Town Leadership
The Town Manager’s Office
The Town Manager
Michael J. King
When a road goes unplowed or a permit stalls, the person with the most operational control over the response is appointed, not elected. Michael J. King is the Town Manager, hired by the five elected members of the Select Board, and the charter that created his job is only a few years old. Wrentham ran on a Town Administrator for decades. Then the Legislature enacted Chapter 391 of the Acts of 2024, approved on January 9, 2025, and that act replaced the town’s whole charter: it renamed the Board of Selectmen the Select Board, it created a Department of Public Works, it moved several offices from the ballot to the appointment list, and it built this office. Section 4.1 says the Select Board appoints the Town Manager by a majority of the full board, for a three year term, and that the person hired must be professionally qualified with a bachelor’s degree and prior full-time paid service running something in public or business administration. Section 4.3 makes him the chief administrative officer of the town, directly responsible to the Select Board for the administration of all town affairs the charter puts in his hands. 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 Select Board for a three year term, not elected |
| Office | Town Hall, 79 South Street, Wrentham, MA 02093 |
| Phone | 508-384-5400 |
| Website | www.wrentham.gov |
What the Town Manager Does
- Picks the department heads, and the board gets fifteen days. Under charter section 4.2 the Town Manager selects for appointment the heads of police, fire, public works, finance, building inspection, recreation, the senior center and the conservation agent. Each choice takes effect on the fifteenth day after the notice is filed with the Select Board, unless three of the board’s five members vote it down first. For departments the board does not run, the appraiser, the planner, the health agents and inspectors and the library director, the same fifteen day window belongs to the elected board that oversees that department.
- Hires almost everyone else. The Town Manager is the appointing authority for town employees generally, with three groups carved out by name: firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians. Town Counsel stays with the Select Board.
- Builds the budget. Section 4.3 puts the annual operating budget, a five year capital outlay program and a strategic plan on his desk, makes him the town’s chief procurement officer under Chapter 30B, and gives him the warrants that pay the town’s bills.
- Answers to you, at Town Meeting. Section 4.3 requires the Town Manager to attend all sessions of Town Meeting and to answer every question raised by voters about the warrant articles and about anything he supervises. If you are registered, you can be the one asking.
What the Charter Splits Between Them
Chapter 391 of the Acts of 2024 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 Select Board is the goal-setting, long-range planning and policy-making body. It appoints the Town Manager, it is the town’s licensing board, it appoints the Conservation Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Council on Aging and the Cultural Council, and section 3.2(b) says plainly that no member of it may become involved in the day-to-day administration of any town agency.
- The Town Manager runs everything the charter gives him: the departments and their heads, the budget, the purchasing, the personnel bylaws and the contracts. For collective bargaining the charter keeps the Select Board as the chief executive officer of the town and makes the manager its agent at the table.
Here is that split in one visible act. On April 7, 2026, the day after the annual town election, the board reorganized itself: it voted 5 to 0 to make Christopher Gallo Chair, 5 to 0 to make Michelle M. Rouse Vice Chair, and 5 to 0 to make William Harrington Clerk. At the same meeting it authorized the Town Manager to sign an intermunicipal agreement sharing a conservation agent with the Town of Norfolk. The board decides; the manager signs.
Contact & Engage
- Town Hall: 79 South Street, Wrentham, MA 02093. Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 8 am to 4:30 pm, Tuesday 8 am to 7:30 pm, and closed Friday.
- Town Manager’s Office: 508-384-5400.
- Report a problem: potholes, broken lights, water and snow go to the Department of Public Works at 508-384-5477.
- Show up: the Select Board meets the first and third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm, and the public is welcome.
Want to weigh in on a town decision? Learn how to contact your officials so they actually hear you.