Town Edition
Suffolk County
Winthrop, Massachusetts
Photo: Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
On November 5, 2013, Winthrop’s voters did something most towns spend years arguing about: they walked into their precinct polling places and agreed to put the town’s share of a new combined middle and high school onto their own tax bills, with the state’s School Building Authority covering up to $42,582,841 of it, for one new grade 6 to 12 building on the existing high school site. That building exists because a majority of your neighbors said yes on a ballot. That is how Winthrop works: a peninsula town of fewer than twenty thousand people that decides its biggest questions itself. This guide shows you the machinery, and where your own hands fit on it.
The Winthrop Civics Handbook
A plain-language guide to how your town works: who represents you, how decisions get made, and how to make your voice heard. Read it online.
Winthrop at a Glance
Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Winthrop.
- County: Suffolk. Winthrop is a peninsula in Boston Harbor.
- Government: a council-manager charter. A nine-member Town Council holds the lawmaking power, and it hires a professional Town Manager, Anthony Marino, to run the town day to day. There is no mayor and no town meeting.
- Schools: Winthrop Public Schools, 1,960 students across 4 schools, led by Superintendent Lisa Howard.
How Winthrop’s Government Works
Winthrop’s charter hands the lawmaking power to a nine-member Town Council and hands the daily running of the town to a professional Town Manager the council hires. So the levers are split on purpose. The nine councilors you elect decide what the town will do and how much it will spend. The Town Manager they hire decides how to get it done and makes sure it happens. A separately elected School Committee runs the schools. That means almost every local decision traces back to someone you can vote for, or to a public meeting you can walk into.
Town Council
The legislative body. A Council President and two councilors at-large are elected by the whole town, and each of the six precincts elects its own councilor. The council votes the annual budget, passes town ordinances, and hires the Town Manager.
Town Manager
The appointed chief executive. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and carries out the council’s decisions. Appointed by the council, not elected.
School Committee
Seven members: six elected by the voters, plus the Council President, who serves by virtue of office. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.
You
Every one of these bodies meets in public with time for residents to speak. You can address the council, run for a seat at 18, or testify on the budget that funds your school.
- Residents elect the Council President, the at-large councilors, their own precinct councilor, and the School Committee.
- The Town Council votes the budget and the ordinances, and hires the Town Manager.
- The Town Manager runs the departments and carries out what the council decides.
- You take part: speak at a council meeting, run for office at 18, or testify on the school budget.
Civic Calendar
- Town Council: meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm in the Harvey Hearing Room at Winthrop Town Hall, 1 Metcalf Square, with dates and agendas posted in the town’s Agenda Center. Meetings are open to the public.
- School Committee: meets on Monday evenings at 6:00 pm in the Harvey Hearing Room at Town Hall, and posts its schedule and agendas at winthrop.k12.ma.us.
- Town elections: Winthrop holds its town election in November of odd-numbered years. The most recent was November 4, 2025. The next is in November 2027.
- State and federal elections: even-numbered years. The 2026 state primary was held on September 1, and the state election is on November 3.
Explore the Winthrop Edition
- Town Manager’s OfficeThe town’s chief executive
- Town CouncilYour nine councilors
- School CommitteeSuperintendent & committee
- Town DepartmentsWho does what at Town Hall
- Boards & CommissionsWhere residents serve
- LegislatorsYour voice in Boston & D.C.
- Winthrop HistoryA peninsula with a founder’s name
- DemographicsWho lives in Winthrop
- Non-ProfitsCommunity organizations
- Student DataWinthrop Public 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 Suffolk 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 Winthrop. 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 Winthrop
You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard in Winthrop. Here is how to take one real action, start to finish.
- Pick the right body. A pothole or a park is the Town Manager’s departments. An ordinance, a budget, or a tax rate is the Town Council. Anything about your school is the School Committee.
- Find the meeting. The Town Council meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm in the Harvey Hearing Room at Town Hall, 1 Metcalf Square. Agendas are posted in the Agenda Center at winthropma.gov.
- Know your councilors. Six of the nine answer to a single precinct each, so one of them answers to your street in particular. To find your precinct and your councilor, call the Town Clerk’s Office at 617-846-1742. The Council President is James Letterie.
- Speak. Council meetings have time for public participation. You can stand up, give your name, and say your piece on the record. The council’s rules give members of the public this time to address the Town Council.
- Or skip the trip. For a pothole, a streetlight, or a missed pickup, call Public Works at 617-846-1341 or use the report-a-problem link at winthropma.gov.
- Town Hall: 1 Metcalf Square, Winthrop, MA 02152. Main line 617-846-1852.
- Town Clerk & agendas: the Town Clerk handles voter records and precinct questions. 617-846-1742.
- Public schools: Winthrop Public Schools, winthrop.k12.ma.us.
Local government works best when residents show up. Meet your Town Council, speak at a Tuesday meeting, or take one concrete action this month.
MassCivics last checked this page on October 7, 2026.
Sources
- Population and demographics: US Census Bureau, 2020 Census, P1, as of April 1, 2020.
- Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, district profile, Contact Information, as of October 1, 2025.
- Schools and districts: Massachusetts DESE, district profile, Enrollment Data (2025-26), as of October 1, 2025.
- Town records: Town of Winthrop, Town Council Rules and Procedures, amended 22 September 2026, as of September 22, 2026.
- Town Clerk records: Town of Winthrop, 9-1-2026 State Primary Election Information, as of October 2026.
- Charter and bylaws: Town of Winthrop, Town of Winthrop Charter, as of October 2026.
- History and incorporation: Secretary of the Commonwealth, City and Town Incorporation and Settlement Dates, as of September 2026.
- County offices: Suffolk County District Attorney, DA Kevin Hayden Sworn in, Builds Executive Staff, as of January 10, 2022.
- County offices: Suffolk County District Attorney, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, as of October 2026.
- State government: Massachusetts School Building Authority, MSBA project scope and budget memo, Winthrop High School, 2 October 2013, as of October 2, 2013.