Gov. Baker speaks at 2016 MMA Annual Meeting

Warmly received by 900 local officials from across the state at the MMA Annual Meeting on Jan. 22, Gov. Charlie Baker announced the local aid amounts in his fiscal 2017 state budget bill and stressed the value of the state-local partnership.
 
“Let me just start by thanking you all for the heavy lifting and the hard work that you do every day in your communities,” he said.
 
A former selectman himself, Baker pointed out that many top posts in his administration, now entering its second year, are filled by people with a local government background. He said he was looking for “folks who know what life’s like on the ground.”
 
He said last year’s historic winter, which brought the state to a standstill at times, had a side benefit of strengthening the partnership between his team and municipal government.
 
“It was a really unique opportunity for us, very early on in our administration, to sort of open the door and engage a lot of folks on the local level around something that was hugely important to everybody at that point in time, which was how were we ever going to survive the 9 feet of snow in four weeks,” he said.
 
The governor spent nearly half of his 20-minute speech on his “municipal modernization” bill, which he alternately refers to as the “weed whacker special.” The comprehensive legislation would update and reform a wide swath of state laws governing everything from basic municipal finance and administration to local control over liquor licenses. The package is based mainly on suggestions from local officials to make running local government more efficient and less costly and to return “home rule” authority to cities and towns where it makes sense.
 
“We think you have done a lot of important work to help us craft a bill that can make life far better, less complicated, more effective and more efficient,” he said. “Many of the laws and the rules that have been on the books for anywhere from 30 to 40 to 50 to 100 years probably ought to get reconsidered at this point in time.”
 
Baker urged local officials to show up in large numbers at legislative hearings in the coming months to call for passage of the bill.
 
“Now we need to make the sale to the folks in the Legislature,” he said. “They’re going to gauge to some extent the value and importance and significance of this by how hard you advocate for it.”
 
The governor also highlighted his Community Compact initiative, which promotes the implementation of best practices in municipal government. So far, 119 cities and towns have joined the voluntary program, which offers extra points toward grant programs among its benefits.
 
“We said we’ll give you a menu of options … with respect to things that you might want to work on to improve the quality of work in your community,” he said. “And then whichever ones you choose, we will do what we can to provide you with technical assistance and support to help you do it.”
 
The program will soon include an IT grant program “for those communities that want to pursue different approaches and new ideas and best practices in information technology.”
 
The governor said his administration would soon file a bill to provide $200 million for the Chapter 90 local road and bridge program for the coming construction season.
 
He said his administration’s economic development bill, filed on Jan. 28, would include a reauthorization and $10 million expansion of the MassWorks program.
 
The governor highlighted the new Urban Agenda Grant program, which distributed about $3 million last month for a variety of downtown development initiatives. And he promised that his budget would include “significant funding” to support law enforcement efforts to address the opioid crisis.
 
The governor capped his appearance by wrapping his arm around MMA President David Dunford and turning him around to take a “selfie” with him, using the packed room as the backdrop. The unexpected moment drew cheers from the audience and stunned Dunford, who laughed and acknowledged that he needed a moment to regain his composure.