between meetings: it sets policy, decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant, and carries out what Town Meeting votes.
- 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 the first and third Tuesday evenings of the month at 7:00 PM at Royalston Town Hall, 13 On the Common, and each agenda is posted in advance on the town website.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the clerk posts the vote on every article afterward.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election was held April 7, 2025, when 222 of 1,145 registered voters filled the town offices. The next is the following spring.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, with a state primary in September 2026, and the clerk offers early voting and vote by mail.
Explore the Royalston Edition
- Select Board’s OfficeThe board that runs the town
- Select BoardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Royalston HistoryHill farms, mills, and waterfalls
- DemographicsWho lives in Royalston
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataRoyalston 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 Worcester County, and that includes Royalston. 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 Royalston
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 licenses 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 first and third Tuesday evenings at 7:00 PM at Town Hall, 13 On the Common, 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.
- Or reach a department. Report a pothole, a broken sign, or a plowing problem to the Department of Public Works at 978-249-4223, which owns the repair.
- Town offices: Town Hall, 13 On the Common, Royalston, MA 01368. Select Board office 978-249-9641, open to the public during posted hours.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Town Clerk Barbara Richardson, 978-249-0493, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at royalston-ma.gov.
- Public schools: Athol-Royalston Regional School District, arrsd.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a meeting on a Monday evening, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.