We would like to welcome the Town of Norfolk to our family of client Towns! Our thanks go out to the Select Board and Blythe Robinson, Town Administrator, for putting their faith in our firm. The Massachusetts Chapter of the American Planning Association and the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association have co-authored The Guidebook to Massachusetts Land Use – 2021. We are pleased to announce that our own Ethan Dively is a member of the new MMLA committee to ensure that t

Employee evaluations, the Open Meeting Law, and the Public Records Statutes are frequent areas of inquiry. What can be discussed in executive session? When are evaluations public records? Does the confidentiality of a compiled evaluation depend on who does the compiling? The Division of Open Government recently issued guidance to answer these questions. The Open Meeting Law requires that evaluations of professional competence be discussed in open session. M.G.L. c.30A, §21. I

Last month, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) interpreted the Domestic Violence and Abuse Leave Act, M.G.L. c.149, §52E, for the first time since its enactment in 2014. In doing so, the SJC adopted an expansive reading of the statutory text and set forth the prima facie elements of a claim for retaliation under the Act. The case, Osborne-Trussell v. The Children’s Hospital Corporation, is a critical read for Massachusetts employers, including especially cities and towns. The

Enforcement Actions Under the Wetlands Protection Act May Be Commenced against Subsequent Owners Long after the Act Is Violated The Wetlands Protection Act, M.G.L. c.131, §40, prohibits the removal, filling, dredging, or alteration of wetlands without first obtaining an order of conditions from the local Conservation Commission, unless a statutory exemption exists. People who acquire real estate upon which work has been done in violation of the Act may be required to restore

State Grant Programs for Compact Communities The Department of Revenue has announced that funding is available for four Community Compact Cabinet grant programs: the Best Practice Grant Program, the IT Grant Program, the Efficiency & Regionalization Grant Program, and a new program, the Municipal Fiber Grant Program. If your community is a Compact Community, you can apply now for the first three programs, but applications for the new fiber grant program will not be accepted u