Town Government
Sandwich Select Board
About the Board
The Select Board is elected town-wide, so every Sandwich voter helps choose all five, and charter section 4.2 gives each member a three-year term on a staggered schedule that puts a seat or two on the ballot every spring. The charter calls this board the board of directors and policy-making body of the town, and vests all the executive powers of the town in it. It appoints the Town Manager who runs the town day to day, it appoints Town Counsel, it appoints the members of town committees, it approves the Town Manager’s choice of every department head, and it sets the date and the warrant articles for Town Meeting. When a daily problem becomes town policy, this is the room where it happens.
- Sets policy and direction for the whole town, and serves as the town’s licensing board.
- Hires the Town Manager by majority vote of the entire board, and can end that appointment the same way.
- Controls the warrant, deciding what business reaches Town Meeting for a vote.
Board Members
All five members are elected town-wide. Charter section 4.2.3 requires the board to elect a Chair and a Vice Chair at its first meeting after each regular town election, and that is exactly what happened on May 14, 2026, a week after the annual election: the board voted unanimously to elect David J. Sampson as Chair and Shane Hoctor as Vice Chair, and welcomed David D. Sullivan, newly elected.
David J. Sampson
Shane Hoctor
R. Patrick Ellis
Charles M. Holden
David D. Sullivan
The town routes contact to board members through the Select Board office at 100 Route 6A, which can be reached at 508-888-4910. The member roster and terms are posted at sandwichmass.org.
Meetings & How to Participate
- When: the board meets at least twice a month and typically every other Thursday, in the Town Hall auditorium at 130 Main Street. The posted agenda carries the start time for each meeting.
- Agendas & minutes: posted on the town’s Agenda Center, and you can sign up for an alert when a new one goes up.
- Watch: Sandwich Community Media carries local government live and on demand on its government channel, and archives the recordings.
- Public comment: the agenda carries a public comment item. Check it for the procedure.
- Town Meeting: for the budget and the bylaws, the deciding vote belongs to the registered voters in the hall, which can include you.
The Recall, Written Into Your Charter
Article VIII of the Sandwich charter gives voters a recall. Any holder of an elected town office may be recalled by the qualified voters, and section 8.2 lays out the route: ten qualified voters file an affidavit with the Town Clerk naming the officer and the grounds, the Clerk issues numbered petition blanks, and the completed petition has to come back within twenty days carrying the signatures of twenty-five percent of the town’s qualified voters. If the Clerk certifies it and the officer does not resign within five days, the Select Board must order an election in sixty to ninety days. It is a demanding bar by design, and it is written down, in your town’s own charter, so that you know it is there.
Public hearings and meetings are where residents shape town decisions.