Town Government
Wayland Select Board
About the Board
The Select Board is elected town-wide, so every Wayland voter helps choose all five, and the town’s governing act gives each a three-year term on a staggered schedule that puts one or two seats on the ballot every spring. That act calls this board the chief executive officer of the town and its chief policymaking body. It appoints the Town Manager who runs the town day to day, it appoints Town Counsel and the independent auditor, it fills the boards and committees no other law assigns, and it signs the warrants that decide what Town Meeting gets to vote on. When a daily problem becomes town policy, this is the room where it happens.
- Sets policy and direction for the whole town, and promulgates the rules the town’s agencies follow.
- Hires the Town Manager on a vote of not less than 4 of its 5 members, and can remove one the same way.
- Controls the warrant, deciding what business reaches Town Meeting for a vote.
Board Members
All five members are elected town-wide. After each annual town election the board reorganizes and elects its own officers. In 2026 that took two tries: the item was tabled on May 18 because two members could not be there, and on June 1, 2026 the board voted 5 to 0 to make Carol B. Martin the Chair and Thomas J. Fay the Vice Chair, for a term running to the close of the 2027 Annual Town Meeting.
Carol B. Martin
Thomas J. Fay
Douglas A. Levine
William D. Whitney
Christopher Reynolds
You can email the whole board at once at sbmembers@wayland.ma.us, and the Town Manager’s office answers at 508-358-3620. The member roster and the term expiry dates are posted at wayland.ma.us.
Meetings & How to Participate
- When: 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. Some meetings are held remotely or in hybrid form, and the agenda says which.
- Agendas & minutes: posted on the town’s Agenda Center at wayland.ma.us, and you can sign up for an alert when a new one goes up.
- Watch: meetings are carried by WayCAM, Wayland’s public, educational and government access station, live and on demand.
- Public comment: the board takes public comment at the beginning of each meeting, on any matter within its jurisdiction. Residents used that slot in May and June 2026 to argue about outdoor dining at a restaurant, about Town Meeting itself, and about a fire staffing study.
- Town Meeting: for the budget and bylaws, the deciding vote belongs to the registered voters in the hall, which can include you.
Public hearings and meetings are where residents shape town decisions.