Section 5: Powers of corporation; payment of relocation costs
Section 5. The corporation is hereby authorized:
(a) To sue and be sued in its own name, and plead and be impleaded.
(b) To adopt by-laws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business, and to alter the same at its pleasure.
(c) To make and enter into all contracts and agreements necessary or incidental to the performance of its duties and the execution of its powers under this act, and to employ consulting engineers, superintendents, managers, and such other engineers, construction and accounting experts and attorneys and such other employees, agents and consultants as may be necessary in its judgment, and to fix their compensation.
(d) To receive and accept from any federal agency, the commonwealth or the municipality grants, loans or advances for or in aid of an economic development project or projects and to receive and accept contributions from any source of either money, property, labor or other things of value, to be held, used and applied for the purposes for which such grants, loans, advances and contributions may be made. A municipality may borrow outside its debt limits to obtain money for loan to a corporation, or within its debt limits to obtain money for grants to a corporation, with the approval of MOBD and secretary.
(e) To borrow money, and, from time to time, to make, accept, endorse, execute, and issue bonds, debentures, promissory notes, bills of exchange, and other obligations of the corporation, for moneys borrowed or in payment for property acquired or for any of the other purposes of the corporation, and to secure the payment of such obligations by mortgage, pledge, deed, indenture, agreement, or other instrument of trust, or by other lien upon, assignment of, or agreement in regard to all or any part of the property, rights, or privileges of the corporation.
(f) To issue revenue bonds of the corporation, payable solely from revenues, for the purpose of paying all or any part of the cost of a project or projects, except that a municipality may, upon request by a corporation, may pledge its full faith and credit to the solvency of a corporation.
(g) To invest any funds not required for immediate use or disbursement in certificates of deposit or in obligations of the government of the United States or in obligations the payment of the principal of, and interest on, which is guaranteed by the government of the United States.
(h) To provide such advisory services and technical assistance as may be necessary or desirable to carry out the purposes of this act.
(i) To prepare or cause to be prepared plans, designs, drawings, specifications and estimates of cost for the construction, reconstruction, development, redevelopment, rehabilitation, remodeling, alteration or repair of economic development projects and from time to time modify such plans, designs, drawings, specifications and estimates.
(j) To finance pollution control facilities in the same manner provided by this chapter for economic development projects, in which event all provisions of this chapter which are applicable to economic development projects apply to the pollution control facilities, insofar as such provisions are apt, except as otherwise provided.
(k) Subject to the approval of the municipality to designate areas of the city as economic development areas.
(l) To acquire and hold by bequest, devise, grant, gift, purchase, exchange, lease, judicial order or decree, or otherwise, for any of its objects and purposes, any property, either real or personal, or any interest therein; and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, to acquire by purchase or otherwise, on such terms and conditions and in such manner as it may deem proper, or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain following a public hearing and an affirmative two thirds vote of the city council with the approval of the mayor or city manager, as the case may be in a city, or by an affirmative two thirds vote at an annual town meeting or a special town meeting called for the purpose, in a town, with the advice of MOBD and the director, with the provisions of chapter seventy-nine or chapter eighty A in so far as such provisions may be applicable, such private lands, or any interests therein, as it may deem necessary for carrying out the provisions of this act or for providing for the relocation of persons and businesses displaced as a result of carrying out an economic development plan. The provisions of section forty of said chapter seventy-nine shall apply to any taking by the corporation, except that the security therein required shall be deposited with the treasurer of the municipality and shall be in an amount at least twenty-five per cent higher than the aggregate average assessed valuations in the three previous calendar years of all real estate to be taken by eminent domain. Prior to approval of an economic development plan by the municipality after such a public hearing and in the manner described in this subsection, with the advice of MOBD and director, the date as of which the value of such lands shall be determined for eminent domain purposes shall be the date on which the said economic development plan was first submitted to the municipality.
(m) To make relocation payments to persons and businesses displaced as a result of carrying out an economic development plan, including such payments on a pro tanto basis.
(n) To procure insurance against any loss in connection with its property and other assets and operations in such amounts and from such insurers as it deems desirable.
(o) To clear and improve property acquired by it, and to engage in or contract for the construction, reconstruction, development, redevelopment, rehabilitation, remodeling, alteration or repair thereof.
(p) To arrange or contract with the municipality for the planning, replanning, opening, grading or closing of streets, roads, alleys or other places or for the furnishing of facilities or for the acquisition by the municipality of property or property rights or for the furnishing of property or services in connection with a project or projects.
(q) To sell, convey, mortgage, lease, transfer option, exchange or otherwise dispose of, any property, either real or personal, or any interest therein, as the objects and purposes of the corporation may require, subject to such limitations as may be prescribed by law.
(r) To loan on mortgages, including purchase money mortgages, on real estate and personal property within economic development areas, to foreclose the same when in default, and to bid for and purchase property at any foreclosure or other sale; and in such event, to deal with such property in such manner as may be necessary or desirable to protect the interests of the corporation therein.
(s) To manage any project whether owned or leased by the corporation and to enter into agreements with the commonwealth or the municipality or any agency or instrumentality thereof or with any person, firm, partnership or corporation either public or private for the purpose of causing any project to be managed.
(t) To act with respect to one or more projects as a corporation organized under section three or section eighteen B of chapter one hundred twenty-one A of the General Laws; provided that the accounts for each project shall be kept separately, and the income of one project shall not be expended upon or for the benefit of another project.
(u) To borrow money for the purposes of aiding in the construction of equipment required by the commonwealth or United States to abate air or water pollution.
(v) To do all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers expressly granted in this act.
The corporation is hereby directed to pay the reasonable relocation costs of persons and businesses displaced as a result of carrying out an economic development plan as authorized by clause (1) of this section; provided, that the corporation shall not be required hereby to pay or contribute to the payment of such costs of any relocatee in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars.