Town Edition
Hampshire County
Ware, Massachusetts
Photo: Bmzuckerman, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In the 1930s the directors of the Otis mills quietly decided to liquidate the company that had been Ware’s largest employer for a century, and the people of Ware answered by buying the mills themselves, in what the town’s own history calls the first employee buyout of a major manufacturer in America. The police chief started calling this the town that can’t be licked, and the same lever is still in your hands: Ware’s legislature is an open Town Meeting, where the town’s money gets voted in the high school auditorium on West Street and a single voter can pull an article off the consent list and make the whole room argue it out. This guide shows you where the rooms are and how to get into them.
Ware at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Ware.
- County: Hampshire, at its eastern edge, roughly 27 miles from both Springfield and Worcester. About 40 square miles reaching from the mill village on the Ware River falls out to Ware Center on Route 9, with the Quabbin Reservoir at the town’s northern border.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Selectboard and an appointed Town Manager, Stuart B. Beckley.
- Schools: Ware Public Schools, about 1,066 students across three schools, led by Interim Superintendent Michael Wood.
How Ware’s Government Works
Ware runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Ware is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a 5 member Selectboard to set policy between meetings and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Selectboard 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 Selectboard, 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 Ware is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Selectboard
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 Selectboard. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
5 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 Selectboard and the School Committee.
- The Selectboard 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: 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 Ware, 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
- Selectboard: usually meets twice a month on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room at Ware Town Hall, 126 Main Street, and the town publishes the whole year’s meeting dates in advance. Each agenda is posted before the meeting, so check it before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held at the Ware High School Auditorium on West Street, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The Moderator, Kathy Coulombe, presides. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting was held June 8.
- Town elections: Ware votes on the second Monday of April, across three precincts. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held Monday, April 13. The next is in April 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Ware Edition
- Town Manager’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- SelectboardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Ware HistoryThe falls, the mills, and the buyout
- DemographicsWho lives in Ware
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWare 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 Ware. 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 Ware
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 Selectboard. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Selectboard usually meets twice a month on Tuesday evenings at Ware Town Hall, 126 Main Street, and each agenda is posted in advance on the town’s website.
- Know your members. Five Selectboard 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. If you would like to be placed on the agenda, contact the Executive Assistant’s office.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a water problem to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 126 Main Street, Ware, MA 01082. Main line 413-967-9648, Town Manager’s office x100, Executive Assistant x101.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 413-967-9648 x103, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at townofware.com.
- Public schools: Ware Public Schools, 413-967-4271, wareps.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Selectboard, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.