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            Attendees at the September 27, 2019 Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association Annual Meeting and Conference learned that what happens in Vegas does not always stay in Vegas.  Alan Mandl spoke on a recent Verizon Wireless petition asking the FCC to declare unlawful Clark County, Nevada’s permitting fees for small wireless facilities’ use of the public ways.  The FCC decision may impact the method for establishing cost-based permitting fees that exceed the FCC’s safe harbor caps and the level of revenues derived from these fees.   

Drawing on his years of experience in the development of municipal procedures and standards for permitting wireless facilities in the public ways, on March 7, 2019 Alan Mandl gave a presentation to client Town of Barnstable’s Town Council on municipal permitting of wireless communications facilities located in and outside of public ways.

 Ferriter Scobbo advised and worked with its client, the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (“MMWEC”), and MMWEC’s member, the Shrewsbury Electric Light and Cable Operations (“SELCO”) to bring a 3.87MW solar development to SELCO. Over an approximately 2-month period, Ferriter Scobbo advised its client to craft a workable approach to bring the benefits of renewable energy to SELCO and its customers. The concept evolved to where MMWEC would execute a license to use a portion of a capped landfill in the Town of Shrewsbury on which the solar facility will be located.

Ferriter Scobbo & Rodophele, PC congratulates its client, the Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corporation (the “Cooperative”) for successfully completing the advance refunding of a portion of the Cooperative’s outstanding debt.  The debt was refunded on a tax-exempt basis with $40.2 million in bonds issued on December 22, 2017.    The refunding will result in approximately $6.7 million in debt service savings over the next 13 years for the benefit of the Cooperative’s municipal light department participants and their 106,674 customers.