Town Edition
Berkshire County
Williamstown, Massachusetts
On May 19, 2026, at Williamstown’s 222nd annual Town Meeting, a resident named Jenna Hasenkampf stood up and asked her neighbors to add $120,000 to the schools budget for a math interventionist at Williamstown Elementary, a position the district budget did not fund. It was a floor amendment, decided in the room by the registered voters who showed up, and they passed it. That is the shape of power here: an open Town Meeting where every registered voter is a member and can stand up, speak, and change the town’s budget on the spot. Then look at who fills the seats. At the May 12, 2026 annual town election, the local station WilliNet counted 411 ballots cast in a town with 4,650 registered voters, which tells you what a single ballot is worth in deciding who runs this place. This guide shows you where the rooms are and how to get into them.
Williamstown at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, school and district profiles · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Williamstown.
- County: Berkshire. Williamstown covers about 47 square miles in the northwest corner of the state, tucked against the Vermont line and the flank of Mount Greylock, and it is home to Williams College and the Clark Art Institute.
- Government: open Town Meeting, with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Robert Menicocci.
- Schools: Williamstown shares the Mount Greylock Regional School District with Lanesborough, about 1,156 students across three schools, led by Superintendent Joseph Bergeron.
How Williamstown’s Government Works
Williamstown runs on an open Town Meeting, which means there are no elected Town Meeting members at all: every registered voter in Williamstown 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 Williamstown 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
7 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: 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 Williamstown, 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 most Monday evenings at 7:00 pm at Town Hall, 31 North Street, in person and online. Each agenda is posted in advance, and meetings are streamed on WilliNet, so check the 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. The elected Town Moderator, Elisabeth Goodman, presides.
- Town elections: Williamstown holds its annual town election in the spring. The 2026 annual town election was held on Tuesday, May 12. The next is in spring 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 primary and general are this fall.
Explore the Williamstown 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.
- Williamstown History1765, Williams College, and the fire district
- DemographicsWho lives in Williamstown
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWilliamstown 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 Berkshire 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 Williamstown. 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 Williamstown
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 most Monday evenings at Town Hall, 31 North Street, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town website.
- Know your members. 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 broken light, or a water problem to the Department of Public Works, which is the department that owns the repair.
- Town Hall: 31 North Street, Williamstown, MA 01267. Main line (413) 458-3500, Town Manager’s office (413) 597-8321.
- Town Clerk & agendas: (413) 458-3500, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at williamstownma.gov.
- Public schools: the Mount Greylock Regional School District, shared with Lanesborough, at mgrsd.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.