Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 138 § 10
The following cities shall be exempt from the operation of the six preceding sections: First, cities having a licensing board or commission created by special statute or under the provisions of a charter. Second, other cities not having a board appointed under the earlier provisions of law antecedent to and corresponding with the provisions of section four or under section three of chapter one hundred and twenty of the acts of nineteen hundred and thirty-three, but if any such city hereafter, at a biennial state election, votes to authorize the granting of licenses for the sale of any alcoholic beverage the board shall, thereupon, not later than the thirty-first day of December following said election, be appointed for such city as above provided, and the provisions of the six preceding sections shall thereafter apply to said city. Members of such licensing boards or commissions shall be residents of the city in which they serve.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 138, § 10