New and reappointed members of a board/committee are considered Municipal Employees and need to be sworn in by the Town Clerk. The Town Clerk also informs members of the requirements below; provides them with access to the appropriate documents; and maintains a file of acknowledgements. Your appointment letter contains a space to acknowledge receipt when you are sworn in.

Please contact the Town Clerk with any questions or to schedule an appointment.

Note: You do not have to be a full time paid worker to be considered a "Municipal Employee" for conflict of interest purposes. With certain exemptions, most people performing services for a city or town or holding a municipal position, whether paid or unpaid, including full and part-time municipal employees, elected officials, and volunteers are Municipal Employees under the conflict of interest law, and are subject to the requirements below.

1  -  SUMMARY OF THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST LAW 

All municipal employees must be provided with a Summary of the Conflict of Interest Law for Municipal Employees within 30 days of hire or election, and then annually thereafter, and are required to acknowledge in writing that they received the summary.

• Conflict of Interest Law: Printable PDF summary
• Conflict of Interest Law - Online summary

2  -  REQUIRED ETHICS TRAINING

All municipal employees must complete an online ethics examination offered by the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission within thirty (30) days of beginning public service and every two (2) years thereafter. The State Ethics Commission is a branch of the state government and the Conflict of Interest Law falls under this agency’s jurisdiction. The online test takes about 30 minutes to complete.

Take the online exam here: http://www.muniprog.eth.state.ma.us


When you have passed, please print your certificate or save it electronically, and send it to the Town Clerk. The Ethics Commission will not have any records to verify that you completed the program.

3  -  OPEN MEETING LAW INFORMATION

Each new member of a board or committee also receives a copy of the Open Meeting Law Guide published by the Attorney General's office.