Town Edition
Worcester County
Uxbridge, Massachusetts
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
On May 19, 2026, 236 Uxbridge voters filled thirteen seats in ten contests. That one ballot seated a new member of the Select Board, returned the Moderator who presides over Town Meeting, returned two School Committee members and two members of the Board of Health, and filled two Library Trustee seats, a Finance Committee seat, both Edward C. Thayer Fund trusteeships and both Trustees of Soldiers Memorials seats. On four of those contests the largest total any name drew was under forty votes, and on one of them it was nine. The Town Clerk counted 12,194 eligible voters in the same document. In a town this size a single ballot is not a rounding error, it is a share of the decision. And it is only half of what Uxbridge hands you, because the budget and the bylaws are not voted by any of the officeholders that ballot chose. They are voted at an open Town Meeting where every registered voter in Uxbridge is a member and can stand up and speak. This guide shows you where those rooms are and how to walk into them.
Uxbridge at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Worcester. Uxbridge covers 29.588 square miles at the midpoint of the Blackstone Valley, about 479 people to the square mile, and it borders Douglas, Mendon, Millville, Northbridge and Sutton, plus Burrillville and North Smithfield across the Rhode Island line.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Steve Sette.
- Schools: Uxbridge Public Schools, about 1,634 students, led by Superintendent David Ljungberg.
How Uxbridge’s Government Works
Uxbridge runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Uxbridge 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 Manager 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 Manager.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Uxbridge 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 Manager.
Town Manager
The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
7 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 Manager 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: typically the second and fourth Monday of the month at 6:30 pm, in the Lower Town Hall Meeting Room at 21 South Main Street. Each agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center, so check it before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held at Valley Chapel and begins at 7:00 pm, and the Select Board can call a special town meeting when business cannot wait. Moderator Mark Paul Wickstrom presides. The town posts the warrant and the details on its own Annual Town Meeting Information page.
- Town elections: Uxbridge votes in the spring, across five precincts that all use one polling place, the gymnasium at 62 Capron Street. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Tuesday, May 19. Polls open at 7 am and close at 8 pm.
- State and federal elections: even numbered years, at the same polling place.
Explore the Uxbridge Edition
- Town Manager’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.
- Uxbridge History1727, the mills, and Lydia Taft
- DemographicsWho lives in Uxbridge
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataUxbridge 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 Worcester County, and that includes Uxbridge. 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 Uxbridge
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, licences and public safety go to the Select Board. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and the bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets at 6:30 pm in the Lower Town Hall Meeting Room, 21 South Main Street, usually on the second and fourth Monday, and every agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- Know your members. All five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to every voter in Uxbridge.
- Speak. Every Select Board meeting has a Citizens’ Forum on the agenda, and the town’s own minutes record residents using it: in June 2026 three residents raised the Town Common use policy and one asked for a citizens’ forum on the water and sewer agendas too.
- Or skip the trip. A pothole, a broken light or a water problem goes to the Department of Public Works at 147 Hecla Street, 508-278-8616, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 21 South Main Street, Uxbridge, MA 01569. Main line (508) 278-8600. Open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 7:30 am to 5 pm, Wednesday 8 am to 7 pm, closed Friday.
- Select Board and Town Manager: (508) 278-8600 ext. 2002, or the Select Board office at (508) 278-8600 ext. 7.
- Town Clerk & agendas: (508) 278-8600, press 1, option 3, with agendas and minutes posted on the town’s Agenda Center.
- Public schools: Uxbridge Public Schools, 9 North Main Street, 508-278-8648.
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.