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Short Term Rental Law Materials for Towns

On March 7, FRCOG hosted a session by Atty Kelli Gunagan of the Municipal Law Division of the Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. Participants included boards of health, select boards, planning boards, building inspectors, and town administrators. Many municipal boards and departments have things to consider in response to the changes in the new law, from local taxation to zoning, registration, health inspection and more. Below are materials from the workshop for those who were unable to attend, or want digital copies:

Overviews:

Information on local option taxes and community impact fees:

Information on local bylaws and zoning changes:

Other Materials provided at the 3/7 workshop:

 

 

 

CPHS Health District Celebrates 6th Birthday

Members of the Boards of Health and Select Boards in the Cooperative Public Health Service health district’s eleven member towns gathered on November 29th to celebrate their sixth year of collaborating to provide high quality public health protections to residents. We were also joined by state Department of Public Health Office of Rural Health and Office of Local and Regional Health staff and a member of the Mohawk Trail Regional school staff!  After dinner, speakers addressed a health topic of great concern to our region: adolescent health, especially as regards vaping and marijuana, and what local actions towns can take to protect youth.  You can review the presentations here:

Staff also reviewed highlights of the past year. and our Public Health Nurse, Lisa White, received an award from the organizers of National Rural Health Day for being a Rural Health Community Star!

CPHS Public Health Nurse Lisa White receives her National Rural Health Day Community Star award from a member of the state nominating committee, Kirby Lecy.

 

Birthday cake featuring frosting septic system, food inspection equipment, ticks, and Lisa’s award! From Baked in Shelburne.

Group photo with our district birthday cake, an annual tradition!

 

Rural Policy Advisory Commission Listening Sessions

Listening Sessions

A series of listening sessions has recently been scheduled to gather input from community leaders regarding the suggested focus areas to be included in the development of the Massachusetts Rural Policy Plan.  Listening sessions will be held in several regions across the Commonwealth.

A survey is available to provide input at the RPAC SURVEY –https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RPAC2018

The Western Massachusetts listening sessions are:

  • 12/6   6 PM  at Berkshire Regional Planning Commission register at info@berkshireplanning.org
  • 12/11  5PM at Pioneer Valley Planning Commission register at lgallagher@pvpc.org
  • 12/13 5PM at GCC Downtown  — register at registrations@frcog.org

Click here for Rural Policy Advisory Commission website. 

Municipal Financial Management Workshop Materials

This workshop on 11/8 featured FRCOG Municipal Financial Management Specialist Joe Markarian, who joined us after a long career of supporting towns in improving their financial management practices at the Technical Assistance Bureau of the Massachusetts Division of Local Services.

Materials from the training:
Municipal Calendar from the DOR Division of Local Services
Slides from the workshop
Finance Seminar Spreadsheets
Some cyber-security tips from Mass.Gov

Fall 2018 Local Official Workshop Series

The fall workshop series for local officials is ready for registrations!

Click here for a calendar of the entire fall. For more information on each session, visit the date of the session on the Meetings and Events tab on this website.

To register for any session, email registrations@frcog.org.

Also, stay tuned this fall for two sessions in Greenfield for planning and zoning boards, offered through the Citizen Planner Training Collaborative

FRCOG signs the Stigma Pledge

Massachusetts is in the midst of a heartbreaking crisis of addiction and overdose, and one of the most important things we can all do to prevent further deaths is reduce the stigma experienced by people with substance use disorder. Only 1 in 12 people people with this disorder seek treatment — can you imagine if numbers were similarly low for diabetes?
FRCOG’s staff have signed the Boston Medical Center Stigma Pledge and will work to make sure we use non-stigmatizing language. Join us!

To learn more about the Pledge, click here.

To review an “Addictionary” of stigmatizing and non-stigmatizing language, click here.

Cannabis Control Commission presentation slides

We were pleased to host Commissioner Kay Doyle and Director of Government Affairs David Lakeman at the FRCOG on 6/7 for a review of the final Massachusetts Adult Use Marijuana regulations.

Click here for the slides.

Other handouts at the 6/7 meeting:

How many employees do Franklin County businesses have?

According to the latest U.S. County Business Pattern data, 73% of our region’s private sector employers (i.e. not government establishments and not self-employed) had less than 10 employees.  Interested in more of this data? Contact Jessica Atwood, Economic Development Program Manager at the FRCOG.