MOGicantbewitty t1_jebnt31 wrote on March 30, 2023 at 8:58 PM

Depending on the agenda item, other laws require allowing public comment, such as Conservation Commission, Planning Board, ZBA, and Board of Health hearings. But public netting in MA you are right that MA doesn’t require allowing people to speak at public meetings in general.. Also know that the public MUST be able to speak at Town Meeting, but not every municipality has Town Meeting.

It really frustrates me that your municipality is considering shutting down public comment times in public meetings in regard to this decision. I’d suggest contacting your state representative and state senator, and show them the response your town is considering, and ask that they put forth legislation that requires allowing public comment periods with reasonable limits at all public meetings. I’ve worked in municipal government for 20 years (I’m regional now) and I would wholeheartedly support that legislation.

dew2459 t1_jef1ucv wrote on March 31, 2023 at 3:22 PM

>Also know that the public MUST be able to speak at Town Meeting, but not every municipality has Town Meeting.

Sorry to be pedantic, but this is not exactly right. Every registered voter has the right to speak at a Town Meeting. A Town Meeting is a legislative body, and only "legislators" (voters) have an unconditional right to address it (much like only city counsellor have the right to speak in a city council meeting). Since I'm being pedantic, state and local laws also allow some others to address Town Meetings for specific things (like town department heads).

If a board has a "general public input" time, they cannot restrict who talks to even "just residents" or what they say. If a Town Meeting had that kind of "open mic" time they presumably would have to let anyone (voters and non-voters) speak, but I have never heard of a Town Meeting having that, usually you can only talk about specific warrant items.

If someone wants the long discussion of why Town Meetings (as opposed to generic town board meetings) can restrict speakers: 1st US circuit court opinion in Curnin v. Town of Egremont. It is short and readable.

MOGicantbewitty t1_jef2lja wrote on March 31, 2023 at 3:27 PM

Dammit.. I acknowledge your very correct adjustment. Makes me mad I missed that! I hope your very smart self is doing good work that involves municipal government

dew2459 t1_jef88ot wrote on March 31, 2023 at 4:04 PM

Thanks for the kind words, though I'm a bit more modest about smarts, mostly I have had the opportunity to attend various state municipal org meetings where experienced town officials and lawyers discuss exactly this kind of stuff. I've been in various town functions for quite a few years, it is mostly fun, met some good people, and hopefully did & still do some good.

abhikavi OP t1_jebte23 wrote on March 30, 2023 at 9:34 PM

My Board of Health is one of the boards considering the removal of Citizen Time. It sounded from their meeting like they'd reviewed this with legal already; however, now that I go and look at MA regulations for boards of health, I see there are a lot of references to public comments, and it certainly sounds like they're required for several specific things. It seems like it'd get very complicated trying to not provide this at each meeting, and still provide it where required.

I guess I'm not sure though; does "public comment" legally mean "time to speak in public"? Would letters etc count, or is this requiring an opportunity at an open forum?

I think I'll start with outlining my concerns and sending them to my Board of Health members. I'd like to give them the opportunity to respond. (I really do think they are generally pretty reasonable folks who are just panicking right now.) I agree though that at a state level, it would be really great to have this codified into law.... I had assumed it was!

The Board of Health also talked about how other boards would be yanking their Citizen's Time in response, but they didn't say which boards, and the BOH and Ways and Means are the only ones that've had meetings since the ruling (W&M didn't bring it up). My point being; it sounds like this could be a big problem across town, but I don't know for sure if it is yet.

MOGicantbewitty t1_jebu45y wrote on March 30, 2023 at 9:39 PM

The Board of Health is not required to allow a general public commen at the end of their agenda. But specific public hearings for septic permits, and other regulatory things, do require the ability to speak publicly at the public hearing. So, you are allowed to speak under state regulation about your neighbors variance request to build their leachfield closer than allowed by your town bylaw to a wetland, but you are not allowed to speak to a general concern about actions the Board of Health should take at the end of a meeting or whenever, unless the chair decides to recognize you.

I really think the state should make it required to allow some form of public comment with a reasonable time limits and reasonable topic limits at every public meeting. And I’m a public official… Take up an extra 30 minutes of my time in a meeting, please! If that means we have active invested residents, who care about what’s happening in the municipality, fuck yeah. Bring it on!