Town Edition
Essex County
Saugus, Massachusetts
The first iron forged in British North America was hammered out on the banks of the Saugus River, and the town that grew up around that furnace still runs on the same idea: that ordinary people, working together, can build something that lasts. This is your guide to how Saugus governs itself today: who runs the town, which boards shape your street, the legislators who carry your voice to Boston and Washington, and the numbers that tell the town’s story. Saugus was settled in 1629, became its own town in 1815, and sits just north of Boston on the Saugus and Pines rivers.
The Saugus Civics Handbook
A plain-language guide to how your town actually works: who represents you, how decisions get made, and where you can push. Read it online.
Saugus at a Glance
Sources: US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Essex, on the Saugus and Pines rivers, about 10 miles north of Boston.
- Government: a Representative Town Meeting, an elected five-member Board of Selectmen, and an appointed Town Manager, Scott C. Crabtree.
- Schools: Saugus Public Schools, about 2,600 students, led by Superintendent Michael C. Hashem.
How Saugus’s Government Works
Saugus runs on a special-act charter it adopted in 1947, the document that turned its old open meeting into a “representative” Town Meeting. Voters in each of the town’s ten precincts elect their own Town Meeting Members and a five-member Board of Selectmen. The Selectmen hire a professional Town Manager to run the town day to day, and the biggest calls, the budget, the bylaws, and zoning, belong to Town Meeting.
Town Manager
The chief administrative officer, hired by and answerable to the Selectmen. Runs every department, writes the budget, and carries out town policy.
Board of Selectmen
The five elected members who set policy, hire the Town Manager, grant licenses, and speak for the town.
Town Meeting
Fifty elected members, five from each precinct, act as the town’s legislature, adopting the budget and the bylaws.
- Residents elect the five Selectmen and 50 Town Meeting Members at the town election held every two years.
- The Selectmen hire a Town Manager to run the town.
- Town Meeting decides: voting the budget, the bylaws, and zoning each spring.
- You take part: speak up, serve on a board, or call your precinct’s Town Meeting Members.
Explore the Saugus Edition
- Town LeadershipThe Town Manager & Board of Selectmen
- Town MeetingYour 50 Town Meeting Members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Saugus HistoryFrom the Iron Works to today
- DemographicsWho lives in Saugus
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataSaugus Public Schools by the numbers
Civic Calendar
- Board of Selectmen: meets about twice a month on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall Auditorium at 298 Central Street.
- Annual Town Meeting: opens the first Monday in May, with Special Town Meetings called when the town needs them.
- Town elections: odd-numbered years (next is November 2027), for Selectmen, School Committee, and Town Meeting seats.
- State & federal elections: even-numbered years, and the 2026 primary and general fall this autumn.
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 Essex County, and that includes Saugus. 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 Saugus
You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard. Here is a concrete path from “I care about this” to “I said it on the record to the people who decide,” using rooms and phone numbers that are already open to you.
- Pick the right body. A park, a road, a pothole, taxes, or a line in the town budget is Board of Selectmen and Town Meeting territory. Your school, a class, a program, or the school calendar belongs to the School Committee.
- Find the meeting. The Board of Selectmen meets about twice a month on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall Auditorium at 298 Central Street. Annual Town Meeting opens the first Monday in May, with Special Town Meetings called when the town needs them. Agendas post in advance on the town’s Agenda Center at saugus-ma.gov.
- Know your representatives. Saugus elects 50 Town Meeting Members, five from each of the town’s ten precincts, plus a five-member Board of Selectmen. The Town Clerk, who keeps the Town Meeting warrants and the agendas, is your way in at 781-231-4124.
- Speak. The Board of Selectmen opens its Tuesday meetings to the public, and Town Meeting is where your elected neighbors debate and vote the budget and the bylaws. You show up, you sign in, and you say your piece on the record.
- Town Hall (main line): 781-231-4124
- Saugus Public Schools: 781-231-5000, saugus.k12.ma.us
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Town Meeting Members, speak at a meeting, or apply to serve on a board.
Sources
This guide draws on public sources, refreshed July 2026: U.S. Census Bureau, Massachusetts DESE School and District Profiles, Massachusetts Legislature (malegislature.gov), and the official Saugus government website.