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About MMA MMA News 1,100 local leaders attend MMA Annual Meeting
Close to 1,100 local officials gathered in Boston on Jan. 11 and 12 at the MMA’s 29th Annual Meeting & Trade Show, an event that took place amid deepening awareness of the fiscal challenges confronting cities and towns.
Speakers included Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. John Kerry, Secretary of State William Galvin, Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Suzanne Bump, and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.
Menino, welcoming attendees to Boston during the opening session, highlighted the need for a dependable source of municipal revenue that would alleviate reliance on local property taxes. Patrick, speaking immediately after the mayor, assured local officials that the 2009 state budget “will not be balanced on your backs.”
Sen. Kerry, who spoke during the MMA Annual Business Meeting, asserted that the failure to adequately fund the federal No Child Left Behind mandate has placed unreasonable demands on public schools.
Journalist and author Juan Williams, speaking during the closing session, focused his remarks on the complex challenges local officials face at a time of rapid demographic change.
And Bill Taylor, author of the book “Mavericks at Work,” offered a hopeful take on how local leaders can pursue innovative approaches at a time when cities and towns “are expected to do more with less.”
“I do believe that we can think our way out of problems,” he said, “and think our way into solutions.”
Problem-solving was the focus of many of the 29 Annual Meeting workshops, which dealt with topics ranging from meeting the needs of returning war veterans and bracing for the forthcoming wave of retirees to ensuring that funding is available to maintain local roads and bridges.
The Friday banquet dinner offered lighter fare, with Red Sox television commentator Jerry Remy taking questions from the audience and signing copies of scorecards he filled out during last fall’s World Series.
Local and state officials at the dinner also honored the winner of the MMA’s second annual sixth-grade student essay contest.
At the Saturday evening banquet, members of the performing group The Three Waiters moved amid the audience while belting out numbers from operas and musicals such as “Carmen” and “West Side Story.”
This year’s Trade Show featured 206 exhibitors. Among the 40 first-time exhibitors were several energy-related businesses, including Honeywell, a provider of performance contracting services; Siemens Building Technologies, which helps buildings become more energy efficient; and Fuelmaster, a developer of automated fueling technology.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, which for several years has displayed its “Pay-As-You-Throw” recycling initiative, this year added a booth for its “Clean Diesel” program for retrofitting school buses.
Also exhibiting for the first time was Municipal Auction Services, a Lynn company that helps communities auction off public property.
A driving simulator, used to train police officers, firefighters and ambulance drivers, remained popular with attendees, as did the Braintree Police Department’s K-9 unit.
The MMA Annual Meeting & Trade Show, the largest annual gathering of municipal officials in the state, also featured the business meetings of the various MMA groups: mayors, selectmen, councillors, managers and finance committee members.
This year’s Annual Meeting theme was “Standing Up for Strong Communities.”
Next year’s Annual Meeting will be held Jan. 23-24, 2009, also at the Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston Hotel.
About MMA MMA News 1,100 local leaders attend MMA Annual Meeting
1,100 local leaders attend MMA Annual Meeting
Close to 1,100 local officials gathered in Boston on Jan. 11 and 12 at the MMA’s 29th Annual Meeting & Trade Show, an event that took place amid deepening awareness of the fiscal challenges confronting cities and towns.
Speakers included Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. John Kerry, Secretary of State William Galvin, Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Suzanne Bump, and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.
Menino, welcoming attendees to Boston during the opening session, highlighted the need for a dependable source of municipal revenue that would alleviate reliance on local property taxes. Patrick, speaking immediately after the mayor, assured local officials that the 2009 state budget “will not be balanced on your backs.”
Sen. Kerry, who spoke during the MMA Annual Business Meeting, asserted that the failure to adequately fund the federal No Child Left Behind mandate has placed unreasonable demands on public schools.
Journalist and author Juan Williams, speaking during the closing session, focused his remarks on the complex challenges local officials face at a time of rapid demographic change.
And Bill Taylor, author of the book “Mavericks at Work,” offered a hopeful take on how local leaders can pursue innovative approaches at a time when cities and towns “are expected to do more with less.”
“I do believe that we can think our way out of problems,” he said, “and think our way into solutions.”
Problem-solving was the focus of many of the 29 Annual Meeting workshops, which dealt with topics ranging from meeting the needs of returning war veterans and bracing for the forthcoming wave of retirees to ensuring that funding is available to maintain local roads and bridges.
The Friday banquet dinner offered lighter fare, with Red Sox television commentator Jerry Remy taking questions from the audience and signing copies of scorecards he filled out during last fall’s World Series.
Local and state officials at the dinner also honored the winner of the MMA’s second annual sixth-grade student essay contest.
At the Saturday evening banquet, members of the performing group The Three Waiters moved amid the audience while belting out numbers from operas and musicals such as “Carmen” and “West Side Story.”
This year’s Trade Show featured 206 exhibitors. Among the 40 first-time exhibitors were several energy-related businesses, including Honeywell, a provider of performance contracting services; Siemens Building Technologies, which helps buildings become more energy efficient; and Fuelmaster, a developer of automated fueling technology.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, which for several years has displayed its “Pay-As-You-Throw” recycling initiative, this year added a booth for its “Clean Diesel” program for retrofitting school buses.
Also exhibiting for the first time was Municipal Auction Services, a Lynn company that helps communities auction off public property.
A driving simulator, used to train police officers, firefighters and ambulance drivers, remained popular with attendees, as did the Braintree Police Department’s K-9 unit.
The MMA Annual Meeting & Trade Show, the largest annual gathering of municipal officials in the state, also featured the business meetings of the various MMA groups: mayors, selectmen, councillors, managers and finance committee members.
This year’s Annual Meeting theme was “Standing Up for Strong Communities.”
Next year’s Annual Meeting will be held Jan. 23-24, 2009, also at the Hynes Convention Center and Sheraton Boston Hotel.
Written by MMA Associate Editor Mitch Evich
