Town Edition
Hampshire County
Westhampton, Massachusetts
In May 2026 the voters of Westhampton stood up at Annual Town Meeting and voted, without a single vote against, to let the town chase a state conservation grant worth $1.25 million. The deal closed that June: 806 acres of forest protected for good, the town’s own Community Forest more than doubled to about 425 acres, and a Conservation Commission of your neighbors now decides how those woods get used. No mayor signed off on it and no administrator approved it. The people in the room did, because in this town the people in the room are the government. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Westhampton at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Hampshire. Westhampton is a hilltown just west of Northampton, first settled in 1762 and set off from Northampton as its own town in 1778. Route 66 is the only state highway through it, running nine miles east to Northampton.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Selectboard that serves as the town’s chief executive. Susan Bronstein chairs the board.
- Schools: Westhampton Elementary School is the town’s own prekindergarten through grade 6 district of about 92 students; older students attend the Hampshire Regional schools. Dr. Vito J. Perrone is Superintendent.
How Westhampton’s Government Works
Westhampton runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Westhampton is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Selectboard and the School Committee that oversees the town’s elementary school. The Selectboard serves as the town’s chief executive: it sets policy, approves the bills, makes appointments to town boards and offices, and carries the town’s business between Town Meetings, working out of an office staffed by a Town Coordinator rather than through an appointed administrator. So the money is voted by whoever shows up, and the direction and the daily work both belong to the board the voters elect.
Town Meeting
The legislative body, and it is not a committee. Every registered voter in Westhampton is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Selectboard
3 members elected town-wide to staggered three-year terms. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards and offices, and serve as the town’s chief executive officers.
The Selectboard’s Office
The board’s own office at Town Hall, 1 South Road, carries the town’s daily business, staffed by a Town Coordinator who works for the three elected members.
School Committee
Elected town-wide. It sets policy for Westhampton Elementary School, approves its budget, and shares a Superintendent with the Hampshire Regional district that serves the town’s older students.
- Residents elect the three members of the Selectboard, the School Committee, and a long ballot of working town offices.
- The Selectboard runs the town between meetings: it sets policy, decides what goes on the Town Meeting warrant, and carries out what Town Meeting votes.
- 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
- Selectboard: meets on a biweekly schedule at Town Hall, in the Margaret A. Parsons Room, 1 South Road, and each agenda is posted in advance on the town website.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting opens on a Saturday morning in May and can continue to later sessions; in 2026 it opened on May 9 and reconvened on June 22, and the clerk posts the vote on every article.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election is held on a Saturday in June. In 2026 it fell on June 6, when 598 residents voted, and the next is in June 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, and the Town Clerk offers early voting and vote by mail.
Explore the Westhampton Edition
- Selectboard’s OfficeThe board that runs the town
- SelectboardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Westhampton HistoryFrom Long Division to a Community Forest
- DemographicsWho lives in Westhampton
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWesthampton 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 Hampshire County, and that includes Westhampton. 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 Westhampton
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 licenses go to the Selectboard. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Selectboard meets on a biweekly schedule at Town Hall, in the Margaret A. Parsons Room, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All three Selectboard 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. To get on the agenda, contact the Town Coordinator by 10:00 a.m. on the Thursday before a meeting.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken sign, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department at 413-527-0136, which owns the repair.
- Town offices: Town Hall, 1 South Road, Westhampton, MA 01027. The Selectboard’s office can be reached at 413-203-3086.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 413-203-3080, clerk@westhamptonma.gov, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at westhamptonma.gov.
- Public schools: Westhampton Elementary School for prekindergarten through grade 6, and the Hampshire Regional School District, 413-527-7200, for grades 7 to 12.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Selectboard, speak at a meeting, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.