Town Leadership
The Selectboard’s Office
Three Executives, All of Them Elected
The Selectboard as Executive
Ask who runs Westhampton and the answer is not a manager with a corner office. It is three of your neighbors. Susan Bronstein, Scott Johndrow, and Jennifer Milikowsky are the elected Selectboard, and in this town’s own words on its own page the Selectboard acts as the Chief Executive Officer of the town. That is not a figure of speech. The Town Bylaws and the General Laws of Massachusetts hand the board the real levers: it sets town policy, prepares the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoints residents to town boards and offices, hires town employees, engages town counsel, signs the warrants that pay employees and vendors, and grants the town’s licenses and permits. It yields specific powers to boards the voters elect for a reason, the Board of Health, the Planning Board, and the Zoning Board of Appeals among them, but the general executive work of the town belongs to the three. Westhampton does this without an appointed Town Administrator; instead the board works out of a staffed office run by an appointed Town Coordinator, Douglas Finn, who carries the daily paperwork, presents the warrants and transfer requests, and takes agenda requests, while the elected members make the calls. That changes what an election here means. When you vote for a Selectboard member you are not choosing someone to supervise a manager, you are choosing a working executive. The people who answer for the plowing schedule and the next budget sit at a public table in the Margaret A. Parsons Room at Town Hall on a biweekly schedule, and the seat across from them is open to any resident who walks in.
| Role | Selectboard, the town’s chief executive and licensing authority |
|---|---|
| Selection | Three members elected town-wide to staggered three-year terms |
| Office | Town Hall, 1 South Road, Westhampton, MA 01027 |
| Phone | 413-203-3086 (Town Coordinator) |
| Website | westhamptonma.gov |
What the Selectboard’s Office Does
- Sets policy. The board acts as the town’s primary policy-making body on the whole range of issues that affect Westhampton’s services and its future.
- Builds the warrant. The board decides what reaches Town Meeting, signing the warrant for every Annual and Special Town Meeting.
- Recommends the budget. The board and the Finance Committee weigh the spending articles before the Annual Town Meeting, and Town Meeting holds the final vote.
- Licenses and appoints. The board is the town’s licensing authority and appoints residents to many town boards, committees, and offices.
- Answers to Town Meeting. Major spending and bylaws still need the vote of Town Meeting, and in Westhampton that means every registered voter who walks in.
The Office and the Work
- The office staff: Town Coordinator Douglas Finn runs the Selectboard’s office, carrying out special projects and the administrative work outside the Town Clerk’s domain, and also serves as the town’s ADA Coordinator.
- Elected offices carry much of the work. The June 2026 town ballot filled a long slate of working offices, among them the Town Meeting Moderator, Benjamin Warren, the Board of Assessors, the Planning Board, the Finance Committee, the Library Trustees, the Tree Warden, and a Constable, so much of the executive work here is spread across offices the voters fill directly.
- Boards and commissions, permanent and ad hoc, are appointed by the Selectboard and decide questions like zoning, conservation, and historic preservation.
Contact & Engage
- Town offices: Town Hall, 1 South Road, Westhampton, MA 01027.
- Selectboard’s office: reach the Town Coordinator at 413-203-3086 or towncoordinator@westhamptonma.gov.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken signs, and plowing go to the Highway Department, 413-527-0136.
- Show up: the board meets on a biweekly schedule in the Margaret A. Parsons Room at Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.