page_title: Arlington, Massachusetts
section_title: Government
hierarchical_section_title: Arlington, Massachusetts / Government
caption_attribution_description: English: Arlington Town Hall
context_page_description: Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, six miles northwest of Boston. The population was 42,844 at the 2010 census.
context_section_description: Arlington's executive branch consists of an elected five-member Select Board. The day-to-day operations are handled by a Town Manager hired by the Select Board.
  The legislative branch is a Representative Town Meeting, presided over by the Town Moderator, and is made up of 252 Town Meeting Members. Twelve Town Meeting Members are elected to staggered three year terms from each of the 21 precincts. Article LXXXIX Section 8 of the Massachusetts Constitution permits towns with a population greater than 12,000 to adopt a city form of government. The Town of Arlington meets the population requirement to become a city, but has not done so, in part because it would lose its ability to engage citizens in local government under the Representative Town Meeting form of government. Annual Town Meetings begin in April on the first Monday after Patriots' Day, and are held two nights a week until all items on the town warrant are resolved, and generally last three to four weeks.
caption: Arlington town hall
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