Middlesex County
Weston, Massachusetts
In November 2006 the voters of Weston stood up at a Special Town Meeting and agreed to spend $22.5 million to buy 62.5 acres of the Case Estates from Harvard University and keep it as open land. Then contamination turned up in the soil, the lawyers went to work, and it took until 2016 for the town to get the keys. That is the machinery of this place in one story: a room full of neighbors casting a vote, and ten years of stubbornness to make that vote stick. The room is still open, and it is still deciding. On May 4, 2026 it passed the town’s operating budget for the coming year 228 to 23 and voted to design and build new fire stations 204 to 72. Two days before that, 1,081 residents cast ballots that filled ten elected offices, from the Select Board and the School Committee to the Planning Board, the Board of Health and the Measurers of Lumber. This guide shows you where those rooms are and how to get into them.
Weston at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov).
- County: Middlesex. Weston covers 16.82 square miles of land west of Boston, which works out to about 705 people to the square mile.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Leon A. Gaumond, Jr.
- Schools: Weston Public Schools, about 2,079 students across five schools, led by Superintendent Dr. Karen Zaleski.
How Weston’s Government Works
Weston runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Weston 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 Weston 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
5 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: generally meets on Tuesday evenings. Weston runs these as hybrid meetings, so each posted notice carries the room at Weston Town Hall, 11 Town House Road, and the information for joining remotely. Every agenda goes up in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in May, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The 2026 session opened on May 4 in the Weston High School auditorium and gymnasium, and the Moderator, Ripley Ellison Hastings, presides.
- Town elections: Weston votes on a Saturday in early May, with the polls at the Town Hall Auditorium from 8am to 6pm. The 2026 Annual Town Election was held on May 2. The next one is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years, on the state’s calendar rather than the town’s.
Explore the Weston 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.
- Weston History1713, the post road, and the charter
- DemographicsWho lives in Weston
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWeston 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 Weston. 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 Weston
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 generally meets on Tuesday evenings, in hybrid form, and the agenda with the room and the remote details is posted in advance on the town’s Agenda Center.
- Know your members. All 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 downed limb, or a water problem to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 11 Town House Road, Weston, MA 02493. Main line 781-786-5000, Town Manager’s office 781-786-5020.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 781-786-5010, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at westonma.gov.
- Public schools: Weston Public Schools, 781-786-5200, westonschools.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.