Town Edition
Middlesex County
Wayland, Massachusetts
Photo: 4300streetcar, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In March 1848 a Wayland town meeting accepted $1,000 and voted to open a library, and then ran into a problem nobody had solved: no Massachusetts town was clearly allowed to tax itself to keep one running. Wayland’s own clergyman and state legislator, Rev. John Burt Wight, took the problem to Beacon Hill and came back with a law that let every town in the Commonwealth do it. It passed both houses and was signed in May 1851. That is what a show of hands in one small hall can turn into. The hall is still open. On April 28, 2026, 795 of Wayland’s 10,613 registered voters cast a ballot, and that one ballot filled eleven seats across ten offices, from the Select Board to the Board of Health to the Library Trustees. The people who came decided the year for the town, which tells you exactly what one ballot is worth here. This guide shows you where the rooms are and how to get into them.
Wayland at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Middlesex. Wayland covers 15.0 square miles on the east bank of the Sudbury River, borders Lincoln, Sudbury, Weston, Framingham and Natick, and contains the village of Cochituate.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Michael McCall, under Chapter 33 of the Acts of 2022.
- Schools: Wayland Public Schools, about 2,662 students across six schools, led by Superintendent David Fleishman.
How Wayland’s Government Works
Wayland runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Wayland 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 Wayland 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
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 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: meets on Monday evenings at 6:30 pm, excluding holidays, in the Wayland Commons Room on the first floor of the Town Building at 41 Cochituate Road. 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 in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The 2026 Annual Town Meeting ran on May 4 and May 5. The Moderator, Miranda S. Jones, presides.
- Town elections: Wayland votes in the spring, across four precincts, and every precinct votes in the gymnasium of the Town Building. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Tuesday April 28. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state election is Tuesday, November 3, and the last day to register for it is Saturday, October 24.
Explore the Wayland Edition
- Town Manager’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at the Town Building
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Wayland History1638, 1780, and the library law of 1851
- DemographicsWho lives in Wayland
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWayland 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 Wayland. 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 Wayland
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 Monday evenings at 6:30 pm in the Wayland Commons Room at 41 Cochituate Road, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- Know your members. Five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
- Speak. Residents may raise concerns within the board’s jurisdiction at public comment, which the board takes at the beginning of every meeting.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a water problem, or a downed tree to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Building: 41 Cochituate Road, Wayland, MA 01778. Main line 508-358-7701, Town Manager’s office 508-358-3620, and you can email the whole Select Board at sbmembers@wayland.ma.us.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 508-358-3630, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at wayland.ma.us.
- Public schools: Wayland Public Schools, School Central Office, 41 Cochituate Road, 508-358-7728, waylandps.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a Monday meeting, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.