The MMLA recently joined with the Massachusetts Municipal Association, the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents to send a letter to Superior Court Judge Christopher Barry-Smith opposing a request by the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board to order the Newton School Committee and the Newton Teachers Association to participate in mandatory binding arbitration. A copy of the letter can be found here. The issue ultimately became moot with the settlement of the strike on February 2, 2024. 

The Massachusetts Municipal Association (“MMA”) recently joined with the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association (“MMLA”) in providing comments to the Cannabis Control Commission’s (“CCC”) Model Host Community Agreement Template, that the Commission released on January 17, 2024.

The January 31, 2024 letter may be found here. 

MMLA past president Brandon Moss and Legislative Committee Chair Jillian Jagling presented a municipal law update to various municipal officials attending the MMA Annual Conference and Trade Show on Friday, January 19, 2024, with introduction and commentary by MMLA President Karis North. You can access the materials here or in the member's area. Jillian is Senior Counsel at West Group Law, PLLC, and Brandon is Senior Editor, Litigation, for Thomson Reuters in its Practical Law Service. 

Thanks to all who attended and special thanks to Brandon and Jillian for all your hard work in support of MMLA!

MMLA recently submitted comments in a letter to the Legislature's Joint Committee on Housing regarding HB 3551, codifying site plan review, offering its general support of the proposed legislation while recommending various revisions prior to final passage. 

Our colleagues at the Massachusetts Municipal Association recently hosted a webinar discussing the newly promulgated regulations by the Cannabis Control Commission and their impacts on host communities. The presentation materials and a recording of the webinar are available on the MMA's website here. Thank you to MMA and to Nicole Constanzo of KP Law for making this informative presentation available to MMLA!

MMLA President Karis North recently sent a letter to Lt. Governor Driscoll in response to a September request to the MMLA seeking input on legislative priorities for municipalities in Massachusetts. The letter summarizes MMLA's legislative advocacy in the current Legislative session.

The MMLA today submitted a letter to the Legislature in support of HB.3555, which if it becomes law will create a local option for municipalities to remove restrictions that currently prevent associate members of planning boards from participating in matters other than special permit issues before a planning board.

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly recently named current MMLA President Karis North to its Top Women of Law list for 2023. Karis will be honored at an event on November 1st,  with Lawyers Weekly celebrating the achievements of exceptional women lawyers who are pioneers, educators, trailblazers and role models. More information is available here and on the Lawyers Weekly website. Congratulations Karis!

Our past president Henry Luthin was recently honored at the 2023 IMLA Annual Conference with the Charles S. Rhyne Lifetime Achievement in Municipal Law Award. The award is the highest award given by IMLA, meant to honor the recipient's lifetime achievements in the field of municipal law and be a lasting commemorative to Charles S. Rhyne's founding of the International Municipal Lawyers Association and to his life's work.

Our Executive Director, Jim Lampke, and Past President Chris Petrini, were on hand to congratulate Henry in person, along with his wife Marianne. Congratulations Henry on this well-deserved recognition of your distinguished career in municipal law!

Please see below some wonderful news from our friends at the Massachusetts Moderators Association:

Town Meeting Time, 3^rd Edition

In Searchable e-Book Format

The Massachusetts Moderators Association is delighted to announce that Town Meeting Time,  in a fully searchable, e-book form, is now available for online purchase and download at the following link: bit.ly/tmt3.  
Town Meeting Time is the definitive guide to the art and practice of Massachusetts Town Meeting and the handbook of choice for Moderators, town counsel, town officials, and interested citizens in most Massachusetts towns.
This first electronic edition is a faithful reproduction of the 3rd print edition, circa 2001. The index has been omitted, in favor of offering full, arbitrary text search.

Now Available for Purchase

We recommend that Mac and iOS users buy the Apple Books version. We recommend that Windows and Android users buy the Kobo version. These are both priced at $34.99.  A Kindle version is also available from Amazon, currently priced at $69.99.