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Town Meeting

The Town of Great Barrington has an Open Town Meeting form of government which means that all registered voters may speak and vote at the meeting. Our Annual Town Meeting convenes yearly on the first Monday in May. To hold an Annual Town Meeting there needs to be a quorum of 100 legally registered voters. The Town Meetings are held in the Auditorium at the Monument Mountain Regional High School which is located at 600 Stockbridge Road, Great Barrington. The responsibilities of Town Meeting are to:

  • Appropriate funds for operating and capital budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (July 1st to June 30th)
  • Approve all Great Barrington General and Zoning By-Laws
  • Accept certain "local option" statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts    

All matters of Town Meeting business are included in the Warrant. Each item is called a Warrant article. The Selectboard determines the content and order of articles in the Warrant and sets the deadline for closing the warrant. Each registered voter attending the Town Meeting receives a warrant and other pertinent documents when they arrive at the meeting.

The Town Moderator, who is elected by the voters every year at the town election, presides over the business and conduct of Town Meeting. Operating procedures and rules are dictated by statute, by-laws, or tradition; in their absence Roberts' Rules of Parliamentary Practice governs. Citizens may speak at the Town Meeting, when recognized by the moderator, may make motions and participate in votes taken.

The Town Clerk takes and prepares the minutes of each Town Meeting session and is the keeper of the official minutes. Once they are complete, they are posted to the Town Clerk's section of the website The Clerk also keeps an official set in the office. The Town Clerk's Office is open late, from 8:30 am to 8:00 pm, on the 20th day before an Annual Town Meeting as a deadline to register any resident that wants to become a registered voter before the meeting.

For more information on Town Meetings in Massachusetts, click here to read the "Citizen's Guide to Town Meetings."

For information on Citizen Petitions, click here.