How the town is run

Town Meeting is the legislature. The Select Board is the executive. There is no mayor.

Massachusetts has 351 cities and towns. The legal form of government is not the same in all of them. Marblehead is a town, not a city, and that distinction shapes how decisions get made here.

In a city, a mayor proposes the budget and runs operations, and a city council legislates. In a town, both jobs are split differently. The legislature is Town Meeting, where every registered voter has a vote on the floor. The executive function splits between the Select Board (elected) and the Town Administrator (hired).

How Town Meeting works

Town Meeting is where Marblehead's budget, bylaws, and zoning decisions actually get made. Any registered voter can attend, speak, and vote on every article. The annual session is held each May at the Marblehead High School field house. Special sessions can be called between annuals when a question cannot wait.

Town Meeting has four powers the Select Board does not:

• Appropriate money for the year
• Pass or amend a bylaw
• Change zoning
• Approve or cut the budget the Finance Committee recommends

Every decision starts with an article placed on the warrant by the Select Board, a town committee, or a citizen petition of at least ten registered voters for the annual meeting (one hundred for a special meeting).

How the Select Board works

The Select Board is the executive branch. Five members, elected to staggered three-year terms. The Board:

• Hires the Town Administrator
• Signs warrants authorizing spending
• Sets non-school policy
• Represents the town in legal matters and intergovernmental relationships
• Calls Town Meetings and approves the warrant before it goes to voters

The chair rotates annually among the five members.

How the Town Administrator works

The Select Board hires a Town Administrator to run the operational side. The position manages department heads (police, fire, public works, finance, and so on), prepares the budget for the Finance Committee and Select Board, executes Select Board policies, and oversees personnel, procurement, grants, and contracts.

The position is not elected. The Select Board can appoint, supervise, and dismiss the Town Administrator at will. The department staff who report to the administrator (police officers, public works crew, building inspectors, and so on) cannot be fired by the Select Board directly. Their jobs are governed by personnel rules and union contracts.

Why no mayor?

Massachusetts gives municipalities flexibility in how they organize. The town form predates the city form by centuries. Marblehead was incorporated in 1649 and has used Town Meeting government ever since.

There are three forms of municipal government in the state:

• Open Town Meeting (Marblehead, Swampscott, most small and mid-size towns): every registered voter is a member of the legislature
• Representative Town Meeting (Brookline, Arlington, Belmont): voters elect Town Meeting Members who do the voting on their behalf
• City (Boston, Salem, Lynn, Beverly): a council legislates and a mayor or city manager runs operations

For a town the size of Marblehead, around 20,576 residents, open Town Meeting keeps the most direct connection between residents and decisions. It also means residents have to show up. A vote on a $5M article passes by a show of hands by the people who came to the field house.