Editing Westwood, Massachusetts (section)

==Government==
The town of Westwood operates under a [[Devolution|home rule]] [[charter]]. This means that the town is given a degree of autonomy in regards to internal affairs. The charter defines the powers of elected boards, including the [[select board]], which serves as the executive branch of government and hires a Town Administrator responsible for day-to-day operations of town departments. The legislative branch operates through [[open town meeting]], which meets at least once and often twice a year where all residents are entitled to speak and vote on approval of warrant articles which authorize the town budget and may create or modify town bylaws. Select Board members and other town officials are elected through an annual town election at the end of April. The select board appoints residents to various volunteer boards and committees. The Town Administrator appoints town staff who manage public safety, recreation, and other services. The [https://www.townhall.westwood.ma.us/government/boards-committees/board-of-selectmen Westwood Select Board] has three members who serve overlapping three-year terms. Marianne C. LeBlanc Cummings, Joseph E. Previtera and Robert R. Gotti are currently Westwood's Select Board members.  Cummings' term will be up in 2025, Previtera's in 2026, and Gotti’s in 2027.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Westwood|first1=Town Of|title=Town Of Westwood, MA Election Results|url=http://www.westwoodma.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=30567|website=Westwood MA|access-date=October 14, 2024}}</ref>

The town seal, designed by a descendant of [[Nathaniel Colburn]], includes a drawing of the Town Pound.<ref name=trivia1112>{{cite news | title = Dedham Historical Society & Museum trivia answer | page = 8 | newspaper = The Dedham Times | date = November 12, 2021 | volume = 29 | issue = 45 }}</ref> On May 14, 1700, Lt. Joseph Colburn{{Efn|Colburn lived from 1662 to 1718. He was the 11th and last child of [[Nathaniel Colburn]]. He was a town surveyor and set the boundary between [[History of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635–1699#Medfield|Dedham and Medfield]] as well as between Dedham and Dorchester. He also laid out highways and cartways in town. Additionally, he was a constable and a tithingman. As such, he was responsible for maintaining moral family order.<ref name=trivia1112/>}} was paid "forty shillings of the Town rate" for constructing an [[animal pound]] measuring 33' square on his land.<ref name=trivia1112/>{{Efn|In 1639, the land was originally granted to Rev. [[John Allin (Puritan minister)|John Allin]].<ref name=trivia1112/>}} The pound was originally made out of wood and later reconstructed with stone.<ref name=trivia1112/> By including the tree, the new town was paying homage to Dedham, which includes the [[Avery Oak]] on its seal.<ref name=trivia1112/> The tree was toppled in the [[1938 New England hurricane]], but a new oak was planted in its place.<ref name=trivia1112/>