Town forgot to submit the "Economic Development Committee" bylaw adopted in May to the State

 

Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash

On May 2nd, the town adopted a new "Economic Development Committee" bylaw that would approve the creation of that committee.   Unfortunately after the meeting the Town Clerk never submitted the bylaw to the Attorney General for review, and the submission deadline passed months ago.   Without review, bylaws are not effective.

By approving "Article 9" the the town adopted a new "Economic Development Committee."   Prior to that an ad-hoc Economic Development subcommittee, chartered by the Select Board had been operating for the previous year and the Select Board dissolved it over the summer.

When the town adopts new bylaws and amendments at town meeting, they're sent in a packet to the State Attorney General's "Municipal Law Review" division for review and approval.   This is a process laid out in MGL Chapter 40 Section 32.   The Clerk has 30 days to submit the packet; if the clerk fails to the Select Board has another 15 days to submit the packet.   

The Clerk's deadline to submit the packet expired on June 1st; the Select Board's deadline expired on June 16th.

Once the packet is submitted, the Attorney General is allowed up to 90 days to review the bylaws.   When they finish their review they send each municipality a decision letter: they may approve bylaws in whole, in part, or determine they are invalid for some reason.   The decision includes confirmation on the effective date of the bylaw, and it's added to our published bylaws.     You can view the decision letters sent to municipalities on the Municipal Law Unit Decision Lookup page.

As October rolled around, and no decision arrived, residents began to suspect something had gone wrong.   The town administrator dismissed resident concerns on October 5th:

But that reply didn't hold water:  the Attorney General has to respond in 90 days, not nine months, and they've always operated like clockwork.

An email to the Attorney General's office confirmed the worst had happened: no one submitted the packet.

The existence of a "Economic Development Committee" is vital to the 40R bylaw the town intends to consider in two weeks.   A member from that Committee must serve on the "Plan Approval Authority" that would consider applications in the 40R district.