Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. There is hereby established in the town of Randolph a department of public works, hereinafter called the board, consisting of five members elected at large. The initial members thereof shall serve as follows:- the two individuals who receive the first and second highest number of votes shall serve for three years, and two individuals who receive the third and fourth highest number of votes shall serve for two years, and the individual that receives the fifth highest votes shall serve for one year from the date of the annual town election at which they are elected, and thereafter when the term of any member expires, the successor shall be elected to serve three years. In all cases the members of the board shall serve until their successors take office. The board shall forthwith after each annual town election elect from among its members a chairman and a clerk for the ensuing year. In case of a vacancy, the remaining members of the board shall, jointly with the board of selectmen, within thirty days, fill such vacancy until the next town election, when a new member or members shall be elected to fill the unexpired term. No person shall serve on the board who holds any other elective or appointive office in the town other than that of town meeting member.

SECTION 2. Upon the qualification of the initial members of the department of public works, the board shall have all the powers and duties now and from time to time vested by general or special law or town by-law including, but not limited to, the following boards, departments, and offices, or in boards, departments, and offices having corresponding powers and duties in the town of Randolph, to wit: water commissioner, sewer commissioner, tree warden, park commissioner (with respect to maintenance and construction only), drainage and such boards, offices and departments shall be abolished. No existing contract or liability shall be affected by such abolition, but the department of public works shall in all respects be the lawful successor of the boards, departments, and offices so abolished. The board shall have added powers with respect to public works as the town may, from time to time, by by-law provide any other provisions of the law to the contrary notwithstanding.

SECTION 3. The department of public works shall consist of a sewer division, a water division, a street division, an engineering division, a tree division, and a park division.

SECTION 4. The board shall appoint and fix the tenure and compensation of a superintendent of public works who shall exercise and perform, under its supervision and direction, such of the powers, rights and duties transferred to it under section two, and as it may from time to time designate. The superintendent shall be specially fitted by education, training and experience to perform the duties of the office. The person need not be a resident of the town during tenure of office. The superintendent shall be responsible for the efficient exercise and performance of such powers, rights and duties. Removal from such position prior to the expiration of tenure must be for just cause only and by a vote of at least four members of the board. The superintendent shall be given a written notice at least fourteen days prior to date of removal, which shall specify the reason for such removal. At the superintendent's request a public hearing shall be held on the charges brought against such individual.

During said superintendent's tenure he shall hold no elective or appointive office within the town other than town meeting member nor be engaged in any other business or occupation. The superintendent shall give to the town a bond with a surety company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth for the faithful performance of duties in such sum and upon such conditions as the board may require, and shall, subject to the approval of the board, appoint such assistants, agents and employees as the exercise and performance of the individual's powers, rights and duties may require. The duties shall include keeping a full and complete record of the doings of the office, shall render to the board, as often as it may require, a full report of all operations under his control during the period reported upon, and annually, and from time to time as requested by the board, shall make a synopsis of such reports for publication and keep the board fully advised as to the needs of the town within the scope of the required duties, and shall annually, not later than November thirtieth, furnish to the board a carefully prepared and detailed estimate in writing of the appropriations required during the next succeeding fiscal year for the proper exercise and performance of all said rights and duties. Each permanent employee of any board, department or office abolished by this act shall be transferred to and become an employee of the department of public works and shall not be reduced or dismissed without just cause.

SECTION 5. This act shall be submitted to the voters of the town of Randolph for acceptance at the annual town election in the year nineteen hundred and ninety, in the form of the following question which shall be placed on the official ballot to be used for the election of town officers at said election: "Shall an act passed by the General Court in the year nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, entitled 'An Act Authorizing The Town Of Randolph To Establish A Department Of Public Works exercising the powers of certain other departments and other town officials', be accepted ". If a majority of the votes cast in answer to this question are in the affirmative, this act shall take effect beginning with the annual town election in the year nineteen hundred and ninety.

SECTION 6. The town of Randolph may, after the expiration of three years from the date of acceptance of this act, vote at an annual meeting to revoke such acceptance, and the question of such revocation shall be submitted to the voters in the form of the following question: "Shall the acceptance by the town of Randolph of an act passed by the General Court in the year nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, entitled 'An Act Authorizing The Town Of Randolph To Establish A Department Of Public Works exercising the powers of certain other departments and town officials', be revoked ".

If a majority of the votes cast in answer to said question is in the affirmative, then at the next annual election held after said vote of revocation, the town shall elect such officers as are necessary to exercise and perform, rights and duties transferred to the department of public works by said act. Such act shall not affect any contract or liability then created or existing. All general laws respecting town administration and town officers, and any special laws, relative to said town, the operation of which has been suspended or superseded by the acceptance of this act, shall then be in full force and effect. Any by-law inconsistent with such special or general laws shall be revoked thereby. Any subsequent vote to revoke the acceptance of this act shall not be taken more often than once in three years.