Town Leadership
The Select Board’s Office
Three Executives, All of Them Elected
The Select Board as Executive
When a road goes unplowed in Royalston, the response does not cross an administrator’s desk, because the town does not employ one. The three elected members of the Select Board, William Chapman, Mark Thompson, and Linda M. Alger, run the town themselves, and the town’s own Select Board page calls the board the chief executive branch of local government. The Town Bylaws and the General Laws of Massachusetts grant the board broad powers: it acts as the primary policy-making body, appoints the town’s boards and committees, works with the department heads to draw up the annual budget and presents it to Town Meeting, approves the reorganization of town departments, and serves as the town’s licensing authority. Most Massachusetts towns of this shape hire a professional Town Administrator to carry the daily machinery. Royalston keeps that machinery in the hands of the people it elects, with administrative assistants in the Selectmen’s Office to handle the paperwork. That changes what an election here means: when you vote for a Select Board member, you are not choosing someone to supervise a manager, you are choosing a working executive. The people who answer for the plowing schedule and the town budget sit at a public table at Town Hall on the first and third Tuesday evenings, and the seat across from them is open to any resident who walks in.
| Role | Select Board, the town’s chief executive and licensing authority |
|---|---|
| Selection | Three members elected town-wide to staggered three-year terms |
| Office | Town Hall, 13 On the Common, Royalston, MA 01368 |
| Phone | 978-249-9641 |
| Website | royalston-ma.gov |
What the Select Board’s Office Does
- Sets policy. The board acts as the town’s primary policy-making body on the whole range of issues that affect Royalston’s development and services.
- Builds the warrant. The board decides what reaches Town Meeting, signing the warrant for every Annual and Special Town Meeting.
- Recommends the budget. Working with the department heads and in consultation with the Advisory (Finance) Committee, the board draws up the annual budget and presents it to Town Meeting, which holds the final vote.
- Licenses. The board is the town’s licensing authority, from common victuallers to one day licenses.
- Answers to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of Town Meeting, and in Royalston that means every registered voter who walks in.
The Selectmen’s Office
- The office staff: Administrative Assistants Michelle Deline and Deborah Rios run the Selectmen’s Office day to day, and the office is at Town Hall, 13 On the Common.
- Elected offices carry much of the work. Royalston’s ballot fills a long list of working offices, among them the Moderator, Town Clerk, Board of Assessors, Board of Health, Planning Board, Cemetery Commission, and Library Trustees, so the executive branch here is a web of ballots, not one org chart.
- Boards and commissions, permanent and ad hoc, are appointed by the Select Board and decide questions like zoning, conservation, and historic preservation.
Contact & Engage
- Town offices: Town Hall, 13 On the Common, Royalston, MA 01368.
- Select Board office: 978-249-9641.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken signs, and plowing go to the Department of Public Works, 978-249-4223.
- Show up: the board meets on the first and third Tuesday evenings at 7:00 PM at Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.