Town Edition
Middlesex County
Westford, Massachusetts
Photo: Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In April 2024 a Westford Town Meeting voted to raise your taxes, 1,190 to 694, and ten days later the town voted it back down at the ballot box, 4,003 to 3,172. Both rooms were legal, both votes counted, and the second one settled it. That is the shape of power here: a $4.2 million override has to win twice, once in a hall where every registered voter can stand up and speak and once on a ballot every registered voter can mark. Then look at the most recent election. On May 5, 2026, exactly 1,979 people filled the Select Board, the School Committee, the Board of Health, the Planning Board, the Library Trustees, the Housing Authority and the Moderator’s chair for a town of 24,643. One in ten registered voters decided all of it, which tells you what a single ballot is worth here. This guide shows you where the rooms are and how to get into them.
Westford at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Middlesex. Westford covers 30.2 square miles west of Lowell and north of Concord, and residents still name its parts: Forge Village, Nabnasset, Graniteville, Parker Village and the town centre.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Kristen Las
- Schools: Westford Public Schools, about 4,515 students across nine schools, led by Superintendent Christopher Chew.
How Westford’s Government Works
Westford runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Westford 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 Westford 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
7 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 a published calendar at Westford Town Hall, 55 Main Street, usually starting in the early evening. 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 Moderator, Christopher Sanders, presides.
- Town elections: Westford votes in the spring, across seven precincts. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on Tuesday May 5. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Westford Edition
- Town Manager’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.
- Westford History1729, the mills, and the villages
- DemographicsWho lives in Westford
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWestford 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 Westford. 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 Westford
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 at Westford Town Hall, 55 Main Street, 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. 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: 55 Main Street, Westford, MA 01886. Main line 978-692-5500, Select Board and Town Manager’s office 978-692-5501.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 978-692-5515, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at westfordma.gov.
- Public schools: Westford Public Schools, 978-692-5560, westfordk12.us.
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.