Let’s put city meeting schedules online

By KATHLEEN LUVISI

Knowing what happens in Waltham’s government is essential to good governance and transparency, to ensure that our city officials are responsive to the needs of its people. 

The LWVW is concerned about the lack of transparency in the manner that the city presently uses to inform the public about government meetings. Each Massachusetts municipality can choose its official method to inform the public of government meetings. Waltham currently uses the bulletin board behind City Hall, rather than the city website, to post its official notices. 

This quaint system obligates citizens to travel to City Hall to find updates to meeting schedules, agendas and other items. Waltham does not use the city’s website, in contrast to most Massachusetts communities, which have opted to use the web. 

The Open Meeting Law is meant to assure that the public can see a municipality’s actions by attending meetings of interest. While the public can find regular City Council dockets and many of the agendas of city commissions on the city’s website, many other meetings are omitted. 

For example, the League is aware that the Council’s Master Plan Committee has held meetings since the last public meeting in 2022. Notices of those meetings were posted on the bulletin board but not listed on the web-published Council docket. When meeting times and places are listed only on the bulletin board behind City Hall, citizens lose their opportunity to participate. 

What’s more, residents should not need to look up multiple web pages to view each commission’s meeting dates, times and locations. A single page on the city’s website providing all meeting details would make this information more accessible and encourage greater resident participation.

Waltham’s population has grown to more than 64,000 people. Requiring citizens to stop by the bulletin board on a regular basis creates an undue burden. The use of the bulletin board instead of a website begs for a change. 

The Massachusetts attorney general’s website shows that a majority of the municipalities in the state have adopted websites as their official means of posting notices. It’s time for Waltham to do the same. The executive officer in each municipality decides the method of notification. The executive officer in Waltham is Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy.

The League asked the mayor to adopt the website notice procedure on April 17, 2024, and copied the City Council on the request. On May 20, 2024, the Council also asked the mayor to make this change. No response has been received as yet. 

It is important to understand why no change has been made or the reason why it should not be done. In the interests of informing Waltham’s citizens and facilitating the democratic value of more public involvement, we urge a positive response from City Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen Luvisi, President, on behalf of the Board of the League of Women Voters of Waltham

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan organization with deep roots in Waltham. The League encourages informed and active participation in government works to increase understanding of public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy.