Town Edition
Plymouth County
Scituate, Massachusetts
Photo: Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Scituate owns a wind turbine and a solar array, and in fiscal 2025 the two of them took in $1,344,617.69. That money is not loose change in a drawer. When Town Meeting voted the town’s $102,316,148 operating budget on April 14, 2025, the motion named the Wind Turbine Revolving Fund for $200,000 and the Solar Array Revolving Fund for $200,000, right there in the list of where the money was coming from. Every one of those dollars was moved by a show of hands in a room that any registered voter in Scituate may walk into. This guide shows you how to get into that room, and what to do once you are standing in it.
Scituate at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Plymouth. Scituate sits on the coast roughly halfway between Boston and Plymouth, on 17.22 square miles of land with another 14.616 square miles of water inside its bounds. Its Town Pier still supports a working fishing fleet.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, James Boudreau
- Schools: Scituate Public Schools, about 2,726 students in six schools, led by Superintendent Thomas Raab, Ed.D.
How Scituate’s Government Works
Scituate runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Scituate is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Administrator to run the town day to day. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, the direction is set by the Select Board, and the daily work is carried out by the Town Administrator.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Scituate 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
5 members elected town-wide. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and hire and supervise the Town Administrator.
Town Administrator
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
5 members, elected by the voters of the district the schools serve. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board and the School Committee.
- The Select Board hires the Town Administrator and decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant.
- 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 every other Tuesday at 6:30pm in the Select Board Hearing Room at Town Hall, 600 Chief Justice Cushing Highway. Meetings are open, carried live on Comcast Channel 9, and posted to the town’s YouTube channel the next day.
- Town Meeting: Scituate holds its Annual Town Meeting on the second Monday in April, at the Scituate High School gymnasium. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting was April 13. A Fall Special Town Meeting is set for Monday, October 19, 2026.
- Town elections: the 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Saturday, June 6, at the Scituate High School gym, with the polls open 8 AM to 6 PM.
- State and federal elections: the State Primary is Tuesday, September 1, 2026, 7 AM to 8 PM at the high school gym, with early voting at Town Hall from Saturday, August 22.
Explore the Scituate Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- 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.
- Scituate HistorySatuit, Kent Street, and 1636
- DemographicsWho lives in Scituate
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataScituate 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 Plymouth County, and that includes Scituate. 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 Scituate
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, licensing, police and fire 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 every other Tuesday at 6:30pm at Town Hall, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. Meetings are open and residents may address the board. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or write the warrant. Ten or more registered voters can petition the Select Board to put an article on the Town Meeting warrant, and then the whole town votes on it.
- Town Hall: 600 Chief Justice Cushing Highway, Scituate, MA 02066. Select Board office 781-545-8740.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 781-545-8743, with agendas and minutes posted at scituatema.gov.
- Public schools: Scituate Public Schools, 606 Chief Justice Cushing Highway, 781-545-8759, scit.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.