Town Leadership
The Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Steve Sette
Uxbridge is run day to day by Steve Sette, and the five elected members of the Select Board are the people who hired him. That is the whole chain of command in one sentence, and the charter is where it is written down. Article 4 of the Uxbridge Home Rule Charter opens by saying the board appoints the Town Manager to serve at its pleasure, that he is the chief administrative officer of the town, and that he is responsible to the people of Uxbridge. Then it hands him a list. Under Article 4 Section 2(b) the Town Manager appoints the town accountant, the treasurer and collector, the town clerk, an assessor, the police chief, the fire chief, the superintendent of public works, the emergency management director, the inspector of buildings, the wire, gas and plumbing inspectors, the veterans services director, the tree warden, the planning board and the zoning board of appeals. Section 2(c) adds every other department head and employee for whom the charter provides no other method, and it requires those names to be published on the town website and posted on the town bulletin board, so the appointments are meant to be visible to you. Section 2(d) gives him the personnel system, 2(g) the negotiation of every town contract including the union contracts, and 2(h) the purchasing. What he does not get is the last word. Town Meeting votes the money, and the charter puts him in the room as a non voting participant at every Select Board meeting, which means he advises the board and the board decides.
| Role | Town Manager (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Select Board and serving at its pleasure, not elected |
| Office | Uxbridge Town Hall, 21 South Main Street, Uxbridge, MA 01569 |
| Phone | (508) 278-8600 ext. 2002 |
| Website | uxbridge-ma.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints the department heads. Charter Article 4 Section 2(b) and 2(c) give the Town Manager the appointment and removal of department heads and employees on his own authority. The police chief and the fire chief are on that list. This is the power a Town Administrator in many Massachusetts towns does not hold, and it is why the office is called Manager here.
- Publishes those appointments. Section 2(c) requires the names and positions of every such appointee to be published on the town website and posted on the town bulletin board. If you want to know who was hired to run something, the charter says you are entitled to find out.
- Builds the budget. The town’s own Town Manager page describes the office as the chief administrative and fiscal officer of the town’s day to day operations, responsible for preparing the annual budget, appointing all staff and setting compensation, and negotiating all contracts with the town’s union employees.
- Answers to the board, in public. Article 4 Section 1 makes the Town Manager a non voting active participant in Select Board meetings and requires the board to review his job performance every year, in a review that is at least in summary form a public record.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Uxbridge’s Home Rule Charter divides the work three ways, and the division is worth knowing before you decide whom to write to. The version in force was revised on May 23, 2023 by a Town Meeting vote and the Annual Town Election, which is itself the point: the rules can be changed by the same voters they govern.
- Town Meeting holds the legislative power outright. Article 2 Section 1 is one sentence long: the legislative powers of the town shall be exercised by a town meeting open to all voters. Nothing in the manager’s authority reaches that.
- The Select Board appoints the Town Manager and Town Counsel, appoints the board of registrars, the historical commission, the historic cemetery committee, the council on aging, the recreation commission, the cultural council and the cable advisory committee, is the town’s licensing authority, and develops the warrant that decides what Town Meeting gets to vote on. The charter also tells the board to deal with employees under the manager’s supervision solely through the manager, and not to give them orders in public or in private.
- The Town Manager runs everything the charter gives him: the departments and their heads, the budget, the purchasing, the personnel system and the labour contracts, and under Article 5 he may propose a reorganisation of the agencies he supervises after a public hearing.
There is a limit on the board too, and it is unusually specific. Article 4 Section 5 lets the board remove the Town Manager only on the affirmative votes of three or more members, only after a written preliminary resolution stating the reasons, and only after he has had the chance to ask for a hearing. A board member cannot even vote on it until a year in office.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 21 South Main Street, Uxbridge, MA 01569. Open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 7:30 am to 5 pm, Wednesday 8 am to 7 pm, closed Friday.
- Town Manager’s Office: (508) 278-8600 ext. 2002. The office’s executive assistant is on ext. 2001.
- Report a problem: potholes, water, sewer and snow go to the Department of Public Works, 147 Hecla Street, 508-278-8616.
- Show up: the Select Board meets at 6:30 pm in the Lower Town Hall Meeting Room and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.