Town Edition
Franklin County
Whately, Massachusetts
In June 2026, eighty-three people stood on the grounds of Whately Elementary School and voted, out loud and in person, on how their town would spend its money. They passed twenty-six of the twenty-seven articles on the warrant, including $120,293 to rebuild the school playground, and they turned down the one article that would have changed the Town Clerk from a job you elect into a job somebody appoints. That is how Whately has run its business since it was incorporated in 1771: the budget belongs to whoever shows up. This guide shows you how to be one of them.
Whately at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Whately.
- County: Franklin. Whately sits in the Connecticut River valley of western Massachusetts, about 11 miles south of Greenfield, bordered by Conway, Deerfield, Sunderland, Hatfield and Williamsburg, with the Connecticut River on its eastern edge and the Mill River running through the middle.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Selectboard and an appointed Town Administrator, S. Peter Kane.
- Schools: Whately Elementary School, the town’s own PreK to 6 district of about 141 students, led by Superintendent Darius Modestow. In grade 7 students continue to Frontier Regional.
How Whately’s Government Works
Whately runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Whately is a member, and any of them can walk in, speak, and vote on the budget. Voters also elect a three member Selectboard to set policy between meetings and a School Committee that oversees the elementary school. The Selectboard 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 Selectboard, 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 Whately is a member. Town Meeting adopts the annual budget, passes town bylaws, and approves major spending, run by an elected Town Moderator, Joyce Palmer-Fortune, who keeps order and calls the votes. This is direct democracy in its literal sense.
Selectboard
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 Selectboard. Hired under contract, not elected.
School Committee
3 members, elected town-wide, for the town’s own PreK to 6 district. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and works with the shared Superintendent.
- Residents elect the 3 members of the Selectboard and the School Committee.
- The Selectboard 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: pre-register at 16. A pre-registrant is on the list but is not allowed to vote yet. Once you turn 18 that designation comes off on its own and you are a registered voter in Whately, which makes you a member of Town Meeting with a vote on the floor. If you never pre-registered, register with the Town Clerk, and do it well ahead: the rolls close at 5 p.m. on the tenth day before any election or Town Meeting.
Civic Calendar
- Selectboard: meets roughly every two weeks on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 pm at the Town Offices, 4 Sandy Lane, with a Zoom option, and often jointly with the Finance Committee. The agenda is posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held on the first Tuesday in June, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait. The June 2, 2026 Annual Town Meeting met outdoors on the grounds of Whately Elementary School.
- Town elections: the Annual Town Election is the last Tuesday in April, with all voting at Town Hall, 194 Chestnut Plain Road. The 2026 election, held April 28, drew 165 ballots.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The clerk posts the current state election date, and the General Court lists who holds Whately’s seat in the state House.
Explore the Whately Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- SelectboardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Whately HistoryQuonquont, potters, and Sumatra tobacco
- DemographicsWho lives in Whately
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWhately schools by the numbers
Your County Officials
Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected, and neither one sits on Beacon Hill. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. The sheriff is elected by the voters of Franklin County. The district attorney is elected by the voters of a prosecution district, and Massachusetts draws eleven of those across its fourteen counties, so a district attorney’s territory does not always follow a county line. Both appear on your ballot in Whately. Now you know what to look for.
Massachusetts elects fourteen sheriffs, one for each county, and eleven district attorneys, one for each prosecution district. 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 Whately
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 Selectboard. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Selectboard meets Wednesday evenings at the Town Offices, 4 Sandy Lane, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. 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. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
- Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a drainage problem, or a plowing issue to the Highway and Buildings Department, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Offices: 4 Sandy Lane, Whately, MA 01373. Town Clerk (413) 665-4400 ext. 3.
- Town Clerk & agendas: (413) 665-4400 ext. 3, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at whately.org.
- Public schools: Whately Elementary School, part of Union 38, frsu38.org.
Local government works best when residents show up. Find your Selectboard, speak at a meeting on the town’s published calendar, or simply register to vote and take your seat at Town Meeting.