Remote, hybrid meetings are local government success story

From the Beacon, March 2025

Over the past six months, as I have met with all manner of local officials across the Commonwealth, the question I get most often is in regard to the COVID-era open meeting law allowances for remote and hybrid public meetings, which are set to expire at the end of this month.

I believe I’m asked this so regularly due to the overwhelming success of the temporary allowances, and due to just how critical these allowances are for conducting the business of municipal government in the 21st century.

In the earliest days of the COVID pandemic, every local government in the Commonwealth adapted — almost instantly — to change how it conducted the public’s business, in ways that increased transparency and accountability and boosted public participation and confidence. Each community quickly determined its best course, given the local needs, preferences, capabilities and resources, and has settled into a pattern that is familiar to the public.

It’s for these reasons that we are asking that this flexibility be made permanent, so Massachusetts cities and towns can continue to provide transparent, accessible and practical proceedings to maintain public trust and confidence.

In advocating for this permanent allowance, I think it’s important to underscore the way that municipal government works in Massachusetts. As you know, most of the cities and towns in the Commonwealth have dozens of boards, committees and commissions. Our conservative estimate is that the 351 cities and towns have a combined total of more than 10,000 boards, committees and commissions!

Further, the overwhelming majority of the individuals serving on these public bodies are volunteers, dedicating their valuable time, often in the evening, to serving their community. Over the past five years, these dedicated volunteers have worked to conduct their meetings in the way that works best for their community, carefully balancing transparency and access with financial reality and operational feasibility. As I stated earlier, these efforts have been an overwhelming success.

After a series of short-term extensions, now is the time to make these allowances permanent, so that cities and towns can maintain these successes well into the future.

We applaud the Legislature for adopting these provisions at the onset of the pandemic, and for extending them over the course of the past few years. And we applaud the Healey-Driscoll administration for proposing that the allowances be made permanent as part of their Municipal Empowerment Act. We also thank Rep. Danielle Gregoire and Sen. Jake Oliveira for filing stand-alone bills that would accomplish the same. We look forward to working with the Legislature to encourage them to act in time for the March 31 deadline.