2004-TOWN MEETING RECORDS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

i national and local engineering and fire prevention practices, with public safety, and with the r i general purposes of a statewide building code . . . ". Id. a General Laws Chapter 40A, §3, likewise, begins with the admonition: "No zoning ' ordinance or by-law shall regulate or restrict the use of materials, or methods of construction of G structures regulated by the state building code . . . ." The State Building Code is a comprehensive statewide act and no local by-law that exceeds, competes or conflicts with any ' provisions of the State Building Code has legal effect. As stated above, towns in the Commonwealth are precluded from having local "building codes." Although the by-law refers to the State Building Code, it specifies the provisions of the State Building Code as the text appears on a specific date. By inserting the date "May 3, 2004" the proposed text has the potential for inconsistency with future amendments to 780 C.M.R. If the provisions of the State Building Code change,then the proposed by-law would be tiff y inconsistent with state law. The town may wish to delete the "May 3, 2004" from the proposed a by-law at a future town meeting. �* f Article 17 - The amendments adopted under Article 17 add a new Chapter 38, "Public F Records and Open Meetings"to the town's general by-laws. Section 38-3 pertains to requirements of the town's regulatory authorities and provides in pertinent part as follows: , m, L .All Regulatory Authorities are required to: " M f c)Document all meetings by written report in the form of minutes pursuant to Chapter 66, Section 3,4, 5A and 6 of the Massachusetts General Laws. Such minutes must be approved at the next scheduled meeting, or as soon as possible thereafter, and must be filed with the Town Clerk within two(2)business days after approval. I Minutes of meetings are governed by the Open Meeting Law and the Public Records Law. Specifically, the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 39, § 23B,provides in pertinent part as follows: , A governmental body shall maintain accurate records of its meetings, setting forth the date, , time,place, members present or absent and action taken at each meeting, including executive t sessions. The records of each meeting shall become a public record and be available to the public; provided,however,that the records of any executive session may remain secret as long as publication may defeat the lawful purposes of the executive session, but no longer. s All votes taken in executive sessions shall be recorded roll call votes and shall become a part of the record of said executive sessions. ' Although the Open Meeting Law nor the Public Records Law do not state how long a governmental body has to make the minutes available to the public, by implication, the governmental body must make the minutes available in a reasonable time. The Attorney General's Open Meeting Law Guidelines suggests that the"official"minutes of open session F:\USERS\RITCME\WP61\DOCS\TOWNS\MASHPEE\#2934A.APP.wpd 2 i