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| Home > Statutes > USA Massachusetts |
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USA Statutes : massachusetts
Title : PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
Chapter : TITLE VI. COUNTIES AND COUNTY OFFICERS
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Chapter 34: Section 1. Boundaries in tide water; powers Section 1. The seaward boundary of counties bordering on the open sea shall coincide with the marine boundary of the commonwealth. The boundary lines in tide water between adjacent coastal counties shall coincide with and are hereby established to be the boundary lines in tide water between the adjoining coastal municipalities of said counties, as confirmed and established by section one of chapter forty-two. Counties separated by waters within the jurisdiction of the commonwealth shall exercise a concurrent jurisdiction over such waters. Each county shall be a body politic and corporate for the purposes of suit, of buying and holding, for county uses, personal estate and land lying therein, and of contracting and doing other necessary acts relative to its property and affairs.
Chapter 34: Section 10. Record of proceedings; copy to director of accounts Section 10. They shall keep a full and complete record of the proceedings at all their meetings and, if their vote or decision is not unanimous, the record shall show how each commissioner voted. A copy thereof, attested by their clerk, shall be transmitted annually, on or before the fifteenth day of January, to the director of accounts, who shall submit it to the general court.
Chapter 34: Section 11. Clerical employees; temporary clerk; duties Section 11. They may employ such clerical employees as may be necessary for the proper performance of the work of their offices, who shall perform such duties as the commissioners may determine. They may, in the absence from any meeting of the clerk or any deputy assistant clerk designated under section seven of chapter two hundred and twenty-one, appoint a temporary clerk, who may be a commissioner or other suitable person. He shall be sworn by the chairman or presiding commissioner, keep a record of the proceedings, and deliver the same forthwith to the clerk or deputy assistant clerk, who shall enter it upon the records of the commissioners.
Chapter 34: Section 12. Absence or disqualification of commissioners; appointment of substitute; tenure Section 12. In case of inability to attend, or interest in a question before the commissioners, or if any part of a highway relative to which they are to act lies within the town where a commissioner resides, the commissioners qualified to act and the clerk of the courts for the county shall appoint one or more persons, not residing in the same town as any commissioner, nor in the same town with each other, if more than one, to act as commissioners in place of those absent or disqualified, until such absence or disqualification ceases. The commissioners may, however, receive a petition, issue an order of notice thereon, take a recognizance, approve bills or payrolls, or perform ministerial acts, whenever two members are competent to act. If they cannot otherwise organize, residence shall not disqualify.
Chapter 34: Section 13. Powers; administration of oaths; punishment for contempt Section 13. When in session, the commissioners may administer oaths to witnesses and punish disorderly conduct which interrupts their meeting or is an open and direct contempt of their authority or persons by a fine of not more than five dollars or by confinement in the custody of the sheriff, a deputy sheriff or constable for not more than twelve hours.
Chapter 34: Section 14. Additional powers Section 14. In addition to such powers and duties as may otherwise be conferred or imposed by law, the commissioners may provide for erecting and repairing jails and other necessary public buildings within and for the use of their county, but no money shall be paid or liability incurred therefor in excess of the amount specifically authorized by the advisory boards on county expenditures, except for emergency repairs, and no bills for construction or enlargement of a jail, house of correction or reformatory shall be incurred or paid until the plans therefor have been approved by the commissioner of correction, except as otherwise provided. They shall have authority to represent their county, and to have the care of its property and the management of its business and affairs in cases where not otherwise expressly provided; to sell and convey any real estate of the county by deed, sealed with the county seal, signed and acknowledged by them, or to lease any real estate of the county; to adopt a county seal, which shall be in the custody of their clerk and affixed to all processes requiring it; provided, however, that the sale of any county owned real estate customarily used by the county or sheriff for the housing of prisoners, including any jail, house of correction, or other such facility shall be made at fair market value and the net proceeds of any such sale shall be used for the construction of new jails, jail additions or temporary jail facilities, to reimburse the commonwealth for expenditures for such purposes or to reimburse the commonwealth for loans made to a county for the purpose of maintaining and operating the county; and provided, further, that any real estate offered for sale or lease, by a county shall first be offered for sale or lease to the commonwealth and upon the non-acceptance by the commonwealth of any such offer, shall then be offered for sale or lease to the city or town where such land is located.
At least ninety days prior to contracting for the sale or lease of such real estate, the commissioners shall notify in writing the city council or board of selectmen of the city or town in which such real estate is located; the members of the general court representing said city or town; the advisory board on county expenditures of the county in which such real estate is located; and the regional planning agency of the region in which such real estate is located.
Such notification shall include information as to the real estate’s present use; the reason for its sale or lease; the new activity or purpose for which it will be used; and a copy of an independent appraisal done within the past fiscal year. Such appraisal shall be by a qualified appraiser approved by the executive committee of the advisory board on county expenditures of the county in which such real estate is located.
At least forty-five days but not more than sixty days prior to contracting for the sale or lease of said real estate, the commissioners shall cause a public hearing to be held in the town or city in which such real estate is located.
The commissioners shall publish on at least two occasions, in at least two newspapers serving the city or town in which such real estate is located, the time and place of said hearing. Such publication shall occur at least fourteen days prior to said hearing.
Any contract for the sale or lease or real estate executed in violation of this section shall be voidable; provided, however, that no action for violation of this section may be commenced subsequent to the date of the delivery of the deed conveying such real estate.
Chapter 34: Section 14A. Associate commissioner for affairs concerning the elderly Section 14A. In any county which accepts this section by vote of the county commissioners, the chairman of the county commissioners shall appoint a senior citizen to serve as an associate commissioner for affairs concerning the elderly. Said associate commissioner shall serve for a one year term, coterminous with the chairman’s term of office. This associate commissioner shall have no powers or authority in the county government, but shall advise the county commissioners on affairs of the elderly and act as an ombudsman for senior citizens and elder agencies located within the county.
Chapter 34: Section 14B. Associate commissioner for affairs concerning handicapped persons Section 14B. In any county which accepts this section by vote of the county commissioners, the chairman of the county commissioners shall appoint a handicapped person to serve as an associate commissioner for affairs concerning handicapped persons. Said associate commissioner shall serve for a one year term, coterminous with the chairman’s term of office and shall serve without compensation. Said associate commissioner shall have no powers or authority in the county government, but shall advise the county commissioners on affairs of the handicapped.
Chapter 34: Section 15. Qualification of officers; return to state secretary Section 15. They shall, upon administering the oaths of office to officers required by law to qualify before them, forthwith make return thereof to the state secretary.
Chapter 34: Section 16. Office hours; holidays; certain acts performable on next business day Section 16. Except as otherwise provided by law, all offices under the jurisdiction of the commissioners shall be open to the public for the transaction of business daily on days other than Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays for such hours as may be set by the commissioners, except that, if the convenience of the public so requires, the commissioners may keep any office under their jurisdiction open on any Saturday, not a legal holiday, and give any employee required to work on such Saturday equivalent time off without loss of compensation. When the day or the last day for the performance of any act, including the making of any payment or tender of payment, authorized or required to be performed at such an office falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the act may be performed on the next succeeding business day.
Chapter 34: Section 17. Repealed, 1989, 687, Sec. 4 Chapter 34: Section 18. Recognizances and damages Section 18. The commissioners shall require all applicants for the award of damages or the performance of any other official act in which the county has no interest to recognize to the county, with sureties to their satisfaction, for the payment of all costs and expenses accruing to the county by reason of their application and the proceedings thereon, which shall be added to the damages, if any, assessed in consequence thereof. If an application is dismissed and costs are chargeable to the petitioner, they shall be taxed for each commissioner at the rate of three dollars a day, and five cents a mile for travel to and from the place of meeting, and paid to the county. If the persons recognizing refuse or neglect, when required by the commissioners, to pay such costs and expenses, the commissioners may, after notice to the persons who so recognized, issue a warrant against them or some of them, unless sufficient cause is shown to the contrary, for the amount ordered to be paid by them, with the further costs of the notice and warrant, and the money shall be collected and paid into the county treasury.
Chapter 34: Section 19. Proceedings at other times than regular meetings and returns thereof Section 19. The commissioners severally may, at other times than at regular meetings, receive petitions relative to railroads or to matters where the county has no interest and may take recognizances thereon, and, upon such petitions and similar petitions entered at a regular meeting the commissioners or the chairman may, at other times than at regular meetings, appoint hearings and direct notices to be given to persons interested. They shall severally make return of such petitions and recognizances, with their proceedings, at any regular or special meeting held therefor; and the clerk shall record the same. The costs of any such special meeting shall be paid by such parties as the commissioners determine.
Chapter 34: Section 2. Alteration of maps Section 2. County commissioners shall cause changes in the boundaries of towns, in the courses of highways, railroads and canals, and other topographical alterations to be correctly delineated on the county maps, which shall remain in their possession.
The state secretary, as often as necessary, shall transmit the manuscript county maps in his office to the respective county commissioners who shall cause a competent engineer or surveyor under their direction to transfer thereto all changes, and shall, within two months after their receipt, return them to the secretary, who shall forthwith cause the changes to be copied on the plates of the state map.
Chapter 34: Section 20. Applicability of laws relating to county commissioners and clerks to certain other officers Section 20. The laws relative to the powers, duties and liabilities of county commissioners and their clerks shall apply, except as otherwise provided, to all other public officers exercising their powers.
Chapter 34: Section 21. Official letters Section 21. The provisions of section thirty of chapter thirty relative to the dimensions of official letters shall apply to letters from county officials.
Chapter 34: Section 22. Breach or neglect of duty; penalty Section 22. For wilful breach or neglect of a duty imposed by law, a county commissioner or clerk of the county commissioners shall forfeit not less than fifty nor more than one thousand dollars, recoverable to the use of the county, at the suit of the attorney general.
Chapter 34: Section 23. Gifts; use and disposition Section 23. Any county may receive, hold and manage any gift by devise, bequest or otherwise, to the use or benefit of the county or any activity, institution, organization, board, commission or other public body to the use of which funds of the county are advanced or contributed. Unless otherwise provided by the donor, any money so received or the proceeds of any such gift shall be placed at interest in savings banks or savings departments of trust companies incorporated under the laws of the commonwealth, or in savings departments of national banks, or shall be deposited on paid-up shares and accounts of and in cooperative banks, or shall be used to purchase share accounts of federal savings and loan associations located in the commonwealth, or invested in securities which are legal investments for savings banks. The county treasurer shall be the custodian of such fund and securities, and shall invest and reinvest the same, and expend therefrom moneys as directed by the county commissioners.
Chapter 34: Section 24. Federal grants; acceptance, custody and disposition Section 24. Any county officer or department may, with the approval of the county commissioners, accept any grant from the federal government for the use or benefit of the county or any activity, institution or board. The county treasurer shall be the custodian of such grant, which shall be held as a separate account and expended for the purposes of such grant.
Chapter 34: Section 25. Acquisition of real property Section 25. The commissioners may, subject to appropriation, acquire by eminent domain, or by purchase or otherwise, the fee or other lesser interest in such real property within their respective counties as may be necessary to maintain, improve, protect, limit the future use of or otherwise conserve and properly utilize open spaces, and may control and manage the same; provided that such acquisition has been approved by the department of environmental management and the conservation committee of the city or town within which such land lies, or if such city or town has no conservation committee by a two thirds vote of the city council in the case of a city and by a two thirds vote of the board of selectmen in the case of a town. Land used for farming or agriculture, as defined in section one A of chapter one hundred and twenty-eight, shall not be taken by eminent domain under the authority of this section.
Chapter 34: Section 3. Public buildings Section 3. Each county shall provide suitable jails, houses of correction, fireproof offices and other public buildings, including both the structures and the land upon which such structures are sited, necessary for its use; provided, however, that the county of Dukes need not provide a house of correction; provided, further, that the city of Boston shall provide necessary public buildings, including both the structures and the land upon which such structures are sited, for Suffolk county; provided, further, that the obligation to provide suitable structures of jails and houses of correction shall become that of the commonwealth and shall cease to be that of such counties or city in the event that the commonwealth constructs such facilities for such county or city; provided, further, that in any such county or city which has been ordered by a court to construct a new correctional facility, state assumption of the responsibility to provide such structure shall occur when the state appropriates funds therefor and such county or city has complied with any conditions attached to such appropriation, if any; and, provided further, that notwithstanding the fact that the commonwealth may have assumed the responsibilities of providing a suitable structure for such facilities, the counties and the city shall retain the obligation to provide for the operation and maintenance of such facilities. No courtroom of the superior court shall contain a cage for defendants.
Chapter 34: Section 3A. Repealed, 1978, 349, Sec. 3 Chapter 34: Section 4. Election; tenure Section 4. Except in Nantucket and Suffolk counties, there shall be elected in each county, as provided in section one hundred and fifty-eight of chapter fifty-four, for terms of four years beginning the first Wednesday of January following their election and until their successors are qualified, three county commissioners, who shall be sworn before entering upon their duties, and shall annually, at their first meeting after the first Wednesday of January, choose by ballot a chairman. In Nantucket county the selectmen of Nantucket, and in Suffolk county the mayor and city council of Boston, the municipal council of Chelsea and the city council of Revere, in their respective cities, and the selectmen of Winthrop in said town, shall, except as otherwise provided, have the powers and perform the duties of county commissioners.
Chapter 34: Section 5. Salaries Section 5. The salaries of county commissioners, payable by their respective counties in full for all services performed by said commissioners except as otherwise provided, shall be as follows:— Middlesex.
.
.
.
. $9,505.
16 Essex.
.
.
.
. 8,799.
73 Norfolk.
.
.
.
. 8,799.
73 Worcester.
.
.
.
. 8,799.
73 Bristol.
.
.
.
. 7,388.
87 Hampden.
.
.
.
. 7,388.
87 Barnstable.
.
.
.
. 6,683.
44 Berkshire.
.
.
.
. 6,683.
44 Plymouth.
.
.
.
. 6,683.
44 Franklin.
.
.
.
. 5,272.
58 Hampshire.
.
.
.
. 5,272.
58 Dukes.
.
.
.
. 2,963.
90 Chapter 34: Section 5A. Salaries; acceptance of provision of this section Section 5A. Subject to the acceptance of this section as hereinafter provided, the salaries of county commissioners, payable by their respective counties in full for all services performed by said commissioners except as otherwise provided, shall be as follows:Effective July 1, 1976.
Middlesex.
.
.
.
.
$9,805.
16 Essex.
.
.
.
. 9,099.
73Norfolk.
.
.
.
. 9,099.
73Worcester.
.
.
.
. 9,099.
73Bristol.
.
.
.
. 7,688.
87Hampden.
.
.
.
. 7,688.
87Barnstable.
.
.
.
. 6,983.
44Berkshire.
.
.
.
. 6,983.
44Plymouth.
.
.
.
. 6,983.
44Franklin.
.
.
.
. 5,572.
58Hampshire.
.
.
.
. 5,572.
58Dukes.
.
.
.
. 3,263.
90Effective January 1, 1977.
Middlesex.
.
.
.
.
$10,055.
16Essex.
.
.
.
. 9,349.
73Norfolk.
.
.
.
. 9,349.
73Worcester.
.
.
.
. 9,349.
73Bristol.
.
.
.
. 7,938.
87Hampden.
.
.
.
. 7,938.
87Barnstable.
.
.
.
. 7,233.
44Berkshire.
.
.
.
. 7,233.
44Plymouth.
.
.
.
. 7,233.
44Franklin.
.
.
.
. 5,822.
58Hampshire.
.
.
.
. 5,822.
58Dukes.
.
.
.
. 3,513.
90Effective April 1, 1977.
Middlesex.
.
.
.
.
$10,355.
16Essex.
.
.
.
. 9,649.
73Norfolk.
.
.
.
. 9,649.
73Worcester.
.
.
.
. 9,649.
73Bristol.
.
.
.
. 8,238.
87Hampden.
.
.
.
. 8,238.
87Barnstable.
.
.
.
. 7,533.
44Berkshire.
.
.
.
. 7,533.
44Plymouth.
.
.
.
. 7,533.
44Franklin.
.
.
.
. 6,122.
58Hampshire.
.
.
.
. 6,122.
58Dukes.
.
.
.
. 3,813.
90No salary payable under section five shall be increased in any county under the provisions of this section unless the county commissioners of such county have voted to accept the provisions of this section.
Chapter 34: Section 6. Repealed, 1930, 400, Sec. 2 Chapter 34: Section 7. Commissioners acting by appointment; compensation; travel expenses Section 7. A person acting as commissioner by appointment under section twelve shall be paid by the county not less than five dollars for each day of actual service, not exceeding five hundred dollars in any year, and ten cents a mile for travel each way.
Chapter 34: Section 8. Statement of expenses; certification; payment; audit Section 8. An itemized statement of the actual and proper cost to each commissioner for transportation and other necessary expenses incurred in the performance of his official duties shall, on the first day of each month, be approved by a majority of the county commissioners and certified by their clerk to the county treasurer who shall reimburse them. The director of accounts shall audit such expenses in the course of his examination of the books and accounts of the county treasurer pursuant to section forty-four of chapter thirty-five.
Chapter 34: Section 9. Meetings; frequency; location; special meetings Section 9. The commissioners shall hold meetings at the following times and places for their respective counties:At Barnstable, the second Tuesday of April and October.
At Pittsfield, the first Tuesday of January, April, July and October.
At Taunton, the fourth Tuesday of March and September.
At Edgartown, the Wednesday next after the third Monday of May and the Wednesday next after the second Monday of November.
At Ipswich, the second Tuesday of April; at Salem, the second Tuesday of July; at Newburyport, the second Tuesday of October; at Lawrence, the last Tuesday of August; and the fourth Tuesday of December, at Ipswich, Salem or Newburyport, as they shall order at the preceding meeting.
At Greenfield, the first Tuesday of March and September and the second Tuesday of June and December.
At Springfield, the second Tuesday of April, the first Tuesday of October and the fourth Tuesday of June and December.
At Northampton, the first Tuesday of March, September and December and the Tuesday next after the second Monday of June.
At Cambridge, twice yearly; at Lowell, twice yearly; at Framingham, twice yearly.
At Dedham, the third Tuesday of April, the fourth Tuesday of June and September and the last Wednesday of December.
At Plymouth, the first Tuesday of January, the third Tuesday of March and the first Tuesday of August.
At Worcester, the fourth Tuesday of March, the third Tuesday of June, the second Tuesday of September and the fourth Tuesday of December.
They may by vote, specify the time and place, establish other regular meetings within their county, and may also hold special meetings therein at such times and places as may be necessary. They may adjourn any regular or special meeting to any place within the county, and persons required to appear at, or processes returnable to, any such meeting, shall appear at or be returnable to the adjourned meeting.
Chapter 34: Section 9A. Records Section 9A. The records of the commissioners shall consist of a docket, the files, a record of payments ordered, the extended record, and a complete record of proceedings at all meetings as provided in section ten.
Chapter 34: Section 9B. Docket defined Section 9B. The docket is hereby defined as a record wherein their clerk shall register, by its title or by an abstract, and numbered consecutively, every action, suit and proceeding commenced before or transferred or appealed to the commissioners, and also contracts filed as required by section seventeen. He shall note therein, according to the date thereof, the filing or return of any paper or process, the making of any decree, adjudication, order, rule or other direction, or any amendment thereof, in or concerning such matter.
Chapter 34: Section 9C. Files defined Section 9C. The files are hereby defined as all papers and processes filed with or by the clerk in any action, suit, proceeding or contract, before, by or with the commissioners. All such papers, processes and contracts shall be numbered consecutively in each case, as entered.
Chapter 34: Section 9D. Record of payments; form and contents Section 9D. The record of payments ordered shall be in such form as the commissioners, with the approval of the director of accounts, may determine. It shall contain the name of each person to whom payment is ordered made, together with its amount, both of which shall be classified under a heading specifying the appropriation from which such payment is to be made.
Chapter 34: Section 9E. Extended record; form and contents Section 9E. The extended record shall be in abridged form. It shall comprise an abbreviated chronicle of all matters entered upon the docket, under the same or a similar title or an abstract thereof, and under the same number, and shall contain a brief and concise narrative of the essential features of the matter. Any final judgment, decree or order affecting the title to land shall be copied therein at length. But contracts and amendments thereof shall not be copied unless so ordered by the commissioners.
Chapter 34: Section 9F. Definitions Section 9F. The following terms as used in section nine G shall have the following meanings:—“Deliberation”, a verbal exchange between a quorum of members of a governmental body attempting to arrive at a decision on any public business within its jurisdiction.
“Emergency”, a sudden, generally unexpected occurrence or set of circumstances demanding immediate action.
“Executive session”, any meeting of a governmental body which is closed to certain persons for deliberation on certain matters.
“Governmental body”, a county board, commission, committee and subcommittee.
“Meeting”, any corporal convening and deliberation of a governmental body for which a quorum is required in order to make a decision at which any public business or public policy matter over which the governmental body has supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power is discussed or considered; but shall not include any on-site inspection of any project or program.
“Quorum”, a simple majority of a governmental body unless otherwise defined by constitution, charter, rule or law applicable to such governing body.
“Made public”, when the records of an executive session have been approved by the members of the respective governmental body attending such session for release to the public and notice of such approval has been entered in the records of such body.
Chapter 34: Section 9G. Open meetings of governmental bodies Section 9G. All meetings of a governmental body shall be open to the public and any person shall be permitted to attend any meeting except as otherwise provided by this section.
No quorum of a governmental body shall meet in private for the purpose of deciding on or deliberating toward a decision on any matter except as provided by this section.
No executive session shall be held until the governmental body has convened in an open session for which notice has been given, a majority of the members of the governmental body have voted to go into executive session and the vote of each member is recorded on a roll call vote and entered into the minutes, the presiding officer has cited the purpose for an executive session, and the presiding officer has stated before the executive session if the governmental body will reconvene after the executive session.
Nothing except the limitations contained in this section shall be construed to prevent the governmental body from holding an executive session after an open meeting has been convened and a recorded vote been taken to hold an executive session. Executive sessions may be held only for the following purposes:(1) To discuss the reputation, character, physical condition or mental health rather than the professional competence of an individual, provided that the individual involved in such executive session has been notified in writing by the governmental body, at least forty-eight hours prior to the proposed executive session. Notification may be waived upon agreement of the parties. A governmental body shall hold an open meeting if the individual involved requests that the meeting be open. If an executive session is held, such individual shall have the following rights:(a) to be present at such executive session during discussions or considerations which involve that individual.
(b) to have counsel or a representative of his own choosing present and attending for the purpose of advising said individual and not for the purpose of active participation in said executive session.
(c) to speak in his own behalf.
(2) To consider the discipline or dismissal of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member, or individual, provided that the individual involved in such executive session has been notified in writing by the governmental body at least forty-eight hours prior to the proposed executive session. Notification may be waived upon agreement of the parties. A governmental body shall hold an open meeting if the individual involved requests that the meeting be open. If an executive session is held, such individual shall have the following rights:(a) to be present at such executive session during discussions or considerations which involve that individual.
(b) to have counsel or a representative of his own choosing present and attending for the purpose of advising said individual and not for the purpose of active participation.
(c) to speak in his own behalf.
(3) To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the governmental body, and to conduct collective bargaining sessions.
(4) To discuss the deployment of security personnel or devices.
(5) To investigate charges of criminal misconduct or to discuss the filing of criminal complaints.
(6) To consider the purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property, if such discussions may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the governmental body and a person, firm or corporation.
(7) To comply with the provisions of any general or special law or federal grant-in-aid requirements.
This section shall not apply to any chance meeting, or a social meeting at which matters relating to official business are discussed, so long as no final agreement is reached. No chance meeting or social meeting shall be used in circumvention of the spirit or requirements of this section to discuss or act upon a matter over which the governmental body has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power.
Except in an emergency, a notice of every meeting of a governmental body shall be filed in the office of the county commissioners and a copy thereof, publicly posted in such place or places as the county commissioners shall designate for the purpose at least forty-eight hours, including Saturdays but not Sundays and legal holidays, prior to the time of such meeting. The notice shall be printed in easily readable type and shall include the date, time and place of such meeting. Such filing and posting shall be the responsibility of the officer calling such meetings.
A governmental body shall maintain accurate records of its meetings, setting forth the date, time, place, members present or absent and action taken at each meeting, including executive sessions. The records of each meeting shall become a public record and be available to the public; provided, however, that the records of any executive session may remain secret as long as publication may defeat the lawful purposes of the executive session, but no longer. All votes taken in executive sessions shall be recorded roll call votes and shall become a part of the record of said executive sessions. No votes taken in open session shall be by secret ballot.
A meeting of a governmental body may be recorded by any person in attendance by means of a tape recorder or any other means of sonic reproduction except when a meeting is held in executive session; provided, that in such recording there is no active interference with the conduct of the meeting.
Upon qualification for office following an appointment or election to a governmental body a member shall be furnished by the county commissioners with a copy of this section. Each such member shall sign a written acknowledgment that he has been provided with such a copy.
The district attorney of the county in which the violation allegedly occurred shall enforce the provisions of this section.
Upon proof of failure by any governmental body, member or officer thereof to carry out any of the provisions for public notice or meetings, for holding open meetings, or for maintaining public records thereof, any justice of the supreme judicial court or the superior court sitting within and for the county in which such governmental body acts shall issue an appropriate order requiring such governmental body or member or officer thereof to carry out such provisions at future meetings. Such order may be sought by complaint of three or more registered voters, by the attorney general, or by the district attorney for the county in which the district is located. The order of notice on the complaint shall be returnable no later than ten days after the filing thereof and the complaint shall be heard and determined on the return day or on such day thereafter as the court shall fix, having regard to the speediest possible determination of the cause consistent with the rights of the parties; provided, however, that orders with respect to any of the matters referred to in this section may be issued at any time on or after the filing of the complaint without notice when such order is necessary to fulfill the purposes of this section. In the hearing of such complaint the burden shall be on the respondent to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the action complained of in such complaint was in accordance with and authorized by section eleven B of chapter thirty A, by this section or by section twenty-three B of chapter thirty-nine. All processes may be issued from the clerk’s office in the county in which the complaint is brought and, except as aforesaid, shall, be returnable as the court orders.
Such order may invalidate any action taken at any meeting at which any provision of this section has been violated, provided that such complaint is filed within twenty-one days of the date when such action is made public.
Any such order may also, when appropriate, require the records of any such meeting to be made public, unless it shall have been determined by such justice that the maintenance of secrecy with respect to such records is authorized. The remedy created hereby is not exclusive, but shall be in addition to every other available remedy.
The rights of an individual set forth in this section, relative to his appearance before a meeting in an executive or open session are in addition to the rights that an individual may have from any other source, including, but not limited to, rights under any laws or collective bargaining agreements, and the exercise or nonexercise of the individual rights under this section shall not be construed as a waiver of any rights of the individual.
Section 1. This chapter may be cited as the “County Charter Procedures Act”. As used in this chapter, the terms “board of registrars of voters”, “city council”, and “board of selectmen” shall include any local authority of different designation performing like duties.
Section 10. (A.
) In any county in which a charter commission has been established under this chapter, the members of the advisory board on county expenditures shall have the right to participate in the deliberations of the charter commission, but without the right to vote; except the chairman of the advisory board on county expenditures as provided in section six, on commission recommendations or to endorse or dissent from any report of the commission by virtue of their official advisory role, although this shall in no way be deemed to inhibit their comments as individuals after release of the charter commission report, or as an elected member of a charter commission.
(B.
) The secretary of administration or his designee shall serve ex-officio as nonvoting advisor on all charter commissions established under this chapter. It shall be his duty to collect, evaluate and transmit to each commission such information, advice, plans, and policies as he may deem pertinent to county government and its relationship to the state and municipal government. He shall meet with the commission as frequently as the commission shall request in order to assist the commission in determining the best form to recommend for the county’s government.
proposed charter Section 11. (A.
) The charter commission shall hold public hearings, sponsor public forums and otherwise provide for the widest possible dissemination of information and the stimulation of public discussion respecting the purposes and progress of its work.
(B.
) The charter commission shall report its findings and recommendations to the citizens of the county on or before the eighteenth calendar month next following the date of its election in the form of a final report which it shall file with the county clerk who shall distribute it to all elected county and municipal officials, all members of the counties’ legislative delegation, and the state secretary.
In addition, there shall be printed and made available at least ninety days before the election at cost to the public at large, a number of copies equal to at least one-tenth of one per cent of the county’s registered voters.
The commission shall publish in two newspapers of known general circulation within said county on two successive weeks the full text of the proposed charter, together with a summary of its findings and recommendations, a summary of the provisions of the plan, if any, which it recommends for approval, and an analysis of and commentary on such plans.
determinations Section 12. (A.
) The charter study commission may report and recommend:(i) That a referendum be held to submit to the voters of the county the question of adopting one of the optional forms of the government set forth in sections seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen of this chapter that the commission has designated; or (ii) That the charter commission shall petition the legislature for the enactment of a special charter, the text of which shall be appended to the charter commission’s report; or (iii) That the form of government of the county remain unchanged; or (iv) That any or any combination of the following changes be made: (a) that the present form of county government be abolished and which, if any, county agencies or operations should be placed under another state, local or regional governmental system; or (b) that part of the present form of county government be abolished and which, if any, county agencies or operations should remain as part of county government and which should be abolished, changed or placed under another governmental system; or (c) that all or some of the county agencies or operations be taken over by the state or allowed to exist as part of a regional system.
The commission may also draft and submit to the commissioners whatever recommendations it deems appropriate for the efficient administration of the county. Such recommendations may include a model administrative code. Such recommendations may be adopted by the commissioners in whole or in part whether or not a new charter is recommended by the commission or approved by the voters.
(B.
) If the charter commission shall vote to recommend adoption of one of the optional forms set forth in sections seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen of this chapter, it shall also consider and make findings with respect to each of the three subjects set forth below, and determine which plan would provide the best representation of the people of the county. The final report shall set forth said findings and determinations in detail.
(i) Commissioners, number and term. The commission shall make recommendations as to changes if any in the number and terms of service of the county commissioners.
(ii) The commission shall recommend either a continuation of the present system of nonconcurrent terms or the adoption of a new system of concurrent terms.
(iii) Constituencies. The commission can recommend that the commissioners be elected at large or that they be elected by districts.
special charter, enabling legislation Section 13. (A) If the charter commission shall have recommended the adoption of one of the optional forms of government authorized by this chapter, the charter commission shall notify the state secretary by the first Wednesday in August to place the following referendum question on the election ballot:“Shall the (designate the caption of section of the County Charter Procedures Act) be adopted for county, with the provision for a board of commissioners of members elected for (concurrent or non-concurrent as the case may be) terms and elected (at large, or from districts). ”The question shall appear on the ballot at the next biennial state election. At such election, the referendum question shall appear on the ballot in the same manner as other public questions are printed on the ballot. The attorney general shall prepare the summary to accompany such question.
(B) If the charter commission shall have proposed a special charter, it shall be the duty of the commission to petition the legislature forthwith for a special law or laws, pursuant to the state constitution and in the manner provided by general enabling legislation thereunder, to carry out the recommendations of the charter commission.
Upon enactment of such enabling legislation, the special charter shall be submitted to the voters of the petitioning county for adoption in a manner provided in subsection (A), or as may otherwise be appropriate. No special charter shall become operative unless approved by a majority of all votes cast on the question.
(C) If the charter commission shall have proposed any recommendations pursuant to clause (iv) of the first paragraph of subsection (A) of section twelve, it shall be the duty of the commission to petition the legislature forthwith for a special law or laws pursuant to the state constitution and in the manner provided by general enabling legislation thereunder, to carry out such recommendations of the charter commission, provided, that upon enactment of such enabling legislation, the legislation implementing such recommendations shall be submitted to the voters of the petitioning county for adoption in a manner provided in said subsection (A) or as may otherwise be appropriate. No such legislation shall become effective until approved by a majority of all votes cast on the question of adoption.
Section 14. (a) The charter may be revised in the same manner as provided for in its original adoption by section three.
(b) A petition for the adoption or revision of a charter shall conform with the requirements of subsection (c) and shall have a sentence in substantially the following form at the top of each page.
Each of the undersigned requests that the county revise its present charter or adopt a new charter, and each of the undersigned certifies that he is a registered voter of said county whose residence addresses at the times set forth below were as shown below, and that he has not signed this petition more than once.
(c) The state secretary shall prescribe the form of all petitions under this chapter. Section seven of chapter fifty-three shall apply to all such petitions. No petition shall contain or be accompanied by any indication of party or political designation.
(d) Duplicate certificates shall be prepared setting forth any charter revisions approved, and shall be signed by the state secretary. One such certificate shall be deposited in the office of the state secretary and another shall be recorded in the records of the county and deposited among its archives. All courts may take judicial notice of the charter and charter revisions of the county.
The executive body of the county shall, at intervals of not greater than ten years, cause the charter of said county as revised to be reprinted for distribution to such registered voters of said county as may apply therefor at the office of the executive body of the county. Acts of the general court which are included in such charter may be referred to by appropriate subject headings and statutory citations instead of being set forth at length. Copies of said document may be sold at a price not to exceed the cost of paper, printing and binding thereof, plus mailing charges if any, as determined by the county executive body.
(e) A new charter or charter revision approved by a majority of the voters of the county voting thereon shall take effect on the day specified in such charter or revision. If two or more charter adoption or revision proposals are submitted to the voters in the alternative and are approved, only the alternative proposal receiving the highest number of affirmative votes shall take effect. If two or more charter adoption or revision proposals containing conflicting provisions are submitted to the voters, but not as alternatives, and are approved, all such proposals shall take effect, but the proposal receiving the highest number of affirmative votes shall be construed to prevent all conflicting provisions contained in other proposals from taking effect.
abolition or consolidation of agencies; intent of chapter Section 15. (A.
) Upon adoption by the registered voters of any county, except Barnstable county of any optional form of government set forth in this chapter, the county shall thereafter be governed by the plan adopted, by the provisions of this chapter applicable to all optional plans and by all general laws, subject to provisions of this chapter.
(B.
) For the purposes of this chapter, a “general law” shall be deemed to be such a law or part thereof, heretofore or hereafter enacted, that:(i) is not inconsistent with this chapter; and (ii) is by its terms applicable to or available to all counties, or, (iii) is applicable to all counties or to any category or class of counties and deals with one or more of the following subjects: the administration of the judicial system, education, elections, health, county public authorities, taxation, finance and welfare.
(C.
) Except as it relates to judicial or penal administration, or the administration of the registry of deeds nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent counties from abolishing or consolidating agencies the existence of which has heretofore been mandated by general law provided that if such abolition or consolidation shall alter the obligation of the county to continue services theretofore rendered by such abolished or consolidated agency, said alteration must be approved by the general court prior to taking effect.
(D.
) The intent of this chapter is to enable a county that has adopted a charter pursuant to this chapter to cause any duty that has been mandated to it by the General Laws to be performed in the most efficient and expeditious manner, and, absent a clear legislative declaration to the contrary, without regard to organizational structural, or personnel provisions contained in prior general law, and further, the intent of this chapter is to encourage a review of the functions which a county provides.
Section 16. (A.
) Any county that has adopted a charter pursuant to this chapter may, in accordance with the provisions of such charter, and subject to the provisions of general law and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:(i) Organize and regulate its internal affairs; create, alter, abolish offices, positions and employments and define functions, powers and duties thereof; establish qualifications for persons holding offices, positions and employments; and provide for the manner of their appointment and removal and for their term, tenure and compensation.
(ii) Adopt, amend, enforce, and repeal ordinances and resolutions notwithstanding the effect of any referendum conducted prior to the county’s adoption of its charter pursuant to this chapter.
(iii) Construct, acquire, operate and maintain public improvements, projects or other enterprises for any public purposes, subject to such referendum as may otherwise be imposed by law.
(iv) Exercise powers of eminent domain, borrowing and taxation only as provided by general law;(v) Exercise all powers of county government in such manner as its board of commissioners and advisory board on county expenditures may determine.
(vi) Sue and be sued, have a corporate seal; contract and be contracted with, buy, sell, lease, hold and dispose of real and personal property; appropriate and expend monies for county purposes;(vii) Contract with or sign agreements with other governmental units for the provision of joint, coordinated, or cooperative service provision.
(B.
) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to impair or diminish or infringe on the powers and duties of cities and towns under the General Laws. It is the intent of this chapter only to permit cities and towns to employ services and facilities of the county for more effective, efficient and adequate provision of services if and when cities and towns may deem it desirable to do so. Cities and towns are and shall remain the broad repository of local police power in terms of the right and power to legislate for the general health, safety, and welfare of their residents.
(C.
) The grant of powers under this act is intended to be as broad as consistent with the construction of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the General Laws relating to local government. The grant of powers shall be construed as liberally as possible in regard to the county’s right to reorganize its own form of government, to reorganize its structure and to alter and abolish its agencies, subject to the general mandate of performing services whether they be performed by the agency previously established or by a new agency or other department of county government. Based on the need to develop effective services to meet problems which cross city or town boundaries and which cannot be met effectively on an individual basis by the cities and towns, or the state, this chapter shall be construed as intending to give the county power to establish innovative programs and to perform such regional services as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the General Laws permit and to establish such other programs and services as may from time to time be permitted.
Section 17. (A.
) Form of Government.
(i) The form of government provided in this section shall be known as the “county executive plan,” and shall together with sections fifteen, sixteen and twenty of this chapter, govern any county whose voters have adopted it pursuant to this chapter.
(ii) Elected officers; governing body defined; exercise of administrative or executive functions by county executive.
(a) Each county operating under this section shall be governed by an elected board of commissioners and an elected county executive and by such other officers and employees as may be duly appointed pursuant to this act, general law, or ordinance.
(b) In each county operating under this section the term “governing body” of the county shall be construed to include both the commissioners and the county executive. For the purpose of the construction of any applicable law, any and all administrative or executive functions heretofore assigned by general law to the commissioners shall be exercised by the county executive, and any and all legislative and investigative functions heretofore assigned by general law to the commissioner shall be exercised by the board.
(B.
) County Executive.
(i) The county executive shall be a qualified voter of the county residing in the county. He shall be elected from the county at large for a term of four years commencing on January first, next following his election.
(ii) The salary of the county executive shall be fixed by ordinance of the commissioners; such salary shall be reasonable and commensurate with the duties of the office and with the fact that the position of county executive is and shall be a full-time position. The salary of the county executive may not be lowered during his tenure in office.
(iii) The office of county executive shall be deemed vacant if the incumbent moves his residence from the county or he is by physical or mental illness or other casualty unable to continue to serve as county executive. Any vacancy in the office of county executive shall be filled in the manner prescribed by law for the election of county officers at the next general election occurring not less than sixty days after the occurrence of the vacancy. The commissioners may appoint one of their number or the chief administrator to serve as acting county executive until a successor has been elected. During the temporary absence or temporary disability of the county executive the chief administrator shall serve as acting county executive.
(iv) The executive power of the county shall be exercised by the county executive. He shall:(a) Report annually to the board of commissioners, the advisory board on county expenditures and to the people on the state of the county, and the work of the previous year; he shall also recommend to the board of commissioners whatever action or programs he deems necessary for the improvement of the county and the welfare of its residents. He may from time to time at his discretion recommend any course of action or programs he deems necessary or desirable for the county to undertake;(b) Prepare and submit to the board of commissioners and advisory board for consideration and adoption an annual operating budget and a capital budget and a capital program, establish the schedules and procedures to be followed by all county departments, offices and agencies in connection therewith, and supervise and administer all phases of the budgetary process;(c) Enforce the county charter, the county’s laws and all general laws applicable thereto;(d) Supervise the care and custody of all county property, institutions and agencies;(e) Supervise the collection of revenues, and audit and control all disbursements and expenditures and shall prepare a complete account of all expenditures. He shall also designate the repositories of county funds;(f) Sign all contracts, bonds or other instruments requiring the consent of county;(g) Review, analyze and forecast trends of county services and finances and programs of all boards, commissions, agencies and other county bodies, and report and recommend thereon to the board;(h) Develop, install and maintain centralized budgeting, personnel and purchasing procedures as may be authorized by the administrative code;(i) Negotiate contracts for the county subject to board and, where appropriate, advisory board approval; make recommendations concerning the nature and location of county improvements and execute improvements determined by the board;(j) Assure that all terms and conditions, imposed in favor of the county or its inhabitants in any statute, franchise or other contract, are faithfully kept and performed;(k) Serve as an ex-officio nonvoting member of all appointive bodies in county government;(v) The county executive:(a) Shall supervise, direct and control all county administrative departments;(b) With the advice and consent of the board of commissioners, shall appoint the county-counsel, the administrator, the heads of all departments and any divisions created within such departments, and the members of all county boards, commissions and authorities;(c) May, at his discretion, remove or suspend any official in the unclassified service of the county over whose office the county executive has power of appointment;(d) May, at his discretion, but subject to any pertinent provision of the general laws or civil service regulations, delegate to department heads powers of appointment and removal of their departmental employees. If the county executive does not so delegate his power he may appoint and remove, subject to civil service regulations, all employees;(e) May require reports and examine the accounts, records and operations of any agency of county government;(f) May, at his discretion, order any agency under his jurisdiction to undertake any task for any other agency on a temporary basis if he deems it necessary for the proper and efficient administration of county government to do so;(g) Shall approve each ordinance of the board of commissioners by signing it, or may veto any ordinance by returning it to the clerk of the board within ten days of passage with a written statement of his objections to the ordinance. If two-thirds of the full membership of the board, upon reconsideration of the measure, shall vote for it, the executive’s veto shall be overridden and the ordinance shall become law without the executive’s signature in accordance with the provisions of law.
(C.
) Board of Commissioners.
(i) The legislative power of the county shall be vested in the board of commissioners. Such legislative power shall be exercised by ordinance, except for the exercise of the following powers which are required to be or are permitted to be, exercised by resolution:(a) The conduct of an inquiry; or investigation;(b) The expression of disapproval of the suspension or dismissal of officers or employees;(c) The exercise of the power of advice and consent to actions of the executive;(d) The override of a veto of the county executive;(e) The adoption of rules for the board;(f) The establishment of times and places for board meetings;(g) The establishment of the board as a committee of the whole and the delegation of any number of its members as an ad hoc committee;(h) The declaration of emergencies;(i) The identification of emergency situations;(j) The establishment of county personnel policies;(k) Designation of newspapers; for required advertisements and notices;(l) The appointment and removal of such officers and employees as the board is permitted by law;(m) Approval of contracts presented by the county executive;(n) Actions specified as resolutions; and(o) The expression of such board policies or opinions as required no formal action by the governing body.
(ii) At its organizational meeting each January the board shall select one of its members to serve as chairman and one as vice-chairman for the year.
(iii) The county executive may be present and participate in the discussions at all board meetings.
(iv) The board of commissioners.
(a) Shall advise and consent to all appointment by the executive for which board confirmation is specified under this article;(b) Shall pass in accordance with this chapter whatever ordinances and resolutions it deems necessary and proper for the good governance of the county;(c) Shall appoint a clerk to the board who shall keep the records and minutes of the board, and who shall serve at the pleasure of the board or for such term, not to exceed three years, as may be provided by the commissioners provided, however, that an ordinance providing for the adoption of any such term shall not be enacted between October first of any year and January first of the succeeding year;(d) May appoint counsel to the board, if such position is created by the administrative code, to serve at the pleasure of the board;(e) May pass a resolution of disapproval or dismissal;(f) May override a veto of the county executive by a two-thirds vote of its full membership;(g) Shall approve the annual operating and capital budgets, prior to presenting the budgets for advisory board appropriation.
(D.
) Chief Administrator.
(i) The county executive shall appoint a chief administrator who shall serve at his pleasure. The board shall advise and consent to his nomination but shall not prevent his suspension or dismissal by passage of a resolution of disapproval.
(ii) The chief administrator shall by education, experience and ability be qualified to perform the duties established for him.
He need not be a resident of the county at the time of his appointment, but during his tenure he may live outside the county only with the permission of the county executive.
(iii) The chief administrator shall be responsible only to the executive. He shall, under the direction and supervision of the executive, undertake to assist in the orderly and efficient administration of the county, performing whatever supervisory or administrative duties the executive deems necessary and proper.
Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit the chief administrator’s being appointed to head one or more departments on a temporary or permanent basis.
Section 18. (A.
) Form of Government.
(i) The form of government provided in this section shall be known as the “county manager plan,” and shall, together with sections fifteen, sixteen and twenty of this chapter, govern any county whose voters have adopted it pursuant to this chapter.
(ii) Each county operating under this section shall be governed by an elected board of commissioners and an appointed county manager and by such other officers and employees as may be duly appointed pursuant to this section, the general laws, or ordinance.
(B.
) County Manager.
(i) The county manager shall be qualified by administrative and executive experience and ability to serve as the chief executive of the county. He shall be appointed by a majority vote of the commissioners and shall serve for an indefinite term. He may be removed by a majority vote of the board subject to due notice and a public hearing. Such notice shall be in writing and shall be accompanied by a written bill of particular charges and complaints and said public hearing on these charges shall be held no less than fifteen nor more than thirty days after personal service of notice and charges.
At the time of his appointment the manager need not be a resident of the county but after his appointment he may reside outside the county only with permission of the board.
(ii) The salary of the county manager shall be fixed by the commissioners; such salary shall be reasonable and commensurate with the fact that the position of county manager is and shall be a full-time position. The salary of the county manager may not be lowered during his tenure in office.
(iii) The office of county manager shall be deemed vacant if: the incumbent moves his residence from the county without board permission; or he is by physical or mental illness or other casualty unable to continue to serve as county manager. Any vacancy in the office of county manager shall be filled in the manner prescribed by clause (i) of subsection (B) of this section. The commissioners may appoint the deputy manager or any department head to serve as acting county manager until a successor has been appointed. During the temporary absence or temporary disability of the county manager the deputy manager or a department head designated by the manager if there be no deputy manager, shall serve as acting county manager.
(iv) The executive power of county shall be exercised by the county manager. The county manager shall:(a) Report annually to the commissioners, the advisory board on county expenditures and to the people, on the state of the county, the work of the previous year, and he shall also recommend to the board whatever action or programs he deems necessary for the improvement of the county and the welfare of its residents. He may from time to time at his discretion recommend any course of action or programs he deems necessary or desirable for the county to undertake;(b) Prepare and submit to the board for its consideration and adoption an annual operating budget, and a capital budget, establish the schedules and procedures to be followed by all county departments, offices and agencies in connection therewith, and supervise and administer all phases of the budgetary process.
(c) Enforce the county charter, the county’s laws and all general laws applicable thereto;(d) Supervise the care and custody of all county property, institutions and agencies;(e) Through the county treasurer, have oversight on the collection of revenues, audit and control all disbursements and expenditures and shall prepare a complete account of all expenditures;(f) Sign all contracts, bonds or other instruments requiring the consent of the county;(g) Organize the work of county departments subject to the administrative code adopted by the board. He shall further review their administration and operation and make recommendations pertaining thereto to the board;(h) Review, analyze and forecast trends of county services and finances and programs of all boards, commissions, agencies and other county bodies, and report and recommend thereon to the board;(i) Develop, install and maintain centralized budgeting, personnel and purchasing procedures as may be authorized.
(j) Negotiate contracts for the county subject to board and where appropriate, advisory board approval and make recommendations concerning the nature and location of county improvements and execute improvements determined by the board;(k) Assure that all terms and conditions imposed in favor of the county or its inhabitants in any statute, franchise or other contract, are faithfully kept and performed;(l) Serve, as ex-officio, nonvoting member of all appointive bodies in county government.
(v) The county manager:(a) Shall supervise, direct and control all county administrative departments;(b) Shall appoint the deputy manager, if that position is created by the board, the heads of all county departments and divisions created within such departments, and all other administrative officers and county personnel the manner of whose appointment is not prescribed elsewhere in this section;(c) May, at his discretion, remove or suspend any official in the unclassified service of the county over whose office the county manager has power of appointment;(d) May at his discretion, but subject to any pertinent provisions of the general laws and civil service regulations delegate any department head powers of appointment and removal of their departmental employees. If the county manager does not so delegate his power he may appoint and remove, subject to civil service regulations, all employees whose positions have been created.
(e) May require and examine the accounts, records and operations of any agency of county government; and(f) May, at his discretion, order any agency under his jurisdiction to undertake any task for any other agency on a temporary basis if he deems it necessary for the proper and efficient administration to do so.
(C.
) Board of Commissioners.
(i) The legislative power of the county shall be vested in the board of commissioners. Such legislative power shall be exercised by ordinance, except for the exercise of the following powers which are required to be, or are permitted to be, exercised by resolution:(a) The establishment of a municipal advisory council;(b) The conduct of an inquiry or investigation;(c) The expression of disapproval of the suspension or dismissal of officers or employees;(d) The adoption of rules for the board;(e) The establishment of times and places for board meetings;(f) The establishment of the board as a committee of the whole and the delegation of any number of its members as an ad hoc committee.
(g) The declaration of emergencies;(h) The identification of emergency situations;(i) The establishment of county personnel policies;(j) The election, appointment and removal of such officers and employees as the board is permitted by law;(k) Designation of newspapers; for required advertisements and notices.
(l) Approval of contracts presented by the county manager;(m) Actions specified as resolutions; and(n) The expression of such board policies or opinions as require no formal board action.
(ii) At its organizational meeting each January the board shall select one of its members to serve as chairman and one to serve as vice-chairman of the year. The chairman shall preside over board meetings during his tenure, and in his absence the vice-chairman shall preside.
(iii) The county manager may be present at all board meetings and participate in all deliberations, without the right to vote.
(iv)(a) The board shall appoint a county manager under the provisions of this chapter and may create the office of deputy manager;(b) Shall appoint a clerk to the board who shall serve at its pleasure and keep the records and minutes of the board, and who shall serve at the pleasure of the board or for such term, not to exceed three years, as may be provided by the commissioners; provided, however, that an ordinance providing for the adoption of any such term shall not be enacted between October first of any year and January first of the succeeding year;(c) Shall appoint a county counsel, who shall head the county’s legal department, and who shall serve at the pleasure of the board or for such term, not to exceed three years, as may be provided by the administrative code; provided, however, that an ordinance providing for the adoption of any such term shall not be enacted between October first of any year and January first of the succeeding year. An administrative code may also establish a term, not to exceed three years, for the position of assistant county counsel;(d) Shall appoint members of all boards and commissions and other bodies whose manner of appointment is not otherwise specified in this section;(e) May pass a resolution of disapproval of a suspension or dismissal;(f) Shall approve the annual operating and capital budgets; prior to presenting them for advisory board appropriation; and(g) Shall pass in accordance with this chapter whenever ordinances and resolutions it deems necessary and proper for the good governance of the county.
(D.
) Deputy Manager.
(i) Subject to creation of such position the county manager may appoint a deputy manager who shall serve at his pleasure; the board may not prevent his suspension or dismissal by passage of a resolution of disapproval.
(ii) The deputy manager shall by education, experience and ability be qualified to perform the duties established for him.
He need not be a resident of the county at the time of his appointment, but during his tenure may live outside the county only with the permission of the manager.
(iii) The deputy manager shall be responsible only to the manager. He shall, under the direction and supervision of the manager, undertake to assist in the orderly and efficient administration of the county, performing whatever supervisory or administrative duties the manager deems necessary and proper.
Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit the deputy manager’s being appointed to head one or more departments on a temporary or permanent basis.
Section 19. (A.
) Form of Government.
(i) The form of government provided in this article shall be known as the “board chairperson plan,” and shall, together with sections fifteen, sixteen and twenty of this chapter govern any county whose voters have adopted it pursuant to this chapter.
(ii) Each county operating under this article shall be governed by an elected board of commissioners and a commissioner board chairperson and by such other officers and employees as may be duly appointed pursuant to this chapter, the general laws or by ordinance.
(B.
) Board Chairperson.
(i) The board chairperson shall be a duly elected member of the board of commissioners. He shall be elected by the board commissioners at their organizational meeting for a term of one year, such term to begin immediately after his election on January first.
(ii) The salary of the board chairperson shall be fixed by ordinance of the board of commissioners, such salary shall be reasonable and commensurate with the duties of the office.
(iii) The office of board chairperson shall be deemed vacant if: the incumbent moves his residence from the county; or he is by physical or mental illness or other casualty unable to continue to serve as board chairperson. Any vacancy in the office of board chairperson shall be filled by the board of commissioners which shall appoint one of their number to serve as board chairperson for the remainder of the unexpired term. During the temporary absence or temporary disability of the board chairperson the vice chairperson shall serve as acting chairperson.
(iv) The executive power of the county shall be exercised by the board chairperson. He shall:(a) Report annually to the board of commissioners, the advisory board on county expenditures, and to the people of the county on the work of the previous year and he shall also recommend to the board whatever action or programs he deems necessary for the improvement of the county and the welfare of its residents. He may from time to time at his discretion recommend any course of action or programs he deems necessary or desirable for the county to undertake;(b) Preside over board meetings with the right to vote on all questions;(c) Serve as spokesman for the board on matters concerning policies and programs;(d) Serve as representative of the board at ceremonial and civic occasions;(e) Through the county administrative officer; enforce the county charter, the county’s laws and all general laws applicable thereto;(f) Represent the board in all dealing with the county administrative officer except as otherwise specified herein;(g) Execute all contracts, bonds or other instruments requiring the consent of the county.
(v) The board chairperson.
(a) Insure adequate supervision, direction and control of all county administrative departments, and care and maintenance of all county properties, institutions and agencies by the administrative officer;(b) With the advice and consent of the board, appoint all members of boards, and commissions and authorities, and all other officials not serving in the administrative service of the county the manner of whose appointment is not prescribed elsewhere in this section.
(c) Serve as an ex-officio nonvoting member of all appointive bodies in county government;(d) At his discretion, require from the administrative officer reports and examine the accounts, records and operations of any agency of county government;(e) At his discretion, remove or suspend anyone occupying one of the offices specified in subclause (b) of clause (v) of subsection (B) of this section.
(C.
) Board of Commissioners.
(i) The legislative power of the county shall be vested in the board of commissioners. Such legislative power shall be exercised by ordinance, except for the exercise of the following powers which are required to be, or are permitted to be, exercised by resolution:(a) The establishment of a municipal advisory council;(b) The conduct of an inquiry or investigation;(c) The expression of disapproval of the suspension or dismissal of officers or employees;(d) The exercise of the power of advice and consent to actions of the chairperson and administrative officer;(e) The adoption of rules for the board;(f) The establishment of times and places for board meetings;(g) The establishment of the board as a committee of the whole and the delegation of any number of its members as an ad hoc committee;(h) The declaration of emergencies;(i) The identification of emergency situations;(j) The establishment of county personnel policies;(k) Designation of newspapers; for required advertisement and notices;(l) The appointment and removal of such officers and employees as the board is permitted by law;(m) Approval of contracts presented by the county administrator;(n) Actions specified as resolutions and,(o) The expression of such board policies or opinions as require no formal board action.
(D.
) Chairperson and vice-chairperson; election.
(i) The board shall elect a chairperson as specified in this section. At its reorganizational meeting each January the board shall select one of its members to serve as vice-chairperson for the year.
(ii) The board of commissioners:(a) Shall pass in accordance with this chapter whatever ordinances or resolutions it deems necessary and proper for the good governance of the county;(b) Shall appoint and remove the administrative officer by a majority vote and may create the office of, appoint and remove, a deputy administrative officer by a majority vote.
(c) Shall advise and consent to all appointments by the president and administrative officer for which board confirmation is specified under this section.
(d) Shall appoint a clerk to the board who shall serve at its pleasure and keep the records and minutes of the board and who shall serve at the pleasure of the board or for such term not to exceed three years as may be provided by the commissioners provided however than an ordinance providing for the adoption of any such term shall not be enacted between October first of any year and January of the succeeding year.
(e) Shall appoint the county counsel to the county’s legal department to serve at the pleasure of the board or for such term not to exceed four years as may be provided by the commissioner, provided, however, that no ordinance providing for the adoption of any such term shall not be enacted between October first of any year and January first of the succeeding year. The commissioner may also establish a term not to exceed three years for the position of assistant county counsel.
(f) May pass a resolution of disapproval of a suspension or dismissal.
(g) Shall approve the annual operating and capital budget prior to presenting the budgets for advisory board appropriation.
(E.
) Chief Administrator.
(i) The county administrative officer shall serve at the pleasure of the board.
(ii) The chief administrative officer shall by education, experience and ability be qualified to perform the duties established for him. He need not be a resident of the county at the time of his appointment, but during his tenure he may live outside the county only with the permission of the board.
(iii) The administrative officer shall be responsible to the board through the chairperson except as specified below. He shall be responsible for the efficient administration of the county’s government. He shall:(a) Prepare and submit directly to the board for its consideration and adoption an annual operating budget and a capital budget, establish the schedules and procedures to be followed by all county departments, offices and agencies in connection therewith, and supervise and administer all phases of the budgetary process.
(b) Through the treasurer, supervise the collection of revenues, and audit and control disbursements and expenditures and prepare a complete account of all expenditures;(c) Supervise the care and custody of all county property, institutions and agencies;(d) Organize the work of county departments, subject to the administrative code adopted by the board. He shall further review their administration and make recommendations pertaining thereto to the board;(e) Review, analyze and forecast trends of county services and finances and programs of all boards, commissions, agencies and other county bodies, and report and recommend to the board;(f) Develop, install and maintain centralized budgeting, personnel and purchasing procedures.
(g) Negotiate contracts for the county with the approval of the county commissioners, and, where appropriate the advisory board on county expenditures, and make recommendations concerning the nature and location of county improvements and executive improvements determined by the board; and(h) Assure that all terms and conditions imposed in favor of the county or its inhabitants in any statute, franchise or other contract are faithfully kept and performed.
(iv) Powers.
The administrative officer shall:(a) Supervise, direct and control all county administrative departments;(b) Appoint the heads of all county departments and if so provided in the administrative code of any designated divisions within such departments and the advice and consent of the board of commissioners and appoint all other county personnel the manner of whose appointment is not prescribed elsewhere in this section;(c) At his discretion, remove or suspend any official in the unclassified service of the county over whose office the administration officer has power of appointment;(d) At his discretion, but subject to any pertinent provisions of the General Laws or civil service regulations, delegate to any department head powers of appointment and removal of his departmental employees. If the administrative officer does not so delegate his power he may appoint and remove, subject to civil service regulations, all employees whose positions have been created in accordance with actions of the commissioners and the manner of whose appointment is not specified elsewhere in this section;(e) At his discretion, require reports and examine the accounts, records and operations of any agency of county government; and(f) At his discretion, order any agency under his jurisdiction to undertake any task for any other agency on a temporary basis if he deems it necessary for proper and efficient administration to do so.
Section 2. Every county, except Barnstable county, shall have the power to adopt a charter or to revise an existing charter in accordance with procedures prescribed by this chapter. This chapter shall not limit any charter adoption or revision procedures allowed by prior law or the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
branches Section 20. Relations between the Legislative and Executive Branches.
A. Separation of Powers.
In any county that shall have adopted a charter under this chapter, the commissioners shall deal with county employees only through the officials responsible for the overall executive management of the county’s affairs as designated in sections of this chapter—, through the county executive, the county manager, and the board chairperson respectively. All contact with county employees, all actions and communications concerning the administration of the county’s government and provision of services shall be through the aforementioned officials, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit the board’s inquiry into any act or problem of the county’s administration. Any commissioner may require a report on the aspect of the government of the county at any time by making a written request to the head of the executive branch of county government. The board may, by majority vote of the whole number of its members, require the head of the executive branch to appear before the board sitting as a committee of the whole, and to bring before the board such records and reports and such officials and employees of the county as the board shall deem necessary to insure clarification of the matter under study.
The board further may, by majority vote of the whole number of its members, delegate any number of its members as an ad hoc committee to consult with the head of the executive branch to study any matter and to report to the board thereon.
It is the intent of this chapter to confer on the board general legislative and such investigative powers as are germane to the exercise of its legislative powers, but to retain in the head of the executive branch full control over the county administration and over the administration of county services provided for in this chapter.
B. Appointments and dismissal; suspension procedure.
(i) No member of any board of commissioners in a county operating under a charter adopted pursuant to this chapter shall individually or collectively seek to influence the head of the executive branch to dismiss any person from, or to appoint, or to promote any person to any position in the executive branch of county government, except that the board may, by a resolution of disapproval adopted by a two-thirds vote of the whole number of the board, prevent the dismissal of certain employees under conditions as set forth in clause (ii) of this subsection.
(ii) Suspensions will take effect immediately upon personal service of notice setting forth the order of suspension or dismissal. Dismissal or suspension for a definite term shall occur automatically in thirty calendar days from receipt of notice. But, if the officer or employee requests a public hearing on his dismissal or suspension for a definite term, no action beyond temporary suspension may be taken until the individual to be suspended or dismissed is given a public hearing not less than fifteen nor more than thirty days after personal service of written notice of contemplated action. A copy of such notice shall be filed with the clerk to the board of commissioners immediately upon service of notice to the individual to be suspended or dismissed. In the event that within thirty-five days of receiving such notice, the board shall pass by a two-thirds vote of the whole number of the board, a resolution of disapproval, all proceedings and any suspension or dismissal of the individual shall be voided. In terms of recompense to the individual, a vote of disapproval shall be deemed to negative the suspension or dismissal order and for purposes of pay and civil service standing the action shall be deemed never to have transpired. If, however, the suspension or dismissal order shall allege that the individual against whom action is contemplated or pending has committed a criminal act in the conduct of his public trust, no resolution of the board shall stay proceedings and the matter shall be brought to a public hearing in the manner prescribed above. If at that hearing probable cause for prosecution is found, all evidence shall immediately be forwarded to the county prosecutor for further action. If any suspension or dismissal order is resolved upon hearing in favor of the office or employee, he shall be restored to his original position without record of the action, or prejudice therefrom, and shall receive full compensation retroactive to the date of his suspension.
Section 21. The provisions of this act shall not apply to the county of Barnstable.
petitions Section 3. (A.
) Whenever authorized by resolution of the county commissioners or by the advisory board on county expenditures, or on petition of the registered voters of any county, except in Barnstable county an election shall be held in the county upon the question, “Shall a charter study commission be created to study the present governmental structure of |Pu|Pu|Pu county to consider and make findings concerning the form of government and make recommendations thereon. ”(B.
) A petition calling for such an election must be signed by at least five per cent of the number of registered voters residing in said county at the preceding state election. The petition or any resolution of the county commissioners or of the advisory board on county expenditures under this section shall be filed with the state secretary not later than the last Tuesday in February in the year which the question is to appear on the state election ballot. Such petition may consist of a number of separate sheets, but each sheet shall be in substantially the form prescribed therefore in section fourteen and shall be signed in accordance with the instructions contained therein. The state secretary shall furnish forms for such petition to any registered voter of the county requesting the same; no sooner than six months prior to the date by which the petition is to be filed with the state secretary. The signature contained on said petition shall be certified by the board of registrars of voters of the cities and towns in the county prior to the filing of said petition with the state secretary. Such certification shall be performed in the manner prescribed for the certification of signatures on nominating petitions, under section seven of chapter fifty-three. Any petition or separate sheet of a petition submitted for certification shall be processed and returned to the person who submitted it within ten days after the submission. Objections to the sufficiency and validity of the signatures on any such petition as certified by the boards of registrars of voters shall be made in the same manner as provided by law for objections to nominations for county offices. Upon the filing with the state secretary of a petition under section three, the state secretary shall furnish a receipt for the same to the person or persons filing the petition, and within thirty days after the filing of any such petition which contains the necessary number of certified signatures, the state secretary shall notify the city council of each city in such county and the board of selectmen of each town in such county that the question of the adoption or revision of a charter under this chapter is to be submitted to the voters of such county; provided, however, that the provisions of this section for a petition of registered voters shall not apply in the year nineteen hundred and eighty-six.
(C.
) When a resolution or petition for the creation of a charter study commission has been duly filed with the state secretary no other resolution or petition and no other proceedings for the adoption of any other charter or form of government available to the county may be filed unless the voters shall decide the aforesaid question in the negative or until the charter study commission created by the voters shall have been discharged.
Section 4. (A.
) At the same election as the public question is submitted, fifteen members of a charter study commission shall be elected by the county’s registered voters. The voting instructions shall state that the voter may vote on the question and that, regardless of how and whether he voted on the charter question, he may vote for members of the charter study commission who shall serve if the question is determined in the affirmative.
(B.
) The ballots to be used in such county at such election shall be prepared and furnished by the state secretary in accordance with the requirements of this chapter and of chapter fifty-four. The charter commission candidates shall appear on the ballot as the last candidates to be elected. The question in subsection (A) of section three shall be printed on the ballot after the statewide questions on the ballot.
(C.
) Said election shall be a statewide general election.
Section 5. (A.
) At-large candidates for the charter commission shall be registered voters of the county in which they are candidates. District candidates for the charter commission shall be registered voters of the district in which they are candidates.
(B.
) The signatures of three hundred registered voters residing in such county shall be required to nominate at-large charter commission members, and signatures of one hundred and fifty registered voters residing in the district shall be required to nominate district charter commission members. Nominating papers containing required number of signatures shall be filed with the state secretary not later than the tenth Tuesday prior to the election in which charter commission members are to be chosen. Nominations for charter commission members shall be governed by the provisions of chapter fifty-three which are applicable to nominations for state office, except that no party or political designations shall be used and that the eight-word statements provided for in section forty-five of chapter fifty-three shall not be used. The clerk of each city and town in such county shall furnish to each candidate for charter commission upon request one copy of the list of registered voters of such city or town and one copy of the list of residents provided for in section six of chapter fifty-one.
election districts Section 6. (A.
) A charter commission shall consist of fifteen registered voters of such county elected by official ballot, without party or political designation, at an election held in accordance with relevant provisions of general law and this chapter. In addition, each county commissioner, or his designee, and the chairman of the county advisory board, or his designee, shall be non-elected members of the charter commission. In order to take into account widely differing population sizes of counties, charter commission members shall be elected at large or individually by district or both as follows: where the inhabitants of a county number less than fifty thousand persons, the election of all charter commission members in such county shall be at large; where the inhabitants of a county number at least fifty thousand but less than two hundred thousand persons, five charter commission members shall be elected at large and ten shall be elected by district; where the inhabitants of a county number two hundred thousand persons or more, the election of all charter commission members shall be by district.
The boundaries of the districts, for the purposes of electing charter commission members, shall be determined by the state secretary; not later than June first of the year in which members are to be elected, by dividing the county into districts of contiguous territory so that each representative shall represent an equal number of inhabitants, as nearly as may be.
Such districts shall also be so formed that no town containing less than six thousand inhabitants shall be divided.
(B.
) For the purpose of this section, population shall be determined from the latest federal census. The names of the at-large candidates and the names of the candidates from each district nominated in accordance with section five shall be placed on such ballot in alphabetical order, preceded by the instruction in subsection A of section four.
(C.
) The provisions of chapter fifty-four regarding votes on amendments to the constitution shall govern the canvassing and counting of votes on the question and the custody and disposition of ballots and related records.
(D.
) The secretary shall provide a thirty day comment and review period prior to a final determination of district boundaries.
Section 7. The commission member who received the highest number of votes shall convene the first meeting of the charter commission as soon as possible but in no event later than fifteen days after certification of the results of the state election by the governor and governor’s council. If said member does not act, the state secretary shall designate another member of the charter commission to convene the first meeting. At that meeting the charter commission shall promptly organize by the election from among its members of a chairman, a vice chairman, a treasurer and a clerk and shall file a notice of such organization with the secretary of the commonwealth. If no notice of organization is received by the state secretary within twenty-four days after the organizational meeting he shall designate a charter commission for such purpose. A charter commission shall continue to exist until thirty days after the election at which its charter adoption or revision proposal, if any, is required to be submitted to the voters under this chapter or until thirty days after submission to the state secretary of a final report recommending no new charter or revision.
If any member dies, resigns or ceases to be a registered voter of such county or the district of such county from which such member was elected, or if there is a failure to elect any member, the remaining members of the charter commission shall fill the vacancy by choosing a registered voter of such county or district, respectively. The commission may continue to act notwithstanding the existence of any vacancy. Members shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed from the commission’s account for expenses lawfully incurred by them in the performance of their duties.
Section 8. It shall be the function and duty of the charter commission to study the form of government of the county, to compare it with other forms available under the laws of this state, to determine whether or not in its judgment the government of the county could be strengthened, made more clearly responsive or accountable to the people or whether its operation could be more economical or efficient, under a changed form of government.
assistance; tax levy Section 9. (A.
) A charter commission may adopt rules governing the conduct of its meetings and proceedings and may employ such legal, research, clerical or other employees, who shall not be subject to the provisions of chapter thirty-one, or consultants as its account may permit. In addition to funds made available by a county the charter commission account may receive funds from any other source, public or private, provided, however, that no contribution of more than five dollars shall be accepted from any source other than the county unless the name and address of the person or agency making the contribution, the amount of the contribution and the conditions or stipulations as to its receipt or use, if any, are disclosed in writing filed with the office of the county commissioners. The consent of a charter commission to any such condition or stipulation shall not be binding upon the county. Within thirty days after submission of its final report the charter commission shall file with the office of the county commissioners a complete account of all its receipts and expenditures for public inspection. Any balance remaining in its account shall be credited to such county’s surplus revenue account.
(B.
) Each such county shall provide its charter commission, free of charge, with suitable office space, and each county, and each city and town within the county shall provide the county charter commission free of charge, with reasonable access to facilities for holding public hearings.
The board of commissioners and the advisory board on county expenditures shall, upon request of the county charter commission contribute reasonable clerical and other assistance to such commission, to supplement the resources of the commission provided for in this chapter, and each county and each city and town within the county, shall permit the charter commission to consult with and obtain advice and information from county, city, or town officers and employees during ordinary working hours.
Within twenty days after the election of a charter commission the county treasurer shall credit to the account of the charter commission, with or without appropriation, the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars, provided, however that, in no event shall a county or its treasurer provide said commission with more than one-tenth of one per cent of the total county budget unless said appropriation has been approved by the advisory board on county expenditures.
If payment is to be made after the annual tax levy of the county, it shall be provided by transfer from available funds, or by exercise of emergency borrowing powers without, however, any reference of the question to the registered voters of the county. In any other county, such sum shall be levied against the cities and towns in the county in proportion to their respective borrowing limits, as determined under the provisions of chapter forty-four. Such levies shall be met in the manner provided in subsection (b) of section eight of chapter forty-three B. A county through its advisory board on county expenditures may appropriate additional funds for its charter commission provided the aggregate contribution to the charter commission does not exceed five times the initial contribution required under this section.
Section 1. The government of each of the following counties, in this chapter called an “abolished county” is hereby abolished as of the following date, in this chapter called the “transfer date”, or on such earlier date 30 days after the commissioner of revenue certifies in writing that the county has failed to make a required payment on an outstanding bond or note: (a) Middlesex county, as of July 11, 1997; (b) Hampden and Worcester counties, as of July 1, 1998; (c) Hampshire county, as of January 1, 1999; provided, however, that all functions, duties and responsibilities for the operation and management of the jail, house of correction and registry of deeds of Hampshire county and all duties and responsibilities for operation and management of property occupied primarily by the sheriff, registry of deeds and the trial courts in Hampshire county are hereby transferred to the commonwealth, effective September 1, 1998, subject to the provisions of this chapter; (d) Essex county as of July 1, 1999; and (e) Berkshire county on July 1, 2000, but all functions, duties and responsibilities for the operation and management of the registries of deeds of Suffolk and Berkshire counties and all duties and responsibilities for the operation and management of property occupied primarily by the registries of deeds in Berkshire and Suffolk counties are hereby transferred to the commonwealth, effective on July 1, 1999, subject to the provisions of this chapter.
employees, functions and proceedings transferred to commonwealth Section 10. (a)(1) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, an abolished county’s registers of deeds holding office immediately before the transfer date shall become employees of the commonwealth under the supervision of the secretary of the commonwealth on the transfer date, and, in Hampshire county, on September 1, 1998, and in Suffolk and Berkshire counties, on July 1, 1999; provided, however, that said secretary shall have general superintendence over the Suffolk county register of deeds as of September 1, 1998. The registers shall remain elected officials retaining local administrative control under the general direction of said secretary. The operational procedures of the registries shall be uniform as prescribed by said secretary. Said secretary shall determine the budget of each registry, subject to appropriation.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, this section shall facilitate the orderly transfer of the employees, proceedings, rules and regulations, property and legal obligations of the registry of deeds functions of an abolished county’s government to the commonwealth, as hereby defined as of the transfer date, and for the Berkshire and Suffolk county registries of deeds on July 1, 1999:(A) The functions of the registries of deeds, hereinafter called the transferor agencies, shall be transferred to the office of the secretary of state, which is hereinafter referred to as the transferee agency.
(B) All employees of the transferor agencies, including those who immediately prior to the transfer date hold permanent appointment in positions classified under chapter 31 or have tenure in their positions by reason of section 9A of chapter 30 or do not hold such tenure, are hereby transferred to said transferee agency, without interruption of service within the meaning of said section 9A or said chapter 31, and without reduction in compensation or salary grade. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, all such employees of the transferor agency shall continue to retain their right to collectively bargain pursuant to chapter 150E, and shall be considered employees for the purposes of said chapter 150E. Employees shall be transferred without change in union representation.
(C) All petitions, requests, investigations and other proceedings approximately and duly brought before said transferor agencies, or duly begun by said transferor agencies and pending before said transferor agencies prior to the transfer date, shall continue unabated and remain in force, but shall be assumed and completed by said transferee agency.
(D) All orders, rules and regulations duly made and all approvals duly granted by said transferor agencies which are in force immediately prior to the transfer date, shall continue in force and the provisions thereof shall thereafter be enforced, until superseded, revised, rescinded or canceled in accordance with law by said transferee agency.
(E) All books, papers, records, documents, and equipment which immediately prior to the transfer date are in the custody of said transferor agencies shall be transferred to said transferee agency.
(F) All duly existing contracts, leases and obligations of said transferor agencies, shall continue in effect and shall be assumed by said transferee agency. No existing right or remedy of any character shall be lost, or affected by the provisions of this chapter.
Section 11. The rights of all employees of each registry of deeds of an abolished county and Hampshire county and the Suffolk and Berkshire county registries of deeds shall continue to be governed by the terms of collective bargaining agreements, as applicable, including employees transferred to the office of the state secretary.
Section 12. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the sheriff of an abolished county, including Franklin county, in office immediately before the transfer date, and, in Hampshire county, on September 1, 1998 shall become an employee of the commonwealth with salary to be paid by the commonwealth. The sheriff shall remain an elected official under the provisions of section 159 of chapter 54. Said sheriff shall operate pursuant to the provisions of chapter 37. Such sheriff shall retain administrative and operational control over the office of the sheriff, the jail, and the house of correction as of the transfer date. Said administrative and operational control shall include, but not be limited to, the procurement of supplies, services and equipment.
Section 13. An employee of a sheriff of an abolished county, or of Hampshire county after August 31, 1998 shall be an “employee” or “public employee” as defined in section 1 of chapter 150E and the sheriff of such county shall be an “employer” or “public employer” as defined in said section 1 of said chapter 150E. A collective bargaining agreement negotiated by each such sheriff shall be submitted to the governor in conformity with the provisions of subsection (c) of section 7 of said chapter 150E.
keepers, officers, and assistants and other employees of the sheriffs of abolished counties Section 14. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law or rule or regulation to the contrary, the sheriff, all deputies, jailers, superintendents, keepers, officers, assistants and other employees of the sheriff of an abolished county, employed immediately before the transfer date, which, in the case of Hampshire county for purposes of this section, shall be September 1, 1998, in the discharge of their responsibilities set forth in section 24 of chapter 37 and section 16 of chapter 126, shall be transferred to the commonwealth with no impairment of employment rights held immediately before the transfer date without interruption of service, without impairment of seniority, retirement or other rights of employees, without reduction in compensation or salary grade and without change in union representation. Any collective bargaining agreement in effect immediately before the transfer date shall continue in effect and the terms and conditions of employment therein shall continue as if the employees had not been so transferred. Nothing in this section shall be construed to confer upon any employee any right not held immediately before the date of said transfer, or to prohibit any reduction of salary grade, transfer, reassignment, suspension, discharge layoff or abolition of position not prohibited before such date.
(b) All demands, notices, citations, writs, precepts and all other notices given by the sheriff, deputies, jailers, superintendents, keepers, officers, assistants or other employees of a sheriff of an abolished county, as the case may be, on or before the transfer date shall be valid and effective for all purposes unless otherwise revoked, suspended, rescinded, canceled or terminated in accordance with law.
(c) Any enforcement activity imposed by the sheriff or by any deputies, jailers, superintendents, keepers, officers, assistants or other employees of the sheriff of an abolished county, before the transfer date, shall be valid, effective and continuing in force according to the terms thereof for all purposes unless superseded, revised, rescinded or canceled in accordance with law.
(d) All petitions, hearings appeals, suits and other proceedings duly brought against, and all petitions, hearings, appeals, suits, prosecutions and other legal proceedings begun by the sheriff, deputies, jailers, superintendents, keepers, officers, assistants or the employees of the sheriff of an abolished county, as the case may be, which are pending before the transfer date shall continue unabated and remain in force notwithstanding the transfer pursuant to section 1.
(e) All records maintained by the sheriff, deputies, jailers, superintendents, keepers, officers, assistants and other employees of the sheriff of an abolished county before the transfer date shall continue to enjoy the same status in any court or administrative proceeding, whether pending on said transfer date or commenced thereafter, as they would have enjoyed in the absence of such transfer.
counties Section 15. All officers and employees of an abolished county or of Hampshire county or of the Suffolk and Berkshire counties’ registries of deeds transferred to the service of the commonwealth or a regional retirement system shall be transferred without impairment of seniority, retirement or other statutory rights of employees, without reduction in compensation or salary grade and without change in union representation, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. Any collective bargaining agreement in effect for such transferred employees immediately before the transfer date shall continue as if the employees had not been so transferred, until the expiration date of such collective bargaining agreement. Nothing in this section shall be construed to confer upon any employee any right not held immediately prior to the date of said transfer, or to prohibit any reduction of salary or grade, transfer, reassignment, suspension, discharge, layoff or abolition of position not prohibited prior to such date.
Section 16. (a)(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, employees of an abolished county or of the Suffolk and Berkshire counties’ registries of deeds who become state employees under this chapter and who are eligible for group insurance coverage under chapter 32B or who are insured under chapter 32B, shall have their eligibility and coverage transferred to the jurisdiction of the group insurance commission effective four months after the transfer date which, in the case of Hampshire county, shall be September 1, 1998 and, in the case of Berkshire and Suffolk counties’ registries of deeds, shall be July 1, 1999 for the purposes of this section, and such employees shall cease to be eligible or insured under chapter 32B.
(2) The group insurance commission shall provide uninterrupted coverage for group life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance and group general or blanket insurance providing hospital, surgical, medical, dental and other health insurance benefits to the extent authorized under chapter 32A; provided, however, that county employees who were covered by a collective bargaining agreement on the date of said transfer to said jurisdiction shall continue to receive the group insurance benefits required by their respective collective bargaining agreements until the expiration date of such agreements. All questions relating to group insurance rights, obligations, costs and payments shall be determined by the group insurance commission and shall include the manner and method for the payment of all required premiums applicable to all such coverage.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, retired employees of an abolished county and the surviving spouses of active or retired county employees who are eligible for group insurance coverage as provided under chapter 32B or who are insured under chapter 32B shall have their eligibility and coverage transferred to the jurisdiction of the group insurance commission effective four months after the transfer date and such persons shall cease to be eligible or insured under chapter 32B. The group insurance commission shall provide uninterrupted coverage for group life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance and group general or blanket insurance providing hospital, surgical, medical, dental and other health insurance benefits to the extent authorized under chapter 32A. All questions relating to group insurance rights, obligations, costs and payments shall be determined by the group insurance commission, and shall include the manner and method for the payment of all required premiums applicable to all such coverage.
(c) The human resources division of the executive office for administration and finance shall assume the obligations of an abolished county to employees who become state employees and who are covered under a health and welfare trust fund agreement established under section 15 of chapter 32B pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement until the expiration date of the collective bargaining agreement.
(d) Any monies in an abolished county’s employees’ group insurance trust fund established pursuant to section 8A of said chapter 32B three months after the transfer date shall be transferred to the group insurance commission trust fund established pursuant to section 9 of said chapter 32A.
As of December 1, 1998, a pro rata share of any monies in Hampshire county’s employees’ group insurance trust fund established pursuant to section 8A of said chapter 32, related to the employees transferred on July 1, 1998 pursuant to this chapter, shall be transferred to the group insurance commission trust fund established pursuant to section 9 of said chapter 32A. Any monies remaining in Hampshire county’s employees’ group insurance trust fund established pursuant to section 8A of said chapter 32B on March 1, 1999 shall be transferred to the Hampshire county group insurance trust fund.
(e) Any monies in a claims trust fund established pursuant to section 3A of chapter 32B are hereby transferred to the group insurance commission as of the transfer date; provided, however, that any city, town or district that participates in the county’s group insurance plans pursuant to section 11 of chapter 32B or jointly purchased insurance with an abolished county pursuant to section 12 of said chapter 32B, the pro rata share of the excess shall be returned to the participating city, town or district. The abolished county’s treasurer shall provide the group insurance commission with an accounting of the claims trust fund which shall be for the one year period immediately preceding the transfer date and shall include a calculation of the employee, retiree and surviving spouse contributions that are in excess of the claims costs and expenses of the plans for which the contributions were made. Said treasurer shall routinely forward to the group insurance commission any claims for health insurance claims made on behalf of the active employees and retirees of the abolished county. For purposes of this subsection, the transfer date for Hampshire county shall be January 1, 1999.
(f) On January 31, 2001, the director and trust administrator for the Hampshire county group insurance trust shall provide the group insurance commission with an accounting of the reserves and unit deposits of the claims trust fund which shall be for the two year period immediately preceding October 1, 2000 and shall include a calculation of the employee, retiree and surviving spouse contributions that are in excess of the claims costs and expenses of the plans for which the contributions were made.
technical schools Section 17. The amount of state education aid for an independent agricultural and technical school, established pursuant to chapter 74A, shall be supplemented, in the first fiscal year of establishment, with a state appropriation for 50 per cent of the local assessment required of cities and towns with students enrolled in said school, and in the second fiscal year, with a state appropriation for 25 percent of such local assessment.
Section 18. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, an abolished county’s employees who retired on or before the transfer date, and such abolished county’s inactive members, shall be members of the regional retirement system, which shall pay the cost of benefits to such retired county employees and inactive members and their survivors. Said system shall be responsible for the accrued pension liability attributable to the service of such retirees and inactive members.
The employees of an abolished county who become state employees pursuant to the this chapter or any prior or subsequent act abolishing any county, shall become members of the state retirement system, and notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary including, but not limited to, paragraph (c) of subdivision 8 of section 3 of chapter 32, said system shall be responsible for all liability attributable to the service of such employees. Said liabilities attributable to the service of such employees shall be recoverable by the commonwealth pursuant to the terms of section 8.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section to the contrary, the employees of the Essex Independent Agricultural and Technical Institute shall be members of the Essex Regional Retirement System. Said system shall retain all liability attributable to such employees for creditable service earned as employees of Essex County. The Essex Independent Agricultural and Technical Institute shall be a member unit of said regional system and shall make any payments required pursuant to chapter 32. Should said Essex Independent Agricultural and Technical Institute be abolished, the successor agency, or in the absence of a successor agency, the commonwealth, shall become responsible for any unfunded liability attributable to employees of said institute.
The accumulated deductions and employer contribution, including interest, credited to the accounts of members of an abolished county’s retirement system who become members of the state retirement system pursuant to this chapter or any prior or subsequent act abolishing any county shall be transferred from such abolished county’s retirement system and credited to such members’ accounts in the state retirement system. The sum of the accumulated deductions, employer contributions and interest shall be known as the transfer assets. The transfer assets shall be determined by first assigning system assets to retiree and inactive liability, then assigning any remaining system assets to active employee liability, then determining the funded ratio of active employees to determine an amount of assets to transfer that will maintain the funded ratio of active employees in the regional retirement system after the transfer at a level that is not less than the funded ratio prior to the transfer. In no event shall an amount less than the annuity savings fund of the transferred members be transferred; provided, however, that if the transfer assets are less than the total of the annuity savings fund to be transferred, the secretary of administration and finance shall include the difference, which shall be known as the regional retirement system transfer deficit, as a liability in the calculation required pursuant to section 8.
Any calculations to be determined pursuant to this section and section 8 shall be performed by the actuary that performed, and shall be based on the assumptions used, in the most recent valuation of a county retirement system subject to review and approval by the actuary at the public employee retirement administration commission; provided, however, that all funds subject to transfer shall be transferred within 90 days of approval by the public employee retirement administration commission. All transfers made pursuant to this section shall include interest at the interest rate used in the most recent actuarial valuation of the county retirement system from the date of abolition until the date said funds are transferred.
Cities, towns, districts and other governmental units belonging to an abolished county’s retirement system shall remain members of such retirement system.
Section 19. Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter 32 or any general or special law to the contrary, the retirement system of a county abolished pursuant to this chapter, or abolished pursuant to chapter 151 of the acts of 1996, shall continue pursuant to this section and shall be managed by the retirement board as provided in this section beginning on the transfer date.
(a) A contributory retirement system established for an abolished county operating under the terms of sections 1 to 28, inclusive, of said chapter 32 shall be known as a regional retirement system, and all business shall be transacted under a name designated by the retirement board bearing the title of the geographic location of said system.
(b) Said system shall be managed by a retirement board which shall have the general powers and duties set forth in subdivision (5) of section 20 of chapter 32. Said board shall consist of five members as follows:(1) The first member, who shall serve as chairman, shall be the country treasurer as of the effective date of this chapter, and shall serve until the expiration of his term as treasurer on December 31, 2002, and the qualification of his successor first member. Thereafter, the first member shall be elected by the other four members for successive 6–year terms. If the first member is not chosen by the other four members within 30 days of the expiration of his term, or of any earlier vacancy in his office, the public employee retirement administration commission shall appoint the first member.
(2) The second member, shall be the member of the county retirement board advisory council as of the effective date of this chapter, and shall serve until the expiration of his term on January 1, 2001 and the qualification of his successor. Thereafter, the second member shall be a member of the regional retirement board advisory council, and shall be elected by a majority of those present and voting at a public meeting of said council, properly posted, called specifically for such election pursuant to paragraph (g), for successive three-year terms.
(3) A third and fourth member, hereinafter referred to as the elected members, shall in the first instance be, respectively, the currently elected member who was elected pursuant to chapter 306 of the acts of 1996, who shall be the third member, and the previously elected current member, who shall be the fourth member. The third member shall serve until the expiration of his term on January 1, 2002 and the qualification of his successor. Thereafter the third member shall be elected by the membership in accordance with paragraph (h) for successive three year terms. The fourth member shall serve until the expiration of his term on January 1, 2000 and the qualification of his successor. Thereafter the fourth member shall be elected by the membership in accordance with paragraph (h) for successive three year terms. The elected members shall be active or retired members of the regional retirement system or one whose retirement is being reimbursed by that system in accordance with the provision of paragraph (c) of subdivision (8) of section 3 of chapter 32.
(4) A fifth member, who shall not, except as provided in this subparagraph, be an employee, retiree or official of the retirement system, or of any of its constituent governmental units, shall be chosen by the other four members and serve for a term of five years; provided, however, that in the first instance, the fifth member shall be the currently serving second member, whose term of office as second member shall expire on the date of transfer. Thereafter, the fifth member shall be chosen as provided in this subparagraph. If the fifth member is not chosen provided in this subparagraph within 30 days of the expiration of his term, or of any earlier vacancy in his office, the public employee retirement administration commission shall appoint the fifth member. Any person serving as the second member of a county retirement board shall on the effective date of this chapter become the fifth member upon the expiration of his term notwithstanding that said member is an employee, retiree or official of a constituent governmental unit within the system.
(5) Upon the expiration of the term of office of any elected or appointed member, or in the event of a vacancy in either of said offices, his successor shall be elected as aforesaid for a term of three years, or for the unexpired portion thereof, as the case may be.
(6) In Essex county, the regional retirement board may require the Essex county treasurer as of the effective date of transfer to serve as a full time employee of the retirement board in the capacity of chief executive officer of the regional retirement system for the duration of his term as elected county treasurer. Thereafter, his continued employment and compensation shall be at the sole discretion of the regional retirement board provided however that if such treasurer is retired pursuant to the provisions of said chapter 32, and the regional retirement board selects him as chairman after the expiration of his term as treasurer and appoints him as chief executive officer of the regional retirement system, he may work more than 960 hours per year notwithstanding the provisions of section 91 of said chapter 32; provided further that the earnings therefrom when added to any pension or retirement allowance he is receiving do not exceed the salary paid for the position from which he was retired or, if said position no longer exists, any successor position with similar duties.
(c) The second, third, fourth and fifth members of a regional retirement board shall be compensated in an amount to be determined by the board but not to exceed the amounts set forth in subdivision (6) of section 20 of chapter 32. The first member, as chairman, shall be compensated in amount to be determined by the board. Responsibility for the salary of the county treasurer shall be transferred from the commonwealth to the retirement system of which he is chairman or chief executive officer, and the county treasurer’s office shall be abolished pursuant to section 2.
(d) The retirement board may employ clerical and other assistants as may be required to transact the business of the retirement system. All permanent employees employed pursuant to this paragraph shall be members of the retirement system, but shall not be eligible to be a member or candidate for election to the retirement board, however, this prohibition shall not apply to a county treasurer when employed as a chief executive officer of the regional retirement board pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section.
(e) A regional retirement board shall be authorized to purchase or lease property, facilities and equipment and employ any such personnel necessary for the proper administration and transaction of business of the retirement system.
(f) The board of any such regional retirement system and the chairman thereof shall respectively be and act as the board and treasurer-custodian of such system with respect to the employees of any town or district who become members of such system as provided for in paragraphs (b) or (c) of subdivision (3), or paragraph (b) of subdivision (4) of section 28 of chapter 32, or who have become members thereof under corresponding provisions of earlier laws. The treasurer or other disbursing officer of any such town or district, as the case may be, shall act as a liaison officer between the employees thereof and the board of such system.
(g) There shall be a regional retirement board advisory council consisting of all the treasurers, elected or appointed, of each town, unit, or district belonging to the prior county retirement system and remaining in the retirement system established by this section. The members of said advisory council shall elect a chairman from among the members. Said council shall meet at the call of the chairman, but in no event less than twice in each year. Said council shall supervise and certify the procedures involved in the election of the elected members of the retirement board, as provided in paragraphs (b) and (h). Upon certification by the retirement board and the council, the actuary shall be furnished with an estimate of the expenses and costs of administration of the system for the ensuing year. The actuary shall, on or before December 15 in each year, specify by written notice to the council and the board the amounts so required to be paid from the pension fund, the annuity reserve fund, the military service fund, and the administration fund, as provided in subdivision (7) of section 22 of chapter 32. For fiscal years 1998, 1999 and 2000, the actuary shall recalculate the expenses of the system to reflect the provisions of section 18 and shall recalculate the amounts to be allocated to each governmental unit. Any governmental unit that has paid assessments in such fiscal years that are greater than the recalculated assessments, shall receive credit against future payments. The credit shall be distributed over the same number of fiscal years that overpayments were made by such unit. The actuary shall also advise and determine the amounts to be allocated to each governmental unit for such amounts. The regional retirement board advisory council, at a meeting called specifically for that purpose, shall elect one of its members as a member of the regional retirement board at the expiration of the current appointed member’s term, as provided in paragraph (e).
(h) The regional retirement board advisory council, which shall serve as the election board, shall supervise the election of the elected members of the retirement board. The council shall make available nomination papers to any member in or retired from service so requesting and shall require that such nomination papers be signed by the candidate and be returned to the office of the retirement board for safekeeping until the election board shall meet. The chairman of the council shall give a duplicate receipt for such nomination papers to each candidate. Completed nomination papers shall contain the signatures and addresses of at least five active or retired members of said retirement system. The election board shall determine whether each candidate has filed nomination papers containing the requisite signatures and addresses. If, after investigation, the election board determines that a candidate has filed nomination papers containing less than five signatures as required, the election board shall declare said nomination papers invalid and shall notify the candidate of such determination. If, after investigation, the election board determines that only one candidate has filed the requisite number of signatures, the election board shall declare said candidate to be the elected member of the county retirement board. If, after investigation, the election board determines that more than one candidate has obtained the requisite number of valid signatures, the election board shall notify said candidates of such determination and shall immediately prepare election ballots, and set the date for an election to be held within 40 days.
The election board shall mail ballots to all members of the retirement system whether active or retired. The election board shall instruct each member to place an appropriate marking on the face of the printed ballot envelope next to the name of one candidate, insert the ballot into a ballot envelope, and the ballot envelope into the pre-stamped envelope, seal said pre-stamped envelope and mail said envelope to the election board in care of the county retirement board, within 20 days after they were mailed. Any envelope postmarked later than 20 days after such mailing shall not be used to determine the elected member. The election board shall notify each candidate of the time and location of the tabulation of the ballots and shall permit all such candidates to be present at said tabulation. At the specified time for tabulation, the election board shall assemble all envelopes and inspect said envelopes. Any envelope which has been opened prior to said date, or which has not been signed on the rear by the appropriate addressee, shall be invalidated and shall not be used to determine the elected member. The election board shall, assemble all properly signed, unopened envelopes and shall open each envelope and separate the enclosed ballot from said envelope. The election board shall assemble all ballots and shall tabulate the vote for each candidate. Any ballot which contains a marking for more than the number of vacancies shall be declared invalid.
The election board shall notify each candidate in writing of the results of said election. All envelopes and ballots received by said election board, including those determined to be invalid, shall be preserved by the election board for two years. The costs incurred by the election board in administering the election shall be paid from the county retirement system administration fund.
(i) The group insurance commission shall make available to board members and employees of a regional retirement board health, life and disability benefits, and said board members and employees shall be eligible to participate in all benefits administered by the group insurance commission. The costs thereof, including any administrative costs incurred by the group insurance commission shall be borne by said employees and board members and the regional retirement system.
Any benefits provided, prior to the abolition of county government, to employees and retirees of a regional retirement system that are not available through the group insurance commission may be provided to such employees and retirees through the regional retirement system; provided, however, that said system is fully reimbursed, in the case of retirees, for the cost of such benefits, and, in the case of employees, is reimbursed in a percentage equal to that of the percentage paid by state employees for similar benefits.
(j) An employer shall be required to provide a board member under its employ with all necessary leave required for service to such board. A board member who is an active member of a contributory retirement system shall receive creditable service, consistent with the provisions of paragraph (a) of subdivision (1) of section 4 of chapter 32, for such periods the member is so serving.
(k) The abolished county’s retirement board and retirement board advisory council shall continue to serve until such time as the members of the new retirement board and the new retirement board advisory council pursuant to this section have been duly elected, selected or appointed, as the case may be.
(l) Any provisions of said chapter 32, including provisions that apply to a county retirement systems, that are not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter shall apply to a regional retirement system.
Section 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the government of each abolished county, except the office of county treasurer, is hereby abolished as of the transfer date for all purposes, including, but not limited to, the purposes established pursuant to chapters 34, 34A, 35 and 36 or as otherwise authorized by this chapter. The office of an abolished county’s treasurer shall expire on December 31, 2002. Nothing in this chapter shall affect the existing county boundaries.
regional councils of government Section 20. (a) A city or town within or contiguous to an abolished county or to be abolished county, which accepts the provisions of this section by vote of the city council with the approval of the chief executive officer or by vote of the town meeting or by vote of the board of selectmen may enter into agreement to join a regional charter commission. Each city or town electing to join said commission shall send a representative appointed by the chief executive officer or board of selectman, and said commission shall convene and shall develop a charter proposal recommending (1) a structure, including organization and method of selecting members for said regional council of government and (2) provision for the method of determining approval of the charter proposal in said cities and towns; provided, however, that said charter shall be adopted and binding only on those cities and towns where a majority of voters approve it by popular vote.
The charter shall also include provisions for towns to enter or leave participation in the council of governments. Said charter shall be placed before the voters in an election. The charter shall also include a method of determining approval of any increase or decrease in the county assessment authorized in this section but such method shall include approval of such increase or decrease by the member municipalities of the council of governments in a popular vote if such increase is in excess of 102.
5 per cent of the previous fiscal year assessment. The charter may also include a method of determining approval of an annual budget, including fees, grants, assessments and other revenues. The charter may provide that a council of governments shall retain any powers previously conferred upon the county and its county commissioners and shall have any additional powers authorized by this section; provided, however, that said councils shall not retain any power concerning functions transferred to the commonwealth under sections 1 or 4 of this chapter, retain power to levy a county tax, or retain powers specifically denied under this section.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), the following provisions shall apply to Hampshire county. The charter proposed by the county commissioners and approved pursuant to a direct vote of the people of Hampshire county in November 1998 is hereby ratified and shall be deemed to have taken effect on January 1, 1999. The election held in Hampshire county at the biennial state election ballot in November 1998 adopting a charter is hereby ratified, validated and confirmed. All actions, proceedings, contracts, agreements, expenditures and assessments made by the Hampshire council of governments prior to July 1, 1999 are hereby ratified, validated and confirmed. The Hampshire council of governments shall retain any powers previously conferred upon Hampshire county and its county commissioners; provided, however, that said council shall not retain any power concerning functions transferred to the commonwealth under sections 2 and 4, retain power to levy a county tax, or retain powers specifically denied under this section or under the charter. The county commission of Hampshire county shall hereafter be known as the council of governments and each municipally elected official serving on the council may serve until the end of the current term to which elected as a county commissioner or until a successor council official is elected in that municipality. The council shall organize as provided by the newly approved charter. The executive committee shall have the powers of selectmen under sections 52 and 56 of chapter 41. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the county treasurer, appointed by the county administrator under the prior county charter, shall become known as the director of finance for the council of governments, and shall have the powers and duties of a municipal treasurer under section 35 of said chapter 41 and under sections 54, 55, and 55A of chapter 44. The director of finance shall be a member of the county retirement system advisory board with all the rights, privileges, and duties as other members of the advisory board.
(c) Upon approval of the new charter, the county commission of a county shall become known as the council of governments and each municipally elected official serving on the council may serve until the end of the current term to which elected as a county commissioner or until a successor council official is elected in that municipality. The council shall organize as provided by the newly approved charter. The executive committee shall have the powers of selectmen under section 52 and 56 of said chapter 41.
(d) The council of governments may accept or participate in any grant, donation or program available to any political subdivision of the commonwealth, and may also accept or participate in any grant, donation, or program made available to counties by any other governmental or private entity.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of any special or general law to the contrary, any political subdivision of the commonwealth may enter into agreement with the council of governments to perform jointly or for the other, or in cooperation with other entities, any service, activity or undertaking which the political subdivision is authorized by law to perform. For the term of the agreement and subject to the terms thereof, the council of governments shall be authorized to perform the service, activity or undertaking and may designate appropriate representatives to oversee the performance, provided that the functions and duties of the representative or representatives are set forth in the agreement.
(f) The parking provisions of chapter 90 shall apply to the parking areas subject to the control of the council of governments, and the council shall have the powers and duties of that chapter as they apply to parking.
(g) A regional council of government established pursuant to this section may administer and provide regional services to cities and towns and may delegate such authority to subregional groups of such cities and towns. Regional councils of government may enter into cooperative agreements with regional planning commissions or may merge with such commissions to provide regional services.
(h) Regional services provided to member municipalities shall be determined by each regional council of government and may include, but are not limited to, the following services: engineering, inspectional services and planning, economic development, public safety, emergency management, animal control, land use management, tourism promotion, social services, health, education, date management, regional sewerage, housing, computerized mapping, household hazardous waste collections, recycling, public facility siting, coordination of master planning, vocational training and development, solid waste disposal, fire protection, regional resource protection, regional impact studies, and transportation.
(i) For the purpose of organizing and administering in the county or a portion of the county a cooperative or regional entity to provide, purchase or otherwise make available services on a regionalized basis, the council of governments may impose a regional assessment as set forth in the charter submitted to the voters and approved by said voters pursuant to this section. The regional assessment shall be allocated among the members of the council of governments in proportion to their respective equalized valuations as reported to the general court by the commissioner of revenue in accordance with section 10C of chapter 58 unless the charter includes provisions that set the assessment based upon other factors including, but not limited to, population or base cost per municipality. The regional assessment shall be based upon the budget adopted by the council of governments, net of estimated revenues. The regional assessment shall be retained by the council of governments and shall be used for the purpose of providing regional or municipal services or programs, or planning, organizing and administering such services or programs, and maintaining abolished county or regional council of government property in connection with said services or programs, under the authority granted herein.
(j) The council of governments may increase or reduce the regional assessment on each member municipality from the base year of fiscal year 2000, subject to the limits of sections 20A and 21C of chapter 59.
(k) The council of governments may incur temporary debt in anticipation of revenue for a term not to exceed one year, with the approval of a majority of the council of governments. The temporary debt shall not exceed one-half of the amount of the council of governments assessment under subsection (h). Sections 16 to 19, inclusive, and sections 21 to 22C, inclusive, of chapter 44 shall, so far as possible, apply to debt issued under this section.
(l) The provisions of chapter 268A and 268B that are applicable to a county agency and county employees shall apply to a regional council of government and its employees.
(m) Nothing in this chapter shall authorize, require or permit any regional council of government to abrogate, in whole or in part any agreement, including any collective bargaining agreement, negotiated with any employee organization under chapter 150E or to interfere with or detract from the rights of any employee under chapter 31. Nothing in this chapter shall supplant or supersede any rights of any employee organization under any law, including, but not limited to, said chapter 150E, including any agreements negotiated under said chapter 150E, or any employee under chapter 31.
for effective transfer of county functions to commonwealth Section 21. The secretary of administration and finance, in consultation with the comptroller, the state secretary, the judiciary, and such other departments of the commonwealth as may be necessary or appropriate, shall make such plans and arrangements as may be necessary to ensure the effective transfer of county functions to the commonwealth pursuant to this chapter.
Section 22. Notwithstanding the provisions any general or special law to the contrary, the municipalities of an abolished county shall be deemed to have accepted the provisions of section 147A of chapter 140, and shall enact by-laws to provide for the functions performed by the abolished government of a county with respect to dogs pursuant to sections 136A to 174D, inclusive, of said chapter 140, as of July 11, 1997. The balance of funds remaining in the dog fund of an abolished county as of the transfer date shall be disbursed forthwith by the state treasurer in the manner prescribed by section 172 of said chapter 140 to the treasurer of each city and town, who shall maintain a separate dog fund consistent with the by-laws adopted by the city or town and said sections 136A to 174D, inclusive, of said chapter 140.
Section 3. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the terms of an abolished county’s commissioners shall expire upon the transfer date. There shall be no increase in the salaries of any abolished county’s elected officials, prior to the transfer of the abolished county to the commonwealth. An abolished county’s advisory board shall be eliminated upon the transfer date.
responsibilities transferred to commonwealth; employees transferred under administrative office of trial court Section 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, all functions, duties and responsibilities of an abolished county pursuant to this chapter including, but not limited to, the operation and management of the county jail and house of correction, the registry of deeds and the courthouses are hereby transferred from said county to the commonwealth on the transfer date or, in the case of Hampshire county, September 1, 1998, or, in the case of the Suffolk and Berkshire counties’ registries of deeds, on July 1, 1999, subject to the provisions of this chapter.
All persons employed by the former Franklin county or by an abolished county, or by Hampshire county as of September 1, 1998, whose work functions primarily concern the operation and maintenance of said county’s court facilities shall be transferred to the commonwealth under the administrative office of the trial court as of the effective date of the transfer, which in the case of Hampshire county shall be September 1, 1998, in the manner provided in section 21 of chapter 203 of the acts of 1988, and with no impairment of employment rights held immediately before transfer, without interruption of service, without loss of earned vacation and sick time, without reduction in compensation or salary grade, and without impairment of seniority, retirement or other rights of employees. Nothing in this section shall be construed to confer upon any employee any right not held immediately before the transfer. Said employees shall be reclassified as state employees for the fiscal year in which their transfer is effective, and shall be compensated from funds appropriated to the trial court.
counties Section 5. All valid liabilities and debts of an abolished county which are in force immediately before the transfer date shall be obligations of the commonwealth as of the transfer date, except as may be otherwise provided in this chapter. All assets, including revenue received pursuant to chapter 64D and such other revenue said county receives as of immediately before the transfer date shall become assets and revenue of the commonwealth, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.
All valid liabilities and debts of the Suffolk and Berkshire counties’ registries of deeds which are in force immediately before July 1, 1999 shall be obligations of the commonwealth on July 1, 1999 except as may be otherwise provided in this chapter. All assets of said registries, including revenue received pursuant to paragraph (2) of section 12 of chapter 64D, and such other revenues received as of immediately before July 1, 1999, shall become assets and revenues of the commonwealth except as otherwise provided in this chapter.
The registries of deeds in Berkshire county shall, until the transfer date of Berkshire county pursuant to section 1, forward to the county commissioners in Berkshire county the deeds revenues that are necessary for the continued operation of Berkshire county government as certified by the county government finance review board; provided, however, that the secretary of administration and finance shall first certify that the commonwealth shall collect and retain sufficient revenue during fiscal year 2000 to fully fund the operations of said registries of deeds.
Section 6. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, all rights, title and interest in real and personal property owned or held by an abolished county immediately before the transfer date, or owned or held by the Suffolk and Berkshire counties’ registries of deeds immediately before July 1, 1999, or, in Hampshire county, immediately before the date of transfer of certain Hampshire county functions and properties pursuant to section 1, including without limitation, all courthouses, registries of deeds, registries of probate, and all other county buildings, and the land on which they are situated and any parking facilities, fixtures and improvements located thereon or appurtenant thereto, shall be transferred to the commonwealth as of the transfer date, or on July 1, 1999 for the Suffolk and Berkshire counties’ registries of deeds, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. Such transfer and all buildings, lands, parking facilities, fixtures and improvements shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 7 and the jurisdiction of the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance as provided therein, except as otherwise provided in this chapter; and provided, however, that the buildings and land of the county courthouses so transferred shall be controlled by said commissioner on behalf of the commonwealth and shall be operated and maintained by the office of the chief justice for administration and management of the trial court subject to the general superintendence of the supreme judicial court.
The transfer under this section shall be effective and shall bind all persons, with or without notice, without any further action or documentation. Without derogating from the foregoing, the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance may, from time to time, execute and record and file for registration with any registry of deeds or the land court, a certificate confirming the commonwealth’s ownership of any interest in real property formerly held by an abolished county pursuant to the provisions of this section.
The Hampshire council of governments is hereby authorized to retain the following property: the historic courthouse at 99 Main street in the city of Northampton, the Hampshire Care nursing facility on River Road in Leeds, and the land on which they are situated as currently platted, and the fixtures and improvements located thereon; provided, however, that the commonwealth shall assign no fewer than ten parking spaces in the Gothic Street Parking lot to the Hampshire council of governments, to be distributed at the discretion of the Hampshire council of governments; and provided, further, that in the event that said council has an aggregate equalized valuation as certified by the commissioner of revenue pursuant to section 10 of chapter 58, as of January 1, 1996, of less than 30 per cent of the total equalized valuation of municipalities in the county on such date, said property shall revert to the commonwealth. Said council shall, in consultation with the chief justice for administration and management of the trial court and the commissioner of the division of asset management and maintenance, provide for the lease or rental of space in the historic courthouse now occupied by the law library for use and occupancy of the trial court law library for a period of 99 years at nominal cost, and shall allow the trial court to schedule use of the court room to the extent needed by said court up to two times the number of days used by the trial court in fiscal year 1998; and provided further that any lease agreement shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner of the division of asset management and maintenance.
Section 7. All valid leases and contracts of an abolished county which are in force immediately before the transfer date shall be obligations of the commonwealth as of the transfer date and the commonwealth shall have authority to exercise all rights and enjoy all interests conferred upon the county by said leases and contracts except as may be otherwise provided in this chapter.
All valid leases and contracts of the Suffolk and Berkshire counties’ registries of deeds which are in force immediately before July 1, 1999 shall be obligations of the commonwealth as of July 1, 1999 and the commonwealth may exercise all rights and enjoy all interests conferred upon the county by such leases and contracts except as may be otherwise provided in this chapter.
liabilities and debts of abolished counties Section 8. (a) For the purpose of recovering amounts expended by the commonwealth for the liabilities and other debts assumed and paid by the commonwealth on behalf of an abolished county, the secretary of administration and finance shall establish a plan to recover said amounts pursuant to subsection (e). Said secretary shall determine said amounts by comparing the gross liabilities of an abolished county assumed by the commonwealth with the gross assets received by the commonwealth from said county and recovering the difference from the member municipalities of said counties.
(b) Said liabilities shall include, but not be limited to: (1) reserves appropriated by the commonwealth for payment of costs and liabilities of an abolished county, (2) funds appropriated by the commonwealth in Berkshire county for the operation of the registries of deeds in fiscal year 2000, (3) the salary of a county treasurer paid by the commonwealth subsequent to the date of abolition, (4) the amount of bonded debt paid by the state treasurer subsequent to the date of abolition, (5) any amounts appropriated by the commonwealth for capital reserves or improvements for an independent agricultural and technical institute in fiscal year 2000; (6) the regional retirement system transfer deficit as defined in section 18, and (7) the present value of the accrued benefits of the transferred members less the transfer assets determined pursuant to section 18, which shall be known as the unfunded pension liability; provided, however, that when determining the present value of the accrued benefits, an actuary shall assume that each transferred employee will retire on the date that such employee is eligible to receive a retirement allowance calculated using the maximum percentage provided in subparagraph (a) of subdivision (2) of section 5 of chapter 32 and the service and final average salary at the date of transfer using assumptions of the retirement system in its most recent actuarial valuation. The sum of all such liabilities shall be the gross liabilities of the abolished county.
(c) Said assets shall include, but not be limited to: (1) the amount of cash on hand and accounts receivable of an abolished county deemed collectable by said secretary which became assets of the commonwealth as of the date of abolition, (2) in Berkshire county, the revenue received by the Berkshire county registries of deeds in fiscal year 2000, (3) the value of real estate of the county transferred to the commonwealth pursuant to this chapter, net of amounts provided to a county by the commonwealth for construction, reconstruction or improvements of such real estate and payments by the commonwealth for debt service; provided that solely for the purpose of determining a value to include on the schedule of assets and liabilities required by this section any such real estate shall be valued at 75 per cent of the value assessed by the city or town in which it is located as of the transfer date, subject to adjustment if the commonwealth appraises such property at a greater value in fiscal year 2001; provided, further, that the county treasurer or, in the absence of such treasurer, the executive director of the regional retirement system shall collect and provide to said secretary local assessment information from each municipality in which the abolished county owned property as of the transfer date, within 60 days of such transfer date or February 1, 2000, whichever is later. The sum of all such assets shall be the gross assets of the abolished county. Nothing in this section shall be construed as creating any subsequent commonwealth financial obligation to cities and towns.
(d) If the commonwealth conveys, during the term of the amortization schedule pursuant to paragraph (e), any property that was formerly owned by an abolished county and transferred to the commonwealth pursuant to section 6, the difference between the sale price and the value assigned under paragraph (c) shall be credited by the secretary against the net liabilities of the abolished county.
(e) Said secretary shall establish an amortization schedule to recover any amounts so expended by the commonwealth which shall be filed with the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate not later than 120 days after the transfer date or April 1, 2000, whichever is later. If such amortization schedule is not prepared within such time, the assessments collected hereunder shall cease until such schedule is so prepared and filed. Unless the general court changes said plan or schedule by law, said secretary shall proceed with implementation of said plan and schedule beginning one year after the transfer date or July 1, 2000, whichever is later; provided, however, that nothing herein shall preclude said assessment from being collected during the year prior to said implementation.
(f) Payment on said schedule shall be as described in this subsection. For the duration of said schedule, the state treasurer shall, pursuant to section 20 of chapter 59, assess upon each city and town within the former jurisdiction of an abolished county an amount equal to the county tax paid by each such city and town as assessed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 35 for the fiscal year beginning July 1 of the year immediately before the transfer date in Middlesex, Worcester and Hampden counties, and an amount up to the county tax paid by each such city and town as assessed pursuant the provisions of chapter 35 for the fiscal year beginning July 1 of the year immediately before the transfer date in Essex, Berkshire and Hampshire counties; provided, however, that in Essex County such assessment shall be based on the fiscal year beginning July 1 two years before the transfer date.
The amount of the assessment shall be paid annually by each city or town to the treasurer of the commonwealth and shall remain in effect for the duration of said amortization schedule, which, in Hampshire, Essex and Berkshire counties, shall not be less than ten years, and which, in Middlesex, Worcester and Hampden county, shall not exceed 25 years. In the event an assessment due is not paid in accordance with this section, it shall be deducted from the cherry sheet, so-called.
(g) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the comptroller of the commonwealth shall deposit the funds collected pursuant to this section without further appropriation as follows: amounts that are proportionally equal to the amount that the unfunded pension liability is to the gross liabilities of the abolished county shall be deposited into the commonwealth pension liability fund; amounts that are proportionally equal to the amount that the regional retirement transfer deficit as defined in section 15 is to the gross liabilities of the abolished county shall be deposited with the regional retirement system in the geographical area of the former county; and amounts that are proportionally equal to the amount that all other liabilities of the abolished county are to the gross liability of the abolished county shall be deposited into the local aid fund.
Section 9. The treasurer of an abolished county shall cooperate with the secretary of administration and finance in effecting the orderly transfer of assets, liabilities, personnel, functions, duties and responsibilities from an abolished county or from the Suffolk and Berkshire registries of deeds to the commonwealth. For the duration of his term, said treasurer shall continue to occupy at no cost the office space occupied by the office of the county treasurer immediately before the transfer date.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 1. Qualifications; election; tenure Section 1. In Suffolk county the treasurer of Boston, and in Nantucket county the treasurer of the town of Nantucket, shall be the county treasurer. In all other counties, a treasurer, who shall be a resident of the county, shall be elected as provided in section one hundred and sixty of chapter fifty-four, for the term of six years beginning with the first Wednesday of January following his election and until his successor is qualified. No incumbent of the office of attorney general, district attorney, justice of the superior court, clerk of the courts or sheriff shall be county treasurer.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 10. Collection and disbursement of county funds; investment of funds Section 10. The treasurer shall collect, receive and safely keep all money belonging to the county, and disburse it according to law. He shall not make payments to the county commissioners or associate commissioners to be disbursed by them in behalf of the county. He shall pay all claims against his county within thirty days after their allowance. He may pay any claim by a bank check which, when paid and returned, shall be a sufficient receipt therefor.
All monies held in the name of a county or a county retirement system, or any other account under the jurisdiction of a county government, or by a county officer, which are not required to be kept liquid for purposes of distribution for the thirty-day period next following, shall be invested in such a manner as to require the payment of interest on the money at the highest possible rate reasonably available. It shall be the fiduciary duty of all officers of a county government who control the investment of such funds to invest them prudently so as to accrue the highest amount of interest reasonably available on such funds.
No officer of a county shall accept a loan or other thing of value from any institution or business where he has, as a part of his official duties, invested or committed county funds.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 10A. Disbursement of matching funds for federally funded programs Section 10A. The county treasurer may disburse sums appropriated as matching funds for federally funded programs approved by the county commissioners.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 11. Payment of expenses, etc.
; restrictions Section 11. No payments, except payments of expenses in criminal prosecutions or for assignment of counsel by a court, in either case as authorized by law, or of the compensation or salaries of elected county officers other than a clerk of courts, a district attorney, a register of probate or other officer whose salary is provided for in section ninety-four of chapter two hundred and twenty-one, or of outstanding notes or bonds and of interest thereon, reasonable expenses incurred by the treasurer as a party in representing the county which have been certified by the director of accounts, and non-contributory pensions authorized under any general or special law, shall be made by a treasurer except upon orders drawn and signed by a majority of the county commissioners, certified by their clerk and accompanied, except in Suffolk county, by the original bills, vouchers or evidences of county indebtedness for which payment is ordered, stating in detail the items and confirming the account. Said clerk shall not certify such orders until he has recorded them in the records of the commissioners. A treasurer may petition the superior court for a declaratory decree or judgment to determine the legality of any order or orders, in accordance with the provisions of chapter two hundred and thirty-one A. No expenditure of funds appropriated or authorized for the design of a capital facility project shall be approved by a county treasurer unless the executive head or governing body of the agency administering the project—or other person provided for by statute—certifies in writing the design work is or shall be such as to specify a project that can be accomplished (a) within the appropriation or authorization for the project or within the project cost limits specified by the appropriation or authorization and (b) without substantial deviation from any (i) study or program which must be prepared in accordance with the provisions of section 7K of chapter twenty-nine or (ii) any other pre-design document which must be prepared in accordance with any other statute, appropriation or authorization or administrative directive consistent therewith. In no event shall the design work be such as would result in a change in the number of square feet to be constructed in the project of more than ten per cent from the number specified in the study, program or other pre-design document referred to in (b)(i) and (b)(ii). No expenditure of funds appropriated or authorized for the construction of a capital facility project shall be approved by a county treasurer unless the executive head or governing body of the agency administering the project—or other person provided for by statute—certifies in writing that the construction work can be accomplished (a) within the appropriation or authorization for the project and (b) without substantial deviation from (i) any study or program which must be prepared in accordance with the provisions of section 7K of chapter twenty-nine or (ii) any other pre-design document which must be prepared in accordance with any other statute, appropriation or authorization or administrative directive consistent therewith. In no event shall the construction work be such as would result in a change in the number of square feet to be constructed in the project of more than ten per cent from the number specified in the study, program or other pre-design document referred to in (b)(i) and (b)(ii).
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 12. Expenses of court sittings; court costs for indigent parties; delivery of bills to treasurer Section 12. Original bills or vouchers for services and expenses incident to the sittings of the supreme judicial or superior court under section eight of chapter two hundred and thirteen or for court costs for indigent parties in the supreme judicial, appeals, or superior courts, or in any probate, district, municipal, juvenile or housing court under section twenty-seven A to twenty-seven G, inclusive, of chapter two hundred and sixty-one, shall be delivered to the state treasurer.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 13. Filing of bills Section 13. Bills, vouchers and other evidences of county indebtedness shall be carefully filed and safely kept by the treasurer, so as to be accessible for future reference.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 14. Statement of law authorizing payment of accounts; liability for payments; exceptions Section 14. The treasurer may, before payment of an account rendered against the county by a county officer, in writing require of him a written statement of the specific provision of law authorizing it, which shall be filed with the vouchers. The treasurer shall be personally liable for money paid out by him, except when specifically required by law, unless there is an unexpended balance of an appropriation made therefor sufficient for such payment, except as provided in section thirty-four, and for any money paid by him without the voucher and certificate required by law.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 15. Accounts; form and contents Section 15. The treasurer shall keep a full and accurate account stating when, from or to whom, and on what account money has been received or paid. Except in Suffolk county, his books shall be kept in the form prescribed by the director of accounts.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 16. Fiscal year Section 16. The fiscal year of each county shall be the year beginning with July first and ending with the following June thirtieth; but the treasurer shall, until July tenth, enter in his books the items for the payment of bills incurred and salaries earned during the previous fiscal year. Immediately after July first, he shall pay to every officer in his county any salary balance remaining due.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 17. Repealed, 1931, 426, Sec. 4 COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 18. Suffolk and Nantucket counties; applicability of laws Section 18. Sections ten, fourteen, twenty-five to twenty-nine, inclusive, and forty-four shall not apply to Suffolk county, nor shall sections fifteen, sixteen, twenty-five to thirty, inclusive, and thirty-two to thirty-four, inclusive, affect the special laws relative to Suffolk or Nantucket county.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 19. County salaries; payment; payroll deductions; deposits to employee bank accounts authorized Section 19. County salaries shall, except as otherwise provided, be payable in monthly installments on the first day of the month.
No county treasurer shall pay any salary, wages or other compensation to any person in the service of a county unless the payroll, voucher or account is signed under the penalties of perjury by the officer in charge of the department, or the person immediately responsible for the appointment or employment of the persons named therein, or, in the absence or disability of such officer then by a person designated by him and approved by the county commissioners.
Every such payroll shall contain at least the following information: the payroll period; the full name of each officer or employee; title of office or position held; rate of salary or wages or other compensation; and any portion of the payroll period for which salary, wages, or other compensation is being paid on account of sick leave, vacation or other leave.
Each treasurer making deductions from the salary, wages or compensation of an employee shall notify in writing such employee of the amounts and nature of such deductions at the time of payment of the salary, wages or compensation from which such deductions are made. The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to Suffolk county.
Any county treasurer may pay salaries, wages, or other compensation to any person in the service of the county by means of deposits to the employees’ bank accounts provided employees have expressly authorized said deposits.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 19A. Accumulated vacation allowance; payment upon death or separation from service Section 19A. In any county which accepts this section by vote of the county commissioners, advances of pay may be made to any county officer or employee in advance of his regular vacation to the extent of the pay to which he is about to be entitled during such vacation period under such regulations as the county treasurer may prescribe.
Upon the death of a county employee who is eligible for vacation under the rules of the county personnel board, payment shall be made in an amount equal to the vacation allowance as earned in the vacation year prior to the employee’s death but which had not been granted, and, in addition, that portion of the vacation allowance earned in the vacation year during which the employee died, up to the time of his separation from the payroll; provided, that no monetary or other allowance has already been made therefor. The county commissioners, upon request of the appointing officer of the deceased employee, shall authorize the payment of such compensation upon the establishment of a valid claim therefor, in the following order of precedence:— First: To the surviving beneficiary or beneficiaries, if any, lawfully designated by the employee under the employee’s retirement system; Second: If there be no such designated beneficiary, to the estate of the deceased.
Employees who are eligible for vacation under the rules of said county personnel board whose services terminated by dismissal, through no fault or delinquency of their own, or by retirement, shall be paid an amount equal to the vacation allowance as earned in the vacation year prior to such dismissal or retirement which had not been granted, and, in addition, that portion of the vacation allowance earned in the vacation year during which such dismissal or retirement occurred, up to the time of separation; provided, that no monetary or other allowance has already been made therefor.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 19B. Deceased officers and employees; payment of salary to next of kin; effect Section 19B. Whenever any officer or employee or former officer or employee of a county dies, and such county owes his estate any sum or sums by reason of the terms of his employment, the aggregate amount of which does not exceed twenty-five hundred dollars, and neither a duly appointed executor or administrator nor a voluntary administrator has made written demand for payment upon the treasurer of such county and such treasurer does not otherwise have actual notice that proceedings relative to the formal or informal settlement of such estate have been commenced in any probate court, such sum or sums may, in the discretion of such treasurer, be paid after the expiration of one month from the death of such officer or employee to the husband, widow or next of kin of such officer or employee. Payments made as provided in this section shall discharge all liability of the county to all persons with respect to such sum or sums.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 19C. Deposits in credit union; pension or retirement allowances Section 19C. Any county treasurer may deduct from the pension or retirement allowance of a retired person who was a member of such county retirement system, such sum as such retired person may specify in writing and shall transmit the same to a credit union designated by such retired person.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 2. Assistant treasurer; bond; duties Section 2. In any county, except Suffolk and Nantucket, the county treasurer may appoint an assistant in his office, who has served therein for at least one year, as assistant treasurer, removable at his pleasure. The assistant treasurer shall give bond, and the provisions of the second sentence of section three shall apply to such bond.
If the treasurer is unable to act, the assistant treasurer shall perform his duties. If both the treasurer and the assistant treasurer are unable to act, the county commissioners may appoint a temporary treasurer, who shall hold office until the treasurer or assistant treasurer is able to resume his duties. The temporary treasurer shall give bond, and the provisions of the second sentence of section three shall apply to such bond.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 20. Prosecution of suits upon bonds, notes, etc.
; joinder of treasurer as party Section 20. A county treasurer may prosecute suits upon bonds, notes and other securities given to or held by the county or its treasurer. He may also prosecute for injuries to the land, buildings or other property of his county, subject to section thirty-six of chapter forty-one. The treasurer shall be joined as a party in all legal proceedings brought against the county.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 21. Delinquency of officers as to money payments; notification of district attorney Section 21. If a public officer, or other person, required by law to account with and pay money to a county treasurer, fails so to do for ten days after the time prescribed by law therefor, the treasurer shall notify the district attorney, who shall forthwith proceed to recover the sum due.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 22. Disposition of surplus money; deposits; investments; interest Section 22. Except as otherwise provided, county treasurers, clerks of the courts, clerks of district courts, sheriffs and superintendents of jails and houses of correction, probation officers, registers of probate and insolvency and registers of deeds, having more money in their hands than is required for immediate use, shall deposit it, in their official names, in national banks or trust companies in the commonwealth or banking companies doing business in the commonwealth and qualified to receive demand deposits under the provisions of section six A of chapter one hundred and seventy-two A, at the best practicable interest rates. County treasurers may also deposit in time deposits in such national banks, trust companies or banking companies and invest in United States treasury bills. Interest thereon shall be paid to the county, except that interest accruing to deposits by registers of probate and clerks of courts shall be paid to the commonwealth; provided, that interest accruing on the deposit as aforesaid of any money paid to any official mentioned in this section which is so paid under order of a court or which is otherwise subject to the direction of a court shall, if the court so directs, be paid to the parties entitled to the principal fund of such deposit.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 22A. Deposit of funds restricted Section 22A. County treasurers, court clerks, sheriffs and superintendents of jails and houses of correction, probation officers, registers of probate and insolvency and registers of deeds shall not deposit any of the funds for which they are accountable in any national bank, trust company or banking company with which such treasurer or officer is associated as an officer or employee or has been associated as an officer or employee at any time during the preceding three years.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 23. Money paid into courts; disposition; interest Section 23. Money paid into the courts in any county shall, if possible be placed at interest by the clerks thereof, and the interest shall be available for the uses of the commonwealth unless the court directs it to be paid to the parties to the litigation in connection with which such money was paid into court. All interest in the custody of any clerk of said courts not directed to be paid as aforesaid, remaining after payment by order of the court of the principal fund to parties litigant entitled thereto, shall annually be paid to the state treasurer between the first and tenth days of each fiscal year, to be used for the general purposes of the commonwealth.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 23A. Unclaimed funds; disposition Section 23A. County officers holding funds unclaimed after two years from the time of receipt thereof and not otherwise subject to statutory disposition shall pay over such funds to their county treasury for the use of the county; provided, that any person or persons establishing a lawful claim thereto before the county commissioners within six years of such payment over may receive satisfaction thereof from any available funds in the county treasury.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 24. Overdue accounts; interest charge Section 24. If a time is fixed for payment of money due a county or a county retirement system, the debtor shall, if notified by the county treasurer at least thirty days before such time, pay interest thereon at the rate of eight per cent per annum from such fixed time until payment.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 25. Annual report; contents Section 25. Immediately after July tenth, the county treasurer shall annually prepare a report of the county receipts and expenditures for the preceding fiscal year, stated separately under the heads prescribed by the director of accounts for keeping the treasurer’s books. Such statement shall contain a table setting forth the budget as approved by the advisory board on county expenditures for each specific object, the amount expended therefrom, the unexpended balance thereof, and any excess of payments over said approved budget.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 26. Annual report of county commissioners; contents Section 26. Immediately after July tenth, the county commissioners shall annually prepare a report on county affairs, showing their acts during the preceding fiscal year, so as to give the taxpayers of the county a full and clear understanding of its affairs and of the objects and methods of county expenditures. They shall state specifically what petitions relating to highways have been received, and what highways have been laid out, altered, relocated or discontinued, the manner of their alteration or new construction, the time of their intended completion, what have been completed, at what cost and at whose expense, and what remain to be completed, what damages or betterments have been awarded or estimated and to or against whom, what damages have been paid or betterments collected, and what suits are pending in relation thereto. They shall also state what highways have been laid out under orders stating that betterments are to be assessed, their action relative to public and private ways, what applications relative to state highways they have made to the department of highways, and, so far as ascertainable, what highways have been laid out within the county by said department, what have been constructed and at what expense, what sums expended by the commonwealth in the county for highways have been repaid by said county, what sums remain to be paid, and when. They shall also make a detailed statement of the repairs upon the several county buildings, stating separately the work done by contract and by day, and the money paid, and the liabilities incurred in the construction of new buildings, and shall also state what reservoirs, reservoir dams and mill dams have been examined by them under section forty-five of chapter two hundred and fifty-three. They shall present a table showing the salaries paid to county officers, stating separately those prescribed by law, a statement of the county debt, giving the date when each obligation will mature and the rate of interest, stating separately the loans made in anticipation of taxes and permanent loans, a statement of the amount of county taxes due and unpaid, and a list of the assets of the county, including land, buildings, furniture in jails and other public buildings.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 26A. Capital facilities and capital facility projects; jurisdiction of capital planning and operations division Section 26A. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections ten, fourteen, seventeen, twenty-five of chapter thirty-four or any other general or special law to the contrary, county capital facilities and capital facility projects, as defined by section thirty-nine A of chapter seven shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the division of capital asset management and maintenance according to the provisions of section forty A of chapter seven to the same degree and extent as other state agencies, as defined by said section thirty-nine A.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 27. Annual reports; publication and distribution Section 27. The county commissioners shall at the expense of the county print the annual county report containing the report of the county commissioners, statements in tabulated form prepared by the treasurer under section twenty-five, the annual budget as approved by the advisory board on county expenditures and any supplementary budgets thereto, and of such other officers and boards as consider it expedient to make a report, and such other matters as the law requires or as the commissioners consider expedient.
The county treasurer shall send a copy of such report to the state library, to the director of accounts, and to the mayor of each city and to the chairperson of the board of selectmen of each town in the county before the first day of November. He shall, at the close of each fiscal year, advertise in not more than three newspapers published in the same or an adjoining county an account of the county receipts and expenditures arranged under distinct heads, and a specific statement of the county debts, the purposes for which incurred and their dates of maturity.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 27A. Treasurer and custodian of certain funds Section 27A. The county treasurer of each county shall act as the treasurer and custodian of the funds of every institution, organization, board, commission or other public body to the use of which funds of his county are contributed, provided that in case any such public body serves a district comprising more than one county, the county treasurer of the county in which such public body is chiefly located or has its headquarters, as determined by the director of accounts, shall so act.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 28. Estimates of county receipts and expenditures; preparation; recordation Section 28. (a) The head of each department or institution, and each board or other agency whose activities are maintained or supported wholly or in part by county funds, shall submit to the county commissioners on or before October first a written statement of their estimates of revenues and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year, including number and cost of personnel, quantities and estimated cost of supplies and equipment and any other proposed expenditures, in sufficient detail to enable said commissioners to explain any increase or decrease as compared with the appropriation of the then current fiscal year. In such statement any proposed contract or any project involving the estimated expenditure of a sum in excess of one thousand dollars shall be set forth separately. Estimates shall be submitted in such form and shall contain such additional information as the county commissioners shall prescribe. In the event that such head of a department or institution, or such board or other agency fails to submit an estimate by the date specified, the county commissioners forthwith shall prepare and estimate for such department, institution, board or other agency.
(b) The county commissioners shall annually prepare an itemized budget containing estimates of county revenues and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year in the form prescribed by the director of accounts and upon blanks furnished by him, including estimates for construction and repair of county buildings and for effecting insurance providing indemnity for or protection to the officers and employees of the county against loss by reason of their liability to pay damages to others for bodily injuries, including death at any time resulting therefrom, or for damage to property, caused by the operation, within the scope of their official duties or employment, of motor or other vehicles owned by the county, to an amount not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars on account of injury to or death of one person, or not exceeding one million dollars for any one accident, and not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars on account of damage to property, or for providing indemnity or protection as aforesaid without insurance, with a statement of the corresponding appropriations for the then current fiscal year, and expenditures for each of the three preceding fiscal years, explaining any difference between the amount of any such estimate and the latest appropriation for the same purpose, and citing the laws relating thereto. The clerk of the county commissioners shall record the foregoing in a book kept therefor, and, on or before November first, shall send sufficient copies thereof, by him attested and signed by the chairman, to the county treasurer, to the members of the advisory board on county expenditures, to the director of accounts and to the selectmen of each town and the mayor of each city in the county.
(c) The county commissioners of each county having a tuberculosis hospital established under sections seventy-eight to ninety, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and eleven, shall, in each year, prepare an itemized budget containing estimates of receipts of said hospital and of the cost of its care, maintenance and repair for the ensuing fiscal year in the form prescribed by the director of accounts and upon blanks furnished by him.
(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, and unless otherwise specifically provided for by statute, county capital facility projects, as defined by section thirty-nine A of chapter seven, shall be subject to the provisions of sections seven A, seven B, seven C, and seven D of chapter twenty-nine and any other provisions of chapter twenty-nine applicable to capital facility projects to the same degrees and extent as other state agencies, as defined by section thirty-nine A of said chapter seven.
(e) Prior to the submission by the clerk of the county commissioners of any county to the advisory board on county expenditures, of any proposed expenditures including proposed expenditures from a general revenue sharing allotment from the federal government, said county commissioners shall hold a public hearing to determine priority needs in said county.
Said county commissioners shall cause notice of said hearing to be posted in each city and town hall within the county at least fourteen calendar days prior to the hearing and shall also cause notice thereof to be published in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the county at least fourteen calendar days prior to said hearing. Notice of the hearing date and amount of revenue sharing money to be expended shall be mailed by the county commissioners to the selectmen of each town and mayor of each city in the county at least fourteen calendar days prior to the hearing.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 28A. Repealed, 1981, 351, Sec. 143 COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 28B. Advisory board for county expenditures; action on proposed budget; public hearing; capital improvement fund Section 28B. (a) In every county other than Suffolk and Nantucket, there shall be an advisory board on county expenditures consisting of the city manager or his designee, who must be a member of the city council or board of alderman in a Plan D or Plan E city, or the mayor or his designee, who must be a member of the city council or board of alderman in each other city, or any member of the board of selectmen of each town or any member of the town council in a town which does not have selectmen. Each city and town shall have a weighted vote based on that city or town’s assessment for expenses of county government. Each city or town’s weighted vote will be computed based on the most recent biennial report of the commissioner of revenue submitting the final equalization and apportionment upon the several cities and towns of the amount of property and the proportion by every one thousand dollars of state or county tax which should be assessed upon each city and town and assessment ratios for classes of property in each city and town under section ten C of chapter fifty-eight.
Said vote shall be determined by dividing that city or town’s property valuation by the total of the county property value to the nearest one hundredth in accordance with the schedule in the commissioner of revenue’s most recent biennial report referenced above. Said vote shall be determined by the director of accounts and delivered in writing to the advisory board thirty calendar days after the biennial report has been accepted by the general court.
A quorum of the advisory board shall consist of that number of persons who represent a majority of the aggregate weighted vote. A majority shall be defined for the purposes of this chapter as a majority of the quorum.
(b) The advisory board on county expenditures, upon receipt of the proposed itemized budget prepared by the county commissioners, together with any supplementary material prepared by the head of each department or institution and each board or other agency, shall review the proposed budget. The advisory board may increase, decrease, alter and revise the proposed budget, provided that:—(i) The statement of the amount to be expended for any object or purpose for which an expenditure is required to be made by law shall not be reduced below estimated expenditure of the current year unless the advisory board shall enter into its minutes a statement of the basis for the reduction.
(ii) The advisory board shall enter into its minutes a statement of the basis for any change in any statement of estimated revenues.
(iii) If the advisory board shall make any change in the proposed itemized budget, provision shall be made that the total estimated revenues, together with the amount of county tax to be levied shall equal the total estimated expenditures.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, before the final adoption of the expenditure resolution, the advisory board on county expenditures shall hold at least one public hearing to inform the residents of the county of its proposed budget and to hear testimony and argument before the adoption of the expenditure resolution. The county commissioners shall cause notice of said hearing to be posted in each city and town hall within the county at least fourteen calendar days prior to the hearing and shall also cause notice thereof to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county at least fourteen calendar days prior to the hearing. The notice shall include, but is not limited to, the date, time and place of the hearing, announcement of the citizen’s right to provide written and oral comments and suggestions respecting the possible use of funds, a summary of the entire proposed budget, and the place where the proposed budget may be inspected or procured by any interested person during business hours.
(d) After completion of the public hearing required by subsection (c), the advisory board on county expenditures, by resolutions, may further increase, decrease, alter and revise the proposed itemized budget, subject, however, to the conditions and restrictions imposed by subsection (b). The proposed itemized budget as increased, decreased, altered and revised shall be finally adopted by an expenditure resolution by a majority vote of the advisory board as set forth in subsection (a) at a duly called meeting on or before April second and shall be the approved budget.
(e) The advisory board, prior to the submission of any proposed capital facility budget request by the county clerk to the director of accounts, or of any long range capital facilities development plan and budget request to the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance, shall hold at least one public hearing to discuss the proposed budget request or plan. After such hearing or hearings, the advisory board, by a majority vote determined in accord with the provisions of subsection (a), may delete, add to, alter and revise any line item appearing in said budget request or plan. Said action shall be incorporated into the budget request or plan submitted to the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance in accord with the provisions of sections seven A, seven B, seven C and seven D of chapter twenty-nine, and shall be binding upon the county.
(f) If the advisory board on county expenditures shall fail to finally adopt an expenditure resolution for the ensuing fiscal year on or before April second, the itemized budget as proposed by the county commissioners together with such changes, alterations and revisions as shall have been made by a majority vote of the advisory board on or before June first, as set forth in subsection (a), shall constitute the approved budget for the ensuing year, and the expenditure resolution shall be deemed to have been passed by the advisory board as of that date.
(g) The approved budget shall govern the expenditures of the county during the fiscal year. No expenses may be incurred in excess of those shown in the approved budget, but the budget may be from time to time amended by the preparation and submission of a proposed supplementary budget by the county commissioners to the advisory board on county expenditures. The advisory board shall, not less than fifteen calendar days, except in emergencies, nor more than thirty calendar days after such submission to it, approve or amend any such supplementary budget as provided by subsection (a). A copy of the approved budget and any approved supplementary budget shall be transmitted to the director of accounts within fifteen days of the advisory board’s action thereon.
(h) At the closing of the treasurer’s books on July tenth, the balance to the credit of each appropriation shall become a part of the general unappropriated balance in the county treasury, but no appropriation voted for special, non-operating purposes, shall lapse until the work for which it has been made has been completed. Such appropriation, however, may not be carried forward for more than one extra fiscal year. Any remaining unappropriated balance thereafter, shall become a part of the general unappropriated balance in the county treasury. Written notification of such balance to be carried forward shall be submitted by the county commissioners to the county treasurer, the advisory board, and the director of accounts on or before the tenth day following the close of the fiscal year for which it was originally appropriated.
The county commissioners shall send written notification of such balance to the county treasurer, the advisory board, and the director of accounts on or before the tenth day following the close of the fiscal year. This subsection shall not apply to funds appropriated for the purposes of construction of buildings.
(i) For the purpose of creating a Capital Improvement Fund the advisory board may appropriate in any year an amount not exceeding ten per cent of the amount raised in the preceding fiscal year by assessment upon the cities and towns or of such larger amount as may be approved by a two-thirds vote. The aggregate amount in the fund at any time shall not exceed ten per cent of the total equalized valuation of the municipalities in the county as defined in section one of chapter forty-four. Any interest shall be added to and become a part of the fund.
The treasurer shall be the custodian of said fund and may deposit the proceeds in national banks or invest the proceeds by deposit in savings banks, cooperative banks or in participation units in a combined investment fund under section thirty-eight A of chapter twenty-nine, or invest the same in such securities as are legal for the investment of funds of savings banks under the provisions of chapter one hundred and sixty-eight or in federal savings and loan associations situated in the commonwealth.
The Capital Improvement Fund may be appropriated by the county commissioners with the approval of the advisory board for any purpose authorized under sections seven and eight of chapter forty-four or for such other county purpose as is approved by a two-thirds vote of the advisory board.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 28C. Repealed, 1981, 351, Sec. 145 COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 29. Repealed, 1981, 351, Sec. 145A COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 3. Oaths; bonds Section 3. County treasurers, except in Suffolk and Nantucket counties, shall be sworn before the county commissioners, who shall make a record thereof. Each treasurer shall give an annual bond to the county for the faithful performance of his official duties, in a form approved by the attorney general, with a surety company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth, as surety, and in such sum as the commissioners shall approve. An attested copy thereof and a certificate of the commissioners that the original is in their possession shall be filed with the state secretary within one week after its approval. Suit thereon may be brought in the name and for the benefit of the county by the commissioners or by the attorney general. The bond required herein shall cover the duties of the treasurer with respect to trust funds and funds of retirement systems which are in his custody by virtue of his office, and any such funds, for the purposes of said bond, shall be deemed to be public funds.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 30. Taxes; approval; computation Section 30. The amount which the county commissioners of each county, except Suffolk and Nantucket, shall levy as the county tax shall be as voted by the county commissioners and approved by the advisory board on county expenditures, and as computed by adding together the amounts of the approved annual budget and of any approved supplementary budget, so far as the money therefore is to be raised by taxation, and deducting therefrom the probable receipts from all sources, except loans, and so much of the unexpended balance from the county treasury at the closing of the treasurer’s books for the previous fiscal year as is in excess of ten per cent of the tax levy for said year; provided, however, that the county commissioners shall deduct the unexpended balance from the previous fiscal year from the tax voted by the county commissioners and approved by the advisory board prior to the apportionment and assessment of said tax among and upon the several cities and towns. The county commissioners shall also levy annually as the county tax a sum sufficient to meet the debt and interest maturing in that year, if no other provision therefor has been made.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 31. Taxes; apportionment, assessment and collection Section 31. The county commissioners shall apportion and assess all county taxes among and upon the several cities and towns according to the most recent equalization and apportionment reported by the commissioner of revenue to the general court pursuant to section ten C of chapter fifty-eight, and shall, by their clerk, certify the assessments to the assessors thereof. The several amounts so apportioned and assessed shall be collected and paid similar to that of the state tax into the respective town treasuries, and the commissioners in their warrants shall require the selectmen or assessors of each town to pay, or to issue their warrants requiring the treasurer thereof to pay, to the county treasurer the amount so assessed. The county commissioners shall prescribe that one half of the total certified assessment of each city and town shall be paid on November first of each year and the remaining one half of such assessment shall be paid on May first of the next year. The selectmen or assessors of each city and town shall return a certificate of the name of the treasurer of such city or town, with the sum which he may be required to collect, to the county treasurer within the time fixed by the warrant of the county commissioners in accordance with the provisions of this section.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 32. Provisions of appropriation acts for counties and county hospitals; approved schedules; certification; transfers; purposes; expenditures in excess of appropriations; reserve fund Section 32. Sums appropriated in appropriation acts for counties and in appropriation acts for the care, maintenance and repair of county hospitals shall be based upon detailed schedules approved by the county advisory boards, copies of which shall be deposited with the director of accounts.
Said director shall file with the county commissioners and the county treasurer of each county a certification of the amounts appropriated as set forth in the approved schedules. Except as provided by such acts or except as otherwise provided by law, no liability may be incurred and no expenditure shall be made in excess of the amount available in an existing appropriation for a function, a main group, a class or a subclass.
Transfers within an appropriation from one main group to another main group may be made upon written request of the authorized official of the organization unit with the written approval of the county commissioners, and copies of said request and approval shall be filed with the county treasurer; provided, however, that no transfer shall be made from the main groups “personal services”, “equipment”, “structures and improvements” or “improvements to land” to another main group nor shall any transfer be made from any other main group into any of the aforementioned main groups.
Transfers within an appropriation between classes and between subclasses within a main group may be made by the authorized official of the organization unit whenever in his opinion public necessity and convenience so requires; provided, however, that no transfer shall be made within the classes of the main groups “personal services” or “equipment”.
Amounts included for permanent positions in such acts for personal services shall be based upon schedules of permanent positions and salary rates as approved by the county advisory boards, and, except as otherwise shown by the files on said boards, a copy of which shall be deposited with the county personnel board, no part of sums so appropriated shall be available for payment of salaries of any additional permanent positions, or for payments on account of upward reallocations of permanent positions, or for payments on account of any change of salary range or compensation of any permanent positions, except that an attendant who becomes a licensed practical nurse and a graduate nurse who becomes a registered nurse may be paid an increased salary rate on account of such promotion, subject to approval by the county personnel board, and a person may receive an increased cash salary in lieu of maintenance formerly received, with like approval.
Moneys appropriated under such acts for the purchase of equipment shall be expended for the purposes specified in the schedules as approved by the county advisory boards, and for no other purpose.
No expense incurred for mid-day meals by county officers and employees, other than those who receive as part of their compensation a noncash allowance in the form of full or complete boarding and housing, and those county officers and employees who are stationed beyond commuting distance from their homes for a period of more than twenty-four hours, shall be allowed; provided that officers or employees who have charge of juries or who have the care and custody of prisoners, insane persons or other persons placed in their charge by a court or under legal proceedings for transfer to or from court to an institution or from institution to institution and persons certified by a district attorney as engaged in investigation shall be reimbursed for the expense of mid-day meals when necessarily engaged on such duty; and provided, further, that county officers and employees in attendance at meetings and conferences called by or for any group or class on a statewide basis shall be so reimbursed.
Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, not more than two employees of a county may be reimbursed for meals and other expenses incurred in attendance at a meeting or conference called by or for any group or class on a statewide basis.
No moneys appropriated under such acts shall be expended by county officers or employees for monthly telephone service furnished to such officers or employees at places other than regular offices.
The allowance to county officers and employees for expenses incurred by them in the operation of motor vehicles owned by them or by any member of their immediate families and used in the performance of their official duties shall not exceed the rate established for state employees, except in cases where a higher allowance is specifically provided by statute; provided that in the case of commitments of the insane the justice of the court ordering the commitment may order a higher rate but not to exceed forty cents a mile one way. No expenditure shall be made for travel outside the commonwealth for attendance at conferences or conventions.
No county expenditures shall be made or liability incurred, nor shall a bill be paid for any purpose, in excess of the appropriation therefor, except as provided in sections fourteen and thirty-four.
No direct draft against the account known as the Reserve Fund as appearing in advisory board appropriations for counties shall be made, but transfers from such accounts to other accounts may be made to meet extraordinary or unforeseen expenditures upon the request of the county commissioners to and with the approval of the county advisory boards or their designated executive committee; provided, however, that if such county advisory board or its designated executive committee has not acted upon such request within forty-five days after such request has been received by it, then the county commissioner may submit such request to the bureau of accounts. The director of accounts shall be notified of the approval of such transfer by the county commissioner within fifteen days.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 32A. Contributory retirement systems; anticipated costs; recovery of pension costs Section 32A. In order to offset the anticipated costs for funding for the contributory retirement systems, upon the recommendation of the county retirement board advisory council, a county may appropriate in any year an amount not exceeding five per cent of the amount of county taxes raised in the preceding year by assessment pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision (7) of section twenty-two of chapter thirty-two upon the several governmental units participating in the county retirement system. Such amount shall be in addition to that assessed in said section and shall be credited to the Pension Reserve Fund provided for in section twenty-two of said chapter thirty-two. The aggregate amount in such fund at any time shall not exceed ten per cent of the total equalized valuation of such participating cities and towns in the county. Any interest shall be added to and become part of such fund.
All sums in such fund shall be appropriated and used only for the purpose of offsetting the anticipated future cost of funding the contributory retirement system of such county.
The treasurer of the county shall be the custodian of such fund and may deposit the proceeds in national banks or invest the proceeds by deposit in savings banks, co-operative banks or trust companies organized under the laws of the commonwealth, or invest the same in such securities as are legal for the investment of funds of savings banks under the laws of the commonwealth or in federal savings and loan associations situated in the commonwealth or may participate in the PRIT Fund in accordance with clause (8) of section twenty-two of said chapter thirty-two.
Counties shall establish procedures for the recovery of employee pension costs from federal grant monies. Each spending agency of counties shall, at the commencement of each fiscal year, and no later than July thirty-first, authorize the treasurer to initiate such procedures to transfer to such fund an amount equal to the future pension costs which are incurred because of the federal grant. The cost of the future pension cost liability must be recovered in cash. Expenditures for the payment of salaries to be made from any federal grant shall not be allowed until the full amount of such pension costs are recovered.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 33. Repealed, 1960, 282, Sec. 2 COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 34. Expenses and liabilities incurred prior to appropriations; limitations; exceptions Section 34. On and after July first in each year and before the regular appropriations have been made by the advisory board on county expenditures, the county commissioners and other officers authorized to incur liabilities payable by the county may incur liability for general maintenance and operation of regular county activities at a rate of expenditure which does not exceed in any month the sum spent for a similar purpose in any one month in the preceding year; provided, that said commissioners or officers may expend in any one month for any office or board created by law an amount not exceeding one twelfth of the estimated cost for said year for said office or board. Payments therefor may be made from any available funds in the county treasury, to be charged to the regular appropriation when made. No new or unusual expense shall be incurred, or permanent contract made, or salary increased, until an appropriation sufficient therefor has been made by the advisory board on county expenditures; except that salary increases in accordance with the salary schedule may be granted as set forth in section fifty-one B, and contracts made by a county for the exercise of its corporate powers or for any purpose as provided in sections fourteen and seventeen of chapter thirty-four may during any fiscal year, at the time of, or after, the making thereof, be extended without an appropriation, upon like or more favorable terms and conditions, for the whole or any part of the next fiscal year up to December thirty-first of that year or up to sixty days after passage of the budget of the next fiscal year, whichever date is later, provided that in no event shall the average monthly liability incurred with respect to the next fiscal year exceed the average monthly liability for such contract during the last six months of the then current fiscal year. Rentals and leases of real property may be entered into for a period not to exceed five years, provided that such limitation shall not apply to leases with the judicial branch of the commonwealth.
Notwithstanding the foregoing limitations upon the authority of the county commissioners and other officers to incur liabilities during said interval, such county commissioners and other officers may incur liabilities and make payments therefor from any available funds in the treasury to such extent as may be necessary for the purpose of contracting and paying for group insurance in accordance with the provisions of chapter thirty-two B.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 34A. Expenses incurred prior to appropriation; highway agreements excepted Section 34A. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections thirty-two and thirty-four, county commissioners may in any fiscal year enter into agreements with cities and towns for the allocation of funds for highway maintenance and construction in accordance with the provisions of chapters eighty-two and eighty-four for such year; provided, that the aggregate amounts so allocated by any county shall not exceed the amount appropriated for highways for such county in the appropriation act for the previous fiscal year; and provided further that any unexpended balance of such allocations remaining at the end of a fiscal year may be expended under such agreements until September thirtieth of the following fiscal year.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 35. Enforcement of provisions; conditions Section 35. The supreme judicial court, upon the suit of the attorney general or petition of one or more taxable inhabitants of a county, may in law or in equity enforce sections eleven, thirteen, fifteen, sixteen, twenty-five to thirty, inclusive, and thirty-two to thirty-four, inclusive, of this chapter, and sections fourteen and seventeen of chapter thirty-four.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 36. County receipts, cash on hand and expenditures; monthly account Section 36. On or before the fifteenth day of each month the treasurer shall render to the county commissioners an account of all county receipts, cash on hand and expenditures for the prior month, and when approved and allowed by them, shall deliver it to their clerk.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 36A. Emergency borrowing for extraordinary expenditures Section 36A. For the purpose of providing funds for any county for any emergency purpose approved by the majority of the members of a board composed of the attorney general, the state treasurer and the director of accounts, hereinafter referred to as said board, such county may borrow money in such amount and for such period not exceeding two years as may be determined by said board, and may issue a note or notes therefor, signed by the county treasurer and countersigned by a majority of the county commissioners, which may be sold at such interest or discount as the county commissioners deem proper, any discount to be treated as interest paid in advance. All applications for approval by said board shall be submitted by the county commissioners, but if any such application is made for funds for use for a purpose connected with a county institution in charge of trustees or with a reservation, supported in whole or in part by county funds, in charge of a special board or commission, such application shall not be approved by said board unless it is supported by a written request for such funds from said trustees or said special board or commission, as the case may be. The proceeds of any borrowing hereunder shall be expended by the county commissioners for the purpose for which made; except that, if such a borrowing is made for use for a purpose connected with a county institution in charge of trustees or with a reservation, supported in whole or in part by county funds, in charge of a special board or commission, the proceeds thereof shall be expended for the purpose for which made by said trustees or said special board or commission, as the case may be. As used in this section, the words “emergency purpose” shall mean a purpose arising from a sudden, unavoidable event or series of events which could not reasonably have been foreseen or anticipated at the time of submission of the annual budget for approval. It shall not be deemed to include the funding of collective bargaining agreements or such items as were previously disapproved by the appropriating authority for the fiscal year in which such borrowing is sought.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 37. Borrowing funds in anticipation of tax income Section 37. County commissioners may borrow money in anticipation of, and to be repaid from, the county tax of the current fiscal year. If said tax has been granted, such loans shall not exceed its amount; otherwise they shall not exceed the amount of the previous annual tax. They may issue therefor county notes maturing within one year after the date when the debt for which they are issued was incurred. Such notes, if issued for less than one year, may be renewed from time to time; provided, that the period from the date of the original loan to the date of maturity of any refunding loan shall not be more than one year. Notes issued hereunder may be sold at such discount as the commissioners may deem proper, the discount to be treated as interest paid in advance. Such notes shall be signed by the treasurer, countersigned by a majority of the commissioners, and shall expressly be made payable from the taxes of the current fiscal year, but shall nevertheless be negotiable. Except as otherwise expressly provided by law, neither county commissioners nor county treasurers, except in Suffolk and Nantucket counties, may borrow money or negotiate loans upon the credit of the county. Notes may also be issued between July first and July tenth, in accordance with this section, in anticipation of assessments payable to the county by cities, towns or corporations, under statutory provisions and unpaid at the end of the preceding fiscal year, in cases in which the total cost of the project for which the assessment is levied was paid by the county in the first instance.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 37A. Bonds and notes; method of payment; use of proceeds; limitations Section 37A. Counties shall not issue any bonds or notes payable on demand, and they shall provide for the payment of all debts, except those incurred in anticipation of revenue or in anticipation of reimbursement from cities and towns, by such annual payments as will extinguish the same at maturity, and so that the first of such annual payments on account of any loan shall be made not later than one year after the date of the bond or note issued therefor, and so that the amount of such annual payment in any year on account of such debt, so far as issued, shall not be less than the amount of the principal payable in any subsequent year. The proceeds of any sale of bonds or notes, except premiums and accrued interest, shall be used only for the purposes specified in the authorization of the loan, and may also be used for costs of preparing, issuing and marketing such bonds or notes; provided, that the proceeds of any sale of bonds or notes for building, altering, furnishing or repairing public buildings or the construction or repair of public works may be used to pay management consultants hired under the provisions of chapter thirty B; and provided, further, that unexpended amounts may be applied to maturing annual payments of the same loan, and provided, further, that so much of such proceeds as has not been so applied at the expiration of two years from the completion of the project for which the loan was authorized shall become part of the next general unappropriated balance established under section twenty-nine or, if such loan was made on behalf of a district, shall be applied in reduction of assessments to be made upon it by the county. A treasurer of a county may invest not more than eighty per cent of the proceeds from the issue of bonds or notes prior to their application to the payment of liabilities incurred for the purposes specified in the authorization of the loan, in certificates of deposit in trust companies or national banks or in United States treasury bills. Any premium received upon such bonds or notes, less the cost of preparing, issuing and marketing them, shall be applied to the payment of the principal of the first bonds or notes to mature and any accrued interest received upon the delivery of said bonds or notes shall be applied to the payment of the first interest due thereon.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 37B. Temporary notes; refunding; payment Section 37B. The county treasurer of any county, except Suffolk and Nantucket, with the approval of the county commissioners thereof, may issue temporary notes of the county payable in not more than two years from their dates, in anticipation of the issue of serial bonds or notes under any general or special law, but the time within which such serial bonds or notes shall become due and payable shall not, by reason of such temporary notes, be extended beyond the time fixed by such general or special law. Temporary notes issued under this section for a shorter period than two years may be refunded by the issue of other temporary notes, provided that the period from the date of issue of the original temporary notes to the date of maturity of the refunding notes shall not be more than two years. Any notes issued in anticipation of serial bonds or notes shall be paid from the proceeds thereof. If a balance remains in the proceeds of a loan issued in anticipation of a serial loan at the time when the serial loan is issued, said balance shall be applied to the payment of such temporary loan.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 38. Sale of notes or securities; bids required; exceptions Section 38. Before issuing notes or securities increasing county indebtedness, the county commissioners shall invite proposals for the purchase thereof by advertisements in two or more newspapers published in said county, if any, and by advertisements in at least three daily newspapers published in Boston. They shall reserve the right to reject any and all bids. The bids shall be publicly opened and noted in their records. If no proposal is made or accepted they may award the whole or any part of the loan to any person. Notes authorized by section thirty-seven, notes or bonds issued to renew or refund indebtedness existing at the time of issue thereof, notes issued for a term of not more than two years in anticipation of a serial loan, notes or bonds in anticipation of reimbursement from cities, towns and others in connection with work temporarily financed by the county, including tuberculosis hospital maintenance notes under section eighty-five A of chapter one hundred and eleven shall be excepted from the requirement of this section as to advertising for bids and may be sold at public or private sale.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 38A. Bonds issued subject to call and redemption Section 38A. Unless otherwise specifically provided, a provision in any act authorizing the county treasurer of any county to issue and sell bonds of the county shall authorize him, with the approval of the county commissioners, to issue and sell bonds subject to call for redemption at any time or from time to time, with or without premium, as such treasurer determines to be in the best interest of the county.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 38B. Refunding bonds and notes; issuance; limitations Section 38B. Unless otherwise specifically provided, a provision in any act authorizing a county treasurer to issue and sell bonds or notes of the county shall authorize such treasurer, with the approval of the county commissioners, to issue and sell refunding bonds or notes for the purpose of paying or refunding all or any designated part of any issue of outstanding bonds or notes, including the amount of any redemption premium thereon, all or a portion of the interest due at or prior to the date on which such outstanding bonds are redeemed and costs of prepaying, issuing and marketing the refunding bonds; provided, however, that no such refunding bonds or notes shall be payable over a period longer than the period during which the original bonds or notes so refunded must be paid pursuant to law. The first annual payment of principal on account of an issue of refunding bonds or notes shall not be later than the last day of the fiscal year in which the earliest stated principal maturity date of any of the bonds or notes being refunded falls and the annual payments thereafter shall be arranged in accordance with the provisions of the law authorizing the bonds or notes; provided, however, that any annual payment earlier than the date on which the first annual payment is required to be made, may be in any amount. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the issuance of such refunding bonds or notes shall be governed by the applicable provisions of this chapter. Refunding bonds or notes issued under this section, exclusive of amounts thereof issued to pay redemption premium, interest and costs of prepaying, issuing and marketing the refunding bonds, shall be subject to the same limit of indebtedness, if any, as the bonds or notes refunded by them; provided, however, that upon the issuance of such refunding bonds or notes, the bonds or notes refunded shall no longer be counted in determining the limit of indebtedness under the law authorizing them. If such refunding bonds or notes are issued prior to the maturity or redemption date of the original bonds or notes refunded, an amount of the proceeds of the refunding bonds or notes and other money then available or to become available to the county, which may include income to be derived from the investment of such proceeds, sufficient to pay or provide for the payment of the principal, redemption premium, if any, and interest on the bonds or notes so refunded to the date fixed for their payment or redemption shall be held in a separate fund and in trust solely for the payment of such principal, redemption premium and interest. All of the funds so held may be invested notwithstanding the limitation in section thirty-seven A and the income derived from such investment may be expended by the treasurer to pay the principal redemption premium, if any, and interest on the bonds or notes refunded until they are paid or redeemed; provided, however, that any such investment may have a maturity not later than the date fixed for the payment or redemption of the bonds or notes refunded.
Nothing in this section shall permit a county to fund or refund an annual or accumulated operating deficit.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 39. Interest rates Section 39. All bonds, notes and other securities issued by any county after April twenty-second, nineteen hundred and twenty, shall bear such rate or rates of interest as the county treasurer, with the approval of the county commissioners, may fix, notwithstanding any general or special provision of law enacted prior to said date.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 39A. Forms for note issues; contents, etc. Section 39A. The director shall furnish to the treasurer of every county forms for the issue of notes for money borrowed by the county. Every such note shall state the amount thereof, the date of issue, which shall be construed as the date from which interest is payable, the interest which it bears, the date when it will become due, and such other matter as the director may deem necessary; and a record of every such note shall be kept by said treasurer in such form as the director may designate. The director may place upon notes submitted to him for certification such denominations as will show the purpose for which they are issued and as may be required by law to appear thereon.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 39B. Notes; procedure for issuance Section 39B. Whenever a county determines to borrow money otherwise than by the issue of bonds, the treasurer thereof shall make notes for the amount of the proposed loan, and shall use one or more, in serial order, of the forms provided for in section thirty-nine A, with the blank spaces properly filled in. County notes shall be signed by the treasurer thereof, and a majority of the county commissioners shall countersign and approve each note in the presence of the clerk of the courts, who shall certify to the fact on the face thereof and affix thereon the county seal, unless the facsimile of such seal is engraved or printed thereon. The treasurer of the county, after making a record of the transaction in accordance with section thirty-nine A, shall forward, with the fee required by section thirty-nine E, every such note to the director, with a copy of said record and a copy of the vote authorizing the loan, certified by the clerk of the courts, and a certification by said clerk that the person whose signature appears upon the note as treasurer was the duly authorized treasurer of the county when such signature was made, and that the persons whose signatures appear upon the note as those of a majority of the county commissioners were duly qualified as such when such signatures were made; and the treasurer of such county shall furnish such other information with reference to the financial condition of the county as the director may require to enable him properly to certify the note. If upon examination the note appears to the director to have been duly issued in accordance with the vote of the county commissioners authorizing it, or in accordance with an act of the general court, and to have been signed by the duly qualified officials of the county, he shall so certify and shall thereupon return the note by registered mail to the treasurer of such county or shall deliver it in hand to such treasurer or to his duly authorized agent; but, under such regulations as he may prescribe, if so authorized by the county treasurer, with the approval of the county commissioners, the director may deliver a certified note to the payee thereof or deliver it to a bank or trust company to be credited to the account of such treasurer. He may certify to the issue of the note on any date not earlier than five days prior to the date of issue appearing on the note, if the other conditions of this chapter have been complied with. He shall not certify a note payable on demand nor shall he certify any note unless the laws relating to county indebtedness have been complied with, or if it appears that the proceeds of the note are not to be used for the purpose specified in the vote authorizing the loan for which the note is issued.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 39C. Bearer notes; procedure for issuance Section 39C. County notes, when issued for a serial loan, may be made payable to “bearer”, and when so issued section thirty-nine B may be construed by the director as being properly complied with in so far as it relates to the proper filling in of the space provided for the name of the purchaser of the loan, and he may certify such notes; provided, that before certification there shall be filed with him by the county treasurer the name of the purchaser of such loan.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 39D. Payment of notes; notice Section 39D. Whenever a note issued by a county is paid, the treasurer thereof shall immediately notify the director of such payment, stating the source from which such payment was made.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 39E. Certification fee; refunds Section 39E. The director shall establish a reasonable fee for every note certified, to be turned over monthly to the commonwealth; and the state treasurer may refund the amount of any fee deposited with him by said director for the certification of any note which may be cancelled before money is obtained thereon.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 39F. Effect of certification Section 39F. The certification of county notes by the director shall be prima facie evidence of the liability of such county therefor.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 39G. Facsimile of county seal on bonds, etc.
; validity Section 39G. The engraved or printed facsimile of a county seal on a bond, note or certificate of indebtedness of such county shall have the same validity and effect as though such seal were impressed thereon.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 39H. Facsimile of county seal on bonds, etc.
; authorization of making and use Section 39H. In any county a majority of the commissioners by a writing bearing their written signatures and filed in the office of the treasurer of the county, which writing shall be open to public inspection, may authorize said treasurer to cause to be engraved or printed on any bond which said county is authorized to issue, facsimiles of their signatures, and such facsimiles so engraved or printed shall have the same validity and effect as their written signatures.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 39I. Facsimile of county seal on bonds or notes; validity of signatures of officers leaving office before delivery of bonds or notes Section 39I. If any officer whose signature or a facsimile of whose signature appears on any bonds or notes of a county shall cease to be such officer before the delivery of such bonds or notes, such signature or such facsimile shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes as if such officer had remained in office until such delivery.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 4. Salaries; source of payment Section 4. The salaries of county treasurers shall be payable by their respective counties.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 40. Fines; accounting; returns Section 40. The treasurer of each county shall annually, in May, notify all officers required to account for and pay to him any fines, expenses, forfeitures, fees and money, to make the returns thereof, specifying the laws requiring the same. He shall annually, in July, return to the director of accounts a sworn statement of all such items received by him in criminal matters during the preceding fiscal year, from whom received, and the name of each magistrate or officer failing to comply, and what proceedings have been taken by reason thereof. He shall also, annually, on or before July fifteenth, make a return to the commissioner of correction, upon blanks to be provided by said commissioner, of all amounts paid or received by him on account of any jail or house of correction for the fiscal year ending with the preceding June thirtieth.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 41. Payments to treasurers; sworn statements Section 41. Public officers or agents shall accompany payments of public funds to county treasurers with a sworn statement, showing the date, amount and purpose thereof, and such other details as the director of accounts may prescribe, transmitting forthwith a duplicate to him.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 42. Auditor of Boston; additional duty Section 42. The auditor of Boston shall be the auditor of Suffolk county. No bill against said county shall be paid until audited and allowed by him.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 43. Exchange of order instruments for bearer instruments; penalty for noncompliance Section 43. A county, city, town or district, or any domestic corporation, which shall have issued any bond, note or certificate of indebtedness payable to bearer, held by the sinking fund commissioners of a county, shall, at the request of such commissioners, issue in exchange therefor a bond, note or certificate to the same effect, payable to such commissioners by name; provided, that the county desiring such exchange shall, if requested, furnish the blank form for the bond, note or certificate therefor in the same general form as that furnished by the commonwealth under section thirty-nine of chapter twenty-nine. Any county, city, town, district or corporation neglecting or refusing to comply with this section shall be subject to a penalty of not more than fifty dollars.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 43A. Surety bonds of officers and employees; payment of premiums Section 43A. Every officer or employee of a county required to furnish a fidelity bond with a surety or sureties shall furnish a bond with a surety company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth, as surety. Unless otherwise provided by law, every such bond shall be approved as to form by the superior court, which may require to be included in such bond such terms, provisions and conditions as, in its opinion, will carry into effect the intent of the law requiring the giving of such bond. The premium on such bond shall in every case, except in the case of the treasurer of Suffolk or Nantucket county, be paid by the county.
COUNTY FINANCES Chapter 35: Section 43B. Recovery on surety bonds of officers and employees; effect of acceptance by county of additional annual bond Section 43B. Whenever an officer or employee of a county has been elected or appointed to an office the term whereof exceeds one year, and has filed a fidelity bond covering his entire term of office, and subsequent to such filing he is required by law to file such a bond annually, the acceptance of such an annual bond shall preclude recovery, under any such bond previously filed and accepted, whether for the term of one year or for a longer term, for any default occurring during the term of any such bond subsequently filed and accepted.
SUPERVISION OF COUNTY ACCOUNTS Chapter 35: Section 44. Examination of accounts of county treasurers Section 44. The director of accounts or his representative shall, unannounced, examine the books and accounts of each county treasurer and all original vouchers for the expenditures of each treasurer at least once a year, and if the same are correct, and if the accounts are accompanied by sufficient vouchers stating in detail the items thereof, and if such vouchers confirm and sustain the same, and if chapter thirty B has been complied with, he shall so certify on the treasurer’s cash book and shall set forth in words at length the balance existing when the examination is completed. If such accounts are incorrect or not accompanied by sufficient vouchers, the director shall, unless the irregularity is promptly rectified, notify in writing the county commissioners and attorney general, and shall make a full statement thereof in his next annual report. The director shall require the installation of such accounting systems as will, in his judgment, be most effective in securing uniformity of classification in the accounts of each county treasurer.
SUPERVISION OF COUNTY ACCOUNTS Chapter 35: Section 45. Examinations of accounts of other county officers Section 45. The said director or his representative shall also visit, unannounced, at least once a year, all other county officers receiving money payable to the county, clerks of the supreme judicial and superior courts in Suffolk county, the recorder and all assistant recorders of the land court, registers of probate and insolvency, registers of deeds and clerks of district courts, probation officers, superintendents of training schools and of shops in houses of correction, and trustees and other officers receiving or disbursing funds of county tuberculosis hospitals, infirmaries or sanatoria, and shall examine their accounts and vouchers, and the items of receipts and expenditures. He shall ascertain the actual amount of money on hand with each of said officers. He shall require, so far as possible, uniformity and correctness in the method of keeping said accounts, and may prescribe the classification of receipts and expenditures and a uniform system of receipts, certificates, vouchers and exhibits. Said officers shall afford such assistance as the director may require in making said examination and shall make returns and exhibits on oath in such form and at such times as he shall prescribe. They shall keep an accurate account of all money charged to or received by them in their official capacities, and also of all expenditures made or liabilities incurred by them on account of the same, and shall annually, on or before July fifteenth, make a sworn return to said director of such receipts and expenditures for the preceding fiscal year.
SUPERVISION OF COUNTY ACCOUNTS Chapter 35: Section 46. Annual report of commissioner of revenue Section 46. The commissioner of revenue shall annually, on or before August first, make a report to the governor and to the general court, which shall include the material portions of the returns made under section forty-five, compiled in tabular form, with his suggestions and recommendations.
SUPERVISION OF COUNTY ACCOUNTS Chapter 35: Section 47. Penalty for noncompliance with orders Section 47. An officer or person named in section forty-four or forty-five who refuses or neglects to comply with any provision thereof, or who, for more than ten consecutive days, refuses or neglects to enter in the cash book prescribed by the director of accounts all money received or expended by him in his official capacity or on account of the same, or refuses or neglects to give any information within his knowledge required by said director or his representative shall be reported by the director to the attorney general, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 48. Establishment of board; membership; election; tenure, etc. Section 48. There is hereby established a county personnel board, in this and the eight following sections called the board, consisting of three county commissioners, one to be elected by and from the county commissioners of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties; one to be elected by and from the county commissioners of Essex, Middlesex and Worcester counties; and one to be elected by and from the county commissioners of Barnstable, Bristol, Norfolk and Plymouth counties, provided that in the election of such member from the last named counties, the chairman of the county commissioners of each of the counties of Nantucket and Dukes County shall be entitled to one vote. The commissioner first elected from the county commissioners of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties shall serve for a term of one year, the commissioner first elected from the county commissioners of Essex, Middlesex and Worcester counties shall serve for a term of two years, and the commissioner first elected from the county commissioners of Barnstable, Bristol, Norfolk and Plymouth counties shall serve for a term of three years. The members first elected as aforesaid shall be elected not later than the first day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty, and their several terms shall run from said date. On or before August first of the year in which the term of a member of the board will expire, his successor shall be elected in the same manner at a time and place, to be designated by the director of accounts, to serve for a term of three years from the first day of the September following. The retirement of any member of the board as a county commissioner shall thereupon create a vacancy in the board. All vacancies in the board shall be filled in the same manner as the original election for the unexpired term, and all commissioners elected to said board shall serve until the qualification of their respective successors. Each member of the board shall receive as compensation the sum of twenty-five dollars for each day’s attendance at board meetings, in addition to his salary as county commissioner, and shall be reimbursed for expenses actually incurred in the transaction of the business of the board; provided, that the total amount paid for compensation as aforesaid shall not exceed twelve hundred and fifty dollars annually.
In case of the absence or disability of a member of the board, the other members may designate an acting member from among the county commissioners of the counties represented by such member, to serve during his absence or disability, and such acting member shall receive compensation at the same rate as a member of the board.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 49. Classification of positions; “salary,” defined Section 49. Every office and position the salary of which is wholly payable from the treasury of one or more counties, or from funds administered by and through county officials, excluding the offices of county commissioners, the register of deeds and the assistant registers of deeds for the county of Suffolk, the sheriff of the county of Suffolk, and excluding offices and positions filled by appointment of the governor with the advice and consent of the council, and offices and positions payable under chapter twenty-nine A, shall be classified by the board in the manner provided by sections forty-eight to fifty-six, inclusive, and every such office and position, now existing or hereafter established, shall be allocated by the board to its proper place in such classification. Offices and positions in the service of any department, board, school or hospital principally supported by the funds of the county or counties, or in the service of a hospital district established under sections seventy-eight to ninety-one, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and eleven, shall likewise be subject to classification as aforesaid. The word “salary”, as used in this section, shall include compensation, however payable; but nothing in sections forty-eight to fifty-six, inclusive, and nothing done under authority thereof, shall prevent any person from continuing to receive from a county such compensation as is fixed under authority of other provisions of law or as is expressly established by law.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 5, 6. Repealed, 1931, 301, Sec. 5 COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 50. Director of accounts; powers and duties Section 50. The director of accounts shall (a) prepare and submit to the board classification and compensation plans, together with such rules for the administration thereof as he may deem proper; (b) recommend to the board such amendments thereto as he deems expedient, and also advise and report to the board relative to amendments proposed under section fifty-three; (c) keep an official roster of the officers and employees subject to sections forty-eight to fifty-six, inclusive, with such other relevant information as he may deem advisable, furnishing for each county a duplicate roster of such officers and employees of the county for filing in the office of the county commissioners; (d) advise and assist the several county commissioners and the board in carrying out the purposes of said sections; (e) perform such other duties as may be requested by the county commissioners of any county or the board in carrying out said purposes; (f) make a continuing study of personnel problems, employment conditions and economic changes as affecting offices and positions subject to said sections; and (g) investigate and make report to the board on appeals as provided in section fifty-two.
The director may employ a person skilled and experienced in public classification and compensation work to assist in the performance of the duties imposed upon him by said sections forty-eight to fifty-six, inclusive. Such employment shall not be subject to chapter thirty-one. All expenses incurred by the director under this section and the compensation and expenses payable under section forty-eight shall be paid in the first instance by the commonwealth, from such funds as may be appropriated by the general court; and the several counties, excluding Suffolk, shall reimburse the commonwealth therefor in proportion to their taxable valuations as determined by the director.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 51. Personnel board; powers and duties; discharge of employees, etc. Section 51. The board shall (a) pass upon and finally adopt and put into effect, with such modifications, changes and additions as it shall deem proper, the classification and compensation plans and rules for their administration proposed by the director of accounts under section fifty; (b) pass upon, finally adopt and put into effect, with such modifications as it may deem proper, amendments to the classification and compensation plans and the rules for their administration as may be proposed from time to time under the provisions of section fifty or fifty-three; provided, that no such amendment not proposed by the director of accounts under section fifty shall be adopted except after a report which shall be made by said director within thirty days after submission to him; and provided, further, that an amendment proposed under section fifty-three and adopted by the board shall be effective only in the county whose county commissioners have proposed the amendment unless the county commissioners of four or more counties have joined in the proposal in which case it shall be effective in all counties, other than Suffolk and such other counties, if any, as shall under section fifty-six have ceased to be represented in the board; (c) pass upon and finally determine appeals relative to classification, as provided in section fifty-two; and (d) perform such other functions and duties as may be imposed upon it by sections forty-eight to fifty-five, inclusive.
The board is hereby authorized and directed to establish and administer uniform rules and regulations governing leaves of absence, shift differentials and overtime for officers and employees subject to section forty-eight to fifty-six, inclusive.
Any employee subject to sections forty-eight to fifty-six, inclusive, except superintendent and assistant superintendent of hospital, the chief of medical staff and the administrator at the Barnstable county hospital, superintendent and assistant superintendent of training school, superintendent and assistant superintendent of buildings, superintendent of industrial farm, superintendent of state reservation, director of agricultural school, director of extension service, master and keeper and assistant master and keeper of jail and house of correction, assistant registers of deeds, county health officer, county engineer and county dog officer, who has completed at least five years of service may not be discharged from such employment except for just cause and for reasons specifically given him in writing by the appointing authority. Before any such discharge is effected, the employee shall be given a full hearing before the appointing authority, of which hearing he shall have at least three days’ written notice, exclusive of Sundays and holidays, from the appointing authority. Within two days, exclusive of Sundays and holidays, after completion of said hearing, the appointing authority shall give the employee affected a written notice of his decision, stating fully and specifically the reasons therefor.
If within five days after receiving written notice of the decision of the appointing authority, the person so discharged shall so request in writing, he shall be given a hearing before the board. Said hearing shall be commenced in not less than three nor more than ten days, and shall be completed within thirty days after the filing of such request. The decision of the board shall be in writing and notice thereof shall be sent to all parties concerned within ten days after completion of the hearing. If the board finds that the action of the appointing authority was justified, such action shall be affirmed; otherwise, it shall be reversed and the person concerned shall be returned to his office or position without loss of compensation.
Within thirty days after action by the board on such a hearing, the person who was discharged may, if said action was affirmed by the board, bring a petition in the district court within the judicial district of which such person resides, addressed to the justice of the court, praying that the action of the appointing authority and of the board in discharging him may be reviewed by the court, and, after such notice to the appointing authority and the board as the court deems necessary, it shall hear witnesses, review such action, and determine whether or not upon all the evidence such action was justified. If the court finds that such action was justified the action of the appointing authority and of the board shall be affirmed; otherwise they shall be reversed and the petitioner shall be reinstated in his office or position without loss of compensation. The decision of the court shall be final and conclusive upon the parties.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 51A. Definitions Section 51A. The following words as used in this and the following sections and in the classification and compensation plans shall have the following meanings:—“Board”, the county personnel board;“Class” or “title”, a group of positions forming part of the classified service established by sections forty-eight to fifty-five, inclusive, and sufficiently similar in respect to duties and responsibilities that the same descriptive title may be used to designate all positions allocated to the class, the same general entrance qualifications may be required of incumbents of positions in the class, the same general tests of fitness may be used to choose qualified employees and the same schedule of pay may be made to apply under the same or substantially the same employment conditions;“Class allocation”, the official initial placing of a class in a job group in the salary schedule;“Class reallocation”, the official subsequent placing of a class in a job group in the salary schedule;“Employee”, employee or officer, unless the latter is otherwise specifically exempted;“Increment”, the amount of dollars between any two consecutive steps-in-range in the same job group in the salary schedule;“Job group”, a unit of the salary schedule which includes all classes in the position classification plan which are sufficiently comparable in value as regards duties and responsibilities, irrespective of the field of work of which they form a part, so that the same salary range may be made to apply to all classes in the same unit of the salary schedule;“Position”, a job which may be held by an individual employee. There may be more than one position in the same class;“Position allocation”, the initial official placing of a position in a class forming part of the position classification plan;“Position classification plan”, the plan resulting from position allocations pertaining to the personal services of the counties;“Position reallocation”, any subsequent official placing of a position in a class forming part of the position classification plan;“Salary range”, a range of salaries from a specified minimum to a specified maximum amount as applied to a job group;“Specification”, a description of the characteristic duties and requirements of a single class;“Step-in-range” or “increment step”, one of the divisions of a salary range in a job group at which an employee is compensated.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 51B. Salary schedules Section 51B. (1) Said classification and compensation plans shall be amended so that each office and position shall be allocated by said board to the proper job group in the following salary schedule; except that, in the case of elected officials, patient help, part time officers or employees, or in unusual circumstances, the board may fix salaries or wages for individual positions upon notice to the county commissioners and employing authority, and in such cases the positions shall not be allocated in said salary schedule:(1A) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1), in any county, which by vote of the county commissioners, accepts the provisions of this paragraph said classification and compensation plans shall be amended so that each office and position shall be allocated by the board to the proper job group in the following salary schedules; except that, in the case of elected officials, court stenographers, patient help, part-time officers or employees, or in unusual circumstances, the board may fix salaries or wages for individual positions upon notice to the county commissioners and employing authority, and in such cases the positions shall not be allocated in said salary schedules: (2) Except as otherwise provided by law, after a person has been allocated to the above salary schedule, he must render a minimum of one year of service in the step-in-range of the job group to which his office or position has been allocated before he can be moved into the next higher step-in-range of the same job group; provided, however, when computing the date when salary increments shall become due after the initial allocation to a step-in-range, subsequent steps shall be due annually on the anniversary of the effective date of assignment to a rate within a salary grade in the salary schedule in effect immediately prior to July first, nineteen hundred and fifty-seven; and, provided further, in the event a person has already served a period in excess of twelve months in said step-in-range in the salary schedule in effect prior to said date, the increment step to the next step-in-range shall be due immediately upon assignment to a step-in-range on said date, and any subsequent steps shall be due annually on the effective date of the salary schedule.
(3) Daily rates of per diem employees shall be computed on the basis of their assigned job groups.
(4) Said board may permit the recruitment of employees in a job group at a rate above the minimum; provided, that said board has first determined, on request of the appointing authority and the county commissioners, that an emergency exists because of lack of sufficient employees, lack of housing facilities, isolation from regular transportation facilities, or other unusual conditions. Any such permit shall remain in effect until rescinded by said board, but shall not be in effect longer than one year unless renewed in like manner and with like approval. Whenever said board permits the recruitment of employees in a job group at a rate above the minimum rate in said job group, all employees in the same classification in the same county who are below such rate of recruitment shall be advanced to said higher rate in the salary schedule; provided, that the board may, by special vote declare that such increase for other employees shall take effect only in a particular institution or specific area.
(4A) Said board may permit the recruitment of agents or instructors appointed for purposes specified in section forty-three of chapter one hundred and twenty-eight at a rate above the minimum and within the grade to which the requested position is allocated, upon certification of the appointing authority that the person to be employed has served satisfactorily in a comparable position within or without the commonwealth for a period of time equivalent to the period required by the salary schedule had such service been entirely in the service of the county, provided, that said board shall not approve the recruitment of any person at a rate above the minimum of the grade if such proposed employee has been in the service of any county within a twelve month period prior to the date of the proposed employment.
(4B) Said board may permit the recruitment of all professional vocational and technical personnel, including teachers, administrators and supervisory staff of the Bristol county agricultural school, the Essex agricultural and technical institute and the Norfolk county agricultural school, at a rate above the minimum but within the grade at which the position is allocated, upon certification of the appointing authority that the person to be employed has served satisfactorily in a comparable position within or without the commonwealth for a period of time equivalent to the period required by the salary schedule had such service been entirely in the service of the county.
(5) When an employee is initially placed in the salary schedule, or is advanced in his job group, or is transferred, reallocated or promoted to a new job group, such employee, for subsequent step-rate increases, shall be credited with the number of years of service that corresponds to his job group and rate in the salary schedule.
(6) Whenever an employee receives a promotion to a position in a higher job group, his rate shall be the next higher rate in said higher job group, or the second next higher rate therein if such new salary rate would result in an increase of salary smaller in amount than the salary increment for such higher job group.
(7) An employee who is demoted to a position in a lower job group shall receive the salary to which his period of service would entitle him if his service had been rendered in the lower group, but not less than the employee would have been entitled to had his service been continuously in the lower group.
(8) Rates of compensation in the salary schedule are for work hours as provided by the rules or regulations of said board; provided, however, that such rules or regulations shall establish the circumstances under which the county commissioners may relieve an employee or employees of such hours of work without reduction in salary.
(9) An employee serving on a part-time basis as certified by the appointing authority shall be entitled to the provisions of this chapter in the proportion that his service bears to full-time service.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 52. Classification and allocation of offices and positions; review Section 52. The classification and allocation of offices and positions required to be classified and allocated by section forty-nine shall be according to their respective duties and responsibilities. The classification shall be established by specifications defining for each office or position or class of offices or positions the title, duties and responsibilities thereof. The titles used in such classification shall be used for pay rolls, in the records of county commissioners, county treasurers, the director of accounts and of the board, and in all budget and appropriation records, but for working and administrative purposes within a department and for public convenience other titles may be used. Incumbents of offices and positions so classified shall perform, as far as practicable, the duties prescribed for the class to which they are assigned, but nothing in sections forty-eight to fifty-six, inclusive, shall be construed to limit or to restrict the county commissioners or other administrative authorities having charge of a department in assigning other work to such incumbents.
Any person aggrieved by the allocation or classification of his office or position or by any other action or by any failure to act, under any provision of sections forty-eight to fifty-five, inclusive, may appeal in writing to the board. Such appeal shall be filed with the county commissioners of the county in which the office or position is established, who shall forward the appeal to the board, accompanied by a report and their recommendations thereon. The board shall refer the appeal to the director of accounts, who shall investigate the merits thereof and report to the board. The board, after giving all parties interested an opportunity to be heard, shall pass upon the appeal and its decision shall be final and binding upon all such parties, including the county commissioners and the person appealing.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 53. County commissioners; powers and duties Section 53. The county commissioners of the several counties shall (1) keep on file in their respective offices the duplicate roster of officers and employees of their county, furnished by the director under section fifty; (2) receive and forward to the board, with their report and recommendations thereon, appeals, as provided in section fifty-two; (3) receive and act upon recommendations for salary increases, as provided in section fifty-four, and (4) perform such other functions and duties as may be imposed upon them by said sections forty-eight to fifty-six, inclusive. They may also recommend to the board amendments to the classification and compensation plans and to the rules relating thereto. They shall be entitled to be heard in the determination of questions of classification and allocation on appeal to the board, or otherwise.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 53A. Director of affirmative action; affirmative action plan; reports Section 53A. The county commissioners of each county shall designate or appoint a director of affirmative action who shall be the chief affirmative action officer for their respective county. Said person so designated shall not be a county commissioner. The person so designated shall presently be employed by said county. The person to be designated or appointed to said position shall possess: three years full-time or equivalent part-time experience in personnel administration or in a related field, or in a program or position in which their duties significantly involve affirmative action programs, or significant involvement in a community organization dealing with minority employment, or has earned a baccalaureate degree from a recognized college or university in the field of public administration, business administration, personnel administration, urban planning, social work, counseling, or in any related field of study or has successfully completed courses toward a graduate degree in the above fields. The person so designated shall receive no additional compensation for such appointment, and the county shall not consider the position held prior to such appointment vacant and shall not hire any additional employee in consideration of this appointment. In addition, said person shall also have a knowledge of the problems of minorities, females, and other affected groups when seeking employment, a knowledge of the elements of affirmative action programs, laws, regulations and guidelines, a knowledge of the various personnel selection processes, a knowledge of social psychology and its application, a knowledge of interviewing and counseling techniques, the ability to analyze written and statistical data in conjunction with planning abilities, good writing skills and oral expression, the ability to coordinate effectively with other public and private agencies, and the administrative skills to operate and supervise the office of affirmative action. The director of affirmative action shall report to and be under the direct supervision of the county commissioners.
Said director, with the assistance of the county personnel director, shall develop a county affirmative action plan. The purpose of this plan shall be to highlight equal employment opportunity discrepancies and to establish affirmative measures to ensure equal opportunity in the areas of hiring, promotion, demotion, transfer, recruitment, layoff, termination, rate of compensation, inservice or apprenticeship training programs, grievance procedures, and all terms and conditions of employment. Such affirmative actions shall include efforts required to remedy the effects of present and past discriminatory patterns and practices, as well as actions necessary to guarantee equal employment opportunity for all people. Said director shall also monitor all county contracts with outside vendors to ensure that every effort is made to utilize minority and women vendors and that contractors engaged for county work have instituted their own affirmative action plans.
Said director shall, from time to time, but at least every three months, report to the commissioners of the progress being made by all appointing and hiring authorities in meeting their affirmative action plans. Said director, with the approval of the county commissioners, may designate certain employees as department or office affirmative action representatives. Said affirmative action representatives shall monitor the implementation of and compliance with the affirmative action plan in their departments or offices and report on same for said director.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 54. Newly elected officers, etc.
, to receive minimum rate; exceptions; recommendations for promotions, etc. Section 54. Except as otherwise specifically provided, newly elected or appointed officers or employees shall receive the minimum rate in the salary grade to which the office or position has been allocated. Recommendations for increases in the salaries of officers and employees under the salary schedule, shall be submitted in the first instance to the county commissioners of the various counties by the proper authority, and if approved by them and by said board shall take effect upon notice by said commissioners to said board. If said proper authority fails or refuses to recommend step-rate increases as provided in the salary schedule he shall notify said commissioners giving his reasons for such failure or refusal and shall present a copy of such notice to each employee affected. If said commissioners do not approve a proposed increase in salary under the salary schedule, they shall report the recommendation of the head of the department or institution with their own recommendation to said board whose decision shall be final, except that said board shall not grant an increase in salary greater than that recommended by the head of the department or institution.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 55. Salaries to be full compensation; overtime pay, etc. Section 55. Except as otherwise expressly provided, all salaries established under the authority of sections forty-eight to fifty-six, inclusive, and the salaries established by section ninety-four of chapter two hundred and twenty-one, shall be in full compensation for all services rendered, and every officer or employee shall pay all fees and other moneys received directly or indirectly in the course of his public employment, into the county treasury; provided, that nothing contained in said sections shall prevent the reimbursement of actual and other expenses necessary for the transaction of public business or the payment of overtime approved by the county commissioners, upon evidence of necessity therefor.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 56. Suffolk county; applicability of act; classification agencies in other counties Section 56. For Suffolk county, the duties prescribed for the board by section fifty-one, except clause (c) thereof, shall be performed by the city council of the city of Boston, subject to the provisions of the charter of said city; the duties prescribed by sections forty-nine to fifty-five, inclusive, for the director of accounts shall be performed by the budget commissioner of said city, and all other duties prescribed and powers conferred by said sections forty-nine to fifty-five shall be performed by the mayor of said city. Any other county is hereby authorized, subject in all respects to the approval of the governor and council, to establish agencies for the purpose of establishing and administering classification and compensation plans in accordance with the provisions of sections forty-nine to fifty-five, inclusive, and agencies so established shall have the powers granted by said sections to the board and the director of accounts. Upon the establishment of such agency, such county shall cease to be represented in the board or to participate in the election of its members, and its obligation to contribute toward the expenses incurred by the board and by the director under section fifty shall terminate.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 57. Deferred compensation program for employees; authorized investments; requisites; limitations Section 57. The treasurer of any county, on behalf of that county, may contract with an employee to defer a portion of that employee’s compensation and may, for the purposes of funding a deferred compensation program for said employee, established in accordance with the U.
S. Internal Revenue Code, (the “Code”), invest the deferred portion of the employee’s income in a life insurance or annuity contract, mutual fund, or a bank investment trust. The treasurer shall, before making any such investment, solicit bids from insurance companies authorized to conduct business within the commonwealth pursuant to chapter one hundred and seventy-five, mutual fund managers, and banks, which bids shall be sealed, and opened at a time and place designated by the treasurer. Any bid submitted by an insurance company, mutual fund, or bank investment trust to fund the deferred compensation program shall, where applicable, clearly indicate the interest rate which shall be paid on the deferred funds, any commissions which will be paid to the salesmen, any load imposed for the purpose of administering the funds, mortality projections, expected payouts, tax implications for participating employees and such other information as the treasurer may require. Any contract entered into between an employee and the county pursuant to this section shall include all such information in terms the employee can reasonably be expected to understand.
As used in this section the word “employee” shall have the same meaning as “employee” in section one of chapter thirty-two and shall include consultants and independent contractors who are natural persons paid by the county.
Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary, the treasurer shall not be required to solicit bids to invest the deferred portion of an employee’s income provided: (a) the treasurer elects to invest such funds in the same investment products as provided through the deferred compensation plan for employees of the commonwealth administered by the state treasurer, provided such plan resulted from the solicitation of bids in accordance with bidding requirements comparable to those required under this section; or (b) the treasurer elects to invest such funds in the investment products offered pursuant to a plan developed through a competitive selection process, provided that such plan resulted from the solicitation of bids by a group of any combination of three or more city, town, county or public authority treasurers acting as a “Common Group” for purposes of soliciting such proposals in accordance with bidding requirements comparable to those required under this section.
An employee may defer compensation so long as such deferral is the lesser of seven thousand five hundred dollars or thirty-three and one-third per cent of his includible compensation for a taxable year, except that for one or more of the last three taxable years ending before he attains normal retirement age under the plan, the employee may defer the lesser of fifteen thousand dollars or the sum of (1) seven thousand five hundred dollars or thirty-three and one-third per cent of his includible compensation for a such year, plus (2) a sum not more than the total deferrable compensation for prior taxable years that had not in fact been deferred in such years.
Such deferred compensation program shall be in addition to and not a part of the retirement program or pension system as provided under said chapter thirty-two and any other benefit program provided by law for such employee. Any compensation deferred under such a plan shall continue to be included as regular compensation, as defined in section one of said chapter thirty-two, for the purpose of computing the retirement and pension benefits earned by any such employee, but any compensation so deferred shall not be included in the computation of any taxes on behalf of any such employee.
COUNTY PERSONNEL BOARD AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTY SALARIES, OFFICES AND POSITIONS Chapter 35: Section 57A. Employee individual retirement accounts Section 57A. The treasurer of any county, on behalf of that county, may contract with an employee to make contributions for and in the name of such employee, from amounts otherwise payable to the employee as current compensation, to an Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”) by such employee established in accordance with the U.
S. Internal Revenue Code, (the “Code”). The participating employee may invest that portion of his income so contributed to an IRA in an annuity contract, mutual fund, bank investment trust or other investment authorized by the Code. Before making such deduction, the treasurer shall be required to solicit bids from insurance companies authorized to conduct business within the commonwealth pursuant to chapter one hundred and seventy-five, mutual fund managers, and banks which bids shall be sealed, and opened at a time and place designated by the treasurer. Any bid submitted by an insurance company, mutual fund, or bank investment trust seeking investment of the IRA contribution shall, where applicable, clearly indicate the interest rate which shall be paid on the invested funds, any commissions which will be paid to the salesmen, any load imposed for the purpose of administering the funds, expected payouts, tax implications for participating employees and such other information as the treasurer may require. Upon the treasurer’s determining which provider offers the product or products most beneficial to the employee in each category for which bids were solicited, the treasurer may offer such employee the opportunity to establish an IRA with one or more such providers. The employee who wishes to invest his IRA funds with any such provider, or combination of providers, may authorize the treasurer to deduct from amounts otherwise payable to the employee, at one time or on a periodic basis, amounts to be paid into the employee’s IRA. If the employee so elects, the treasurer shall pay to the providers the amount designated by the employee, in the name of the employee, to the employee’s IRA. Amounts so paid to the providers for the employee’s IRA account shall belong exclusively to the employee. Except as otherwise provided herein, the treasurer may restrict an employee’s right to contract to have contributions made to an IRA through deductions and payments by the treasurer, to those providers selected as the result of the competitive bidding process outlined herein, but the authority conferred upon the treasurer shall not be construed to restrict or limit the right of any employee to establish one or more IRAs with such banks, insurance companies, or similar authorized institutions as the employee may choose in any manner other than through an authorized deduction by the treasurer of a portion of the employees compensation as outlined herein. Any contract entered into between an employee and the commonwealth pursuant to this section shall include all information in terms the employee can reasonably be expected to understand.
As used in this section the word “employee” shall have the same meaning as “employee” in section one of chapter thirty-two and shall also include consultants and independent contractors who are natural persons paid by the county.
An employee may contribute a portion of his compensation to an IRA under the program outlined herein so long as such contribution, for an employee who is single, is the lesser of two thousand dollars or one hundred per cent of his compensation for a taxable year, and, for an employee who is married, the contribution is the lesser of two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars or one hundred per cent of his compensation for a taxable year. If an employee has any compensation deferred under a deferred compensation plan for employees of the county, if one is established by the treasurer under section fifty-seven, then the aggregate amount of such deferred compensation deduction and amounts contributed to such employee’s IRA shall not exceed the limits imposed upon such combined deduction and contribution by the Code.
Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary, the treasurer shall not be required to solicit bids to invest the contributed portion of an employee’s income into the employee’s IRA provided: (a) the treasurer is authorized by the employee to pay that portion of the employee’s compensation into the employee’s IRA in the same investment products as provided through a deferred compensation or IRA plan for employees of the commonwealth administered by the state treasurer, or a deferred compensation plan for employees of the county administered by the treasurer, provided such plan resulted from the solicitation of bids in accordance with bidding requirements comparable to those required under this section; or (b) the treasurer is authorized by the employee to pay that portion of the employee’s compensation into the employee’s IRA in the investment products offered pursuant to a deferred compensation or IRA plan developed through a competitive selection process, provided that such plan resulted from the solicitation of bids by a group of any combination of three or more city, town, county or public authority treasurers acting as a “Common Group” for purposes of soliciting such proposals in accordance with bidding requirements comparable to those required under this section.
Such IRA plan shall be in addition to and not a part of the retirement program or pension system as provided under said chapter thirty-two and any other benefit program provided by law for such employee. Any compensation contributed by the employee to his IRA under such a plan shall continue to be included as regular compensation, as defined in section one of said chapter thirty-two, for the purpose of computing the retirement and pension benefits earned by any such employee, but any compensation so contributed shall not be included in the computation of federal taxes but shall be included in the computation of state taxes withheld on behalf of any such employee.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 7. Commissioners acting by appointment; compensation; travel expenses Section 7. The treasurer shall be provided by the county with an office and shall be allowed such clerical assistance as shall be approved by the county commissioners with compensation payable by the county.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 8. Traveling expenses Section 8. The county treasurer shall be paid his actual and proper traveling expenses incurred in the transaction of county business. An itemized statement thereof shall, on the first day of each month, be certified to the commissioners, by whom it shall be audited and approved.
COUNTY TREASURERS Chapter 35: Section 9. Wilful violation of duty; penalties Section 9. For wilful violation of a duty imposed by law, a county treasurer shall forfeit not less than fifty nor more than one thousand dollars, recoverable at the suit of the attorney general to the use of the county.
Section 1. The counties of Berkshire, Bristol, Essex, Middlesex and Worcester are for the registry of deeds severally divided into the following districts:In Berkshire, the middle district, with its office in Pittsfield, comprising Pittsfield, Becket, Dalton, Hinsdale, Lee, Lenox, Otis, Peru, Richmond, Stockbridge, Tyringham and Washington; the northern district, with its office in Adams, that portion of the county lying north of the middle district; and the southern district, with its office in Great Barrington, that portion of the county lying south of the middle district.
In Bristol, the southern district, with its office in New Bedford, comprising, New Bedford, Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven and Westport, the Fall River district, with its office in Fall River, comprising Fall River, Freetown, Somerset and Swansea; and the northern district, with its office in Taunton, the remainder of said county.
In Essex, the northern district, with its office in Lawrence, comprising Lawrence, Andover, Methuen and North Andover; the southern district, with its office in Salem, the remainder of said county.
In Middlesex, the northern district, with its office in Lowell, comprising Lowell, Billerica, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Westford and Wilmington; the southern district, with its office in Cambridge, the remainder of said county.
In Worcester, the northern district, with its office in Fitchburg, comprising Fitchburg, Ashburnham, Leominster, Lunenburg and Westminster; the Worcester district, with its office in Worcester, the remainder of said county.
Each of the other counties of the commonwealth shall have an office for the registry of deeds in a shire town thereof.
instruments Section 10. If, upon the death, removal or expiration of the term of a register, deeds or other instruments entered in the registry are unrecorded, or recorded but unattested, or if records are unattested, his successor or any subsequent register shall record or attest such deeds, instruments or records agreeably to the facts and conformably with the records and books of entry.
Section 11. Every register shall keep in his registry all books, records, deeds and papers belonging thereto, and shall keep the office open a fixed number of hours daily on days other than Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, for receiving and recording papers, except that, if the convenience of the public so requires, a register may keep his registry open on any Saturday, not a legal holiday, for said purposes during such hours as he may determine. Office hours heretofore fixed in the respective counties shall continue until changed by order of the county commissioners. Notice thereof shall be given by posting the same in conspicuous places upon or near the entrance door and upon the walls or counters in each registry. The provisions of section nine of chapter four shall apply in the case of the closing of a registry on any Saturday to the same extent as if such Saturday were a legal holiday.
Section 12. Every deed and other instrument required to be recorded in the registry of deeds shall be recorded in the registry of deeds for the district where the land lies to which such deed or instrument relates; and in all things relating to the register or registry of deeds, each district therefor shall be deemed a county.
recording authorized Section 12A. A register of deeds may refuse to accept an instrument for recording if it cannot be properly duplicated or a proper record cannot be made thereof.
more than county or district Section 13. If a deed or other writing affecting land has been recorded in a registry of deeds or registered in a registry district of the land court, a copy thereof, duly certified by a proper official, may be recorded or registered in any county or registry district wherein the original might properly have been recorded or registered, and when so recorded or registered shall have the same effect as a record or registration of the original instrument.
Section 13A. The registers of deeds, or a majority of them, may from time to time make and amend rules prescribing the size or sizes of plans which shall be received for record in registries of deeds in which copies of such rules are posted as hereinafter provided, the material on which the plans shall be made, and other requirements which will best effect the preservation for reference of the matter shown on such plans. No such rule or any amendment thereof shall take effect until after it has been approved by the attorney general. Any register of deeds may post a copy of the rules, approved as aforesaid, in a conspicuous place in his registry; and, after the expiration of thirty days from such posting, no plan which does not, in the opinion of the register, conform to such rules shall be received for record therein.
Section 13B. A plan, the original of which was prepared by an engineer, surveyor or draftsman who is no longer living or whose whereabouts is not known but which plan has been referred to in deeds or other documents theretofore duly recorded or a plan prepared or bearing a date prior to January first, nineteen hundred and sixteen, shall be received for filing in the registry of deeds of the district or county where the land lies even though the original or the best available print or photo copy thereof does not conform to the rules established under section thirteen A, provided there is filed and recorded with it a tracing or copy thereof prepared in accordance with said rules as then applicable in said registry and duly identified as a copy thereof. The fee for filing such plan shall be the recording fee for the tracing or copy thereof, as provided by section thirty-eight of chapter two hundred and sixty-two, together with a further fee to be established in each case by the register of deeds with due regard to the probable expense of preserving and storing the original or print or photo copy thereof. In his discretion, the register may require the person presenting such plan for filing to provide and to record an affidavit setting forth the facts that qualify said plan to be received under the provisions of this section.
Section 14. Each register shall keep a book, each page of which shall be divided into six columns, with the following headings: He shall enter therein, in the order of receipt, all deeds and instruments left for record, and all copies left as cautions, noting in the first column the day, hour and minute when received and the other items in the appropriate columns; and every deed or instrument shall be considered as recorded at the time so noted. Papers received for record outside the hours fixed under section eleven shall be entered as of the first minute of the next succeeding business hour.
recording of notice Section 14A. A notice of certification of an historic or archeological site and a withdrawal of such certification, required to be recorded under the provisions of section twenty-seven of chapter nine, shall be recorded by the register of deeds without the payment of any fee therefor.
Section 15. He shall record all instruments upon the pages of the record books in fair and legible handwriting or in print, and in continuous successive lines, and shall note on the record, before attesting the same, all erasures and interlineations and the value of any stamp affixed thereto pursuant to federal law, and the cancellation thereof, and he shall make duplicate microphotographic process copies of all books in his registry in which deeds, certificates of title and other instruments have been recorded or entered.
Section 16. He shall record receipts of federal revenue collectors for succession taxes, or other evidence of their payment, if the person applying for such record first makes affidavit to the genuineness of such receipt or evidence before a person qualified to take acknowledgment of deeds.
fees Section 17. The register shall, at the expense of the county, procure and keep duplicate record books, in which he shall make fair and legible copies of the record of any deed or other instrument existing in the registry which has become worn, mutilated or indistinct, if so directed by the county commissioners, or if so requested by any person lawfully interested in preserving the same. He shall attest such copies, referring in his certificate of attestation to the book and page of the original record, and shall note on the margin of the first page of the original the volume and page of the duplicate records containing the copy. Such copies shall have the same force as the original records. He shall receive the same fees for copies and notations as for an original record, payable by the person requesting the same.
Section 18. He may attest the records by the volume, and the attestation shall be sufficient when the volume containing the same bears the attest, with the written signature of the register or other person lawfully authorized.
Section 18A. The register or an assistant register may print or type the name of any person whose signature appears on any instrument filed for recording and is not clearly legible, such name to be printed or typed directly below such signature.
Section 19. A facsimile of the signature of any register, imprinted by him, by an assistant register or by such office assistant as the register in writing may designate, upon any original instrument in attestation of the fact that the same has been recorded in his registry or upon any copy of the records or plans which the register is authorized by law to certify or attest as a true copy, shall have the same validity as his written signature.
Section 2. In each such district and in each county not divided into districts, a register of deeds, who shall be a resident of such district or county, shall be elected, as provided in section one hundred and fifty-seven of chapter fifty-four, for the term of six years, beginning with the first Wednesday of January following his election, and until his successor is qualified.
different counties Section 20. If an assignment, extension, partial release, release or discharge of a mortgage of land, or a certificate of the taking or surrender of possession for foreclosure of such mortgage, or an affidavit of notice of sale under a power of sale therein, or an execution for possession of the premises conveyed thereby or any other instrument purporting to affect the same, has been recorded in the county where the land lies, and the original mortgage was not recorded in the same registry, the register of the county where such mortgage was originally recorded, upon exhibition to him at the registry of such instrument purporting to affect the same, shall enter upon the margin of the record of the mortgage a note of reference to the record of such instrument.
affecting certain mortgages Section 21. When an instrument described in the preceding section affecting a mortgage is recorded, and it refers by book and page to the record of the mortgage, the register shall enter upon the margin of such record, if in the same registry, a notation of the record of the instrument containing such reference.
delinquent taxes or assessments; recordation Section 22. If an assignment, release, partial release, discharge or disclaimer affecting title to land created by a sale or taking for payment of a tax or assessment is recorded, the register shall make a note of reference thereto on the margin of the record of the deed or instrument of sale or taking, if in his registry and referred to in such conveyance.
number on instruments Section 23. He shall certify upon every instrument recorded by him the time when received and the number of the book and leaf or page where recorded.
Section 24. Notice of a federal tax lien which may be filed in the commonwealth or any other federal lien on any real property or fixtures shall be filed with the register of deeds of the county in which such real property or fixtures are situated. Said register shall, whether the title of the real property involved is registered or unregistered, record such notice, the recording fee for which shall be five dollars. Each register of deeds shall cause competent persons to prepare and keep current an alphabetical listing of all taxpayers against whom such a federal tax lien or other federal lien has been recorded commencing with the year nineteen hundred and fifteen. Certificates of discharge or certificates releasing specific property from such liens, or other notices affecting such liens shall be filed with the same register of deeds with whom the notice of lien was filed. The register of deeds shall, for a like fee, record any such certificates or notices and make a note of reference thereto on the margin of the record of the notice of lien referred to therein. Certification of notices of liens, certificates discharging liens, certificates releasing specific property from liens, or other notices affecting federal liens upon real property or fixtures by the secretary of the treasury of the United States or his delegate, or by any official or entity of the United States responsible for filing or certifying of any other lien shall entitle them to be recorded and no other attestation, certification or acknowledgement shall be necessary. The register of deeds may bill the district directors of internal revenue or other appropriate federal officials on a monthly basis for documents filed by them.
bankruptcy Section 24A. At any time after a petition in bankruptcy is filed, or a decree of adjudication or an order approving the trustee’s bond is made, pursuant to the federal Bankruptcy Act of 1898, as amended by the federal Bankruptcy Act of 1938, the bankrupt, trustee, receiver, custodian, referee or any creditor may record a certified copy of such petition, with the schedules omitted, or of such decree or order in the registry of deeds for any county or district wherein the bankrupt owns or has an interest in any land.
to tax assessors; required information Section 24B. The register, or said register as the assistant recorder of the land court, in each county except Dukes and Nantucket counties, shall, upon the request in writing of the board of assessors of any city or town in his county or district, furnish such board with copies of such instruments recorded or registered in his registry as affect the title to real estate in the city or town of such board and as may be necessary for the records of such board for the purposes of taxation of real estate.
The said register or said assistant recorder, may at his option, furnish said board with an abstract card or cards in lieu of said copies which shall contain the following information:—the name of the city or town in which the land is situated, the name or names of the grantor and grantee, the date, an abstract of the description, the lot number and description of the plan, if any, referred to, the book and page or certificate of title number of the record, and such other information included in such instruments as is necessary for said board of assessors for its records.
Said register or assistant recorder shall require from each person who appears before him to record a deed to real property, such information as the commissioner of revenue may deem necessary to assist the assessors in the performance of their duties under sections eleven and thirty-eight of chapter fifty-nine. Said information shall be collected on a form approved by the commissioner of revenue and each completed form shall be forwarded by said register or assistant recorder to the board of assessors of the city or town in which the property lies.
Section 25. He shall keep two indexes, each divided into six columns, with headings in one as follows:And in the other as follows:In Suffolk county neither index need contain the last column.
Section 26. He shall, within twenty-four hours after a deed or other instrument which he is by law required to record has been left for record, cause the name of each grantor, grantee or other party thereto to be entered at length and alphabetically in the appropriate index, and in the appropriate column, if any, the name of the town where the land described in the instrument lies, if the same is therein disclosed. Within a reasonable time after such instrument has been recorded, he shall affix to such entry the number of the book and leaf or page where recorded.
decrees in partition Section 27. When an instrument by which a person transfers or conveys by authority of law the real estate of another is left for record, the register shall enter in the entry book and grantor index both the name of the nominal grantor and that of the real party in interest, if appearing therein, otherwise he shall enter such party as “unknown”, under the letter U. When notice of the filing of a petition for partition or of amendment thereof, or a copy of a decree in partition is left for record, he shall enter in the entry book and in both the grantor and grantee indexes the names of all persons whose estates plainly appear to be affected thereby.
Section 28. Each register shall annually, at the expense of the county, cause competent persons to make copies of the indexes of the preceding year, in which the grantors and grantees shall be classified by their respective surnames in alphabetical order, and arranged thereunder in the order in which the deeds and other conveyances to which they refer were left for record. He may also cause the Christian names of the grantors and grantees, as well as their surnames, to be arranged in alphabetical order in such lists. Such copies shall in other respects be in the form required for the original indexes.
Section 29. A register may, with the consent of the county commissioners, cause a competent person, at the expense of the county, to make copies of the indexes or new indexes to the records, or of any part thereof. Such copies may be printed at county expense and sold at a price not less than the cost of printing, paper and binding.
Section 3. Each register of deeds shall be sworn before the county commissioners, or in Suffolk county before the city council of Boston, and prior to being sworn, and thereafter, at intervals of not more than one year, so long as he continues to hold such office, shall give bond to the county, in such sum as the commissioners or said council, respectively, shall approve, conditioned to perform faithfully his own official duties, with a surety company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth, as surety.
Section 30. Each register, except in Suffolk county, shall annually, before January first, file with the county commissioners an estimate in detail of the character, amount and cost of indexing which, in his judgment, may be required for the ensuing year, and the commissioners shall include in the estimates for county taxes so much thereof as in their judgment is necessary. The amount authorized may, under the direction of the register, be expended for the purposes specified in his said estimate, and shall be paid to the persons actually performing the work, on approval of the bills by the commissioners.
Section 31A. Within sixty days after the recording of any deed in which the grantee is described as a trustee, or of any declaration of trust, the register in whose office such deed or declaration is recorded shall send by mail to the commissioner of revenue a notification of the recording thereof, stating the name of the grantor and of the grantee or the trustee, and the date of recording.
to department of public welfare Section 32. Whenever there is filed for record in a registry of deeds any deed of trust or other instrument creating or increasing an estate or fund for benevolent, charitable, humane or philanthropic purposes, the register shall forthwith send to the department of public welfare a statement noting the book and page of the record, with the name, if any, of the said estate or fund, and by whom the said estate or fund has been created or increased, and by whom it is to be administered.
If an individual is receiving medical assistance under chapter one hundred and eighteen E and is either a grantee or grantor of an interest in real property, such individual shall comply with the provision of section thirteen A of said chapter one hundred and eighteen E requiring notice to the department of public welfare of certain transfers of property.
documents and communications Section 32A. Whenever the register, in any communication, document or writing intended for use outside the registry, identifies a husband and wife, he shall use the name of both husband and wife and shall not use a legal phrase as a substitute for either name.
Section 33. The salaries of registers of deeds and all assistant registers of deeds shall be paid by their respective counties; and the salaries of registers of deeds shall be in full for all services rendered as register and as assistant recorder of the land court.
The salaries of the register of deeds for the county of Suffolk, and his assistants shall be as follows:—Register: A sum equivalent to seventy-five per cent of the salary of an associate justice of the superior court.
First Assistant Register: A sum equivalent to the salary of the first assistant clerk of the superior court department for civil business in the county of Suffolk.
All other assistant registers: A sum equivalent to the salaries of the assistant clerks of the superior court department for civil business in the county of Suffolk.
Section 37. No register or assistant register shall demand or receive, directly or indirectly, compensation for title work performed by him or under his direction, in his registry.
Section 38. Registers shall annually be allowed for clerical assistance in their respective registries, to be paid by their respective counties, such amounts as shall be approved by the county commissioners.
Section 39. Each register shall enter in a cash book, which shall be the property of the county, all fees received by him for all official acts and services; and he shall, on the first day of each month, pay to the county treasurer, or other officer entitled to receive the same, all fees received during the preceding month, and shall render to him a sworn account thereof.
Section 4. Each register, with the approval of the superior court, may appoint an assistant register of deeds, removable at his pleasure, for whose official acts he shall be responsible; provided, however, that any person so appointed by the register for Suffolk county who has served continuously in any position in the registry of deeds in said county for a period of twenty or more years shall not be removed therefrom except for cause. The assistant shall give bond in the same manner as the register, and may be a woman. Any document or paper certified or attested by such assistant or by a second, third or fourth assistant register or by a chief clerk designated under section seven shall be admissible evidence as if certified or attested by the register.
compatibility with other registers Section 40. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the state secretary shall promulgate rules and regulations to ensure that all technology purchases by registries of deeds are compatible with each other.
assistant recorders; registries under control of county government; surcharge to fund improvements at registries; disposition of surcharge Section 41. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the fees of each of the registers of deeds and of the assistant recorders, except as otherwise provided, to be paid when the instrument is left for recording, filing or deposit shall be subject to a surcharge of $5. The surcharge shall be imposed for the purpose of automation, modernization, operation and technological improvements at the registries of deeds. Only registries presently under the control of county government shall be subject to this section. From March 15, 2003 until June 30, 2008, all surcharges on fees collected pursuant to this section shall be forwarded to the County Registers Technological Fund established in section 2KKK of chapter 29. From July 1, 2008, all of the surcharges shall be forwarded to the general fund as provided in section 2 of chapter 29.
district of Middlesex Section 5. The registers of deeds for Suffolk county and the southern district of Middlesex may, by a writing recorded in their respective registries, appoint one of the persons employed in their respective registries as second assistant register, one of such persons as third assistant register and one of such persons as fourth assistant register, all of whom shall serve at the pleasure of such register; provided, however, that any person so appointed by the register of deeds for Suffolk county who has served continuously in any such position for a period of at least ten years shall not be removed therefrom except for cause.
The register of deeds for the southern district of Middlesex may, by a writing recorded in his registry, appoint one of the persons employed in said registry as fifth assistant register and one of such persons as sixth assistant register.
assistant for Norfolk county Section 5A. The register of deeds for Norfolk county may, by a writing recorded in his registry, designate one of the persons employed therein as second assistant register who shall serve at the pleasure of such register and may also so designate one of the persons employed therein as administrative assistant who shall serve at the pleasure of such register and be compensated at the same rate allowed for the second assistant register.
Essex and Worcester and Hampden county Section 6. The registers for the southern district of Essex, the county of Hampden and the Worcester district may, with the approval of their respective county commissioners, appoint and at pleasure remove, a second assistant register. Such an assistant shall have all the powers and authority vested in an assistant register.
Section 7. The register for the Worcester district may, by a writing recorded in his registry, authorize a person employed in said registry to certify or attest, as chief clerk, records or copies of records recorded or filed therein, which authority the register may at pleasure in like manner revoke.
powers and duties Section 8. During the disability of a register, or if a vacancy occurs in the office, the assistant register, or second assistant register, or if none, the clerk, shall perform the register’s duties. If the register is disabled and there is no assistant or clerk, or if they are both unable, by reason of illness or otherwise, to perform their official duties, the county commissioners, or in Suffolk county the superior court, may appoint a temporary register of deeds. Notice of such appointment shall be recorded in the registry. Section three shall apply to temporary registers who shall exercise the same powers and duties as registers of deeds until the register or a qualified assistant is able to assume the same, or until the qualification of a new register.
Section 9. If a register, upon presentment of the grand jury, is found guilty of misconduct in his official duties, or if from bodily or mental infirmity he is incapable in person of rightly performing the same, the county commissioners, or in Suffolk county the superior court, shall, after reasonable notice, remove him from office, and may order delivery of the books, papers and other things belonging to the office to their clerk or to a new register when appointed or elected.
Section 1. A sheriff shall be elected in each county, as provided in section one hundred and fifty-nine of chapter fifty-four, for six years, beginning with the first Wednesday of January following his election, and until his successor is qualified.
judgment Section 10. A sheriff shall not be arrested upon mesne process or execution in a civil action. If judgment is rendered against him, either in his official or private capacity, the execution shall issue against his goods, chattels and land, but not against his body. If such execution is returned unsatisfied, the creditor may file with the governor and council an attested copy of the execution and return, and notify the sheriff. If he does not, within thirty days after such notice, pay to the creditor the whole amount of his debt, with reasonable costs of the copies and notice, the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall remove him from office. After the appointment of his successor, the clerk of the court from which any execution against him has issued, upon the return thereof unsatisfied, shall issue alias executions in common form, as well against the body as against the goods, chattels and land.
precepts Section 11. Sheriffs and their deputies shall serve and execute, within their counties, all precepts lawfully issued to them and all other process required by law to be served by an officer. They may serve process in cases wherein a county, city, town, parish, religious society or fire or other district is a party or interested, although they are inhabitants or members thereof.
demands, notices and citations Section 12. They may serve by copy, by them attested, demands, notices and citations not required by law to be served by an officer, and their returns of service thereof shall be prima facie evidence.
Section 13. They may require suitable aid in the execution of their office in a criminal case, in the preservation of the peace, in the apprehending or securing of a person for a breach of the peace and in cases of escape or rescue of persons arrested upon civil process.
Section 14. They may execute precepts in their hands at the time of their removal from office; and, upon a vacancy in the office of sheriff, every deputy in office under him, having a writ or precept in his hands, shall have the same authority to serve, execute and return the same, as if the sheriff had continued in office.
Section 15. If a sheriff is a party to a suit or other proceeding, any writ, precept or process therein, required to be served or executed by a sheriff or deputy sheriff, shall be served or executed by the sheriff of an adjoining county, or his deputy.
Section 16. Sheriffs, by themselves or by their deputies may attend any session of the supreme judicial and superior courts in their respective counties, as may be requested by the chief administrative justice, and when required, meetings of the county commissioners. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, sheriffs shall not be required to supervise any officers for attendance on the various courts.
Section 17. The salaries of sheriffs shall be paid by their respective counties and shall, except as hereinafter provided, be in full compensation for all services rendered both as sheriff and as superintendent or keeper of the jail or house of correction. If a sheriff elects to act, or his deputy acts, as superintendent or keeper of the jail or house of correction and resides thereat, he shall be entitled to rent, heat and light, and such subsistence as he may desire out of the regular subsistence rations purchased for prisoners, together with such other maintenance as may be determined from time to time by the county personnel board.
The salaries of the sheriffs of the counties of Bristol, Plymouth and Suffolk and of the former counties of Essex, Hampden, Middlesex and Worcester shall be a sum equivalent to 95 per cent of the salary of an associate justice of the superior court. The salaries of the sheriffs of the counties of Barnstable and Norfolk and of the former counties of Berkshire and Hampshire shall be a sum equivalent to 90 per cent of the salary of an associate justice of the superior court. The salaries of the sheriffs of the counties of Dukes County and Nantucket and the salary of the sheriff of the former county of Franklin shall be a sum equivalent to 75 per cent of the salary of an associate justice of the superior court.
The sheriff of the county of Nantucket shall, in addition to his salary, retain all fees collected and received by him for service of process.
Section 2. A sheriff, before performing any official act, shall be sworn and prior to being sworn, and thereafter, at intervals of not more than one year, so long as he continues to hold such office, shall give to the state treasurer a bond in such amount and with such sureties as the superior court shall order and approve, conditioned to perform faithfully his own duties and to be responsible for the official acts of his deputies. A default, malfeasance or misfeasance in office of a deputy sheriff or jailer after the death, removal or resignation of the sheriff by whom he was appointed, shall be a breach of the bond of such sheriff.
Section 21. The sheriff of Nantucket county shall be entitled to receive from the county his actual traveling expenses incurred in the transportation of prisoners to and from jails and other penal institutions; and the sheriff of each other county, except Suffolk, shall be entitled to receive from the county his actual traveling expenses incurred in the performance of his official duties, exclusive of expenses incurred in the transportation of persons pursuant to section twenty-four.
expenses Section 21A. For the purposes of paying the salary and travel expenses of a sheriff pursuant to sections 17 and 21, the commonwealth shall pay said salary and travel expenses whenever the sheriff is an employee of the commonwealth; provided, that said travel expenses shall be reimbursed only upon the submission of travel vouchers or other verification of travel expenses to the comptroller.
Section 22. Each sheriff shall keep an account of all fees and money received by virtue of his office, and, except as otherwise provided, shall annually, on or before June fifteenth, render to the county treasurer a sworn account thereof and, except as provided in section seventeen, pay him the same.
custody; sheriffs’ duties Section 24. The sheriffs of the several counties, and their respective deputies, shall be responsible under the provisions of this section for the transportation of prisoners or other persons in their custody including, but not limited to, the following:(a) prisoners or other persons in their custody to and from the several divisions or departments of the trial court,(b) prisoners or other persons placed in their custody by any of the several divisions or departments of the trial court under the provisions of chapter two hundred and seventy-nine,(c) prisoners or other persons placed in their custody by any of the several divisions or departments of the trial court to be remanded to any noncorrectional facility for the purpose of receiving medical, social, psychological and other related services,(d) persons under the age of seventeen years placed in their custody by any of the several divisions or departments of the trial court under any of the provisions of chapter one hundred and nineteen, and(e) prisoners or other persons required to be returned from out of the commonwealth for trial or confinement under the provisions of sections eleven to twenty R, inclusive, of chapter two hundred and seventy-six.
Any person placed in the custody of a sheriff who has been transported to a division or department of the trial court shall, upon the completion of such transportation, be transferred into the custody of such court.
custody; costs; appropriations; report Section 25. The cost of transportation required by section twenty-four shall be borne by the commonwealth. The secretary of administration and finance shall make an annual request for an appropriation for the purpose of funding said section twenty-four and, subject to such appropriation, said funds shall be paid to the treasurer of each county who shall place said funds in a separate account within the treasury of each county. All funds deposited in said accounts and any interest accruing thereto shall be used solely for the purposes set forth in said section twenty-four. No later than March first of each year, the treasurer of each county receiving funds under this section shall file a written report with the house and senate committees on ways and means detailing expenditures made from such accounts in the preceding calendar year.
Section 3. A sheriff may appoint deputies, who shall be sworn before performing any official act.
Section 4. He shall appoint a special sheriff, who shall be sworn and shall give such bond to the sheriff as he may require for the faithful discharge of his duties. A special sheriff shall have the authority of a deputy sheriff. Upon his qualification, the sheriff shall send a written notice thereof, giving the name and residence of the appointee, to the state secretary, who shall record such notice in a book kept for the purpose.
Section 5. If, by reason of illness, absence, interest or otherwise, the sheriff is unable to perform his official duties, they shall be performed by the special sheriff, and compensation therefor, if not otherwise provided for, shall be paid by the sheriff. During a vacancy in the office of sheriff, the special sheriff, first giving bond as required of the sheriff, shall perform all the duties of the sheriff, and the deputies of the former sheriff shall continue to exercise the powers of deputy sheriffs.
Section 7. A sheriff neglecting or refusing to give bond as required in section eighteen of chapter thirty shall forfeit one hundred and fifty dollars for each month’s neglect, at the suit of the attorney general. The superior court shall forthwith certify the fact of such neglect or refusal to the governor and council and to the attorney general, and, unless the sheriff satisfies the governor and council that there was reasonable cause for such neglect and gives security to their satisfaction within twenty days after the receipt of such certificate, the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall remove him from office.
Section 8. The holder of a judgment against a sheriff or his estate, for a cause which constitutes a breach of the condition of his official bond, or a person who has obtained an allowance of such claim against his estate, if settled as insolvent, may, at his own expense, prosecute a suit on such bond in the name of the state treasurer, and the proceedings shall be the same as in a suit by a creditor on an administration bond.
evidence Section 9. The state treasurer shall deliver an attested copy of the official bond of any sheriff to any person applying and paying therefor, which shall be received as competent evidence in a case relating to the bond; but if the execution of the bond is disputed, the court may require the said treasurer to produce the original in court.
Section 1. As used in this chapter, the following words shall, unless the context requires otherwise, have the following meanings:—“Commission”, to the commission on medicolegal investigation, established by section one hundred and eighty-four of chapter six.
“Office”, the office of the chief medical examiner.
Section 10. The court shall report in writing when, where, and by what means the person met his death, the person’s name, if known, and all material circumstances attending the death, and the name, if known, of any person whose unlawful act or negligence appears to have contributed thereto. The court shall file its report and a transcript of the inquest proceedings in the superior court for the county in which the inquest is held. Said transcript shall be impounded until the district attorney files a certificate with the superior court indicating that he will not present the case to a grand jury, or files notice with the superior court that the grand jury has returned a true bill or a no bill after presentment by the district attorney.
Section 11. If a person charged by an inquest report with the commission of a crime is at large, the district court, upon the request of the district attorney, shall forthwith issue process for such person’s arrest, returnable before any court or magistrate having jurisdiction.
Section 12. No embalming fluid, or any substitute therefor, shall be injected into the body of any person whose death is being investigated by the office until authorization from a representative of the office has first been obtained.
Section 13. After investigation or examination by the office, the body shall be released to the person with the proper legal authority to receive it, including the surviving spouse, the next of kin, or any friend of the deceased, who shall have priority in the order named. If the body is unidentified or unclaimed after the investigation is completed, the medical examiner shall release it to the department of public welfare, which shall bury it in accordance with section eighteen of chapter one hundred and seventeen. Prior to the release of such unidentified or unclaimed body to the department of public welfare, the chief medical examiner or his designee shall certify to the city or town clerk in the municipality where the death occurred the facts of the death as required by section nine of chapter forty-six. If further identifying information is developed, the chief medical examiner or his designee shall furnish a completed certificate of death, as required by said section nine, to the city or town clerk.
In cases where jurisdiction is declined by the office, medical examiners shall have no responsibility for the pronouncement or certification of death. Immediately after pronouncement of death, a physician licensed in the commonwealth who attended the decedent during the decedent’s last illness, or his covering physician, or the licensed physician who has declared such person dead, or, if the death occurred in a hospital, a hospital medical officer duly authorized by the administrator, shall, in the order named, furnish for registration a standard certificate of death as required by said section nine. The chief medical examiner or his designee may allow any body to be moved without pronouncement if excessive hardship to the family of the decedent would otherwise result. The office may promulgate regulations further defining the circumstances in which a body may be moved without pronouncement of death. Any physician described herein who refuses to pronounce and certify death in accordance with said section nine of chapter forty-six when jurisdiction has been declined by the office shall be subject to a fine of not more than five hundred dollars. Such refusal shall also be reported to the board of registration in medicine. The chief medical examiner or his designee may waive the requirements of this paragraph and assume jurisdiction for the purpose of certifying the facts of the death as required by said section nine in cases where excessive hardship would otherwise result due to travel or in other emergency situations as may be defined by regulations promulgated by the office.
authorization; fees Section 14. A medical examiner or forensic investigator designated by the chief medical examiner shall, on payment of a fee as determined from time to time by the secretary of public safety, which shall be not less than $75, view the body and make personal inquiry concerning the cause and manner of death of any person whose body is intended for cremation or burial at sea and shall authorize such cremation or burial at sea only when no further examination or judicial inquiry concerning such death is necessary. Said fee shall be paid by the person to whom such authorization for cremation or burial at sea is given. Cremation fees collected by the office of the chief medical examiner shall be utilized to support the comprehensive system of medico-legal investigative services delivered by the agency. District medical examiners employed on a fee-for-service basis shall be compensated for performance of cremation views at a rate set by the secretary of public safety. Other medical examiners or forensic investigators performing cremation views will not receive additional compensation beyond their specified salaries.
Section 15. A medical examiner responding to the scene of a death shall take charge of any money or other personal property of the deceased found on or near the body, or may request the police department to do so. The medical examiner or police department shall, unless such money or property is required as evidence, deliver it to the person entitled to its custody or possession, or, if not claimed within sixty days, to a public administrator. A medical examiner or police officer who fraudulently refuses to deliver such property within ten days after demand or who converts such property to his own use shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two years. appointment; powers and duties; district medical examiners Section 2. There shall be an office of chief medical examiner under the supervision and control of the chief medical examiner, which shall be within the executive office of public safety. Costs and expenses of the office shall be paid by the commonwealth.
The chief medical examiner shall be a physician who is a diplomate of the American Board of Pathology in Forensic Pathology, a graduate of an approved fellowship program in forensic medicine, a diplomate of the American Board of Anatomic and Forensic Pathology and licensed to practice medicine in the commonwealth and must reside within the commonwealth within six months after his appointment. The chief medical examiner shall be appointed by the governor for a term of five years from among a list of not less than three nominees recommended by the commission on medicolegal investigation. The governor may request additional nominees from the commission before making the appointment. The chief medical examiner’s salary and the salary of the deputy chief medical examiner shall be set by the governor and shall be commensurate with those of similar positions in comparable jurisdictions.
In the case of the death, removal, resignation or permanent incapacity of the chief medical examiner, the governor shall appoint a new chief medical examiner within six months.
The chief medical examiner, with the approval of the commission, shall establish a comprehensive system to deliver medicolegal investigative services in the commonwealth. The chief medical examiner shall appoint a deputy chief medical examiner who shall perform all of the duties of the chief medical examiner in case of incapacity or absence. The chief medical examiner may appoint such associate chief medical examiners as necessary.
The chief medical examiner may, subject to the approval of the secretary of public safety, apply for and accept on behalf of the commonwealth any funds, including grants, bequests, gifts or contributions, from any person for the improvement of the system of medicolegal investigative services in the commonwealth. Such funds shall be deposited in a separate account with the state treasurer and received by him on behalf of the commonwealth. All such funds may be expended by the chief medical examiner, in accordance with law.
District medical examiners shall be appointed by the chief medical examiner to conduct appropriate medicolegal investigations within the commonwealth. Such medical examiners shall serve in areas or districts as determined by the chief medical examiner and for terms of office at his discretion. Such medical examiners shall be responsible, under the direction of the chief medical examiner or the deputy medical examiner or an associate chief medical examiner, for the investigation and certification as to the cause of deaths under their jurisdiction. District medical examiners shall be licensed to practice medicine within the commonwealth and shall reside therein. In areas where such individuals are not available, the chief medical examiner or his representative may appoint other appropriately qualified individuals to conduct medicolegal investigations. Those medical examiners and associate medical examiners who are functioning under prior gubernatorial appointments will continue to do so for the remainder of their term in their present districts.
The office of the chief medical examiner shall have custody of all files, reports, photographs and other articles generated by all employees or vendors of the office.
The chief medical examiner, with approval of the secretary of the executive office of public safety, shall promulgate rules for the disclosure of autopsy reports, which shall not be deemed to be public records, to those who are legally entitled to receive them. If a medical examiner conducts an autopsy on a body of a deceased person who within six months before the date of death received services from a facility or program operated, contracted for, or licensed by the department of mental health, the office of the chief medical examiner shall provide a copy of the autopsy report, upon request, to the commissioner of mental health for the purpose of completing an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death, if a next of kin does not object thereto. The chief medical examiner, with the approval of said secretary, may establish fees for providing autopsy reports to those who are legally entitled to receive them. Neither the chief medical examiner, nor any employee of the office of the chief medical examiner, shall be subject to civil or criminal liability for lawfully disclosing an autopsy report or any part thereof, pursuant to the rules concerning the disclosure of autopsy reports promulgated under this section, to anyone legally entitled to receive it.
teams Section 2A. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:—“Child”, any person under the age of 18.
“Fatality”, any death of a child.
“Local team”, a local multidisciplinary and multi-agency child fatality review team in each of the 11 districts headed by a district attorney. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 172 of chapter 6, members of the local team shall be subject to criminal offender record checks to be conducted by the district attorney. All members shall serve without compensation for their duties associated with membership on said team. Each local team shall be comprised of at least the following members:(1) the district attorney of the county, who shall chair each local team;(2) the chief medical examiner or his designee;(3) the commissioner of the department of social services or his designee;(4) a pediatrician with experience in diagnosing or treating child abuse and neglect, appointed by the state team;(5) a local police officer from the town or city where the child fatality occurred, appointed by the chief of police of said municipality;(6) a state law enforcement officer, appointed by the colonel of state police;(7) the chief justice of the juvenile division of the trial court or his designee;(8) the director of the Massachusetts center for sudden infant death syndrome, located at the Boston Medical Center or his designee;(9) the commissioner of the department of public health or his designee; and(10) any other person with expertise or information relevant to individual cases who may attend meetings on an ad hoc basis, by agreement of the permanent members of each local team. Such persons may include, but shall not be limited to, local or state law enforcement officers, hospital representatives, medical specialists or subspecialists, or designees of the commissioners of the departments of mental retardation, mental health, youth services and education.
“State team”, a child fatality review team within the office of the chief medical examiner. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 172 of chapter 6, members of the state team shall be subject to criminal offender record checks to be conducted by the colonel of the state police, on behalf of the chief medical examiner. All members shall serve without compensation for their duties associated with membership on said team. The state team shall consist of at least the following members:—(1) the chief medical examiner, who shall chair the state team;(2) the attorney general or his designee;(3) the commissioner of the department of social services or his designee;(4) the commissioner of the department of public health or his designee;(5) the commissioner of the department of education or his designee;(6) a representative of the Massachusetts District Attorney’s Association to be selected by said association;(7) the colonel of the state police or his designee;(8) the commissioner of the department of mental health or his designee;(9) the commissioner of the department of mental retardation or his designee;(10) the director of the Massachusetts center for sudden infant death syndrome or his designee;(11) the commissioner of the department of youth services or his designee;(12) a representative of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, with experience in diagnosing or treating child abuse and neglect to be selected by said chapter;(13) a representative from the Massachusetts Hospital Association to be selected by said association;(14) the chief justice of the juvenile division of the trial court or her designee;(15) the president of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association or his designee;(16) a child advocate appointed by a majority vote of the members of the state team; and(17) any other person selected by the chair, or by majority vote of the members of the state team, with expertise or information relevant to individual cases.
(1) (b) There shall be established within the office of the chief medical examiner the state child fatality review team. The purpose of the state team shall be to decrease the incidence of preventable child deaths and injuries by:—(i) developing an understanding of the causes and incidence of child death; and(ii) advising the governor, the general court and the public by recommending changes in law, policy and practice that will prevent child deaths.
(2) To achieve its purpose, the state team shall:(i) develop model investigative and data collection protocols for local child fatality teams;(ii) provide information to local teams and law enforcement agencies for the purpose of the protection of children;(iii) provide training and written materials to the local teams to assist them in carrying out their duties;(iv) review reports from local teams;(v) study the incidence and causes of child fatalities in the commonwealth;(vi) analyze community, public and private agency involvement with the decedents and their families prior to and subsequent to the deaths;(vii) develop a protocol for the collection of data regarding child deaths and provide training to local teams on the protocol;(viii) develop and implement such rules and procedures as are necessary for its own operation; and(ix) provide the governor, the general court and the public with annual written reports, subject to confidentiality restrictions, which shall include, but not be limited to, the state team’s findings and recommendations.
(c)(1) A local child fatality review team shall be established in each of the 11 districts headed by a district attorney. The purpose of each such local team shall be to decrease the incidence of preventable child deaths and injuries by:(i) coordinating the collection of information on child deaths;(ii) promoting cooperation and coordination between agencies responding to child deaths and in providing services to family members;(iii) developing an understanding of the causes and incidence of child deaths in the county; and(iv) advising the state team on changes in law, policy or practice which may affect child deaths and injuries.
(2) To achieve its purpose, the local team shall:(i) review, establish and implement model protocols from the state team;(ii) review, subject to the approval of the local district attorney, all individual child deaths in accordance with the established protocol;(iii) meet periodically, but at least four times per calendar year, to review the status of child death cases and recommend methods of improving coordination of services between member agencies;(iv) collect, maintain and provide confidential data as required by the state team; and(v) provide law enforcement or other agencies with information for the purposes of the protection of children.
(3) At the request of the local district attorney, the local team shall be immediately provided with:(i) information and records relevant to the cause of death of a child whose death is being reviewed by the local team, by providers of medical or other care, treatment or services, including dental and mental health care;(ii) information and records relevant to the cause of death maintained by any state, county or local government agency including, but not limited to, birth certificates, medical examiner investigative data, parole and probation information records, and law enforcement data post-disposition, except that certain law enforcement records may be exempted by the local district attorney;(iii) information and records of any provider of social services, including the state department of social services, to the child or his family, that the local team deems relevant to the review; and(iv) demographic information relevant to the decedent and his immediate family including but not limited to, address, age, race, gender, and economic status. The district attorney may enforce this paragraph by seeking an order of the superior court.
(d)(1) The following provisions shall apply to both the state and local teams:Any privilege or restriction on disclosure established pursuant to chapter 66A, section 70 of chapter 111, section 11 of chapter 111B, section 18 of 111E, chapters 112, 123, or sections 20B, 20J or 20K of chapter 233 or any other law relating to confidential communications shall not prohibit the disclosure of this information to the chair. Any information considered to be confidential pursuant to the aforementioned statutes may be submitted for the team’s review upon the determination of the chair that the review of said information is necessary. The chair shall ensure that no information submitted for the team’s review is disseminated to parties outside the team. Under no circumstances shall any member of this team violate the confidentiality provisions set forth in the aforementioned statutes.
(2) Except as necessary to carry out a team’s purpose and duties, members of a team and persons attending a team meeting may not disclose any information relating to the team’s business.
(3) Team meetings shall be closed to the public. Any and all information and records acquired by the state team or by a local team, in the exercise of its purpose and duties pursuant to this chapter, shall be confidential, exempt from disclosure under chapter 66, and may only be disclosed as necessary to carry out the teams’ duties and purposes.
(4) Statistical compilations of data which do not contain any information that would permit the identification of any person may be disclosed to the public.
(5) Members of a team, persons attending a team meeting and persons who present information to a team may not be questioned in any civil or criminal proceeding regarding information presented in or opinions formed as a result of a team meeting.
(6) Information, documents and records of the state team or of a local team shall not be subject to subpoena, discovery or introduction into evidence in any civil or criminal proceeding; provided, however, that information, documents and records otherwise available from any other source shall not be immune from subpoena, discovery or introduction into evidence through these sources solely because they were presented during proceedings of the team or are maintained by a team.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed or interpreted to limit the powers and duties of the chief medical examiner or district attorneys.
Section 3. It shall be the duty of any person having knowledge of a death which occurs under the circumstances enumerated in this paragraph immediately to notify the office of the chief medical examiner, or the medical examiner designated to the location where the death has occurred, of the known facts concerning the time, place, manner, circumstances and cause of such death:(1) death where criminal violence appears to have taken place, regardless of the time interval between the incident and death, and regardless of whether such violence appears to have been the immediate cause of death, or a contributory factor thereto;(2) death by accident or unintentional injury, regardless of time interval between the incident and death, and regardless of whether such injury appears to have been the immediate cause of death, or a contributory factor thereto;(3) suicide, regardless of the time interval between the incident and death;(4) death under suspicious or unusual circumstances;(5) death following an unlawful abortion;(6) death related to occupational illness or injury;(7) death in custody, in any jail or correctional facility, or in any mental health or mental retardation institution;(8) death where suspicion of abuse of a child, family or household member, elder person or disabled person exists;(9) death due to poison or acute or chronic use of drugs or alcohol;(10) skeletal remains;(11) death associated with diagnostic or therapeutic procedures;(12) sudden death when the decedent was in apparent good health;(13) death within twenty-four hours of admission to a hospital or nursing home;(14) death in any public or private conveyance;(15) fetal death, as defined by section two hundred and two of chapter one hundred and eleven, where the period of gestation has been twenty weeks or more, or where fetal weight is three hundred and fifty grams or more;(16) death of children under the age of 18 years from any cause;(17) any person found dead;(18) death in any emergency treatment facility, medical walk-in center, day care center, or under foster care; or(19) deaths occurring under such other circumstances as the chief medical examiner shall prescribe in regulations promulgated pursuant to the provisions of chapter thirty A.
A physician, police officer, hospital administrator, licensed nurse, department of social services social worker, or licensed funeral director, within the commonwealth, who, having knowledge of such an unreported death, fails to notify the office of the chief medical examiner of such death shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars. Such failure shall also be reported to the appropriate board of registration, where applicable.
Section 4. Upon notification of a death in the circumstances enumerated in section three, the chief medical examiner or his designee shall carefully inquire into the cause and circumstances of the death. If, as a result of such inquiry, the chief medical examiner or such designee is of the opinion that the death was due to violence or other unnatural means or to natural causes that require further investigation, he shall take jurisdiction. The body of the deceased shall not be moved, and the scene where the body is located shall not be disturbed, until either the medical examiner or the district attorney or his representative either arrives at the scene or gives directions as to what shall be done at the scene. In such cases of unnatural or suspicious death where the district attorney’s office is to be notified, the medical examiner shall not disturb the body or the scene without permission from the district attorney or his representative.
The medical examiner shall be responsible for making arrangements for transport of the body. The district attorney or his law enforcement representative shall direct and control the investigation of the death and shall coordinate the investigation with the office of the chief medical examiner and the police department within whose jurisdiction the death occurred. Either the medical examiner or the district attorney in the jurisdiction where death occurred may order an autopsy. Cases requiring autopsy shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the office for such purpose. As part of his investigation, the chief medical examiner or his designee may, in his discretion, notwithstanding any other provision of law, cause the body to be tested by the department of public health for the presence of any virus, disease, infection, or syndrome which might pose a public health risk.
If the medical examiner is unable to respond and take charge of the body of the deceased in an expeditious manner, the chief of police of the city or town wherein the body lies, or his representative, may, after conferring with the appropriate district attorney, move the body to another location until a medical examiner is able to respond. Before moving the body the police shall document all facts relevant to the appearance, condition and position of the body and every fact and circumstance tending to show the cause and circumstances of death.
In carrying out the duties prescribed by this section, the chief medical examiner or his designee shall be entitled to review and receive copies of medical records, hospital records, or information which he deems relevant to establishing the cause and manner of death. No person or hospital shall be subject to liability of any nature for providing such records or information in good faith at the request of the office. The chief medical examiner shall notify the local district attorney of the death of a child immediately following receipt of a report that such a death occurred.
blood sample analysis; liability of medical examiner Section 4A. If, after making inquiry pursuant to section four, the medical examiner is of the opinion that death may have resulted from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident, and that the death occurred within four hours of such accident, that the deceased was the operator and sole occupant of the motor vehicle, and that no other individuals were involved in the accident, the medical examiner shall submit to the state police laboratory a sample of blood from the deceased in an amount sufficient for chemical analysis if it is obtainable at an autopsy. If such chemical analysis indicates the presence of a controlled substance or alcohol, such sample shall be preserved for no less than one hundred and twenty days from the date the sample is taken to permit an independent analysis. Such independent analysis shall be done upon the written request and at the expense of the next of kin of the decedent. No independent analysis of blood performed after sixty days pursuant to this section shall be admissible as evidence of the level of alcohol or controlled substance in any legal proceeding. The medical examiner shall not be civilly or criminally liable for any action taken in compliance with this section.
Section 5. All law enforcement officers, district medical examiners, hospitals and other medical facilities, and other state, county and local officials shall cooperate with the office of chief medical examiner in the investigation of medicolegal cases. The office of the chief medical examiner may use the services of the department of state police laboratory for the performance of tests, documentation of evidence, investigating procedures and consultation on special problems. The chief medical examiner, subject to appropriation, may establish and operate a pathology laboratory within the office of chief medical examiner to meet the needs of that office. If other services required by the office of chief medical examiner are not available in the department of state police laboratory, the chief medical examiner may employ the services of other appropriate laboratories.
of chief medical examiner; inquiry; notification of commission on Indian affairs Section 6. It shall be the duty of any person who discovers unmarked human skeletal remains or who knowingly causes human remains to be disturbed through construction or agricultural activity, to immediately notify the office. The office shall conduct an inquiry to determine whether the remains are suspected of being 100 years old or more, and, if so determined, shall immediately notify the state archaeologist. The state archaeologist shall determine if the skeletal remains are Native American. If the remains are deemed likely to be Native American, the state archaeologist shall immediately notify the commission on Indian affairs which shall cause a site evaluation to be made to determine if the place where the remains were found is a Native American burial site.
Section 7. If, during the course of investigation, the medical examiner is of the opinion that the death may have been caused by the act or negligence of another, he shall at once notify the district attorney within whose district the deceased was found or, if such act or negligence has occurred in a different district, the district attorney for such other district. He shall also make available to the district attorney any and all records pertaining to such investigation. He shall in all cases forthwith certify to the city or town clerk or registrar in the place where the deceased died, the name and address, if known, or otherwise a description as full as may be of the deceased, and the cause and manner of death. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, such certification may indicate that the death was caused by auto-immune deficiency syndrome, so-called.
In cases of homicide, after indictment and arraignment, and while the defendant is in custody or subject to the jurisdiction of the court, upon his request, a copy of the official autopsy report and a copy of the inquest report, if any, shall be made available to him by the district attorney in accordance with the provisions of the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Section 8. The chief medical examiner or his designee may request the attorney general or the district attorney to direct that an inquest be held. The attorney general or district attorney may, regardless of whether or not action has been taken by the office of the chief medical examiner, require an inquest to be held in case of any death. The district court which has jurisdiction over the matter shall thereupon hold an inquest.
The court shall give seasonable notice of the time and place of the inquest to the department of telecommunications and energy, in any case of death by accident upon a public conveyance regulated by said department, and to the registry of motor vehicles in any case of death in which any motor vehicle is involved. Such notice shall also be given to any parent, spouse, or other member of the deceased’s immediate family or to the deceased’s legal representative or legal guardian.
Any person who has been identified by the attorney general or the district attorney, as the case may be, as the target of an investigation in connection with the death of the deceased may be present during the holding of such inquest and be represented by counsel, and may request leave of the court to present or examine witnesses, and shall at the completion of the court’s report of said inquest have the right to examine said report; provided, however, that no indictment shall be dismissed nor shall any evidence be suppressed for violation of the provisions of this paragraph. All other persons not required by law to attend may be excluded from the inquest; provided, however, that the parents, guardian or next of kin of the person whose death is the subject of the inquest shall be deemed to be interested persons who may be present during the holding of such inquest. The court may order, as it deems appropriate, that witnesses to be examined during the inquest be sequestered.
of inquest Section 9. If the court determines that the inquest relates to an accidental death upon a conveyance regulated by the department of telecommunications and energy, the court shall cause a transcript of the inquest proceedings, after review and written approval by the court, and the bill for such transcript, to be forwarded to said department within thirty days after the closing of the inquest proceedings, and, when made, a copy of the court’s report on the inquest.
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