Editing Freetown, Massachusetts (section)

===Town government===
[[Image:Freetown - Town Hall 1a.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Freetown Town Offices, Assonet]]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Freetown Warrant FY2004.gif|150px|right|thumb|A page from the [[warrant (town meeting)|warrant]] for Freetown's 2004 [[Annual town meeting|Annual Town Meeting]].]] -->
Freetown is governed in the traditional [[New England]] style with a [[Board of Selectmen]] overseeing day-to-day operations of the town and at least one [[town meeting]] per year to handle all major decisions including, but not limited to, budgets, by-laws, and zoning.  In 2004, provisions for a [[Town Administrator]] were put in place, and in 2007, E. Winn Davis of [[Falmouth, Massachusetts|Falmouth]], [[Massachusetts]] was hired as the town's first administrator.  Mr. Davis announced his retirement in February 2009, and former [[Middleborough, Massachusetts|Middleborough]]  Town Manager John Healey was hired as the interim town administrator in March 2009.  He was replaced by former [[East Providence, Rhode Island|East Providence]] manager Richard Brown in January 2012, who left on June 30, 2014, with Mr. Healey returning on July 8.  
<ref>[http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20140623/News/406230312  New Bedford Standard Times<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

The executive branch of town government is the Board of Selectmen, a popularly elected board made up of three members who are elected for terms of three years.  One selectman is up for re-election every year.  The current board is Trevor R. Matthews (2023), Jared Zager (2024) and Carlos Lopes (2025).

Selectmen currently serve terms of three years each, and those terms are staggered to ensure that only one member is up for re-election in any given year.  Through the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the number of Selectmen was not set in law, and therefore varied, sometimes greatly.  In 1988, Barbara Trainor became the first woman to hold the position of Selectman in Freetown, giving the town a record of 305 years of all-male leadership.  After her defeat in 1991, no woman was again elected to the board until 2006.

In 2005, attempts to expand the Board of Selectmen to five members failed.  Also failing in 2005 was an attempt to limit Selectmen to a total of two terms (or, six years).  Attempts to expand the board to five members have been frequent in recent years.

The legislative branch of town government is the town meeting, which in Freetown is an [[open town meeting]].

Various other officers, boards, committees, and commissions round out the variety of services provided to residents, including scattered municipal water, trash collection, fire, ambulance, police, education, recreation, voter registration, etc.

As of the [[Town meeting|Annual Town Meeting]] held on May 7, 2007, elections in Freetown are held on the first Monday in April.

====Seal====
[[File:Seal of Freetown, Massachusetts.gif|125px|right]]
The Seal of the Town of Freetown, Massachusetts is an official [[Seal (emblem)|device]] used on documents originating from the town as well as on municipal equipment and buildings. It was devised in 1890 by the [[chairman]] of the Board of Selectmen, [[colonel (United States)|Col.]] Silas P. Richmond.

Along the top of the seal are the words "Town of Freetown, Mass." in all [[capital letter]]s.  Before the T in "Town" and after the final S in "Mass." are [[Star polygon|star]]s.  Along the bottom of the seal are the words "Incorporated 1683" (also in capital letters).  The image of a [[kettle]] over a cooking [[fire]] is meant to invoke [[Ye Freemen's Purchase]], the agreement by which the lands now known as [[Assonet, Massachusetts|Assonet]] and [[Fall River, Massachusetts|Fall River]] were purchased by the [[Great Britain|English]] settlers from the local [[Wampanoag people|Wampanoag]] [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indians]].