Town Leadership
The Winchendon Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Bill McKinney
When a road goes unplowed or a permit stalls, the person with the most operational control over the response is appointed, not elected. Bill McKinney is Winchendon’s Town Manager, hired by the five elected members of the Board of Selectmen, and the town’s own welcome for him lists the resume the board hired: he ran two state agencies, the Metropolitan District Commission and the Department of Labor Standards, served as the CFO for the Town of Weymouth, and holds a BA from the College of the Holy Cross and an MBA from Babson College. The office he holds is defined by Winchendon’s own charter, approved at the Special Town Meeting of November 14, 2016. Article 4 makes the Town Manager the chief administrative officer of the town and hands him the appointment of every department head and employee for whom the charter provides no other method. Each of those appointments takes effect on the fifteenth day after he files notice with the Board of Selectmen, unless at least three of the five members vote to reject it, which means the board can check a hire but cannot make one. The charter also puts the annual operating budget and the capital outlay program on his desk to build, makes him the negotiator of every town labor contract, and names him the town’s Chief Procurement Officer. So the plan to fix a problem usually starts here, then goes to the board, and then to the room where every registered voter can vote it down.
| Role | Town Manager (chief administrative officer) |
|---|---|
| Selection | Appointed by the Board of Selectmen for an indefinite term, solely on executive and administrative qualifications, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 109 Front Street, Dept. 1, Winchendon, MA 01475 |
| Phone | 978-297-0085, ext. 5 |
| Website | townofwinchendon.com |
What the Town Manager Does
- Appoints the department heads. Charter Article 4 gives the Town Manager the appointment, supervision and removal of all department heads, officers and employees for whom no other method is provided, plus Town Counsel and the Board of Assessors. The town’s own police and fire chief employment agreements are made by the Town acting by and through its Town Manager, which is where that power becomes visible.
- Builds the budget. Each year the Town Manager prepares and submits the proposed annual operating budget and capital outlay program, keeps the Board of Selectmen informed of the town’s financial condition, and, as Chief Procurement Officer, awards and signs the town’s contracts.
- Answers to the board. The Town Manager attends every board meeting with a voice but no vote, works under the board’s policy direction, and serves at its pleasure.
- Answers to you, at Town Meeting. Charter section 4-2(h) requires the Town Manager to attend all sessions of Town Meeting and answer every question about the warrant articles under his supervision. If you are registered, you can be the one asking.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Winchendon adopted its home rule charter at the Special Town Meeting of November 14, 2016, and the full text is on the town’s own site as a 16-page PDF. The charter divides the work three ways, and the division is worth knowing before you decide whom to write to.
- Town Meeting holds the legislative power outright, which means the budget and the bylaws. Nothing in the manager’s authority reaches that.
- The Board of Selectmen is the chief policy making agency and the licensing authority. It appoints the Town Manager, the Town Accountant, the Registrars of Voters, the Board of Appeals, the Planning Board and the Conservation Commission, and it signs the warrant that decides what Town Meeting gets to vote on.
- The Town Manager runs everything the charter gives him: the departments and their heads, the budget, the purchasing, the personnel system and the labor contracts, and with the Finance Committee’s approval he may transfer appropriations when he reorganizes a department.
Here is that relationship in one visible act. At the board’s May 5, 2026 meeting, the day after the town election, residents pressed the board about a warrant article they had not seen coming. It was the Town Manager who answered with the mechanics: warrant articles arrive at different times during the year, and the board does not see the assembled warrant until it has closed. The manager runs the machinery; the board answers for it in public; and the article itself was settled two weeks later by the voters in the hall.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 109 Front Street, Winchendon, MA 01475. Open Monday 8 am to 6 pm, Tuesday to Thursday 8 am to 5 pm, closed Friday.
- Town Manager’s Office: 978-297-0085, ext. 5. Executive Assistant Debra Dennis can also help.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights, water and snow go to the Department of Public Works at 978-297-0170.
- Show up: the Board of Selectmen meets at 6:30 pm on the second and fourth Monday at Town Hall, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.