• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Wellesley Square
  • Deland, Gibson Insurance Athlete of the Week
  • Camp
  • Private schools, sponsored by Riverbend
  • Business index
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Schools
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Embracing diversity
  • Kids
  • About us
  • Events
  • Natick Report
  • Seniors
  • Letters to the editor
  • Guidelines for letters to the editor
  • Live government meetings
  • Raiders sports schedules & results
  • Fire & police scanner
  • 2023 Town Election
 
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Write Ahead, Wellesley

Wellesley’s role in modernizing legal notice publishing

May 8, 2022 by Bob Brown 2 Comments

Did you catch the recent notice about school choice in Wellesley? Or the one about the Department of Public Works’ hearing on water rates? What about the Historical Commission’s upcoming hearing on a batch of properties being considered for tear downs?

Such notices were dutifully published by town entities in the back of a print newspaper to comply with state law as well as on the town’s website. But did you notice these notices?

Legal notices like these are formal announcements that governmental bodies are required to let the public know about. An outdated and opaque state law requires that these be published in print newspapers (and their online versions).

This unfortunately leaves out online-only publications like ours. We’re not going to make a killing on legal notices, but for a small operation like ours, or the many other emerging independent online news sites, every dollar counts. More importantly, we think there’s a better chance of more people seeing the information if they’re published on online news sites.

We reached out to State Rep. Alice Hanlon Peisch’s office about this issue a couple of years ago. We’re thankful that she filed a bill last year that would amend the existing law to address this shortcoming. Supporters in the legislature include Ken Gordon, Massachusetts State Representative for 21st Middlesex District.


Bill H.2197

Section 13 of chapter 4 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following paragraph:-

(e) A municipality required by a statute, ordinance, by-law or judicial order to publish a legal notice in a newspaper or newspaper of general circulation may also publish the legal notice on a community news website. For purposes of this paragraph, “community news website” shall mean a website substantially all of which is dedicated to local news coverage for the relevant municipality and surrounding municipalities that receives an average of not less than 1,500 unique visits per month. This requirement shall not apply to a municipality for which a community news website does not exist.


The bill was sent to study, and there’s some renewed interest in House leadership to act on this issue, according to Peisch’s office.

The bill received support from outside organizations, including the Massachusetts Municipal Association. “Please support Amendment #319, filed by Rep. Peisch, which would allow municipalities required to publish legal notices to post such notices on a community news website. This would address the challenge of meeting the legal notice requirement with fewer local news publications,” wrote Geoffrey Beckwith, Executive Director & CEO of the MMA.

Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University and a media watcher, wrote recently about this issue in a piece titled “Mass. law governing legal ads needs to be updated to include digital-only outlets.”

He raises the point that governments could push to just publish legal notices on their own sites, but this approach invites possible issues. “If government is allowed to publish its own legal notices, who’s to say that some of them won’t be buried for some nefarious purpose? Who’s to say the wording won’t be changed?”

We’re thankful that the Town of Wellesley has started to pay to publish some legal notices in Swellesley. We’ve always run some of this information anyway if we deem it newsworthy. We’d be happy to set up a go-to section on our site to consolidate such notices, and look forward to seeing whether the state moves forward on making it more palatable for communities to consider such options to get the word out on important matters.


  • Subscribe to Swellesley’s daily email
  • If you like what we do and want to help, please consider making a completely non-deductible contribution
print

Filed Under: Business, Government

Comments

  1. Robert Rossi says

    May 8, 2022 at 11:19 pm

    This makes a lot of sense. Consequently, don’t expect the Mass. legislators to act upon it.

    Reply
  2. Mary Ann says

    May 9, 2022 at 12:48 pm

    Thanks for doing this. If the bill is supported by MMA, it likely will be passed.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Linden Square, Wellesley
Riverbend, Natick

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

 

Advertisements

Wellesley Square, Wellesley Merchants
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Beacon Hill Athletic Club, Wellesley
Fay School, Southborough
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Wellesley Theatre Project
Volvo
Cheesy Street Grill
Mature Caregivers
Admit Fit, Wellesley
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Click on Entering Natick sign to read our Natick Report

Entering Natick road sign

Most Read Posts

  • Sign up now for summer camp in Wellesley (and beyond)
  • Letters-to-the-editor day in Wellesley—important election-time updates
  • Business buzz: Nantucket wine bar to boast Wasik's cheeses; Needham Bank has new Wellesley branch manager; Thanks to new sponsor Beacon Hill Athletic Clubs
  • Does Wellesley need a new traffic light? Slow down before you drive to any conclusions
  • Wellesley Veterans Parade will be one big wonderful Tea Party

Upcoming Events

Jan 31
9:00 am - 11:00 am Recurring

Coffee and Conversation with the Wetlands Administrator and Staff

Jan 31
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Families Eat Together online presentation

Feb 1
11:59 pm

Deadline for Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club grants application

Feb 3
Featured Featured 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Sara Campbell winter warehouse sale

Feb 4
Featured Featured 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Sara Campbell winter warehouse sale

View Calendar

Popular pages

  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads

Recent Comments

  • David B on Does Wellesley need a new traffic light? Slow down before you drive to any conclusions
  • LADY WELLESLEY on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Peggy Heffernan on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Beth Dublin on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Erika on Where to buy the Wellesleyest stuff in Wellesley

Links we like

  • Danny's Place
  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (24)
  • 2023 Town Election (3)
  • Animals (428)
  • Antiques (49)
  • Art (592)
  • Beyond Wellesley (52)
  • Books (376)
  • Business (1,559)
  • Camp (11)
  • Careers/jobs (53)
  • Churches (82)
  • Clubs (236)
  • Construction (300)
  • Dump (130)
  • Education (3,189)
    • Babson College (252)
    • Bates Elementary School (18)
    • Dana Hall School (36)
    • Fiske Elementary School (11)
    • Hardy Elementary School (47)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (46)
    • MassBay (57)
    • Schofield Elementary School (26)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (2)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (11)
    • Upham Elementary School (35)
    • Wellesley College (613)
    • Wellesley High School (996)
    • Wellesley Middle School (204)
  • Embracing diversity (84)
  • Entertainment (814)
  • Environment (772)
  • Fashion (144)
  • Finance (15)
  • Fire (173)
  • Food (358)
  • Fundraising (641)
  • Gardens (164)
  • Government (604)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
    • 2022 Town Election (15)
  • Health (866)
    • COVID-19 (203)
  • Hikes (6)
  • History (400)
  • Holidays (440)
  • Houses (162)
  • Humor (47)
  • Kids (867)
  • Law (8)
  • Legal notices (10)
  • Letters to the Editor (73)
  • Media (72)
  • METCO (4)
  • Military (13)
  • Morses Pond (109)
  • Music (580)
  • Natick Report (30)
  • Neighbors (280)
  • Obituaries & remembrances (86)
  • Outdoors (655)
  • Parenting (63)
  • Police (778)
    • Crime (395)
  • Politics (554)
  • POPS Senior Profile (10)
  • RDF (6)
  • Real estate (344)
  • Religion (138)
  • Restaurants (340)
  • Safety (155)
  • Scouts (2)
  • Seniors (127)
  • Shopping (163)
  • Sponsored (6)
  • Sports (1,012)
    • Athlete of the Week (12)
  • STEM (108)
  • Technology (165)
  • Theatre (397)
  • Town Meeting (23)
  • Transportation (240)
  • Travel (17)
  • Uncategorized (1,244)
  • Volunteering (350)
  • Weather (179)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (280)
  • Wellesley Holiday Gift Guide (2)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (20)

© 2023 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login