Town Government
Boards & Commissions
What Boards & Commissions Are
Beyond the Selectboard and the School Committee, much of Ware’s governing happens on volunteer boards and commissions. They approve new development, hear zoning appeals, protect the town’s wetlands and open space, weigh in on historic places, and guide services for residents. They are the rooms where an ordinary resident can have the most direct hand in a decision.
Who fills them is a real question here, and the charter draws the line in Article 7. Nine bodies are elected by the voters: the Selectboard, the School Committee, the Planning Board, four of the five Housing Authority seats, the Moderator, the Cemetery Commission, the Board of Health, the Board of Assessors and the Park Commission. Most of the rest are appointed, chiefly by the Selectboard, and since the 2014 charter amendment the planning and zoning bodies work inside a Planning and Community Development Department whose director is appointed by and reports to the Town Manager.
Key Boards & Commissions
- Planning Board reviews subdivisions, site plans, and major development. Elected, five members, five year terms.
- Zoning Board of Appeals hears variances and special permits. Appointed.
- Conservation Commission protects Ware’s wetlands, rivers, and open space: five members and two associates, a shape the voters themselves wrote into the charter at the 2012 annual election.
- Finance Committee reviews the budget and advises Town Meeting on spending, with recommendations due back to the Town Manager by the first Monday in April.
- Board of Health oversees inspections, code enforcement, and public health rules. Elected, three members, three year terms.
- Board of Assessors values every property in town; it sat jointly with the Selectboard at the April 2026 tax classification hearing that set a single tax rate. Elected, three members.
- Historical Commission works on the town’s historic places, alongside the independent Ware Historical Society.
- Housing Authority runs the town’s public housing. Four members elected, one appointed by the state.
- Hospital Review Committee works on the future of the former Baystate Mary Lane hospital site, and the 250th US Celebration Committee is planning Ware’s part in the country’s 250th anniversary.
- Youth Committee is a standing town committee, which is worth knowing before you turn eighteen.
For the full roster, current members, vacancies, and schedules, see the town’s Boards & Committees pages.
How to Serve
- Find an opening on the town’s Boards & Committees pages, which list every body from the ADA Commission to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
- Submit a letter of interest to the Selectboard through the Executive Assistant’s office at Town Hall, 413-967-9648 x101.
- Interview if asked, and await appointment.
- Serve: attend the public meetings and help make decisions for your town.
And two doors are open without any appointment at all. Nine of these bodies are elected, several of them routinely unopposed: at the April 2026 town election, the Board of Health seat, a Park Commission seat, an Assessors seat and the Planning Board seat all went to candidates who ran without opposition. In a town where a seat can be won by the only person who asked for it, filling out nomination papers at the Town Clerk’s office is a real path to office.
Serving on a board is one of the most direct ways to shape Ware.