Category Archives: Massachusetts Municipal Association

COVID restrictions ending 5/29

Posted on May 17, 2021 | 1 comment
  Breaking News from the MMA  

State to lift remaining COVID-19 restrictions, ease mask-wearing rules by May 29

Saying that the state will likely meet a key vaccination goal by early June, Gov. Charlie Baker announced today that the state will lift most remaining COVID-19 restrictions — including allowing for full capacity for industries and removing gathering limits — and adopt new federal guidance on mask wearing on May 29.

In a press conference Monday morning, Baker said that the state is now “safer, smarter and better equipped in this fight,” and is in a position to accelerate its full reopening and to rescind its current mask order. He said that the state expects to meet its goal of vaccinating 4.1 million people by the first week of June. …

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Posted in COVID-19, health, Massachusetts Municipal Association, State

Covid voting changes extended

Posted on March 16, 2021 | Comments Off on Covid voting changes extended

From the Massachusetts Municipal Association –

 
Breaking News from the MMA  
Gov. Baker signs law to extend pandemic-related voting changes

A law signed by Gov. Charlie Baker today provides a three-month extension for a number of changes to voting procedures that were enacted last spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including early voting by mail.

The new law does the following:
• Allows a city or town with a municipal caucus or annual or special municipal election scheduled before June 30, 2021, to postpone such municipal caucus or municipal election to a date certain not later than Aug. 1, 2021

• Allows the select board, board of selectmen, town council or board of registrars to vote to eliminate a municipal caucus scheduled to occur before July 31, 2021, and, in the alternative, use nomination papers to nominate candidates …

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Posted in COVID-19, Elections, Massachusetts Municipal Association

MMA’s The Beacon for March

Posted on March 2, 2021 | Comments Off on MMA’s The Beacon for March
Massachusetts Municipal Association
Hello Members!  

Here’s the March 2021 issue of The Beacon – packed with the latest COVID-related news, including federal relief updates and FEMA reimbursement changes, information about local and state pandemic response efforts, state grant opportunities, details about MMA member group virtual meetings, and general membership webinars.  

Link to the March 2021 issue of The Beacon (no login required)  

By publishing The Beacon as a PDF, we can ensure that we get you the very latest information that you need ASAP. (If you did not receive this email directly, please share your email address with us – along with name, title and city/town – at database@mma.org.)  

Best wishes to all of you during this challenging time.  

John Ouellette Manager of Publications and Digital Communications  
Jennifer Kavanaugh Associate Editor  
Meredith Gabrilska Digital Communications Coordinator  

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Posted in Massachusetts Municipal Association

MMA on State’s Steps

Posted on February 25, 2021 | Comments Off on MMA on State’s Steps
 
Breaking News from the MMA  

Mass. to return to Step 2 of Phase 3 Monday, advance to Phase 4 on March 22

The Baker-Polito administration announced today that Massachusetts will return to Step 2 of Phase 3 of the state’s four-phase reopening plan on Monday, March 1, and will transition to Step 1 of Phase 4 three weeks later, on March 22.

Gov. Charlie Baker said the steps to further reopen the Commonwealth’s economy were being taken because public health metrics continue to trend in a positive direction, including drops in average daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, while vaccination rates continue to increase.

The administration released its reopening plan on May 18, 2020, conditioning any progress on sustained improvements in public health data. The state had advanced to Step 2 of Phase 3 last October, but returned to the previous step on Dec. 13 in response to an increase in new COVID infections and hospitalizations following the Thanksgiving holiday. The step back reduced capacities across a broad range of sectors and tightened several other workplace restrictions. …

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Posted in COVID-19, Massachusetts Municipal Association, State

Read the MMA’s magazine, the Municipal Advocate

Posted on February 15, 2021 | Comments Off on Read the MMA’s magazine, the Municipal Advocate
Hello Readers! 
The pandemic has caused everyone to retool and reprioritize, including us at the MMA. We’ve shifted our focus in order to provide as much relevant and timely information as possible to help municipalities navigate this challenging time. There are, however, a range of ongoing pre-pandemic challenges that will need our attention as soon as we’re able, and key among them is climate change. Today, we present the new issue of the Municipal Advocate on that topic. This issue features articles on: • The Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program, which provides tools and grants to communities to address concerns on the front line• The Massachusetts Climate Action Network, which is partnering with cities and towns to dramatically reduce emissions and purchase more local renewable energy• The collaborative work of 15 Cape Cod towns to develop and deploy preventative, mitigating and adaptive climate strategies• Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic that can help us take bold and multi-faceted action to address climate change• The Trustees of Reservations’ effort to assess the vulnerability of five key coastal areas As an added convenience, all the links in the document are clickable, as are the story titles in the table of contents. We hope you enjoy this issue. Best regards,John OuelletteMMA Manager of Publications and Digital Communications

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Posted in Massachusetts Municipal Association

MMA’s The Beacon

Posted on February 3, 2021 | Comments Off on MMA’s The Beacon
Hello Members!   Here’s the February 2021 issue of The Beacon – packed with the latest budget and COVID-related news, complete coverage of the MMA Annual Meeting & Trade Show, information about local and state pandemic response efforts, an interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci, and details about MMA member group virtual meetings.   Link to the February 2021 issue of The Beacon (no login required)   By publishing The Beacon as a PDF, we can ensure that we get you the very latest information that you need ASAP. (If you did not receive this email directly, please share your email address with us – along with name, title and city/town – at database@mma.org.)   Best wishes to all of you during this challenging time.   John Ouellette Manager of Publications and Digital Communications   Jennifer Kavanaugh Associate Editor   Meredith Gabrilska Digital Communications Coordinator   Meredith Gabrilska Digital Communications Coordinator

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Posted in Massachusetts Municipal Association

MMA annual meeting

Posted on January 22, 2021 | Comments Off on MMA annual meeting

I spent both yesterday and today attending the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s annual meeting, which was held virtually this year. They employed a platform that was markedly better than my usual Zoom meetings.

Heard a couple of inspiring speeches about leadership, heard a couple of programs about implicit bias, one on state finances, got addressed by both the Lt. Governor and the Governor, and learned about the MIIA price increases for the town’s insurance (5% for health insurance). Because it was all virtual, I can go back for the next month to listen to more of the programs – the MMA usually runs 5-6 concurrent workshops at a time, so one has to pick wisely.

I found it most interesting when Jeff Beckwith, the Executive Director of the MMA asked the Governor a series of questions after the Governor’s remarks, as they were personal questions aimed at how the Governor was doing with the world turned upside down by covid, and the Governor did speak quite personally. The Governor said he used to leave home at 5AM and get home at 9PM because he was usually driving home from some far part of the state, but in a covid virtual meeting world he gets done at 7PM and then walks from his home office to his kitchen to see his wife, and now has time for walks with his wife and reading books.

The Governor recommends reading Lincoln on the Verge (Baker said there was almost no United States left for Lincoln to govern between the time of Lincoln’s November election and his March 3 swearing in), watching Ted Lasso (a comedy on TV), and said:

  • “public life is a team sport”
  • “the founders wanted people to have to work together with people with whom they disagree to get things done”
  • “state and local people are judged by what they accomplish, not by what they oppose”

The Governor and Lt. Governor were both select board members before holding state office, so the MMA is especially fond of them for that and also because they have financially supported municipalities.

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Posted in Massachusetts Municipal Association

MMA’s The Beacon

Posted on January 8, 2021 | Comments Off on MMA’s The Beacon

The Massachusetts Municipal Association has made The Beacon, its monthly magazine, a PDF and now distribute it digitally. This month I especially took note of:

  • the discussion of the new police reform legislation
  • that the “Department of Revenue projects a drop in tax collections of about 6%”
  • the housing and transportation bills enacted this week

Hello Members!

Here’s the January 2021 issue of The Beacon – packed with the latest budget and COVID-related news, updates about the MMA Annual Meeting & Trade Show, information about local and state pandemic response efforts, and details about late-session legislative activity and member group webinars.

Link to the January 2021 issue of The Beacon (no login required)

By publishing The Beacon as a PDF, we can ensure that we get you the very latest information that you need ASAP. (If you did not receive this email directly, please share your email address with us – along with name, title and city/town – at database@mma.org.)

Best wishes to all of you during this challenging time.

John Ouellette

MMA Manager of Publications and Digital Communications

Jennifer Kavanaugh

Associate Editor

Meredith Gabrilska Digital Communications Coordinator

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Posted in Massachusetts Municipal Association

The MMA’s The Beacon

Posted on November 4, 2020 | Comments Off on The MMA’s The Beacon
Hello Members!   Here’s the November 2020 issue of The Beacon – packed with the latest budget and COVID-related news, updates about the MMA Annual Meeting & Trade Show, information about local and state COVID response programs, and details about our robust member group webinar offerings this fall.   Link to the November 2020 issue of The Beacon (no login required)   By publishing The Beacon as a PDF, we can ensure that we get you the very latest information that you need ASAP. (If you did not receive this email directly, please share your email address with us – along with name, title and city/town – at database@mma.org.)   Best wishes to all of you during this challenging time.   John Ouellette MMA Manager of Publications and Digital Communications   Jennifer Kavanaugh Associate Editor   Meredith Gabrilska Digital Communications Coordinator

See the article which I think contains a photo of Medfield’s Jeremy Marsette, DPW Director in Natick –

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Posted in Massachusetts Municipal Association, People

MMA on reopening schools and police reform

Posted on September 26, 2020 | 2 comments

I attended an on-line Massachusetts Municipal Association program on reopening schools and police reforms. The Massachusetts Municipal Association has now made the program available to hear, so I am sharing the link to do so, as I found it instructive.

Good Morning,

Thank you for attending last week’s MSA webinar covering reopening schools and police reform legislation. To view a recording of the webinar, please follow this link: https://www.mma.org/select-boards-discuss-school-reopening-police-reform-legislation/

Additionally, if you have not already done so, please take a few moments to complete this brief evaluation so that we can continue to develop content and trainings that are beneficial to you.

Best,

Isabelle Nichols

Member Services Coordinator 

2 Comments

Posted in COVID-19, Massachusetts Municipal Association, Police Department, Schools