Town Edition
Worcester County
Southborough, Massachusetts
Photo: Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
In 1979 the voters of Southborough stood up at Town Meeting and bought a hill. About eighty-eight acres of the Davis family’s farm became the trails and meadows of Breakneck Hill Conservation Land, paid for with town money and a state grant. Years later that same Town Meeting voted more than four million dollars to haul a buried farm dump back out of the hill, and crews carried off tons of scrap metal, old tires, and contaminated soil. Both times the hill changed because ordinary residents raised their hands in a room anyone could walk into. Southborough has settled its business this way since it split from Marlborough in 1727, and this guide shows you how to get into the room.
Southborough at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Southborough.
- County: Worcester. Southborough is a MetroWest town of about 10,450 people, made up of three historic villages: Cordaville, Fayville, and Southville.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Mark J. Purple.
- Schools: the K-8 Southborough Public Schools serve about 1,323 students under Superintendent Gregory Martineau, and older students attend Algonquin Regional High School in the Northborough-Southborough district.
How Southborough’s Government Works
Southborough runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Southborough 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 Southborough 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
Voters elect a five-member Southborough School Committee for the town’s K-8 schools, plus five members of the Northborough-Southborough Regional Committee that runs Algonquin Regional High School. Each sets school policy, approves a 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: 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 Southborough, 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 at 6:30 pm on the first and third Tuesday of the month at the Southborough Town House, 17 Common Street, in the Thomas McAuliffe Hearing Room. 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: Southborough votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on May 12, with the polls open from 7:00am to 8:00pm across three precincts. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Southborough 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.
- Southborough HistoryFrom 1727 to today
- DemographicsWho lives in Southborough
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataSouthborough 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 Worcester 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 Southborough. 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 Southborough
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 6:30 pm on the first and third Tuesday of the month at the Southborough Town House, 17 Common 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 House: 17 Common Street, Southborough, MA 01772. Select Board office 508-485-0710, ext. 3005.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-485-0710, ext. 3005, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at southboroughma.gov.
- Public schools: the Southborough Public Schools, 53 Parkerville Road, 508-486-5115, nsboro.k12.ma.us.
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.