Billerica Charter Panel Votes to Mandate Annual Town Audit, Revise Public-Comment Rules

BILLERICA -- July 6, 2026, Billerica Charter Review Committee advances annual audit mandate and rewrites public-comment rules in four unanimous votes. The committee, working against an August 17 submission deadline, voted unanimously Monday to write a binding annual independent audit requirement into its draft charter, codifying a practice town officials say has been continuous since roughly 2000 and citing Massachusetts General Law Chapter 44, Section 35. In a separate unanimous vote, the panel revised Section 7-10(B) to replace language allowing members of the public to "interchange information with" multi-member bodies, wording members said risked conflicting with the state's Open Meeting Law, with "provide information to," making clear the flow runs from the public to the board, not back again. A fourth vote moved the committee's final scheduled session from Monday, July 13 to Tuesday, July 14. The committee referred a proposed update to the charter's "local newspaper" definition, which would add electronic formats and the town's official website as permissible publication venues, to town counsel for a rush opinion, with member John tasked with sending the inquiry the following day.