2023 -- S 0589

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LC000925

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STATEOFRHODEISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023

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A N   A C T

TO INCORPORATE THE KINGSTON FIRE DISTRICT IN THE TOWN OF SOUTH

KINGSTOWN 1923 R.I. PUB. LAWS, CHAPTER 544 [SAME AS 1923 R.I. ACTS AND

RESOLVES 306 (CHAPTER 2429)]AS AMENDED BY 1938 R.I. PUB. LAWS, CH. 2646 1954

R.I. PUB. LAWS, CH. 3384 1955 R.I. ACTS AND RESOLVES 707 1958 R.I. ACTS AND

RESOLVES 1081 1962 R.I.ACTS AND RESOLVES 1160 1963 R.I.ACTS AND RESOLVES

787 1963 R.I.ACTS AND RESOLVES 788 1976 R.I. PUB. LAWS, CH. 78 1980 R.I. PUB.

LAWS, CH. 135 1997 R.I. PUB. LAWS, CH. 1998 R.I. PUB. LAWS, CH. 222

     Introduced By: Senator V. Susan Sosnowski

     Date Introduced: March 07, 2023

     Referred To: Senate Housing & Municipal Government

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Chapter 544 of the revised 1923 Public Laws entitled "An Act to Incorporate

the Kingston Fire District in the Town of South Kingstown", is hereby further amended to read as

follows:

     Sec. 1. All that portion of the Town of South Kingstown which is bounded and described

as follows:

     Section 1. All that portion of the town of South Kingstown which is bounded and described

as follows: Beginning at the intersection of centerlines of Kingstown Road and Ministerial Road,

thence running southerly along the centerline of Ministerial Road two thousand (2,000) feet, thence

running true east approximately three thousand (3,000) feet to a point on the Old Kingston Fire

District Boundary, said point being two thousand two hundred (2,200) feet more or less south of

the centerline of Kingstown Road, thence running true south to a point five hundred (500) feet

south of the southerly boundary of a New England Electric Company power line easement, thence

running easterly along a line five hundred (500) feet south of the southern centerline of Kingstown,

Road, thence running true north five hundred (500) feet to the southern boundary of the power line

easement, thence running easterly along the southern boundary of the power line easement

approximately eight hundred (800) feet to the centerline of Kingstown Road, thence running

northwesterly along the centerline of Kingstown Road approximately seven hundred (700) feet to

a point on the westerly extension of the southerly line of the University of Rhode Island, East Farm,

thence running in an easterly direction along the southerly boundary of East Farm to a point one

thousand (1,000) feet northeasterly from Kingstown Road, thence running northeasterly to the

intersection Mitchell's Brook and the centerline of Mooresfield Road, thence running in a

northwesterly direction to the intersection of North Road and Wolf Rocks Road, thence running

southwesterly to a point on the centerline of Plains Road five hundred (500) feet northeasterly of

the centerline of Kingstown Road and Plains Road intersection, thence southwesterly along the

centerline of Plains Road to the point of beginning on Kingstown Road, is hereby incorporated into

a fire district to be called the "Kingston Fire District". Said district may have a common seal, sue

and be sued and enjoy the other powers generally incident to corporations.

     Sec. 2. The electors of said district qualified to vote in town affairs on propositions to

impose taxes or for the expenditure of moneys, who shall consist of the residents of said district

qualified to vote in elections of the town of South Kingstown, shall be entitled to vote and act in

all meetings of the corporation.

     Sec. 3. The annual meeting of said corporation shall be holden on the first Monday in May

in each year. The first meeting shall be holden in the former Washington county court house

building in South Kingstown on the thirtieth day after the approval of this act by the governor, or,

if said day shall fall on a Sunday or a holiday, then on the following day.

     Sec. 4. Said electors at each annual meeting, and at any other meeting when vacancies

occur, may elect officers to serve for one year or until the next annual meeting, and until others be

elected in their stead, which officers shall consist of a moderator, clerk. treasurer, three assessors,

auditors, and a collector of taxes, whose duties and powers within said district shall be such as·like

officers of towns in this state have within their respective towns. They may also elect fire wardens,

a president of fire wardens and such other officers and committees as they may deem necessary.

     Sec. 5. Said electors at any of their legal meetings shall have power to order such taxes,

and provide for assessing and collecting the same, on the taxable inhabitants and property in said

district as they shall deem necessary for purchasing and procuring real estate, buildings and

implements, apparatus, other equipment and a supply of water for the extinguishment of fire, for

constructing cisterns and reservoirs, laying waterpipes and purchasing rights to lay the same, for

the purpose of lighting the street in said district with electricity or otherwise, for the payment of

there current expenses of said district, the payment of such police force as they may deem necessary

for the protection of the inhabitants of said district from fires and for the preservation of the public

peace therein and for the payment of obligations that have been or may be incurred by said district

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in the exercise of the powers granted to said district, and also for the payment of any indebtedness

that has been or may be incurred by said district. Such taxes so ordered shall be assessed by the

assessors of said district on the taxable inhabitants and property therein according to the last

valuation made by the assessors of the town next previous to said assessment, adding, however,

any taxable property which may have been omitted by said town assessors or which may have been

since acquired; and in all cases where the town assessors have included property within said district

and property without said district in one valuation, the assessors of said district shall make an

equitable valuation of that portion of the same lying within said district; and in the assessing and

collecting of said taxes such proceedings shall be had by the officers of said district, as near as may

be, as are required to be had by the corresponding officers to towns in this state in assessing and

collecting town taxes assessed for said district have the same powers and authorities as are now by

law conferred upon collectors of taxes for towns in this state. Said district may provide for any such

deduction from the tax assessed against any person if paid by an appointed time, or for such penalty

by way of percentage on the tax if not paid at an appointed time, as they shall deem necessary to

insure punctual payment, which penalty shall not exceed that provided by law to be charged by the

cities and towns of the state on property taxes assessed by them.

     Sec. 6. Said electors at any of their legal meetings may authorize and empower the treasurer

of said district to borrow money for the purpose of carrying into effect the objects for which said

district is incorporated, to give the note or notes of said district for the money so borrowed and to

give renewals thereof; provided, however, that at no time shall the note or notes and renewals of

notes outstanding in pursuance of such authority exceed in the aggregate the sum of two million

dollars ($2,000,000).

     Sec. 7. Said elector shall have power to enact by-laws prescribing the duties of fire wardens

and the several officers and committees of said district, and of the inhabitants of said district in

time of conflagration, and to enforce obedience to the commands of the fire wardens for suppressing

disorder and tumult, guarding or removing property or rendering other services in time of fire, and

also for the protection of the water pipes, hose, hydrants or other apparatus or property of said

district and for the preservation of order and the public peace in said district; and said electors may

provide for the breach of any such by-law a penalty consisting of a fine not exceeding twenty five

hundred dollars, to be recovered for the use of said district, or imprisonment for a term not

exceeding thirty days, or both, which penalty may be enforced by prosecution on complaint and

warrant in the district court of the fourth judicial district.

     Sec. 8. The fire wardens elected by said district may order, in time of fire, such buildings

to be torn down or blown up as they shall judge necessary to stop the progress of the fire; and if it

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shall happen that the pulling down or blowing up of any such building by direction as aforesaid

shall be the occasion of stopping the progress of such fire or if the fire stop before it comes to the

same, the owners shall be reasonably paid therefor by a tax upon said district the amount of which

tax shall be adjudged by the Superior Court for the county of Washington, which court is hereby

authorized and empowered, on application to it made in behalf of such owners, to ascertain and

adjudge the amount necessary and cause the same to be certified to said district, and such tax shall

be assessed and collected as other taxes are herein required to be assessed and collected in said

district; but no building in which any fire shall first break out or begin shall be paid for under this

provision.

     Sec. 9. The fire wardens elected by said district shall publicly within four days next

preceding the day of holding and regular meeting of said fire district, make a corrected list of the

names of all persons entitled to vote in such meeting, and certify and deliver the same to the

moderator before the time shall arrive for the calling of the meeting to order.

     In making such list the fire wardens shall take from the last corrected voting list of the town

of South Kingstown the names of all persons residing within the limits of said district who continue

qualified to vote on a proposition to impose a tax, or for the expenditure of money in said town in

elections of the town of South Kingstown and place said names upon the list to be made up by

them, and shall add thereto the names of all persons residing within said district who shall be so

qualified and whose names shall not be upon said voting list and shall cause printed notices of the

time and place named by them to make such list to be posted in five public places within said

district, not more than ten nor less than five days before the time appointed for such district meeting.

and the list so made and certified shall be used in determining any question before such meeting

when demanded by ten of the voters present; and thereupon the moderator shall receive the votes

of all persons whose names are upon such list, and shall reject the votes of all persons claiming to

vote whose names are not thereon.

     Sec. 10. Said electors at any of their legal meeting shall have power to choose and appoint

so many men persons as they may think needful to be formed into a fire company or companies,

and also a hook and ladder company, and to make all such laws and regulations for organizing and

establishing the same as they shall see fit, and the members of such companies shall be entitled to

the exemptions, privileges and remedies provided by the general laws of the state for members of

the fire departments of cities and towns.

     Sec. 11. Said electors may hold special meetings which, as well as the annual meetings,

shall be notified in such manner as they shall prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the clerk board

of wardens to call a special meeting upon written application signed by twelve or more of such

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electors, and whenever the subject of ordering a tax or borrowing money is to be acted on, the same

shall be mentioned in the notice unless it be an annual meeting.

     Sec. 12. Said electors may enact all by-laws by them judged necessary and expedient for

carrying the provisions of this act into effect: Provided, that no greater penalty be inflicted thereby

than is prescribed in the seventh section hereof, and provided the same be not in violation of or

repugnant to the laws of this state.

     SECTION 2. Sections 13 and 14 of chapter 544 of the revised 1923 Public Laws entitled

"An Act to Incorporate the Kingston Fire District in the Town of South Kingstown", are hereby

repealed.

     Sec. 13. In addition to the foregoing, said district shall have the power for the purpose of

supplying water within said district for fire protection and for domestic, manufacturing and other

purposes and for the transaction of any other business connected therewith, to acquire, by purchase

or otherwise, own, operate, subdivide, construct, improve, repair, develop, manage, lease,

mortgage, pledge, sell, exchange, assign- or otherwise deal in real estate, interests in real estate,

riparian rights, water, rights of water and of way, any and all kinds of buildings, and any and all

personal and other property of any and all kinds incidental thereto. Said district may acquire and

hold the capital stock of any water company authorized to do business within said district.

     Sec. 14. Said district may construct driven and bored artesian or other wells and may erect

on land acquired by it such dams, buildings, reservoirs, filtering galleries, filters, standpipes,

fixtures and other structures, apparatus or equipment as may be convenient for the establishment

and maintenance of a complete and effective system of water works and may do all other acts

reasonably necessary to carry out the powers granted in Section 13 hereof. Said district may make

excavations, procure and operate machinery, lay and maintain aqueducts, conduits, pipes and other

works under or over any land, water courses, and along or over any highway or other way, in such

manner as not unnecessarily to obstruct the same; and for the purpose of constructing, laying,

maintaining and repairing such aqueducts, conduits, pipes and other works and for all other

purposes of this act, said corporation may dig up, raise and embank any such land, highways or

other ways, in such manner as to cause the least hindrance to public travel under the protection and

with the assent of the town council of the town as to highways or other ways within its control, and

of the department of public warks (sic) as to highways or other ways within its control.

     SECTION 3. Section 15 of chapter 544 of the revised 1923 Public Laws entitled "An Act

to Incorporate the Kingston Fire District in the Town of South Kingstown", is hereby renumbered

as Section 13.

     Sec. 1513. The District may have a·common seal, and in its corporate name may sue and

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be sued, prosecute and defend, in any court and elsewhere and enjoy all the other powers generally

incident to corporations. Every suit whether in law or equity, brought against the district shall be

brought in the County of Washington unless otherwise directed by law.

     SECTION 4. Section 16 of chapter 544 of the revised 1923 Public Laws entitled "An Act

to Incorporate the Kingston Fire District in the Town of South Kingstown", is hereby repealed.

     Sec. 16. Said district may sell and distribute water throughout said district, or authorize the

same to be done, and may regulate its use and fix the price and rates to be paid therefor, subject to

and with the benefit of the provisions of chapters 122 and 449 of the general laws, as amended.

Said district shall have the exclusive right to the water acquired or distributed by it, and may

maintain an action against any person for using the same without its consent.

     SECTION 5. Sections 17, 18, and 19 of chapter 544 of the revised 1923 Public Laws

entitled "An Act to Incorporate the Kingston Fire District in the Town of South Kingstown", and

in all acts in amendment thereof and in addition thereto, are hereby renumbered as Section 14, 15,

and 16.

     Sec. 1714. The District may from time to time make and ordain all ordinances, by-laws

and regulations for the District that shall not be in conflict with or in violation of other provisions

of this act and not repugnant to law.

     Sec. 1815. All property held by the said district, except land, pursuant to the authority

granted by this chapter as amended and located within said district is and shall he exempt from

taxation. Such exemption shall also apply to any taxes which, but for the passage of this act, might

be assessable with respect to property, except land, held by said district on December 31, 1962.

     Sec. 1916. This act shall take effect upon its passage, and all acts and parts of acts

inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.

     SECTION 6. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

TO INCORPORATE THE KINGSTON FIRE DISTRICT IN THE TOWN OF SOUTH

KINGSTOWN 1923 R.I. PUB. LAWS, CHAPTER 544 [SAME AS 1923 R.I. ACTS AND

RESOLVES 306 (CHAPTER 2429)]AS AMENDED BY 1938 R.I. PUB. LAWS, CH. 2646 1954

R.I. PUB. LAWS, CH. 3384 1955 R.I. ACTS AND RESOLVES 707 1958 R.I. ACTS AND

RESOLVES 1081 1962 R.I.ACTS AND RESOLVES 1160 1963 R.I.ACTS AND RESOLVES

787 1963 R.I.ACTS AND RESOLVES 788 1976 R.I. PUB. LAWS, CH. 78 1980 R.I. PUB.

LAWS, CH. 135 1997 R.I. PUB. LAWS, CH. 1998 R.I. PUB. LAWS, CH. 222

***

     This act would revise and update the public law on the Kingston fire district in the town of

South Kingstown.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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