2023-07-18 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government
2023-07-18 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - in the Hampton Hampshire in Worcester2 District. I am not4 joined today by my cochair, state representative Carol Fiola. who will be joining us a little bit later. She is wrapping up another important meeting right now, but she wishes she could be here, and I'll turn over the chairmanship. to her once she arrives. The 17 bills that we are taking up today are related to home rule partitions and the power of government. But before we start and recognize the committee members, just wanna go over some of the ground rules for this committee hearing for those that are testifying virtually and those that are here in person. We are doing this hybrid testimony, so some will be joining us on teams. Others obviously in person. would like to remind those joining us virtually to please mute your team's app during the hearing if you are not speaking. For those of you also testifying on teams, please leave the team site after you testify. The hearing is being live streamed on the legislature's website. And if you'd like to follow the rest of the hearing, you can follow it there. Please also keep in mind that testimony is limited to each speaker to 3 minutes So just be mindful of the time. There is a clock that is up on the screen. If you are testifying virtually, you might not be able to see the 3 minute timer It's happened to me in the past, so just make sure that you do that as well. If any technical difficulties arise, please log off if you85 are on Teams. and log back in. If you're not able to be heard today, please send your written testimony
on the legislature's website, and we'll make sure that we get those out to the members of the committee. Please also know that written testimony will be accepted starting today through Tuesday, July 25th at 5 PM. You may submit your written testimony to the municipality's committee atgmail.com. and address your comments to myself as senate chair and house chair representative Carol Viola. We will take legislators out of turn if they are here to testify. It's a courtesy that we typically extend to them, and then we will ask also to keep our colleague's129 remarks to 3 minutes as well. So but before we begin members testifying before the committee, I do wanna introduce 2 members of the committee who are participating in this hearing virtually. Stay representative Margaret Scarsdale from Pepperil, and stay representative Norm Oral from Lakeville who have joined us as well. Please representative Scarsdale and representative oral. If you do have questions, please make sure to signify on the teams, and we'll be make we will make sure to recognize you as well. Like to begin by thanking members of my staff, representative Fiola staff on the joint committee. I'm Securities, our court officer, and allied us for providing this hybrid version of the committee. So starting out First, we do have a few legislators that have signed up to testify,176 and I don't believe any of these legislators are participating virtually. I think they're all in person. So we'll begin first. Representative Owens, representative Flanigan, Senator Edwards have all and come to testify. I don't see representative McKenna here yet from Oxford. So he has a panel coming in. So the first person to sign up to testify in person is Deborah Ammirall regarding house bill 3889, an act granting appointing authority of Oxford Police Department to the town manager of Oxford. is Deborah here. Oh, Deborah, why don't you come on up? Make sure to speak directly into the microphone so the folks that are participating virtually can hear you as well.
Well, is that a Portuguese last name actually? Yep.
SPEAKER2 - My husband is like mine. Yes.
SPEAKER1 - Just like mine. Well, the floor is yours for 3 minutes.
DEBORAH AMMIRALL - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3889 - Thank you. I don't have 3 minutes, but okay. I'm not a politician, I'm just a citizen of the town that I love Oxford. My statement comes from my heart, not politics. I believe that this country was founded on a system of checks and balances. If we don't have that we run the risk of a dictatorship. One person being in control of who was in charge of protecting the whole town is scary to me. The civil service was created in 1871. I can't imagine one person being able to take over and be fair, honest, and successful at this service without nepotism taking the lead. We need the checks and balances to continue. The town has been with the280 civil service for approximately 47 years282 with no problem, I wonder what the problem is now. We will have different town managers in the future, so this is not personally against the town manager it's against the system and how it wants to be run. I believe that there always has to be oversight not one person making decisions that will affect the whole town. I'm curious why the town manager was so anxious to take over this entity. Please let it continue in my town of Oxford. The people need to know we were heard. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, Deborah. Are there any questions for Deborah before she vacates the hot seat? Anybody online? Seeing that in person, thank you very much for testifying. --
SPEAKER3 - letting you talk.
SPEAKER1 - The next person to testify on same bill, age 38 89 is Casey Fleming. Casey, are you
SPEAKER4 - because determine if I might
SPEAKER1 - Excuse me. We got 1 question coming in.
SPEAKER4 - No. With respect, Mister Chairman, this is representative McKenna joining you virtually.
SPEAKER1 - Oh, thank you, representative McKenna, and I see you're also joined by your panel coming forward. So before KC comes up to testify, I'm going to take it out of order to my colleague, representative McKenna, and his panel that includes former rep360 Jen Callahan, who's the town manager in Oxford, Anthony Sad, recently retired Oxford Police chief Tony Sousa, who's the assistant town manager. If you are all joining us virtually, I will turn it first over to representative McKenna to introduce his panel and to provide his remarks. But before we do, I just wanna recognize state representative, Tram Lynn, who's joined us as well here in person. And we've also been joined by representative Michelle Debois, from Brockton who's joined virtually. With that, the floor is yours, representative McKenna for 3 minutes for you, and then you can turn it over to your panel if you wish.
397 REP397 MCKENNA397 -397 HB397 3889 - Alright, good. Thank you so much Chair Oliveira, and and through you to the rest of401 the panel and to Chair Fiola when she's able to join you. Yeah, I'm here to support H 3889. And some very brief backstory on this, this is actually piece of a larger Home Rule Petition that passed town meeting last year with really strong support that included a full removal of the Oxford Police Department from422 the civil service department. And the reason they're pursuing that is that a number of towns in the area have already removed their police departments and their service departments from the civil service. And it is becoming a burden on the town to hire new talent. And the applicant pool, for police especially, is already a decreasing pool given the political landscape that we face. And so, unfortunately, many of the civil service bills that have been pushed forward are on hold while the Public Service Committee conducts a thorough investigation into the civil service program.
But we did speak with him and he recommended moving this separate piece of that overall larger bill forward. So that's why we separated this one piece regarding the chief position apart from the full Home Rule Petition and have pushed that forward. So with that, I'll turn it over to town manager, Jen Callahan, and482 recently retired police chief, Anthony Saad for more details. And the fact that Chief Saad has retired, actually last week, after a long tenure in town we certainly appreciate his service. But it highlights the challenges that Oxford faces as we're in the midst of a police chief search, and the roles and responsibilities of the chief, and the type of department that the next chief will inherit are incumbent to be resolved in order to move forward with that search. So I'll turn it over to Jen for more details and testimony. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Representative McKenna, Town Manager Callahan. Floor is yours.
SPEAKER5 - Sure.
JENNIFER CALLAHAN - TOWN OF OXFORD - HB 3889 - Thank you Mr. chairman and it's wonderful to see you in this role and all of the colleagues that are on the Municipalities and Regional Government Committee. First of all, I just want to say thank you for actually having this hearing. Unfortunately, as we know in the areas of government, there are many steps, nothing is done in one step alone. This is another step. As town manager I can tell you that, yes, we were disappointed. We did have the full support of the legislative delegation with the original bill that was, as Representative McKenna indicated, passed very strongly and overwhelmingly by the townspeople the first time around. Having said that, I understand and respect that the public safety committee is trying to safeguard for their own reasons civil service. But that doesn't help our community.
Our community is needing to go forward, and it has caused quite a bit of delay and controversy because580 we weren't able to get this Home Rule Petition done in normal speed, which you and I both know that typically these are bills that we hold with the highest respect in the Legislature. And I kind of think of civil service akin to when we were removing the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Nobody really knew the steps and what we were gonna do, so everyone was a little bit nervous. But as you know, we no longer have toll booths and things, you know, have continued to operate. What this bill actually seeks to do is it is really a charter change. And it's a charter change that's in keeping with every other department head we have in the town of Oxford. We do professional searches, we do professional hirings, and promotions. And I have to tell you, I have met with the entire department on a number of occasions this past spring to make sure that this is what they want to do.
They want a strong chief, and they do want to be removed from civil service. Obviously, there will be policies and procedures that get adopted at the local level that have nothing to do with the Legislature, and we're working on these things. And I want you to know that it is our goal to move one step at a time, but this is going to be important as we're hiring a brand new chief who's going to be needing to actually work on these things. And, you know, if anything, we need to hold them in the same regard that we do other managers in town. So I respectfully ask for the committee to, you know, move this bill along. And hopefully, if you have any questions, at the end of the balance of time, I'd be more than happy to answer them. Thank you Mr. Chairman and thank you to the committee for entertaining this bill today. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, manager. Callahan, next we have Anthony Sad, recently repot retired Oxford Police chief.
ANTHONY SAAD - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3889 - Good morning Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, and thanks for, I'm glad to be here this morning in front of you. I retired last month after a 40 year career with the Oxford Police Department, the last 6 as chief of police, and I'm here this morning to wholeheartedly support705 this House bill 3889 because it is significant. If you were to ask any of your local police choose, and I would like you to do that after the meeting. Ask them what the biggest challenge that they face today, and I think the common denominator here is recruitment and retention of officers. Less people, as we know, are entering this field of law enforcement during this particular period of time. So what happens is competition amongst local PDs, especially municipalities like ours, is very fierce on on trying to get qualified personnel. So we're all going after the same people.
As a result of that, we have to move quickly and efficiently to secure these individuals751 if they're interested in Oxford. Now753 our local board to selectmen who's currently appointing authority, they meet every 2 weeks. If they don't have a quorum, a month goes by. So by the time we have the next meeting, it may be 6 weeks. A764 matter of a week or 2 is the766 difference in whether we can secure a qualified academy trained individual or not who may be interested in coming to Oxford because whoever secures that individual first is going to win. So I think it's important for the chief of police and the manager to have control over this. The manager and the chief have experience in hiring, personnel issues, employment practices. They get a chance to see the officers on a regular basis to actually make that important determination on who really is doing the work, who should be in line for promotions and qualifications.
It's been my experience over the years, and I can speak personally to it that the process drags out. When we start from day one to the end, it would take a good year to get a new individual online and into the PD. I have had the personal experience of bringing recommendations before the Board of Selectmen only to have them not823 take a recommendation and move in a different direction after extensive and thorough background investigations have been done. As the manager stated earlier, we're just looking to get the police department in line with other departments and other department heads who have the say on who is going to be hired, promoted, and move forward in the process. This is critical and crucial to the town of Oxford, and I really implore the committee to give this strong consideration. Like I said, I retired last month. I didn't have to be at this hearing today. I felt compelled to come in because I've been fighting this fight for the last couple of years to put our police department in a better position moving forward. And thank you for the opportunity to present my testimony this morning Mr. Chairman. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, chief, and congratulations on your retirement. We also have signed up Tony Souza, who's the assistant town manager, Mister Souza. Do you wish to testify as well?
SPEAKER5 - Mister Chairman, if I may, Tony Sousa had a family emergency, and he is not able a testify. I know he would have loved to have testified in front of you as assistant town manager. I know you have a background in the South short together, but he is not able to do that. He did have a family emergency that called him away. I just wanted to
SPEAKER1 - -- No no worries. Thank you, manager Callahan. I'll now turn it over to the committee for any questions that committee members might have for our panel from Oxford.
SEN OLIVEIRA - Seeing none, my only question that I have and it's probably for you, Manager Callahan, is919 looking at the current police force in921 the town of Oxford, with this change if it were to become law, would there be any change for the current officers and employees of the police department for reappointment to their positions? Would everything have to change and go through the new process opposed to the process before through the Board of Selectmen?
CALLAHAN - So this actually is tied to other things, like I said, the adopting of the local policies for promotions within. We're in the process of actually doing that with the local union as well as looking at those kinds of things that relate to959 hiring and recruitment, which has always been a management oversight. Whether it's been the appointing authority or the managers making the recommendations to the former Board of Selectman. So we see some small changes that will take place, some will be bargained and some will not be. So we will do due diligence to make sure of that. But having said that, just adopting this in and of itself means that we get to do the next steps. We cannot impact bargain over something that has not passed and does not exist. So we really need this to be able to authenticate, but we are doing that ahead of time. And I do appreciate that question. I don't know if the chief wanted to add to that at all, chief, through you Mr. Chairman. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER6 - Absolutely. Chief?
SAAD - I think, Mr. Chairman, just moving forward, obviously, the appointing authority would shift for future patrolmen positions, sergeant, lieutenant positions as well. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
CALLAHAN - Yeah, and it will come with a recommendation of the chief, Mr. Chairman, I mean that's the important. The eyes are on the prize, and that's at the local departmental level. And knowing that we have a new chief that right now is gonna be, you know, decided upon, I think it's gonna be crucial for them to be able to you know, do what Chief Saad has been trying to do for many years. Is give that authority to the person who's got all the other supervisory authorities and who's writing the policies and procedures, no Board of Selectmen is doing that. It's been the chief's purview, but this is one piece that needs to be done. Our fire chief already is doing this for their personnel, makes the recommendation to the manager. So it isn't just one person, it's really a process and a professional process at that. And I think that's1066 what's important for us to keep in mind.1068 Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Right. I believe rep debras might have a question. Representative debras. Can you hear me?
REP DUBOIS - I do, Chairman. Thank you so much for hosting this hearing and for calling on me. I just have two questions. So the1084 appointing authority then becomes the town manager. And since that chief's position is vacant, so the town manager and the next hire will have all the authority because the former chief is now retired, so he really doesn't have the chief's authority anymore even if he will have input. So we'll just, what will happen if this were to pass? What would happen in this coming new round of filling your chief position? Who would have that authority? Just who?
1114 CALLAHAN1114 -1114 Sure.1114 Mr. Chairman, I could answer that question. Actually, we've now had to go out and do two open competitive assessments. One, because this bill, the original bill had not been adopted like we had thought it would at the end. I will give real credit to our legislative delegation, which really tried in earnest to do this back in December before the close of the actual legislative session and was not able to do that for the reasons I had specified earlier. So, what we had to do is go back to the drawing board, start a civil service process because the chief's position is even in civil service. So we had to spend more money to do that. And right now, the finalists are being vetted by civil service, and we expect in the month of August, August 1st, that the ranking list will be provided back to the town. So right now, the appointing authority will be the Board of Selectmen for this next chief.
We're looking1171 forward to the future, and so this will not impact1175 that particular appointment. That will stay where it is because this bill is not in place. We couldn't wait, honestly. It's bad enough that we've waited a year and a half for the bill to be passed, but we could not operate in a manner in which we don't have that position. So that position will be decided by the local appointing authority at this time, we're looking to the future and a especially with rank and file officers. This will have a huge impact going forward because we could be bereft upwards of a year trying to do it through a civil service process, and the chief could1212 entertain other questions about how difficult it is with the list that we get from civil service, and the delay, and the process that has always existed that has put us behind the eight ball. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Rep to you, do you have another question?
SPEAKER7 - Nope. That's great. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Alright. Thank you. Any other questions from committee members? Seeing none, thank you so much. Representative McKenna, manager Callahan, and chief Sia. Thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER4 - Thank you for accommodating. Much appreciated.
SPEAKER1 - Not a problem, representative. Take care. Next on the list, and I'm sorry we take members out of order. we're back to the in person list of Casey Fleming who's here to testify in the same bill, Casey.
yeah, 3 minutes the floor is yours.
SPEAKER8 - Thank you.
CASEY FLEMING - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3889 - Good morning. My name is Casey Fleming, and I'm a resident of Oxford. I think it's a luxury that we have the members of our police be appointed by a public body, people who are elected and are directly accountable to the public. And I think that that's something most communities don't have. And I see it as a luxury, I think that that's preferable to having them appointed by someone who themselves is also appointed. Regarding the votes that we had on leaving civil service, there was a vote in May of 2022. It passed narrowly. I was at that town meeting, I don't remember it passing overwhelmingly.1303 The police union was also present handing out flyers at the door stating that they were against it and asking people to vote it down.
We then voted again on leaving civil service this May and that one was voted down. And a representative of the police union spoke at town meeting and stated that the police union had voted and was unanimously against leaving civil service and that they had been trying to negotiate with the town manager to1337 see if they could come up with an agreement prior to leaving civil service to see if they could get everyone on the same page and that they just weren't even able to get meetings scheduled. And so the town has a public access page where all of the videos are posted and the video of the May 2023 town meeting is posted there. If the members would like to go and see it. I was at that meeting as well, and I thought that the testimony given by the representative of the police union was quite strong. So I would encourage the members to go and look at that video.
I don't think that we need a change in Oxford. We've, you know, had this argument before that we need to hire all of the best candidates. And I think we have great candidates the way we are now. I've interacted with the police department. My father was a police officer for many years in Connecticut, and I've never had a problem with the police department here. I've had to call them a few times for minor things like being stolen, things like that. I found them to be very professional and pleasant, and I don't see anything about our police department that needs to be changed right now. And I don't think that just because other surrounding communities are doing something different is a reason why we should do it differently. We don't live in those towns, and I just think that it should be kept the1418 way that it is. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you, Mister Fleming. Thank you. questions for Mister Fleming.
Seeing none. Thank you for
SPEAKER8 - your time.
SPEAKER1 - Next up, also in a opposition to h 3889 is Timothy Moriarty. Timothy. Thank
you for joining us. Thank you, Matt. Or is yours for 3 minutes?
TIMOTHY MORIARTY - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3889 - Good morning Mr. Chairman, committee members, and members of the public. My name is Timothy Moriarty. I am a resident of Oxford, a small business owner, and a member of the previous Board of Selectmen. I come here today in opposition of this petition. During my time as a selectman this topic was the most discussed by residents and became1461 very contentious between residents and town officials due to the lack of transparency. From the 2022 Springtown meeting where the vote happened 80 to 721471 and passing it, which is before us today, there were similar articles presented at this spring's town meeting that left people confused.
In between that process during some of the meetings, there had been a committee that was to be formed to pick the chief, which I was selected to be on by the board. During that time, we seemingly went from 12 candidates down to 3. We had no committee meeting, no plan for a committee meeting, 0 information on candidates. So, how did we go from 12 candidates down to 3? Some of the contention that we experienced in some of the town meetings was the lack of transparency in the information being provided. Again, even here, we were trying to figure out who's gonna be the appointing authority. You know, the different arguments that you're hearing today, you know, seem to be a little bit contradictory to each other and obvious misinformation.
12 votes doesn't seem very contentious to me, but the spread, mind you I don't have the numbers. I think it was a little bit more than that when we revisited this spring and the residents voted it down. And as you heard earlier, from Mr. Fleming, the union rep spoke and discussed how he had sent multiple emails to the town manager's office and only1550 received any response only 14 days prior to that meeting. So in discussing this, and having one person to have the appointing authority in something like this, we can already see the things that are happening. The information that's being purposefully left out and being misrepresented, you know, to attest to the position. You know, a lot of times we can talk about the person that's in this position. And the current town manager is set to retire here in the next couple of years, at least within 10.
So beyond that, we don't know who we're getting. The grass may not be greener on the other side it could be worse. So it's not the argument of the person. It's the merits of the actions that this person can take. Imagine for a second that this committee right here was dissolved down to only one person. Would you be okay with it being just your choice or to the person to your left or right having that one choice? The people of Oxford have made their choice. They don't want it. With the new information that was presented at Town Meeting, between that and 2022, people are more educated to make the decision. So that and if the union and multiple police officers that I've spoken to are not happy just with the conduct in the way this has been done, never mind the outcome that it could possibly have. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, miss for you, Go. I just wanna turn it over if any committee members have any questions for Mister Moriarty. Excuse me. And question
OLIVEIRA - My only question for you is, how long did you serve on the Board of Selectmen?
MORIARTY - It was a 1 year because somebody resigned after 2 years pretty much because of the lack of transparency in the board. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you for your testimony. Thank you. I'm now yep. Yep. And I'd like to take us out of order before we get back to this bill. I saw that representative Chris Flanagan is here to testify in support of his bill. House 3875 and act relative to care custody and control, the use of Wing Island and Brewster. I will say representative, I did have to look that up where it's actually located on a map. So thank you for educating me at my geography. Yeah. Absolutely. Representative plan again. The floor is yours for 3 minutes.
REP FLANAGAN - HB 3875 - Thank you so much both to the chairs and the honorable members of this committee. I will make this very brief. I'm here to talk about H 3875, which is essentially a Home Rule Petition for the town of Brewster. They are essentially1692 looking to put a conservation restriction over a beautiful piece of land an island just off of Brewster called Wing Island. Just so the committee is aware, this did undergo a fairly expensive public process. There certainly wasn't a decision that was made haphazardly it certainly, took a number of months and even a few years to to get to this point. And I know that you also received written testimony from the Brewster Town administrator and the assistant town administrator. So really just here to answer any questions that you all might have and hope that there are no more fire drills today. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - I think we're all praying that there won't be any more fire drills. before representative Flanagan leaves, are there any questions on this bill from committee members?
I'm hearing that
OLIVEIRA - My only question for you is, so, when we were looking at this, and I was looking at the map to see where it was kind of located. Is there access points still for swimming even after these parcels would be transferred for, or would that be kind of shut down on?
FLANAGAN - It's a good question, and I think that's one that the municipality is still trying to work on. But for the time being, there is still access to the Wing Island.
OLIVEIRA - There is still access. And is it dirt access to get out to this Island, I'm guessing?
FLANAGAN - So, really good question. So it's actually almost like wooden blocks to get out there. So not the most accessible but maybe that will change over time, who knows.
OLIVEIRA - And for the edification of members, it is on the Bay side of the Cape.
FLANAGAN - That's right. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Any other questions? Saying, none, thank you representative again, for joining us. Thank you
SPEAKER9 - for taking me out of time.
SPEAKER1 - Enjoy the rest of the day. Thank you for your consideration. Take care. Not a problem. We also have with us My colleague from Watertown, state representative Steve Owens, who's here to speak on behalf in support of House Bill 2094. incentive bill 1280 and act to update the public trade law. Representative Owens. My fellow classmate.
SPEAKER11 - It's good
SPEAKER1 - to see you back.
REP OWENS - HB 2094 - SB 1280 - Mr. Chairman, great to see you in this context. Thank you so much for taking me out of turn. Thank you to the members the esteemed members of1831 the committee. As you said, I'm here to testify in support of H 2094, an act to update the public shade tree law.1839 That's Chapter 87, it regulates street trees and the powers of municipal tree wardens. The Massachusetts public shade tree law has not been updated materially for about a 100 years, and1852 we needed a law that reflects the time we're living in. You know, a lot of things have happened in the past 100 years or so. Not the least of which is the development of modern forestry techniques and the Commonwealth's landscape and human ecology has changed significantly in that time. And I'll give you an example, current law as laid out by Chapter 87, it sets the fine for those who damage a tree or plant by wantingly, negligently or willfully driving their animal into it as $500. But there1882 is no fine for driving your automobile to doing the same because it predates the widespread adoption of the automobile.
The bill rectifies this anachronism. So right now, if you drive your horse and buggy into a tree, you can be fined $500 if you do it on purpose. If you drive your car on purpose into a tree, you're free and clear. Additionally, current1905 law states that every public shade tree, those are the trees that are along the side of1909 the road, owned by the municipality1911 bigger than 1.5 inches in diameter, which is about the size of this. Anything that has grown, a weed tree, for example, on the side of the road that's grown say you put off maintenance for 2 years or 2 seasons, tree grows about this big, requires a public tree removal hearing by the1930 tree warden in your municipality right now. This changes that. It increases it to 4 inches about yay big. So only trees, only significant trees along the side of the road owned by the public will need to have a hearing to be removed.
This allows utilities, tree wardens, especially those in rural communities, to do routine maintenance much easier. The bill also updates Chapter 87 to move some of the fines that were set years ago to rules1964 and regulation rather than in statute. Big example of this is it would change the penalty for illegally removing shade trees from $500 to the value of replacing the tree. Just last year in Somerville, a developer illegally removed about 4 public shade trees1982 in the course of their construction. They were told not to, they did it anyway. The city was surprised and outraged that the maximum fine they could levy was just $500. As you might imagine, $500 does not go very far to replace a tree particularly in a dense urban environment like Somerville. Last session, they submitted testimony in favor this the Somerville City Council. Lastly, this bill would just require that every tree warden have a, SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
not going again, No. It's not you're you're just, you know, taking up a lot of your time.
OWENS - Well, I apologize. This bill just ensures that tree wardens have a sufficient level of expertise, have their sufficient training and certification for their role in their town. Every municipality does have somebody designated as their tree warden. And climate change has made the maintenance of tree canopies just more crucial than ever in protecting the health and sustainability of our communities. The US Forest Service estimated that neighborhoods with well shaded streets can be up to 6 to 10 degrees cooler than neighborhoods without street trees, reduces the heat island effect in urban areas, reduces our energy needs, and I park under a tree in Watertown, keeps my car a little bit cooler on these hot days means I get to use less air conditioning when I start up the engine, saves emissions. So this would bring the public shade tree law into the 21st century, skipping over the 20th entirely. And in previous legislative sessions, this bill has been reported favorably from this committee. I think for the past 5 sessions, it was reported out favorably at least 4 from between my predecessor and myself filing it. And I respectfully ask that the committee to give this common sense bill a favorable report this session as well. Thank you for your consideration. And if you have any questions, happy to answer them. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - We do actually have a question. I know that representative Skarsdale is joining us virtually. and has a question representative Scarsdale?
REP SCARSDALE - Good morning Mr. Chair and the committee. Thank you Rep Owen. I'm wondering if you can tell me how the threshold of 10,000 for the cutoff of the training for Tree Warden was decided. Like communities under 10,000 that the wardens do not have to have that training.
OWENS - Right. For a lot of the smaller rural2128 communities, sometimes I mean, every community has a tree warden. Sometimes that person is just designated as some other2136 municipal employee, and the town clerk is also2138 the tree warden, the head of DPW is also2140 the tree warden. We felt that once a municipality gets to be a certain size, there should be some guarantee that that person has some level of training in modern forestry techniques. And those classes and certifications are available. They're not you know, it's it's something that many and most, I believe, 3 wardens have. So, the real impetus behind that $10,000 threshold is just we, you know, we don't want to burden a very small town whose tree warden is also, you know, wears 50 different hats. But we do think that once a municipality gets to be a bigger size, it is important that their tree warden be educated with modern forestry techniques. I mean, I think this is we, in a world where our climate is warming, we really, it's really important to, you know, have these trees and have these not just as carbon sinks, but as, you know, as we see, you know, the fires that are happening, the floods, somebody who is responsible for the trees can really help mitigate some of those. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER12 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Any other questions from committee members? Seeing none,
OLIVEIRA - I do have a just a couple questions on the certification process. How time consuming and costly are some of these certifications that we would be asking tree wardens and communities to actually get, I'm just wondering?
OWENS - So I don't have that information, but I believe we have the head of the Tree Warden Association. Tom Brady is in the warmup room so they2242 may have more updated numbers than I have for that. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Great. Well, I can assure you that a tree hearing sounds riveting almost as much as this 1. But thank you, representative. When I'm at on arbor day, I think the best line that we heard when's the best time to plant a tree 20 years ago? When's the next best time today? So thank you for your work, and thank you for testifying.
SPEAKER10 - Thank you, Mister Chairman. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - So I am pleased to also announce that the vice chair of the committee, state senator Ed Kennedy from Lowell is also joined us virtually. Thank you, Senator Kennedy, for joining. Moving back, we will go back to the Oxford bill h3889
and testifying in opposition Robert J King. Mister King.
Thank you for coming. The floor is yours for 3 minutes.
ROBERT KING - OXFORD BOARD OF SELECTMEN - HB 3889 - Thank you Mr. Chair, and thank you to the members of the committee. I'm honored and humbled to have the opportunity to speak before you today. To kind of second what some of the other speakers had said, when2302 this was first brought before the town meeting in2304 2022, it was not overwhelming that it passed. And debate was cut off when many parties still wish to2310 speak on the matter. Although I'm here as an individual, I also happen to be on the Board2316 of Selectmen, however, I'm not here to speak for the board. Part of the reason for that might be because the board was never told about this committee2322 hearing today. So I only found out about it through my own volition, contacting my representatives' offices to find out about it.
It's can confuse me how this bill last year, when its prior iteration, even2337 made it this far because the original motion at Town meeting was to ask the Board of Selectmen to petition the Legislature. The Board of Selectmen never had a vote, so it's confusing to me how the Board of Selectmen can petition the state Legislature without actually voting on the matter. As some of the other speakers have said, you know, and I can also second that, you know, the police union complained at this most recent town meeting where this same, this very similar issue was brought again and didn't pass the second time that, you know, the process hasn't been open. You would expect a big change like this that there would be meetings, there would be discussions, you would have you know, we're a town meeting form of government. You wanna build consensus for a large change like this. And there's been no2383 effort to have open communication about what the new policies will be or even that discussions are even occurring.
As, you know, just kind of a personal view, I feel that the civil service is actually very important. I look at some of the recent decisions, you know, you look at what occurred in Westfield. There was recently a very large settlement because of, you know, the way that members of that fire department that was under civil service were treated and how inappropriate it was, bringing forward allegations of sexual assault2415 that were just swept under the rug. And they, you know, they attempted to fire those employees. And the civil service said no. So, you know, some people say the civil service is old and outdated but some things never change. You know, local officials making bad decisions that's never gonna change, but when you're2432 in the civil service, there's somebody outside of the town. And now I feel like that's, you know, on a personal level, I feel like that's important.
Even as a member of the board, someday I'll be gone, other people will be in those chairs, and maybe they have their own interest. But at the end of the day, that's an extra layer of protection for our employees that keeps2450 everyone honest. And I'd also like to say that I've heard that know, we2457 have lateral transfers who'd like to come to Oxford. I don't think it's, I don't necessarily totally believe that we can't get good candidates in the future. You know, especially if we're civil service and the towns around us aren't, we're the only game in town if you want the protection of civil service. you'll have to come to our town. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Are there any questions from committee members for Selectman King?
None. Thank you so much for your testimony. Now moving on to house bill 3890. enact amending the board of public works in the town of Lee. Is Sabrina Towie here from the town of Lee administrative assistant? Oh, thank you for making the trip. TUI.
SPEAKER14 - Yeah. Fuzz.
SPEAKER1 - Oh, welcome. And you have 3 minutes.
SPEAKER14 - Thank you.
SABRINA TOUHEY - TOWN OF LEE - HB 3890 - Good morning. My name is Sabrina Touhey, and I am the executive assistant to the town administrator and the select board in the town of Lee, Mass and also a full time resident. I'd just like to2517 thank you for the opportunity to speak today and2519 share my support of this House bill. Today, there are only 172523 boards of public works left in the state, and although many communities have chosen to end their use of a board of public works, the town of Lee has found that the board is an important resource. However, since the2533 Town Administrator Act of 990, there have been many conflicts due to overlapping duties between the board of public works and the town administrator. The town of Lee has struggled to operate under the 2 special legislations which have conflicting language, and this House bill is an opportunity for the board of public works and the town administrator to coexist.
The amendment that this bill will grant was created jointly by members of the Board of Public Works and the Select Board, and it received a unanimous vote at Town of Lee's Open Town meeting in May of this year. The amendment allows for the Board of Public Works to continue to make public works recommendations to the select board regarding capital purchases and projects, and also continues to give the board authority to grant water and sewer abatements. It also allows any public works day to day operations, employment decisions, and procurement to be handled by the town administrator and the full time superintendent of public works. This amendment is something that should have been brought forward about 30 years ago. And after being passed, it will bring much more efficiency to the town and its residents. It's an honor to stand for you, or sit before you today. And on behalf of2594 the town of Lee, I request your support to pass this bill and make said bill effective upon its passing. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Are there any committee members who have questions saying
none? Thank you for making -- Thank
SPEAKER14 - you so much.
SPEAKER1 - -- today. Take care.
Next, going down our list for those who have submitted written testimony. Samantha Lovett, who is also here to support the last bill, h 3890 is Samantha Love It here. Feel free to join us up.
Thank you as well for taking the trip. Spending a lot of time in Lee passing through to get the tangle of this summer. So -- Oh, yeah. Like -- very waterlog driving back, though, unfortunately. need fun. The floor is yours Samantha.
SAMANTHA LOVETT - TOWN OF LEE - HB 3890 - As you said, I'm Samantha Lovett. I'm here to support House Bill 3890 as co sponsored by Reps Smitty Pignatelli and Senator Paul Mark. This act will amend the duties of the Board of Public Works in the town of Lee. I'm actually the administrative assistant to the public works, which2663 means I have a close working relationship with the board. And as Sabrina said, in 1990 with the Town Administrator2671 Act,2671 they2671 started to have conflicting duties and they weren't quite sure how to navigate it, and this has been going on for 30 years. So this amendment was written to combat the confusion that was taking place between the 2 roles. It was worked on by both the select board and the current board of public works to abate this ridiculous relationship between the 2 departments.
This will kind of limit the responsibilities and duties of the current Board of Public Works while allowing the full time superintendent of public works to make the final decision working with the town administrator. We really appreciate having the Board of Public Works as a resource with all their knowledge. And they've been living in Lee since it was founded and so this is just a great opportunity to make our governing body more efficient in the town of Lee. And as Sabrina also said, you know, it was passed unanimously by the public at our town meeting, which also included the members of the Board2742 of Public Works. So it's really gratifying to be a part of2746 the process to give Lee this sufficient governing body. And on behalf of Lee Townhall and the residents of Lee, I request your support to pass this bill and make said bill effective upon its passage. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much, Samantha. Are there any questions from the committee members for Samantha? Seeing none, thank you for taking the drive as well. Thank you. Next moving to my district. We2769 have with us Ed Busher from the select board in the town of Belcher town. to speak in favor of H3960 and act establishing the position of town2780 manager in the town of Belchard town. Ed, are you joining us?
SPEAKER16 - I'm right here, Jake. Can you hear me?
SPEAKER1 - I can hear you perfectly. 40 hours for 3 minutes.
SPEAKER16 - Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
EDWARD BOSCHER - TOWN OF BELCHERTOWN SELECT BOARD - HB 3960 - Thank Senator Oliveira, and thanks to Representative Saunders for helping Belchertown get this across the goal line. So Belchertown, over the past couple of years, the select board's been meeting weekly just due to the day to day nature of running the government. And we really need to get back to the top end of the curve and start doing more forward looking types of programs. And we really need to delegate officially some of this authority to the town manager. And this bill with your support and the committee's support will help our day to day operations as well as helping the board focus on more of the top level issues that are concerning our town specifically. So we really appreciate your support on this. Town meeting voted for it overwhelmingly. It had broad support even between the different oppositions. It eventually came down to the whole town supports us at our town meeting. And we really appreciate the state's support getting this measure passed as well. And that's all I have to say today. So thanks for your time, Senator Oliveira. Good to see you in that chair. and we would like your support and the committee's support on this. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Great. Nice and brief, Ed. Much briefer than I am before when I'm before your board. Any questions for select board member at Busher, any the committee?
OLIVEIRA - I would just add, thank you for testifying. There is a new town manager in, our town administrator in Belchertown, so it's a pretty seamless transition. And given that, you know, the size of the community2891 in Belchertown for those who might not know it, it's one of the fastest growing communities in Western Massachusetts. Thank you just for taking the time for being here. Thanks Ed. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER16 - Thanks, folks.
SPEAKER1 - Take care. Moving on now to h 2078, Senate Bill 1292. and act authorizing local control of waste collection and hours of operation, and H Parker James has signed up to testify.
virtually, I believe you've assigned up. Are you joining us virtually, sir?
Not hearing him joining. We'll circle back in a second before we end the committee hearing. Next, moving on to the same bill regarding the control of waste collection, hours of operation testifying. In support, Steven B Jeffries. Steven, have you joined us?
also virtual.
Going once, going twice, I will circle back at the end of the hearing, Next to speak on the same bill that representative2959 Owens testified on, H209 4 in Senate Bill 1280. Knack that tends to update the public shade tree law. David Ameshulum,
from Boston. David, have you joined us virtually?
SPEAKER13 - I am here. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. And I apologize for butchering your last name. Please correct me.
SPEAKER13 - Oh, you did it perfectly. It's actually my first name that trips people up because it's pronounced David.
SPEAKER1 - David. very Portuguese sounding.
SPEAKER13 - Yeah. It's port I I tell people it's everything but Anglo, so my parents are actually Israeli. Pleasure.
DAVID MESHOULAM - SPEAK FOR THE TREES - HB 2094 - SB 1280 - Thank you for being here and it was great to see Rep Owens, my rep. And I am here in support of his proposed amendment to Chapter 87. I have some written testimony I will also share that I will read to you now. So dear members of the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government. My name is David Meshoulam, I'm executive director of Speak For The Trees. We are an urban forestry nonprofit organization based in Boston. And I am here today to share with you our thoughts in support of S 1280 and H 2094, an act to update the public shade tree law. In the era of climate change, scientists and urban planners are increasingly cognizant about the vital role that urban trees play in building healthy, vibrant, and connected communities.
And to your point, senator, although much attention and resources focus on tree plantings, the best way to ensure that we have a healthy urban forests is through the long term care and stewardship of our current mature trees. So both are important, but our mature trees often get short changed. The tree wardens across the Commonwealth, and you'll hear from one of them today I've heard, work hard every day through hot summer days and snow blizzards, to ensure that the trees and the people who live around them are healthy and safe. The work is guided by Chapter 87, The Public Shade Tree Act, a law that is over a century old. This common sense bill to update Chapter 87 is widely supported and has been introduced numerous times over the past session. I urge you to report this bill favorably. Now the comments I present following have been cosigned by over 5 local organizations and nonprofits as well as 50 individuals from all over the Commonwealth. We applaud the efforts or efforts of Senator Creem and Rep Owens and all the cosponsors to update Chapter 87 of Massachusetts General Laws.
According to the Massachusetts Tree Warden Association, Chapter 87 has been on the books for over a century with only minor revisions. During this time, the physical and scientific landscape in the Commonwealth has changed considerably with more urban areas, more vehicles, larger developments, and new science around tree care. It is high time that our laws governing any of a municipality's greatest assets, its public trees, catch up with the time. The proposed revisions update policies to align with modern evidence based practices in the border culture, clearly articulate the necessary requirements of professional tree wardens, and adjust the penalties for damaging public trees in 2023 dollars. These recommended changes align with new professional practices and standards and allow for future changes as the field develops over time. It is our belief that this update is sorely needed to ensure that our urban trees continue to receive the protection and care they deserve. The law has the backing of the Massachusetts Tree Wardens and Foresters Association. We, the undersigned, are joining their call to move this move forward. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, David. Are there any questions for David?
Seeing none, thank you for waiting patiently and for joining us. Have a great rest of your day.
SPEAKER10 - Thank you.
SPEAKER3 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - And now for the person who's been waiting patiently on the bench, Tom Brady from Brookline, to testify in support of both bills to update our Shade Trehuah here in Massachusetts, Mister Brady.
TOM BRADY - TOWN OF BROOKLINE - HB 2094 - SB 1280 - Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, and those of us who are with us online. I had a set of prepared testimony but I'm gonna divert a bit because we have 3 minutes. I've heard a couple questions that I think that need to be addressed, one is trees. Trees are great, trees are wonderful. I'm a certified arborist, they do things for climate change. What are we as tree wardens? Every municipality in the commonwealth is required to have one by statute, that's great, and we manage the trees. The trees are different. Someone runs over a streetlight, we construct a new one, we build it. Someone runs over a hydrant, we buy a new one we put it in. Trees have cells, tissues, and pathways. They are biological entities. They require care or they require appropriate care.
One of the most important provisions we're asking for in this is for the promulgation, the ability for DCR to promulgate regulations. In Brookline I'm also the conservation administrator, I have been for 23 years. Wetlands and Waterways has hundreds of pages that tells you how to manage that natural resource. Fish And Wildlife has 100 of pages that tell you how to manage their resource. Chapter 87 does not, so that means as the science changes we're obligated to come back and take3288 up your valuable time repeatedly to keep up with science. That doesn't seem to be a very appropriate mechanism for3294 either of us. When people ask me what I do, I'm a risk manager. I love my job, so I really do. People say, how do you know if what you're doing as a tree warden works? When I come back with my grandkids and walk the streets. And if we have trees, it worked.
But when trees fail, they hit things, and more importantly, they hit people. So I have been involved in a fatality where when my trees came over in storm event and someone was killed. It is striking, it takes you to the heart of the matter. That's why we're asking for the ability to put in place qualifications. I heard a couple questions, why 10,000? There's actually a graduated scale of 4 different tiers of communities that were suggested for graduating layers of education expertise. And that four tier system was reviewed and signed off and recommended by UMass, Urban Forestry, US Forest Service, the Department of Conservation Recreation, and the Massachusetts Tree Wardens and Foresters Association. I also heard, how difficult is it to get certified?
The Mass Tree Wardens Association anticipating this would be coming several years3357 ago, set up an online and in3359 person qualifications course. That's 6 sessions that people can come. It's one day sessions, and it covers everything from tree risk to tree planting, to planning for the future. We can provide that at no cost to any official who needs it, and we've done so a few times over the years and are prepared to do so. So as you've heard, it has reported out favorably previously, multiple times. We're looking for your support to do so once again, and we're really hopeful that we can get this one across this time. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, Mister Brady, and thank you for answering some of the questions that we had. Are there any other further questions from committee members that might not, I see, at hand raise? by representative Scarsdale. Representative Scarsdale, do you have a question?
SCARSDALE - I do. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you for the testimony. Just to clarify because 3 of the 6 towns in my district are about 11,300, so, you know, still, every year struggle with the town budget. The 6 sessions, 1 day, no cost, that sounds amazing but there's also still a 4 year college degree requirement listed in the language. Is that not correct?
BRADY - That is not correct for communities of 10,000. That is for the larger communities, the Springfields Bostons, Worcester of the commonwealth. We don't think that's appropriate to move forward. It would be an undue burden for communities of 10,000 to require that. So that's not the case for the communities of 10,000.
SCARSDALE - Right, but as I said, 3 of my towns are 11,000, so still very tiny. And I just wanted to make sure that for an 11000 person town, it would require a college degree.
BRADY - I think the language that's in there, respectfully, I will go back and take a look at it. The intent all along was we are very cognizant that we have 351 kingdoms in our commonwealth with 351 different sets of needs. So for example, I am the full time tree warden in my community, but I consult for 2 others. 1, completely pro bono, which is very small and 1 at a small and I believe the 10000 to 20000 one would fall in that range. So but if anyone came across those types of issues, I'm sure we could address it. So there are relatively few of us that have full college degrees in this. And we are cognizant of that when we were drafting this, and your point is very well taken. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER12 - Alright. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Representative, are there any other questions from committee members?
Seeing none. Thank you so much, Mister Brady.
SPEAKER10 - Thanks so many further time.
SPEAKER17 - Thank you very much.
SPEAKER1 - you. Circling back to those that who have signed up to testify that haven't yet. We had Senator Edward sign up to an h 2078 and s 1292. Senator Edwards, are you joining us virtually?
I don't see her, circling back to 2 other people who signed up to testify virtually as well. h Parker James.
you joined us? Hearing none, also Steven B Jeffries.
Not heard that. With that, those are the entire list of folks3558 that have signed up to testify or came in person to testify beforehand. Before I ex entertain a motion to close the hearing, I do wanna read into the record the bills that did not hear testimony today, but are also before the3573 committee and act to author h 2078 and senate 1292 enact authorizing local control of waste collection hours in operations. H2091 and act providing3586 for municipal meeting postponement due to inclement weather. H389 79, enact creating the appointed positions of town treasurer and tax collector in the town of Westwood. H3902, an act relative to the select board in the town of North Burrow, H390 3 and act amending the charter of the town of Northborough, H3904, enact authorizing the town of Sudbury to establish a fee for checkout bags. H3905.
An act expanding the select board in the town of Sharon. H3909
an act relative to the town of Plymouth Facilities Improvement Fund. H3935,
an act authorizing the city of New Bedford to Grand utility easement, so the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and H3939737.
and act authorizing the town of Camden to grant temporary and permanent easements of certain lands of the town situated in the town of Stoton for highway purposes. If there is no other business before the committee, I would like to thank the committee members who have joined us today. thank the committee staff, the municipalities on the house side, my staff, on the senate side, LIS, and then and thank you to our court officers for always being here to support us. With that, I will3667 entertain in an emotion to during the hearing. Thank you. Is there a second? I heard 1 virtually online. Second and made, if there's no objection, we will close the hearing, all3678 those in favor. Please signify by saying, I,3680 I, all those opposed. The3682 committee is adjourned. Thank you very much.
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