Town Edition
Hampshire County
Southampton, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In December 2022 Southampton bought an old Pioneer Valley Railroad right of way and began turning it into a 3.1 mile greenway that will run north to Coleman Road, where it meets the Manhan Rail Trail. The town put up $65,000 of its own Community Preservation money, and that match unlocked a $320,000 state grant. Here is the part worth remembering: in Southampton not one of those Community Preservation dollars could move until residents standing in a Town Meeting voted it out the door. That is how this town settles almost everything. On May 19, 2026, more than 2,000 residents cast a ballot, and one of the questions on it passed an operating budget increase for the town and its schools by 1,183 votes to 1,014. This guide shows you how to get into the room where those decisions are made.
Southampton at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Southampton.
- County: Hampshire. Southampton is a rural town of about 29 square miles in the hills west of the Connecticut River, roughly 17 miles northwest of Springfield, and it grew up as a farming community that keeps much of that character today.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Scott Szczebak.
- Schools: the town runs the William E. Norris School for its youngest students, about 472 children, and sends grades 7 to 12 to the regional Hampshire Regional School District. Superintendent Vito Perrone leads the Southampton schools.
How Southampton’s Government Works
Southampton runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Southampton is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a five-member Select Board to set policy between meetings, and they fill many other town offices directly at the ballot box, from the Board of Health to the Planning Board. 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 Southampton 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
Five 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
Elected members who oversee the town’s William E. Norris School, set its policy, approve its budget, and work with the Superintendent. A separate regional committee governs grades 7 to 12 at Hampshire Regional.
- Residents elect the five members of the Select Board and the members of 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: pre-register at 16. A pre-registrant is on the list but is not allowed to vote yet. Once you turn 18 that designation comes off on its own and you are a registered voter in Southampton, which makes you a member of Town Meeting with a vote on the floor. If you never pre-registered, register with the Town Clerk, and do it well ahead: the rolls close at 5 p.m. on the tenth day before any election or Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Select Board: meets the first and third Monday evenings of the month at Town Hall, 210 College Highway. The 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.
- Town elections: Southampton votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on May 19, and the next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Southampton 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.
- Southampton HistoryFrom a farming precinct to a rail-trail town
- DemographicsWho lives in Southampton
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataSouthampton schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected, and neither one sits on Beacon Hill. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. The sheriff is elected by the voters of Hampshire County. The district attorney is elected by the voters of a prosecution district, and Massachusetts draws eleven of those across its fourteen counties, so a district attorney’s territory does not always follow a county line. Both appear on your ballot in Southampton. Now you know what to look for.
Massachusetts elects fourteen sheriffs, one for each county, and eleven district attorneys, one for each prosecution district. 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 Southampton
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 the first and third Monday evenings at Town Hall, 210 College Highway, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. The 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 downed sign, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department, which owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 210 College Highway, Southampton, MA 01073. Town Administrator’s office 413-529-0106.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Lucille A. Dalton, 413-527-8392, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at townofsouthampton.org.
- Public schools: the William E. Norris School and the Hampshire Regional district, linked from townofsouthampton.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.