Town Edition
Worcester County
Westminster, Massachusetts
The high school you go to in Westminster is not Westminster’s alone. Oakmont Regional sits inside a district the town shares with Ashburnham, so the ten people who set your school day are elected by two towns at once. Everything else in Westminster still gets decided the oldest way there is: at an open Town Meeting, where any registered voter can stand up in the room and vote the budget up or down. This guide shows you how to get into that room, and who runs the town between meetings.
Westminster at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Worcester. Westminster sits at the foot of Mount Wachusett in north-central Massachusetts, next to Ashburnham, Gardner, Princeton, and Fitchburg.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Stephanie Lahtinen.
- Schools: the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District, about 2,220 students, led by Superintendent Todd Stewart.
How Westminster’s Government Works
Westminster runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Westminster is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three-member Select Board to set policy between meetings, a Town Moderator, Dana N. Altobelli, to run the meeting, and five of the ten members of the regional School Committee. 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 Westminster 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
3 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
10 members, five elected by Westminster voters and five by Ashburnham, because the schools are a regional district shared by the two towns. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Select Board, the Town Moderator, and Westminster’s five seats on the regional 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: 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 Westminster Town Hall, 11 South Street, in Room 205. Start times vary and the agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go. Meeting video is posted after each meeting.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. Every registered voter of Westminster is a member and may speak and vote.
- Town elections: Westminster holds its Annual Town Election in late April. The 2026 election was held on April 28. The next is in the spring of 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Westminster Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Westminster HistoryChairs, crackers, and Mount Wachusett
- DemographicsWho lives in Westminster
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataAshburnham-Westminster 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 Worcester County, and that includes Westminster. 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 Westminster
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 Westminster Town Hall, 11 South Street, Room 205, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. Three 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: 11 South Street, Westminster, MA 01473. Select Board office 978-874-7400.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 978-874-7406, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at westminster-ma.gov.
- Public schools: the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District, which runs Oakmont Regional High School, at awrsd.org.
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.