Town Edition
Middlesex County
Townsend, Massachusetts
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In November 2024, Townsend voters did something people rarely do on purpose: they voted to raise their own taxes. They adopted the Community Preservation Act, a 1 percent surcharge on real estate tax bills that builds a fund for open space, historic buildings, affordable housing, and playing fields. Then they kept the deciding vote for themselves. The Community Preservation Committee can only recommend a project. The money is released by Town Meeting, the room where every registered voter in town is a member. Eighteen months later, in April 2026, the same voters chose to grow their Select Board from three seats to five. This is a town that keeps reaching for the levers of its own government, and this guide shows you exactly where they are.
Townsend at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Middlesex. Townsend sits in the northwest corner of the county on the New Hampshire line, spread across three village centers: Townsend Center, West Townsend, and historic Townsend Harbor, whose mill pond dates to 1734.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Kieran Meehan.
- Schools: the North Middlesex Regional School District, shared with Ashby and Pepperell, about 2,764 students, led by Superintendent Brad Morgan.
How Townsend’s Government Works
Townsend runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Townsend 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 help elect the regional 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 Townsend is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. A quorum of 75 voters can do business. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Select Board
Five members elected town-wide to three-year terms. 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
Nine members elected across the three towns of the North Middlesex district, Ashby, Pepperell, and Townsend. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the five members of the Select Board and their share of the regional 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 the first and third Tuesday of the month at 6:00 PM in the Select Board Chambers, Upper Level of Town Hall, 272 Main Street. Each agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held on the first Tuesday of May, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting convened May 5.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election is held in late April. The 2026 election was April 27, and a Town Special Election on October 6, 2026 fills the two new Select Board seats.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state primary is September 1 and the general election is November 3, with the polls open 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM at Town Hall.
Explore the Townsend Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour five board seats
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Townsend HistoryFrom 1732 to the mills of Townsend Harbor
- DemographicsWho lives in Townsend
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataNorth Middlesex 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 Middlesex County, and that includes Townsend. 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 Townsend
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 Tuesday of the month at 6:00 PM at Town Hall, 272 Main Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. The Select Board is elected town-wide, so every seated member 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 limb, or a road problem to the Highway Department, which owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 272 Main Street, Townsend, MA 01469. Main line (978) 597-1700.
- Town Clerk & agendas: (978) 597-1704, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at townsendma.gov.
- Public schools: the North Middlesex Regional School District, (978) 597-8713, nmrsd.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.