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. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, the city of Quincy is hereby authorized to establish, in the place of the Quincy school committee, a board of governors to oversee and govern Quincy College as a municipal junior college and a department of the city of Quincy. The Quincy College board of governors shall appoint a president to act as chief operating officer. Said board shall manage and operate Quincy College pursuant to the terms of this act, chapter three hundred and thirteen of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-one and pursuant to chapter seventy-one of the General Laws, under the jurisdiction of the department of education and pursuant to section thirty of chapter sixty-nine of the General Laws, under the jurisdiction of the higher education coordinating council.

The board of governors shall exercise all powers heretofore or hereafter exercised by the school committee pursuant to chapter seventy-one of the General Laws as from time to time amended. The president of Quincy College shall exercise all powers heretofore or hereafter exercised by the superintendent or principals pursuant to chapter seventy-one of the General Laws as from time to time amended.

SECTION 2. The Quincy College board of governors shall consist of thirteen members appointed by a governor's appointing council in the following manner:

At least one governor shall be an alumna or alumnus of the college. No more than four governors shall reside outside Quincy, excluding any residential requirement for one alumna or alumnus. The initial board of governors shall include one member of the school committee chosen by the vice chair of the school committee, and one city councillor chosen by the council president, each to serve a two year term. At the end of their term they may be reappointed; provided, however, that their ex-officio status shall terminate on August thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety-six.

Nothing shall prevent any other elected or appointed official of the city of Quincy from serving on the board; provided, however, that no employee of Quincy College may serve as a governor.

The initial governor's appointing council shall consist of two members of the school committee selected by the vice chair of the school committee, two city councillors selected by the council president and one member of the current Quincy College board of trustees, chosen by the chair of said board. This governor's appointing council will appoint the remaining eleven governors who shall constitute the new governing board of governors of Quincy College and who shall commence their term on September first, nineteen hundred and ninety-four. After September first, nineteen hundred and ninety-four, all governors will be appointed by a governor's appointing council made up of two members of the school committee selected by the vice chair of the school committee, two city councillors selected by the council president and two governors appointed by the chair of the board of governors.

The initial board of governors shall consist of five governors, including the two ex-officio members, and shall be appointed to two year terms. Four shall be appointed to four year terms and four shall be appointed to six year terms. The length of such terms shall be as follows:

five governors from September first, nineteen hundred and ninety-four to August thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety-six

four governors from September first, nineteen hundred and ninety-four to August thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ninety-eight

four governors from September first, nineteen hundred and ninety-four to August thirty-first, two thousand.

Except for the two ex-officio members, the length of the term each governor is appointed to shall be determined by lottery. Commencing on September first, nineteen hundred and ninety-six, all reappointed or new trustees shall serve six year terms. Any trustees may be reappointed once; provided, however, that no one may serve more than two consecutive terms regardless of the length of his first term.

No governor shall be appointed who is an employee of Quincy College or who, as a result of his appointment, would violate the provisions of chapter two hundred and sixty-eight A of the General Laws.

Each nonelected governor shall file a statement of financial interest for the preceding calendar year with the city clerk's office in the city of Quincy within thirty days of his appointment and each year thereafter on or before May first that such person is a governor and on or before May first of the year after such person ceases to be a governor. No governor shall be allowed to continue in his duties unless said statement of financial interest has been filed with the city clerk's office as required.

The statement of financial interest filed pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be on a form similar to that prescribed by the state ethics commission pursuant to section five of chapter two hundred and sixty-eight A of the General Laws.

SECTION 3. Annually, the president of the college and the mayor of the city of Quincy shall negotiate an amount of compensation to be paid by the college to the city of Quincy for services rendered by any municipal department of the city.

SECTION 4. Annually, the president of the college and the superintendent of schools for the city of Quincy shall negotiate an amount of compensation to be paid by the college to the city of Quincy for services rendered by the school department of the city.

SECTION 5. The city of Quincy shall indemnify and save harmless governors and employees, elected or appointed as set forth in chapter two hundred and fifty-eight of the General Laws.

SECTION 6. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, all administrators, faculty, professional and non-professional employees of the Quincy school committee who are staff members of Quincy College on the effective date of this act, except those employees appointed pursuant to chapter thirty-one of the General Laws, shall become employees of the Quincy College board of governors without loss of any existing seniority, professional status, retirement rights, benefits or creditable service without interruption of coverage for group life and health insurance benefits and without reduction in compensation or change in year of service for placement on the salary schedule. All rights of said employees under existing collective bargaining agreements shall be maintained pursuant to section eleven of this act.

SECTION 7. No teacher, librarian, associate dean, assistant dean, coordinator, or director of the development education center, employed by the college on or after the effective date of this act, who has held such position or combination of positions for three consecutive years, shall be suspended without pay or discharged without just cause. Any such employee may challenge such suspension or discharge through the grievance and arbitration procedures contained in their collective bargaining agreement, if any. In the absence of a collective bargaining agreement grievance and arbitration procedure, such employee may challenge such suspension or discharge by serving a written notice upon the chairperson of the board of governors within thirty days of receiving notice of such suspension or discharge. Within ten days after such notice has been served, the employee and the governors shall jointly petition the American Arbitration Association to appoint an arbitrator to resolve the dispute. Said association shall forward to the parties a list of three arbitrators. Each party shall have the right to strike one of the three arbitrators' names if they are unable to agree upon a single arbitrator from among the three. The arbitration procedures shall be conducted in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association. The fee for the arbitration shall be split equally between the two parties involved. Any arbitration award thus rendered shall be reviewable in accordance with the provisions of chapter one hundred and fifty C of the General Laws.

SECTION 8. The professional certification provision of section thirty-eight G of chapter seventy-one of the General Laws shall not apply to Quincy College employees.

SECTION 9. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, upon the effective date of this act, any employee appointed by the Quincy school committee pursuant to chapter thirty-one of the General Laws and currently working in such a chapter thirty-one position at Quincy College shall remain an employee of the Quincy school committee. The college shall pay the Quincy school committee an amount to be negotiated between the Quincy school committee and Quincy College, not to exceed the full cost of salary and benefits, for each said employee.

The positions at Quincy College staffed by such employees shall continue in effect and the services performed by the employees in those positions shall continue to be provided for by the Quincy school committee for as long as the Quincy school committee deems it feasible to provide such services. The employees who fill such positions shall do without loss of any existing seniority, civil service status, retirement rights, benefits or creditable service, without interruption of coverage for group life and health insurance benefits, and without reduction in compensation or change in years of service for placement on the salary schedule.

Any grievance initiated by or on behalf of said employee shall be processed according to the then current collective bargaining agreement between the Quincy school committee and the exclusive representative of said employee. The decision of the committee, or an arbitrator, on such grievance shall be binding on the governors who shall give said decision full force and effect.

SECTION 10. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, any employee of the Quincy school committee who is a member of the teachers' retirement system and who becomes an employee of Quincy College pursuant to section five on the effective date of this act shall, for purposes of chapter thirty-two of the General Laws, retain all rights and responsibilities of membership in said system.

Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, any person who becomes an employee of Quincy College after the effective date of this act shall be eligible for membership in the teachers' retirement system; provided, however, that said person is employed on the basis of not less than half-time service as a professional teacher, administrator, including the president of Quincy College, psychologist, counsellor, social worker or guidance and placement professional, or said person is, on the effective date of this act, a member of the teachers' retirement system.

SECTION 11. The governors and their employees shall be subject to the provisions of chapter one hundred and fifty E of the General Laws. For purposes of said chapter one hundred and fifty E, the city of Quincy shall be deemed the public employer of the governors' employees. The city of Quincy may designate a representative, including any governors, to act in its interest in labor relations matters with its employees. After the effective date of this act, employees represented by their respective bargaining associations, units, organizations or affiliates shall continue to be represented by those associations, units, organizations or affiliates for collective bargaining purposes pursuant to said chapter one hundred and fifty E until such time as they elect otherwise or another unit is certified to represent the employees in accordance with the provisions of said chapter one hundred and fifty E.

Upon the effective date of this act, collective bargaining rights and obligations theretofore existing between the Quincy school committee and the respective bargaining associations, units, organizations or affiliates, including rights and obligations set forth in any collective bargaining agreement, shall be assumed by and imposed upon the city of Quincy and the governors of Quincy College. Any collective bargaining agreement in force on the effective date of this act, covering employees represented by the respective bargaining associations, units, organizations, and or affiliates shall remain in effect until a successor agreement is executed and ratified by the parties. If the collective bargaining agreement of any of the respective bargaining associations, units, organizations or affiliates has expired before the effective date of this act and no successor agreement has been negotiated, the terms and conditions of said expired agreement shall remain in full force and effective until the parties have executed and ratified an initial successor agreement.

SECTION 12. On or before April first of each and every year, the president of Quincy College shall submit to the Quincy College board of governors an annual itemized budget for Quincy College. Said budget shall contain estimates of college revenues and recommendations for proposed expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year.

The board of governors shall hold a public hearing on the annual budget as submitted by the college president at which time all interested persons shall be given an opportunity to be heard the proposed expenditures or any item thereof.

The approved budget shall govern the expenditures of Quincy College during the fiscal year. No expenditures shall be incurred in excess of those shown in the approved budget; provided, however, that the budget from time to time may be amended by the preparation and submission of a proposed supplementary budget by the college president to the Quincy College board of governors for said board's approval, rejection or amendment. No transfers from one line item to another line item shall be made in said budget without the approval of the Quincy College board of governors.

SECTION 13. Section 1 of chapter 313 of the acts of 1981 is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 4, 5 and 14, each time it appears, the word "Junior".

SECTION 14. Said section 1 of said chapter 313 is hereby further amended by striking out, in lines 14 and 15, and in lines 16 and 17, the words "superintendent of the Quincy public schools" and inserting in place thereof, in each instance, the following words:- college president.

SECTION 15. Said section 1 of said chapter 313 is hereby further amended by striking out, in lines 15 and 16, the words "school committee" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- Quincy college board of governors.

SECTION 16. Said section 1 of said chapter 313 is hereby further amended by striking out, in lines 17 and 18, the words "school committee of said city" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- Quincy college board of governors.

SECTION 17. Said section 1 of said chapter 313 is hereby further amended by striking out the third paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

Said city treasurer shall be authorized to invest the monies in said special account and the interest accruing shall inure to the benefit of Quincy College; provided, however, that if such account, after the payment of the annual expenses of the college, shall be in excess of one million dollars, said excess funds shall no longer be maintained by the city treasurer and the college president shall be authorized, upon recommendation of the board of trustees and upon approval of the mayor of the city of Quincy designate such excess funds for deposit on interest bearing account designated by a finance committee which committee shall include the president of Quincy College, two trustees, the city auditor and the city treasurer as members. Such special account shall be maintained in members. Such special account shall be maintained in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and shall be audited annually by a certified public accountant.

SECTION 18. Said section 1 of said chapter 313 is hereby further amended by adding the following paragraph:-

Nothing in this act shall be construed to exempt Quincy College from the provisions of any general or special law applicable to any other department of the city of Quincy with regard to fiscal management, except as specifically provided herein, including but not limited to the provisions of section thirty-four of chapter seventy-one of the General Laws.

SECTION 19. Section two of said chapter three hundred and thirteen is hereby repealed.

SECTION 20. Section 3 of said chapter 313 is hereby amended by striking out, in line 1, the words "superintendent of the Quincy public schools" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- college president.

SECTION 21. Said section 3 of said chapter 313 is hereby further amended by striking out, in line 2, the word "Junior".

SECTION 22. Said section 3 of said chapter 313 is hereby further amended by striking out, in line 3, the words "school committee" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- Quincy college board of governors.

SECTION 23. This act shall take effect upon its passage.