Town Edition
Bristol County
Seekonk, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In April 2009 Seekonk’s voters agreed to add a 1.25 percent surcharge to their own property tax bills, building a fund the town could spend on open space, historic buildings, community housing, and playing fields. On May 8, 2023 Town Meeting reached into that fund for $150,000 to plan the future of a farm at Elm Street and Lincoln Street, and it wrote into the vote that the committee doing the planning keeps a seat for a member of the Medeiros family. Nobody appointed those decisions. Registered voters standing in a school auditorium made them, article by article, and the next time the hall fills you can be one of them. This guide shows you how to get into the room.
Seekonk at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Bristol. Seekonk covers about 18.4 square miles on the Massachusetts border with Rhode Island. It was cut out of the western half of Rehoboth in 1812, and the land on its far side is now East Providence and eastern Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Shawn Cadime
- Schools: the Seekonk Public Schools, about 2,009 students, led by Superintendent Rebecca Kidwell.
How Seekonk’s Government Works
Seekonk runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Seekonk 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 Seekonk 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. The charter vests the town’s executive powers in them. 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 town-wide to three-year terms. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 5 members of the Select Board, the 5 members of the School Committee, and the Town Moderator who runs Town Meeting.
- 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 at 6 pm every other Wednesday at Seekonk Town Hall, 100 Peck Street. Each agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The 2026 Spring Town Meeting was held on Monday, May 11 at 6:00 pm in the Seekonk High School Auditorium, and check-in opened about an hour early. The Town Moderator runs it. Michael Andrew Durkay was elected to that job on April 6, 2026, for an unsalaried three-year term, and he also appoints the Finance Committee that recommends yes or no on every article.
- Town elections: Seekonk votes in April. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on April 6 across four precincts. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Seekonk 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.
- Seekonk HistoryWampanoag ground, 1812, and the town that shrank
- DemographicsWho lives in Seekonk
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataSeekonk 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 Bristol County, and that includes Seekonk. 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 Seekonk
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 police or 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 at 6 pm every other Wednesday at Seekonk Town Hall, 100 Peck Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. Five 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. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a missed pickup to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 100 Peck Street, Seekonk, MA 02771. Main number 508-336-2900, Select Board office 508-336-2911.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-336-2920, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at seekonk-ma.gov.
- Public schools: the Seekonk Public Schools, 25 Water Lane, 508-399-5106, seekonkschools.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.