Town Edition
Hampshire County
Williamsburg, Massachusetts
In June 2026 the energy rules for every new house Williamsburg will build came down to twenty two votes. At Town Meeting the town adopted the state’s Specialized Stretch Energy Code, 125 to 103, and that single count made this town of 2,504 people eligible for as much as 1.2 million dollars in state grants, money the town has aimed at a solar array on the Anne T. Dunphy School and a new cooling system for the Meekins Library. That is how power works here. No city council sits between you and the budget, because any resident registered to vote in Williamsburg can walk into Town Meeting, take the floor, and vote. This guide shows you how to get into that room.
Williamsburg at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Williamsburg.
- County: Hampshire. Williamsburg holds three village centers, Williamsburg, Haydenville and Searsville, in the hills west of Northampton, where the East and West branches of the Mill River meet.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected three-member Select Board and an appointed Town Administrator, Thomas Bernard.
- Schools: the town runs the Anne T. Dunphy School for its youngest grades, about 110 students, and sends grades 7 to 12 to the Hampshire Regional district, both led by Superintendent Vito Perrone.
How Williamsburg’s Government Works
Williamsburg runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in town 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 and a School Committee that oversees the town’s own elementary district. 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 Williamsburg 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
Three 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
Five members, elected town-wide. It sets policy for the Anne T. Dunphy School, approves its budget, and helps hire and evaluate the Superintendent.
- Residents elect the three members of the Select Board and the five members of the 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: 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 Williamsburg, 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
- Select Board: meets on alternating Tuesdays at the Town Offices, 141 Main Street, Haydenville, with each agenda posted in advance, so check the town calendar before you go.
- Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting is held in the spring, and the town can call a Special Town Meeting when business cannot wait.
- Town elections: Williamsburg votes in May. In the May 2026 annual town election 160 residents cast the ballots that filled the town’s seats and sent a budget of about 10.4 million dollars on to Town Meeting.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Williamsburg Edition
- Town Administrator’s OfficeThe town’s chief administrator
- Select BoardYour three board members
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at the Town Offices
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Williamsburg HistoryA mill town on the Mill River
- DemographicsWho lives in Williamsburg
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWilliamsburg 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 Hampshire 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 Williamsburg. 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 Williamsburg
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. The elementary school goes to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
- Find the meeting. The Select Board meets on alternating Tuesdays at the Town Offices, 141 Main Street, Haydenville, and the agenda is posted in advance.
- Know your members. All 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 downed limb, or a plowing problem to the Highway Department, which owns the repair.
- Town Offices: 141 Main Street, Haydenville, MA 01039. Select Board office 413-268-8400.
- Town Clerk & agendas: 413-268-8402, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at burgy.org.
- Public schools: the Anne T. Dunphy School and the Williamsburg district, burgy.org/school-department.
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.