Town Edition
Worcester County
West Boylston, Massachusetts
In the 1890s the state decided Boston needed more water, and West Boylston is what it cost. Building the Wachusett Reservoir took more than 2,200 acres of the town, the most of any community, and moved more than 1,700 residents, along with 300 homes, eight schools, six mills, four churches and one hotel, up onto the high ground the water could not reach. The Old Stone Church still stands at the water’s edge to mark it. The West Boylston you live in was rebuilt after that decision, and the striking thing is how much of its business the town still settles for itself, in a room any registered voter can walk into. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
West Boylston at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of West Boylston.
- County: Worcester. West Boylston sits just north of Worcester and covers about 13.8 square miles, much of it shaped by the Wachusett Reservoir that flooded the old town center after 1897.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Michael Ward.
- Schools: the West Boylston Public Schools, about 903 students, led by Superintendent Daniel Riley, Ed.D.
How West Boylston’s Government Works
West Boylston runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in West Boylston 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 Administrator 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 Administrator.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in West Boylston is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. Town Moderator Jonathan Meindersma, elected town-wide, presides over the meeting and runs the floor. 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 Administrator.
Town Administrator
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 town-wide by West Boylston voters. 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 Administrator 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 West Boylston, 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
- Select Board: meets on a published calendar on Wednesday evenings at West Boylston Town Hall, 140 Worcester Street. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar 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. Any registered voter may attend, speak, and vote.
- Town elections: West Boylston votes in the spring. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on June 2, 2026. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the West Boylston Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour five board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- West Boylston HistoryThe reservoir and the Old Stone Church
- DemographicsWho lives in West Boylston
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWest Boylston 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 Worcester 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 West Boylston. 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 West Boylston
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 on a published calendar on Wednesday evenings at West Boylston Town Hall, 140 Worcester Street, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. Five Select Board 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. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a missed pickup to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 140 Worcester Street, West Boylston, MA 01583. Town Administrator’s office 774-261-4012.
- Town Clerk & agendas: Town Clerk Candace M. Livingston, 774-261-4010, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at westboylston-ma.gov.
- Public schools: West Boylston Public Schools, 508-835-2917, wbschools.com.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Select Board, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.