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Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The MMA joined today with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, Massachusetts Association of Regional Planning Agencies, Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions to jointly announce their strong support for legislation to preserve the current authorization to hold hybrid and remote public meetings in Massachusetts, which is scheduled to expire on March 31.
The five organizations are backing the permanent codification of existing Open Meeting Law provisions, as included in the Healey-Driscoll administration’s recently filed Municipal Empowerment Act, or MEA.
The MEA would make hybrid and remote public meetings an explicitly allowable format under the state’s Open Meeting Law, which governs the public’s right to access government meetings. These authorizations have been extended several times since the pandemic forced remote accommodations in 2020, but are currently due to expire at the end of next month.
“In the earliest days of the COVID pandemic, every local government in the Commonwealth adapted — almost instantly — to change how it conducts the public’s business, in ways that increased transparency and accountability and boosted public participation and confidence,” said MMA Executive Director Adam Chapdelaine. “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. All we are asking is that this flexibility be made permanent.”
“Hybrid and remote meetings have increased public access to government and enhanced engagement in our communities, and we don’t want to see the Commonwealth lose ground on that progress,” said MAPC Executive Director Marc Draisen. “Across our region, we have seen an uptick in public participation in meetings thanks to hybrid and remote options. Making this flexibility permanent will give municipalities the tools they need to best serve their residents in the future.”
“Meeting in hybrid and remote formats allows every community, from the largest to the smallest and from urban to rural, the chance to promote public participation,” said MARPA Co-Chair Linda Dunlavy, who’s also executive director of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments. “We know our local officials work best when they are reflecting the needs of their constituents, and when they have the freedom to choose the option that works best for their community. Having this flexibility is essential for good governance.”
“Municipalities are already scheduling meetings for dates beyond the expiration of the hybrid and remote meeting flexibilities,” said MARPA Co-Chair Jeffrey Walker, who’s also executive director of the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District. “Our municipal staff and residents are at risk of being unable to participate unless there is legislative action.”
“School committees in Massachusetts have seen overwhelming success through the option provided for remote or hybrid meetings,” said MASC Executive Director Glenn Koocher. “The flexibility currently provided has been central to this success. MASC strongly supports making these provisions permanent.”
“The Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions strongly supports the Open Meeting Law provisions in the Municipal Empowerment Act and legislation allowing conservation commissions and other municipal boards the flexibility and the right to choose in-person meetings, hybrid meetings, or virtual meetings as determined by the local commissions and boards,” said MACC Executive Director Dot McGlincy.
The five local government groups say that codifying the current authorizations would ensure that municipalities can decide when to implement remote or hybrid meetings, while taking into account staff capacity, public interest, and financial as well as technological resources such as technology, staff and space. If the current law expires, however, remote and hybrid meetings will become impossible under the Open Meeting Law.
Each city and town has dozens of boards, councils and commissions, which hold numerous meetings per year — often simultaneously. In total, there are more than 10,000 such boards across the Commonwealth.
In addition to the Open Meeting Law provisions in the Municipal Empowerment Act, the MMA, MAPC, MARPA, MASC and MACC also strongly support bills filed by Rep. Danielle Gregoire and Sen. Jacob Oliveira, HD.2863 and SD.1850, respectively, entitled An Act to modernize municipal meetings, town meetings, and local elections. All of these proposals would codify the public meeting provisions that have been overwhelmingly successful over the past five years.
“Despite good intentions, mandates for hybrid meetings are not practical and logistically infeasible given how local government operates,” Chapdelaine added. “We’re grateful to Gov. Healey for her thoughtful and common-sense proposal, and greatly appreciate similar bills filed by Rep. Gregoire and Sen. Oliveira, which provide additional options for legislative action.”
“Other COVID-originated provisions, such as expedited permitting for outdoor dining and to-go cocktails, have already been made permanent in state law,” said Draisen. “With the current law due to expire next month, MAPC is proud to join our local government colleagues in urging the Legislature to codify the already-successful flexibility around public meetings.”