Cipoletta Hired As New Town Counsel

By Adam Swift

There’s a new lawyer in town, although he may be familiar to many Winthrop residents.

At Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting, Town Manager Tony Marino announced he was hiring James Cipoletta as the new town counsel.

Late last year, Marino announced he was putting the position out to bid, soliciting interest from both firms and individual practitioners.

“We had five bids come in and we got it down to two finalists,” said Marino.

He said Cipoletta was selected, and will be Winthrop’s in-house counsel beginning on March 1 working out of Town Hall.

“I thought long and hard about this,” said Marino. “Jim is looking to work for another two or three years, and I think this is a good move for the town. We’re coming up to the MBTA housing zoning requirement, we’ve got to get the AirBnB language in line, we’ve got also things we can do with the planning office and ISD.”

Cipoletta is experienced with the town’s zoning laws, and Marino said he believes he will be a good fit for the town.

A second firm, Mead and Talerman, will be used as needed as special counsel for the town, Marino said.

“They will be available when we need them, we are certainly not paying a retainer or anything like that,” said Marino. “We’re excited to have that come on board. I’ve never worked with an in-house town counsel, I’m looking forward to it, and I think it’s going to be a good fit. Being a Winthrop resident, I think he has the best interest of the town at heart.”

Marino also noted he attended the recent Massachusetts Municipal Association conference, alongside several town councilors. He said housing was one of the key issues discussed during the conference.

In other business, Marino said there have been meetings about the town’s contract with Comcast, and was hoping that contract would be completed in the next several months.

Marino said there is a new IT company at Town Hall, Balsam Technologies, which is the same IT company used by the school, fire, and police departments. The town manager said it will be more economical than using the previous company that was employed at Town Hall.