SECTION 1. (a) Notwithstanding chapter 32 of the General Laws, or any other general or special law to the contrary, the Middlesex county retirement board shall offer an early retirement incentive program to certain employees of the Chelmsford water district.  To be eligible for the incentive program, an employee shall:  (i) be employed by the Chelmsford water district; (ii) be a member of the Middlesex county retirement system; (iii) have at least 20 years of credible service as defined in section 1 of said chapter 32, or, if the employee is age 55 or older, have at least 10 years of creditable service, as so defined; and (iv) file a timely application with the board pursuant to subsection (b).  Members of the board of commissioners of the Chelmsford water district shall not be eligible for the retirement incentive program.  The incentive program shall apply only to applications to receive a superannuation retirement allowance pursuant to subdivision (1) of section 5 of said chapter 32.

(b)  Eligible employees shall submit an application to the Middlesex county retirement board no later than 60 days from the effective date of this act.  The retirement date requested in an eligible employee’s application shall be no later than 120 days from the effective date of this act.  The board may offer the incentive to up to 3 employees who submit timely applications, and the board shall prioritize its selection of participants in the retirement incentive program based on the order in which the applications are received. 

(c)  Upon acceptance by the Middlesex county retirement board of an employee’s early retirement incentive program application, each such qualified employee shall request and receive a combination of years of creditable service and years of age, in full-year increments;  provided, however, that the sum of the years of creditable service and years of age shall not be greater than 5 years to determine the employee’s superannuation retirement allowance pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision (2) of section 5 of chapter 32 of the General Laws. 

SECTION 2.  On or before June 1, 2016, the board of commissioners of the Chelmsford water district shall hold at least 1 public hearing on the early retirement incentive program, as described in section 1, notice of which shall be provided in a newspaper of general circulation in the town of Chelmsford in each of 2 weeks immediately prior to any such public hearing.

SECTION 3.  This act shall take effect on July 1, 2016.