SOUTHWICK – Gov. Charlie Baker met with several officials of state and local government at the State House in Boston in order to sign a rather important bill.
The Municipal Modernization Bill was signed in an effort to further improve the relationship between the state and the municipal government.
As the bill is centered on updating specific laws and giving local government more independence, it certainly affected small towns like Southwick.
The Town of Southwick will now have more of an opportunity to benefit from a bill passed like this one.
“We’re hopeful from our point of view that it’s going to help us with procurement thresholds,” said Southwick Chief Administrative Officer Karl Stinehart.
Southwick Chief Administrative Officer Karl Stinehart discusses town business in the Select Board conference room. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
Although the Select Board feels that the signed bill does overall benefit this particular community, there were aspects of the original bill that were left out of the signed bill.
Select Board Clerk Joe Deedy discussed the importance of liquor licensing in Southwick. As the topic of liquor licenses didn’t make the bill, Deedy stressed the significance of it to this town.
“That was probably our biggest concern,” said Deedy.
Instead of having the state level making the decision on a specific liquor license in Southwick, Deedy is in favor of allowing the town government to make the decisions on the liquor licenses as well as the limit of the number of licenses they will approve.
Despite the fact that not everything made the bill, Deedy believes it gives small communities a step forward in revitalizing laws in local government.
“It would be beneficial to all communities.”
