Mattapoisett places moratorium on public meeting space in town buildings

MATTAPOISETT — The town of Mattapoisett placed a moratorium on the use of public meeting space in town buildings Tuesday, Dec. 17.

The moratorium, issued by the Mattapoisett Select Board, comes after the town has faced some complaints, issues and controversies on the use of public space, something Mattapoisett currently has no rules or regulations on, according to Town Administrator Mike Lorenco.

As the town works to create a set of regulations, it was advised by legal counsel to place a moratorium on using public space, Lorenco said.

The moratorium does not apply to appointed or elected town committees. Buildings affected by the temporary prohibition include town hall, the fire department, the water/sewer department and the police department.

Mattapoisett Select Board member Tyler Macallister said there have been “two significant issues over the last 60 days,” which have prompted the town to create regulations.

The Select Board declined to comment on what those two issues specifically were.

But, the decision to issue a moratorium on using public meeting space in Mattapoisett comes in the wake of a legal challenge faced by the town regarding the use of Ned’s Point and the Mattapoisett Free Public Library by a local church, the Lamb of God Christian Church operated by Pastor Mathew Vangel.

In response to action taken by the American Center for Law and Justice, a legal organization, on behalf of the church, the town of Mattapoisett signed a memorandum of understanding with Vangel in October outlining that he could use the community meeting room at the library. Some time after that document was signed, library director Colleen Tierney resigned.

However, the moratorium issued Dec. 17 by the Select Board does not apply to the library. Policies regarding use of library spaces falls under the purview of the trustees, according to Lorenco.

Macallister said creating regulations was “the right thing to do.”

“We need to look at it because town space can’t just be used for any use,” Macallister said. “We’ve got to kind of understand the use in advance, and right now we just didn’t do a very good job understanding what was happening. The goal is to understand what’s going on in the town facility before it starts.”

The moratorium will remain in place until new policies regarding use of town building public meeting space are approved.
It’s expected the Select Board will vote on those rules and regulations in January or early February. It’s also expected there will be a public comment period on the proposed new rules beforehand.