The recent Appeals Court case of Maroney v. Planning Board of Haverhill, 19-P-566 (Appeals Court June 15, 2020) highlights the pitfalls...

EPA Issues Final Rule Redefining "Waters of the United States" On April 21, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule...

The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently issued a decision affirming that Massachusetts Fire Chiefs possess non-delegable management...

The federal Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§1251 et seq., requires a permit for discharges from a point source to “navigable waters,” which...

Police serve many critical community functions other than law enforcement: crowd control, responding to accidents and other emergencies,...

A bar with an all-alcohol license, issued under M.G.L. c. 138, §12, which permits the premises to serve alcohol to patrons on site, also...

The Supreme Judicial Court recently had occasion to review and affirm the adequacy of a Town Meeting Warrant article that the Town itself...

It is well known that, before a municipality may be sued for a tort such as negligence, claimants must “present” their claims to the...

Another recent Supreme Judicial Court decision, Gentili v. Town of Sturbridge, sheds light on the distinction between a municipality’s...

A number of municipal websites throughout the Commonwealth recently were impacted by an outage. Municipalities that have designated their...

Check out the new DLS Municipal Finance Training and Resource Center! It is full of helpful videos and documents. DLS even has its own...

On January 24, 2020, a Middlesex Superior Court judge enjoined the City of Cambridge from enforcing an ordinance that prohibits...

Our January newsletter promised an analysis of Magliacane v. City of Gardner, an important decision from the Supreme Judicial Court...

A recent Berkshire County Superior Court decision, Stockbridge Bowl Association, Inc. v. Town of Stockbridge Conservation Commission,...

New IGR Regarding Community Preservation Fund The Community Preservation Act has been the subject of considerable interpretation and...

Municipalities Maintain a Substantial Degree of Control over Adult Use Cannabis Establishment Licensing Through the Host Community...

Clamping Down on PFAS: MassDEP Finalizes Waste Site Cleanup Standards and Proposes Drinking Water Standards MassDEP’s march forward on...

The State Ethics Commission recently issued a new advisory on the kinds of gifts and gratuities a public employee may receive under...

Emily and Ruth are denizens of the City of New Bedford’s Buttonwood Park Zoo; they are Asian elephants. A citizen sympathetic to their...

Information on Sale of Hemp-Derived Products Hemp is a variety of cannabis but without the levels of THC found in marijuana. Hemp is...