The calendar may have turned, but Methuen has not yet turned the page. The new/next City Council has not been sworn in. That ceremony happens Friday at the Music Hall. And yet, before the new term even formally begins, the same patterns from the last council are already resurfacing. According to very reliable insiders at City Hall, the City Council is considering a resolution that would bar part-time employees from receiving health insurance. This is not idle chatter. This

Tuesday night’s City Council meeting was anything but quiet.... Despite the actual cries from the audience to speak up. The council chamber was full, with a noticeable turnout of seniors alongside current and former local elected officials. What should have been a routine meeting quickly became chaotic when sound issues made it difficult (and at times impossible) for the audience to hear councilors. The crowd let the Council know, loudly, that poor audio in a room filled with

This isn’t transparency. This is a self-serving rush job that shows open disregard for the public. Council leadership has also confirmed that if you want to be heard, you need to show up either in the Great Hall or via Zoom (link below).

Here comes Veto Clause to help all the good taxpayers

Sean Fountain’s sentencing last week should have been the moment when accountability finally caught up to one of the most astonishing failures of public oversight in recent Massachusetts history. Instead, Methuen got a civics lesson in how the system shrugs, mutters “no victim here,” and moves on. After four years of pretending to be a sworn Methuen police officer complete with a badge, a gun, arrests, searches, prosecutions, and a taxpayer-funded paycheck, Fountain walked ou

At the final meeting of its term, the Methuen City Council voted to make councilors and school committee members eligible for City health insurance. That vote raises a serious legal questions, not about politics, but about whether the Council acted within the authority granted to it by the City Charter.

Tonight (December 15th) the City Council meeting revisited two separate but highly charged issues: the proposal to make City Councilors eligible for health insurance, and the no-confidence vote directed at Methuen Public Schools leadership. Both discussions were marked by confusion, competing narratives, and sharply different understandings of how City government actually functions. This article focuses on what was said, what was voted on, and where the record does not align

Every January, the City Council uses its first meeting to reorganize and must vote on two key leadership positions: Chair and Vice Chair. These roles are often mentioned in meetings, ordinances, and debates, but many residents aren’t quite sure what they actually do, why they matter, or what makes them so coveted. The wheeling and dealing begins the night of the election in election years. In off years, the energy of those seeking the appointments can always be felt. But why?

Are you ready for 195 new residential units to hit Cross Street?

The tax burden, the insurance burden, and bigger divide between two publicly elected bodies. Let's talk about what happened at the City Council last night.

It is about elected officials quietly awarding themselves one of the most valuable benefits the City provides, while Methuen families, seniors, and employees struggle with rising costs. All while we have added next to nothing to our commercial tax base and we go into a budget year that will ABSOLUTELY be devastating unless the state has something magical up their sleeve.

The report concludes, unequivocally, that the certificate was a forgery and that the fraud could not have occurred without help from multipl

By Heather Plunkett, Methuen Resident & current Board Member. Overview of the Community Development Board directly from the official City of Methuen Website: The Community Development Board's primary jurisdiction is defined in M.G.L. Ch 40A and 41. Generally, Chapter 40A relates to zoning and Chapter 41 relates to the subdivision of land. Under the city's local zoning ordinances, the Community Development Board is responsible for all projects requiring site plan approval. Th

Fast-forward three years: there’s now a resolution before the Council for the City to pave five unaccepted streets using whatever funds the Mayor has at his disposal. The resident persistence paid off: his unaccepted road made the cut.