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By-law minutes March 24 2026

By-Law Modernization Study Committee · Source meeting date: 2026-03-24 · Record 82090

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Source page 1

Municipal By-law Modernization Committee 
Minutes for March 24, 2026 
Pequitside Tavern 
79 Pleasant St 
 7:00 pm 
 
Members Present: Dr. Susan Harrington, Larry Overlan, Jen Kemalian, William Quinn, Randy 
Scollins, and Louis Jutras 
 
Absent: George T. Comeau, William Kring 
 
The meeting was called to order by the acting Chair Dr. Harrington at 7:01 pm. 
 
Ms. Kemalian noted to the committee that Paul McAuliffe sent an e-mail on March 17 and 
stated that due to upcoming time conflicts he is stepping down from the committee. The e- 
mail was sent to the town Moderator for a new appointment. 
 
Dr. Harrington asked the members if they had any comments or updates on the draft minutes. 
Mr. Jutras noted a request from Mr. Overlan to add clarifying language to the 2 items that he was not in 
agreement with the committee. Revisions will be made to the minutes and circulated for review and 
approval at a future meeting. 
 
The chair then opened the meeting for any public comments but no one from the public was in 
attendance so the committee moved on to the next order of business which was to continue 
the review process of the questions submitted from General Code. 
 
Mr. Jutras provided a quick update noting that an e-mail was sent to all department heads on 
the ecode product and General Code view. Accounts were created for the department heads in 
the portal and the invitations were sent out and only a handful of requests have not been 
accepted. Mr. Jutras will reach out to those departments to make sure they can access the 
portal. 
 
The Zoning / Planning and Land Use sections were being reviewed by the Town Planner and the 
Building Commissioner. At this point there are only 2 non-deferable questions remaining and 
177 total questions to review. 
 
The committee then turned its attention to the remaining 177 questions and opened each item 
in order during the meeting. Several questions were answered; other items were assigned to 
committee members or other town staff. Some Committee Members were assigned questions 
that are related to a Board or Committee and they will reach out to the chairperson for follow 
up. 
 
The committee found some questions that were linked to other sections of the bylaw that 
needed updates. Section 86-14 should use “Recommendations of the Finance Committee to 
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the Voters of Canton, Massachusetts; the warrant” instead of the wording “warrant and report” 
as well as section 85-15 where it references the “consent calendar” which should be updated to 
“consent agenda”. 
 
The committee stopped its review process on question 121-002 at 8:30pm. 117 questions are 
completed at this point, which represents 42% of the total questions. The committee discussed 
options for the next meeting date and April 13, 2026 at 7 pm was selected. Mr. Jutras will work 
on the location and notify the members. 
 
Having completed all of the agenda items and seeing that there were no additional comments 
from the committee, the chair entertained a motion to adjourn at 8:33pm which was moved by 
Mr. Scollins and seconded by Mr. Overlan and the motion was unanimously approved. 
 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
 
 
_____________________________________ 
Louis Jutras 
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