We
enjoyed seeing so many of you at the MMA Annual Meeting and
Trade Show this past weekend!
As we do for every MMA Meeting, this year we prepared some interesting and informative materials for pick-up at our booths at the Trade Show. If you were not able to stop by either of our two booths or to attend our seminar on Green Energy contracting, watch this site for links to the materials on the following topics:
Recent developments involving the Open Meeting Law
Renewable Energy contracting issues, and
Human Resources support services.
Check back for more information!
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On
January 18th, three of our Attorneys; Jack Dolan, Ilana
Quirk and Jonathan Silverstein presented a webinar titled
“What Municipalities need to know about the
new Casino Legislation”. A PDF of the presentation
can be found
here. You will need to download and install this
player to view the webinar, which can be found here.
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February 6: Jeanne S. McKnight, head of the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group, will present an informational session to the Needham Heights Neighborhood Association on the topics of Affordable Housing and Comprehensive Permits under General Laws Chapter 40B.
January 26: Attorney Joel B. Bard will present a seminar to the Town of Scituate Planning Board on "Roles and Responsibilities of Planning and Zoning Boards." This event has been arranged by the Citizen Planner Training Collaborative at the request of the Town. This particular course provides an overview of the functions of planning and zoning boards, with emphasis on their similarities and differences, and summarizes the laws, procedures, and sources of information that constitute the main tools of planning and zoning.
More information about CPTC and its programs can be found online at http://www.umass.edu/masscptc/about.html
January 26: Lauren F. Goldberg, will once again be a faculty member at the annual Winter Conference of the Massachusetts Town and City Clerks, to be held this year on January 25-27 at The Sturbridge Host Hotel & Conference Center. Attorney Goldberg will be speaking on two separate topics. The first is “Charter Adoption & Amendment,” and her presentation will focus on both perennial issues of procedure and substance and those issues that are currently of particular interest.
In addition, Attorney Goldberg will present a “Primer on All Things CPA,” that is, she will address numerous basic issues relating to the Community Preservation Act. These will include the manner of local acceptance and rescission of the Act, exemptions and options, the sometimes misunderstood role of the Community Preservation Committee, and sources and uses of the appropriations that may be made for expenditures under the Act.
For additional information, see:
http://www.newenglandclerks.org/filestorage/121/155/2012_WinterConf.pdf
January 25: Attorney Patricia A. Cantor will be a faculty member for a third time at the MCLE seminar entitled “Zoning Practice: MCLE BasicsPlus!” to be held via webcast and on-site at the MCLE Conference Center, 10 Winter Place, Boston, from 9 AM until 5 PM. At this comprehensive seminar, Attorney Cantor will be summarizing significant land use cases decided by the Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court in 2011.
For more information about this seminar, click on the News & Events link to the left, or see www.mcle.org.
October and November:
In October and November, four Kopelman and Paige, P.C. attorneys led six of the Citizen Planner Training Collaborative's Fall 2011 Workshops. As its name suggests, CPTC is a collaboration among the University of Massachusetts, planning organizations, and Regional Planning Authorities that provides a variety of training modules. These modules give practical and legal guidance to local planning and zoning boards and other municipal boards and officers with roles in the land use permitting process. These popular courses have been providing valuable training and support to the newly appointed and veteran individuals alike for many years and are offered during the Spring and Fall of each year. This year's Fall sessions prominently featured Kopelman and Paige, P.C. attorneys. More information about CPTC and its programs can be found online at http://www.umass.edu/masscptc/about.html
October
12 - David J. Doneski led a workshop on Special Permits
& Variances, held at the office of the Martha's Vineyard
Commission, 33 New York Avenue, Oak Bluffs. MIIA credit* was
available for this workshop, which included discussion of the
differences between Special Permits and Variances, as well as
key timelines to follow in the decision-making process.
October
13 - Joel B. Bard presented the CPTC module entitled Introduction
to Subdivision Control Law and ANR, held at the Pioneer Valley
Planning Commission office, 60 Congress Street, 2nd Floor, Springfield.
Attorney Bard covered the purposes of the law, responsibilities
of boards under the law, adoption of subdivision regulations,
and other related legal and procedural issues.
October
27 - Patricia A. Cantor provided training on the Roles and
Responsibilities of Planning & Zoning Boards (Part 2) at
7 P.M. at Southeast Regional Planning & Economic Development
District, 88 Broadway, Taunton. Workshop topics included Open
Meeting, Public Records, and Conflict of Interest Laws, building
on basic concepts outlined in Part 1 of this two-part series.
November, 2011 - Elizabeth A. ("Betsy") Lane led the following three workshops:
November 1 - Roles & Responsibilities of Planning and Zoning Boards (Part 1): 7 P.M. at Hingham Town Hall, 210 Central Street, Hingham. This was a Level 1 core course program designed to provide the support new appointees could use in learning their roles as local officials. Attorney Lane explained the functions of planning and zoning boards, with emphasis on their similarities and differences, and summarized the laws, procedures, and sources of information that constitute the main tools of planning and zoning.
November 2 - Writing Reasonable and Defensible Decisions: 7 P.M. at the office of Old Colony Planning Council, 70 School Street, Brockton. Attorney Lane explained the key points of writing clear and defensible decisions and conditions, focusing on the necessary content of land use permit decisions from a legal and practical perspective. This session highlighted the "do's and don'ts" of decision writing in understandable terms. MIIA credit* was available for this workshop.
November 10 - How to Hold a Perfect Public Hearing: 7 P.M. was held at the office of the Southeast Regional Planning & Economic Development District, 88 Broadway, Taunton. This CPTC module used a video presentation that Attorney Lane used to guide participants in understanding how to meet the legal requirements for a public hearing, including the requirements added by recent amendments to the Open Meeting Law, as well as tips for effective preparation for and conduct of a hearing, methods to maintain hearing decorum, and tips for drafting decisions.
*Individuals who attended MIIA credit workshops could earn credit for their towns under the MIIA Rewards Program for public officials' liability insurance.
October 26: Attorney Lauren F. Goldberg was the featured speaker at the 2011 Fall Meeting of the Tri-County Clerks Association, where she gave a presentation on recent developments under the recently revised Open Meeting Law. The Association meeting, which included clerks from Plymouth, Bristol, and Norfolk counties, took place at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at the Fireside Grille, 30 Bedford Street, Middleboro, MA.
October: We are pleased to welcome the Towns of Becket and Sheffield in Berkshire County to our family of communities. Currently representing twelve communities in Berkshire County as Town Counsel and others as Special Counsel, we look forward to providing Becket and Sheffield with the same personalized service and level of expertise that we provide to all of our clients located throughout the Commonwealth. We currently represent cities and towns in every one of the 14 counties in the Commonwealth.
September 14: Jay Tehan and Kay Doyle secured an important victory from the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Coscia v. Town of Pembroke. The Court of Appeals reversed a decision by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The Appeals Court ruled that individual Pembroke police officers did not violate a young man's right to due process under the U.S. Constitution. The young man had expressed suicidal thoughts while he was in custody following a single car crash. The police kept him safe while he was in custody. The day after he was released from custody, the young man committed suicide. His family sued, claiming the police should have sought medical attention for him while he was in custody and the failure to do so resulted in his suicide after his release. The Court determined that the police officers could not be held responsible for actions taken when the young man was no longer in their custody, unless the young man had a special relationship with the police or the police had placed him in a position of greater danger, and therefore did not violate the young man's right to due process. The young man's family has declared an intent to file a petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.
June 28: Attorney John J. Goldrosen of our firm was a faculty member at the MCLE seminar entitled “Solving Waterfront Property Issues” held at the MCLE Conference Center, 10 Winter Place, Boston. For more information about this seminar, see www.mcle.org.
June 28: Lauren Goldberg was a speaker at the MCLE seminar entitled “Freedom of Information & Public Records Law” held at 10 Winter Place, Boston. Attorney Goldberg presented on the topic of responses to public records requests as part of a three-person panel on the Public Records Law. For more information on this seminar, see www.mcle.org.
June 16: Attorney Michele E. Randazzo of our firm was a conference co-chair of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s 5th Annual Public Law Conference on June 16. For more information about this seminar, see http://www.massbar.org/cle/cle-programs?k=2391&kp=2364.
June 11: Attorney Lauren F. Goldberg was a presenter at the Massachusetts Municipal Association Leadership Conference for Selectmen, in Sutton, MA. She addressed a breakout session concerning major changes to the Conflict of Interest Law and the Public Records Law.
June 10: Attorney Ilana M. Quirk was a speaker at the annual conference of the Massachusetts Association of Planning Directors, where she presented a review of recent court decisions of relevance and interest to planners. This conference was held at the Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites in New Bedford, MA. For further information, see: www.apa-ma.org/events/mapd-conference.
June 9: Attorney Lauren F. Goldberg was a presenter at the City and Town Clerks' Associations' Summer Conference in Falmouth, MA. In the morning, Attorney Goldberg addressed the topic of Parliamentary Procedure and provided an update on the Open Meeting Law. In the afternoon, she made a presentation on the Public Records Law.
June 8: Kay Doyle and Jay Tehan secured a noteworthy victory for the Town of Amesbury on June 8, 2011 when the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts in a difficult civil rights case. The plaintiff alleged that the Town of Amesbury had violated his right to free speech, assembly and petition for redress of grievances under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and parallel provisions under the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights after banning him from the Amesbury Public Library for one year and restricting his access to other town facilities after staff made numerous complaints that the plaintiff had engaged in sexual harassment and other misconduct.
June 2011: Attorney David J. Doneski's article entitled "Public Contracting - Lease or Building Construction? The Applicability of Construction Bidding Statutes to Procurement of Finished Building Space" has been published in the Massachusetts Law Review, Volume 93, No. 4. Click here to view article. It is a case comment on Brasi Development Corp. v. Attorney General, 456 Mass. 684 (2010).