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).
New Law Requires Boston Municipal Workers to Live In City Limits
Boston’s beautiful skyline
Recently in Boston, Mayor Martin Walsh passed an ordinance into law that stated all municipal employees that started after July 1, 1976 must live and be a registered voter in the city. A spokesperson for the mayor, Bonnie McGilpan, released a statement to the press on the third week of March to inform citizens of the change. This is not the first time city employees have faced this type of legal issue. In fact, the original ordinance that required them to reside in Boston was first drafted in 1976 and placed within the city’s municipal code. The difference is that Walsh’s administration is the first to enforce this law since then.
The ordinance states that the mayor will have the authority to overrule the requirements if need be. According to the Daily Free Press, the only way for this to be waived is if the position “requires a unique set of skills, which without lifting the residency requirement, would render the position difficult to fill within a reasonable time.” The only loophole of the current ordinance is in regards to the Boston Police and Fire Department. Commanding staff of the police department and senior management within the fire department who have resided in the city for over a decade.
Residents of the city are torn on if the ordinance is a positive or negative move for their city though. Many feel that they should not be required to live within the city limits where the prices for real estate and property can be substantially more expensive than the town next door. Over the past decade, property prices have sharply increased as people have moved out of pricer neighbors like New York City. Rent prices have risen 4% from last year alone.
Others feel that municipal workers will understand the city and it’s residents more if they are required to live here. Workers will experience the highs and lows that other citizens face on a daily basis. The only thing citizens want ensured is that the ordinance will affect municipal works on every level and that no one should be exempt – even if they are a high ranking official.
Mayor Walsh pushed this new law through after the recommendation of the Residency Policy Commission. He released a statement about it saying: “I appointed a Residency Policy Commission to do an exhaustive look aimed at modernizing our residency policies, because we know consistent residency policies are an important tool to balance the workforce that represents our city, and recruiting and retaining top talent. I am grateful for the commission’s recommendations, and this ordinance represents a new era of consistency, enforcement and fairness within city government.”