About Tal Rappleyea
As a municipal lawyer, Tal Rappleyea gets asked this question all the time: What is a municipality?
A municipality is actually just a technical term for a county or city. Although municipalities are mainly responsible for creating their laws, they hire municipal lawyers that are responsible for enforcing those laws. Tal Rappleyea covers the following municipal law issues to reflect the needs of area residents:
- Education policies, which governs the safety and standards of education in public schools, accommodating students with disabilities, and job security for teachers.
- Property taxes, which outlines how taxed income from residents can be used to benefit the community.
- Police power, which oversees how police officers monitor resident behavior.
- Zoning, which determines how land in the municipality is used.
Some municipal lawyers work internally for one municipality, while others practice law individually for multiple municipalities. Tal practices law individually in his own private practice and serves several counties in the Albany metro area in New York state.
Tal Rappleyea was admitted to the New York State Bar Association in January 1989. This chapter of the bar association is actually the largest voluntary state bar organization in the nation with a membership of more than 74,000 lawyers. Tal is proud to be a member, considering former presidents Grover Cleveland and Chester A. Arthur were members of the New York State chapter as well.
With nearly three decades of experience and a Juris Doctorate from Hamline State University, Tal Rappleyea has explored municipal law in several roles as an attorney, ranging from positions as Attorney for the Town and Attorney for the Village of several municipalities. Currently, Tal is a solo practitioner in his own Law Offices of Tal G. Rappleyea in Valatie, New York and lists municipal law as one of his main concentrations.
Tal is a supporter the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials (NYCOM), which is an organization that trains municipal officials and operates as a general support group for municipal officials in each state. He is also very active in his community, as he is a member of the Capital District Trial Lawyers Association and holds a position in the County Bar Association of New York State.
Although Tal Rappleyea maintains an active lifestyle by volunteering in his community and maintaining memberships in his field of practice, he still makes time for one of his pastimes, golf, by on the range.
- “Deal of the Year” Award from the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)
- Named one of the three new inductees to the Ethics Committee of REBNY
- Named to the Executive Board of New York Residential Specialists (NYRS).

More Sprinklers for High Rise Buildings?
Mere weeks after a high-rise fire whipped through the Grenfell Tower in London, killing dozens of people in the process, another high-rise fire struck Honolulu, Hawaii. Although there weren’t as many casualties as the Grenfell Tower fire, the tragedies had something in common: both residential buildings lacked fire sprinklers.
It’s reported that the Grenfell Tower did not have sprinklers because not only would it would have delayed last year’s renovation process, but it would have been more costly to the renovators and the residents. As for the Marco Polo high-rise in Honolulu, the building was constructed in 1971, before the city mandated fire sprinklers in all newly constructed buildings. Because of a loophole in this measure, many buildings in Honolulu weren’t required to install sprinklers in buildings that were constructed before the law was passed.
Now, the topic of fire safety and fire regulations have come to the attention of millions of residents and lawmakers across the country. Because believe it or not, there are still quite a few residential buildings in cities all across the United States that don’t have this safety measure — including New York.
Reasons often cited are cost and time constraints. But with the tragedy from Grenfell and Honolulu, is it time to re-evaluate these measures and mandate that all buildings, regardless of when they were built, should be fitted with sprinkler systems?