FITCHBURG – On Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, the Fitchburg City Council referred a petition asking the state for permission to post legal notices digitally instead of publishing them in a print newspaper to its Legislative Affairs Committee.
The petition, listed as 192-26 on the council’s agenda for the Nov. 4 meeting, was filed by Mary Delaney, the city’s chief procurement officer. It requests an order petitioning the state for special legislation allowing digital posting of legal notices by the City of Fitchburg.
Massachusetts law requires cities and towns to publish legal notices, including public hearings, certain zoning hearings and municipal bid solicitations, in a newspaper of general circulation, and under Chapter 4, Section 13 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the notice must appear in the newspaper’s print publication, as well as on the newspaper’s website and on a statewide website maintained as a repository for legal notices, so with the print requirement, a digital-only newspaper cannot legally run legal notices. Fitchburg’s legal notices run in the Sentinel & Enterprise, the print newspaper for the area.
In a letter to the council dated Oct. 29, 2026, Fitchburg Mayor Samantha Squailia asked the city council to begin the process of pursuing a home rule petition to authorize the digital publication of the city’s legal notices. She also requested that the council refer the proposal to the Legislative Affairs Committee for review, citing a recent, substantial increase in the cost of publishing legal notices in the Sentinel & Enterprise.
“Currently, Massachusetts law requires certain municipal legal notices to be published in newspapers, requiring the city to purchase advertising space to satisfy its statutory obligations,” Mayor Squailia wrote in the letter. “Recently, our departments have experienced substantial increases in these costs. For example, a legal notice that previously cost approximately $140–$150 increased to $350, while the same notice could be published through another newspaper for approximately $132. Although our local newspaper has subsequently offered a temporary discount, the underlying issue remains.”
Mayor Squailia proposed creating a centralized page on the city’s website where residents could read notices for free, saying the creation of this page would preserve newspaper publication as an option while providing the city greater flexibility, improving the cost for taxpayers and improving public access.
“We value local journalism, but taxpayers should not be required to purchase privately priced newspaper advertising as the sole means of satisfying the city’s legal notification requirements,” Mayor Squailia wrote.
Mayor Squailia said that Fitchburg’s proposal would follow the precedent set by the Town of Lincoln, which recieved authorization for the print-free publication of digital notices in January 2025 under Chapter 351 of the Acts of 2024.
The order is now before the Legislative Affairs Committee, which will make a recommendation to the full council. If the council adopts it, the home rule petition goes to the Legislature as a request for a special act applying only to Fitchburg, and the Legislature would have to pass it and the governor sign it before the city could post its legal notices on its own website. Until then, nothing changes, and Fitchburg’s legal notices will continue to run in the Sentinel & Enterprise.
