Chapter 011
2013 -- H 5210
Enacted 05/13/13
A N A C T
IN AMENDMENT OF
AN ACT PASSED AT THE JANUARY SESSION A.D. 1942
ENTITLED
"AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE WESTERN COVENTRY FIRE DISTRICT"
Introduced By: Representatives Chippendale, Costa, Serpa, Nunes, and Tomasso
Date Introduced: January 30, 2013
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. An Act Passed at the January Session A.D. 1942
entitled “An Act to
Incorporate the Western
Coventry Fire District”, as from time to time amended, is hereby further
amended to read as follows:
Section 1. All that part of the Town of
hereby incorporated into a district District to be called "Western Coventry Fire
District." Said
boundary line is as follows:
Commencing
at a point on the Coventry-West Greenwich town line six hundred (600)
feet easterly from the intersection of said town line with
running in a general northerly direction in a line which at
all times is six hundred (600) feet
easterly from and parallel with said
continuing in a general northerly direction in a line which at
all times is six hundred (600) feet
easterly from and parallel with the highway, however called,
which leads from the intersection of
said
as shown on the road map of the State of
in 1941, to a point six hundred (600) feet southerly
from said route No. 117; thence turning and
running in a general northeasterly direction in a line which at
all times is six hundred (600) feet
easterly from the point where
would intersect this boundary line; thence turning and
running northerly in a line which at all
times is six hundred (600) feet easterly from and parallel
with said County or
extended, and said County to a point on the Potterville or
point is 900 feet, more or less, easterly from the
Potterville or
thence continuing in a general northerly direction in a line
which at all times is six hundred (600)
feet easterly from and parallel with the Nipmuc Trail, so‑called; to the Scituate Coventry
town
line.
Said
district District may have a common
seal, sue and be sued, and enjoy all the other
powers generally incident to corporation.
Section 2. Every resident of said district District, who, at the time he they offers
offer
himself themself to vote at
a meeting of said corporation Corporation,
would be entitled to vote at
a financial town meeting of the said town
a right to vote at said meeting of the corporation
Corporation. Every person qualified to vote as
aforesaid shall vote in person.
Section 3. The first meeting of said fire district shall
be held within sixty days after
passage of this act at such time and place in the
of The annual Annual meeting Meeting
of said fire the district District
for the election of officers District Officials
and Board of Directors and the transaction of any
other business of said fire the district
District shall be held on the first Monday of
April
commencing in 1943 and annually thereafter. Twenty qualified Qualified voters Voters
shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at the
Annual or any Special meeting Meeting
of the said corporation Corporation.
Section 4. The Western Coventry Fire District shall be
governed by a Board of Directors,
consisting of five (5) Qualified Voters who shall be elected at
an Annual Meeting of the District
and shall serve for a term of three (3) years. The terms
of such Directors shall be staggered. The
Board of Directors shall
have the authority and responsibility of:
4.1
Presenting the annual budget for the District at each Annual Meeting.
4.2
Establishing the annual property tax rate.
4.3
Establishing By-Laws, rules and regulations for the operation and conduct of
the
District and ensuring
compliance with these and all applicable State and Federal rules and
regulations.
4.4
Ensuring that the Department establishes rules and regulations for the
operation and
conduct of the Department and ensuring that the Chief
maintains compliance therewith.
4.5
Establishing procedures for filling vacancies on the Board of Directors and
District
Officials that occur between
Annual Meetings while maintaining the staggered terms.
4.6
Selecting and appointing the Chief of the Department. Said qualifies
voters at each
annual meeting, or 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 chosen in the place and stead of such
elected officers.
Section 5. At a District Annual Meeting, Said
said Qualified Voters may elect District
officers Officials to serve for three (3) years.
Said District Officials so to be elected shall consist
of a moderator Moderator,
clerk Clerk, treasurer Treasurer and a tax Tax
collector
Collector/assessor of taxes, whose duties and powers in said district District
shall be such as like
officers of towns in this state have in their respective towns
and as defined by the District By-
Laws. Such
qualified voters may elect fire wardens, engineers, assistant engineers and
such other
officers and committees, and with such powers, as such voters
may designate. (Amended 1996.
1942 to 1996 “three
Assessors of taxes” In 1996 this was changed to collector/assessor.)
Section 5 6. Special meetings Meetings of said fire the district
District may be held
which, as well as with the annual Annual meeting Meeting
of said fire the district District,
shall
be warned in such manner as the said
corporation Corporation shall be
by-laws By-Laws
prescribed prescribe; and it shall be the duty of the clerk
Clerk of said fire the district
District to
call a special Special
meeting Meeting upon written
application signed by twenty of the Qualified
Voters taxpayers of the said fire district
District entitled to vote in any regular
meeting of said fire
the district District
but no matter shall be acted upon at said fire the Special district
District
Meeting unless mention be made
thereof in the warrant issued for the call of said meeting. The
Special Meeting must be
held within thirty (30) days of receipt of the written application.
Section 6 7. Said fire The district District
may raise money by tax on the real estate and
tangible personal property within said fire the district
District, for the purchasing and procuring of
implements and apparatus for the extinguishment of fires, for
the providing of Emergency
Medical
Services and related District operating expenses. for the purpose of introducing and
supplying the inhabitants of said district with water for fire
protection and all necessary porposes
In addition, the money
may be for the purchase of land within
or outside of said fire district and
the erection of buildings;, for the use of said
fire the district District, on
any such land; for the
payment for services or and such other vitally necessary services as the Qualified Voters
taxpayers may determine at a duly called meeting; provided,
however, that the tax assessed and
payable in any one twelve-month period under the provisions
of this section shall not exceed
eighty cents on each hundred dollars of the valuation as fixed
in accordance with the provisions
of Section 7 8 of this act.
Section 7 8. The tax assessors Tax
Collector of said fire the district District shall assess
and apportion the taxes levied by said district District on real estate, and the
tangible personal
property if determined to be necessary by the Board of
Directors, in said district according to the
last valuation of said ratable property made by the tax
assessors of said Town of
all cases where the town assessors have included property
within the fire district District and
property without the fire district District
in one valuation, the collector assessors of said fire the
district District shall make
an equitable valuation of that portion of the same lying within the said
fire district District, and in assessing and collecting
such taxes such proceedings shall be had by
the officers of said fire the district
District, as near as may be, as are required
to be had by
corresponding officers in town in assessing and collecting town
taxes.
Section 8 9. District taxes shall constitute a
lienean lien upon the property assessed
and if
not paid when due shall carry an interest penalty of the
rate imposed from time to time by vote of
said corporation Corporation.
The fire district District may adopt
such reasonable by-laws By-
Laws with respect to the assessment, collection, and
payment of taxes as it deems proper.
Section 9 10. The said fire district District may also borrow money and/or
enter into lease
obligations for the acquisition of fire and rescue related
equipment and facilities. Said District
may also borrow money in the form of Tax Anticipation
Notes to fund operating costs. purposes
above specified and issue its notes or bonds therefore
which All such borrowing including
lease
obligations shall be binding upon said fire district the
Fire District. The aggregate of all such
borrowings including lease obligations shall not exceed 0.5
percent of the most recent District
Assessed
Valuation of real estate and tangible personal property at the time of such
borrowing. in
the same manner as town of city notes or bonds are
binding upon the city or town issuing them,
but said district shall not have outstanding at any one
time notes or bonds of a face value of more
than two million dollars ($2,000,000). Amended 6-25-07
House Bill H6486 effective on 6-25-07
when approved by the governor;) Amended April 6, 1979,
House Bill H5694 to the sum of
$200,000. Amended 04-03-95, House Bill H7032 passed 07-04-95 to
the sum of $1,000,000.
(1942 to 1979 the sum
was $50,000. 1979 to 1995 the sum was $200,000.)
Section 10 11. Said corporation Corporation at any legal meeting shall have power to
make by-laws By-Laws
prescribing the duties of firewards, and other
officers, and responsibilities
of said District Officials, Board of Directors and the
Chief and shall have power to make
Standard Administrative
Procedures (SAPs) governing the operation of the
District and ensure the
Chief makes Standard
Operating Procedures (SOPs) to define the operations of the Department.
And the inhabitants of
said fire district, in times of conflagration, and for the purpose of enforcing
obedience to the commands of the firewards,
for suppressing disorder and tumult, guarding and
removing property, or rendering the other service in time of
fire; and also for the protection of
water pipes within said fire district, and for the
protection of hydrants, safety valves, water gates,
hose, electric light wires, poles or other apparatus or
property of the district; and for the breach of
any such by-laws, regulations or ordinances, may provide
a penalty not exceeding a fine of
twenty dollars to be recovered to the use of said fire
district, or imprisonment for a term not
exceeding thirty days, which penalty may be enforced by
prosecution on complaint of any officer
of said fire district, or any state or town officer
before the district court of the fourth judicial, and
in all prosecutions the officer bringing the same shall
be exempt from furnishing recognizance or
surety for costs.
Section 12. This act shall take effect upon passage by the
Qualified Voters at a Meeting
of the District and the General Assembly of the State of
Section 12. The question of the acceptance or
rejection of this act shall be submitted to
the qualified voters in said district at a meeting which
shall be held within sixty (60) days after
the passage of this act at such time and place in the
the town clerk of said
place by posting the same in his office and at least three
other public places in said district at least
ten (10) days prior to said meeting. The town clerk of
the Town of
voting list of those qualified to vote at said meeting in
accordance with the provisions of Section
2 of this act, shall prepare ballot, shall call the meeting to order
and put the question “Shall the act
of the General Assembly entitled ‘An act to incorporate
the Western Coventry Fore District’
passes at the January session, 1942, be accepted””, each
voter shall cast, ballot for or against. If a
majority of those present qualified to vote, vote in the
negative, the clerk shall immediately
adjourn the meeting and so notify the secretary of state of
the result. If the majority of those
present vote in the affirmative, the clerk shall declare the
act accepted and continue to preside
over said meeting for the election of a moderator and
clerk, and upon their election they shall take
over the conduct of the meeting and said meeting may
transact any business which lawfully may
be transacted by said corporation at any annual meeting.
Section 13. Sections 12 and 13 of this act shall
take effect upon its passage and the
remaining sections shall take effect when and if the town clerk
of
accepted in accordance with the provisions of said Section 12.
Glossary
of Defined Terms
Annual
Meeting – Means a properly called meeting of the Qualified Voters of the
Western
Coventry Fire District.
Board
of Directors – Means the body of Qualified Voters who are elected at an Annual
Meeting or appointed by
the Moderator to fill a vacancy, with the duties defined in this Charter,
the By-Laws and the WCFD SAPs.
By-Laws
– Means the document so named and approved by a majority of the Qualified
Voters
at an Annual or Special Meeting.
Charter
– Means the encompassing document approved by a majority of the Qualified
Voters at an Annual or
Special Meeting and enacted by the State of
Plantations.
Chief
– Means the individual appointed by the Board of Directors to fill the
position,
Chief of the
Laws,
and the WCFD SAPs and SOPs.
Clerk
– Means the individual elected to the position of Clerk of the
Fire District by the
Qualified Voters at an Annual Meeting or appointed to fill a vacancy, with the
duties defined in this Charter, the By-Laws, and the WCFD SAPs.
Corporation
– Means the incorporated entity otherwise known as the
Fire
District.
Department
– Means the
District
– Means the geographic area so designated in the Charter of
Fire District and the
incorporated entity named the Western Coventry Fire District.
District
Meeting – Means any properly called meeting of twenty (20), or more Qualified
Voters
in the District.
District
Official – Means any individual elected to any position of the District by
Qualified Voters at a
District Meeting, or appointed to fill a vacancy.
Moderator
– Means the individual elected to the position of Moderator of the Western
Coventry Fire District
by the Qualified Voters at an Annual Meeting, or appointed to fill a
vacancy, with the duties defined in these By-Laws, the
Charter and the WCFD SAPs.
Qualified
Voters – Means the residents of the District, who, at the time they offer
themselves to vote at a meeting of the District, would be
entitled to vote at a financial town
meeting of the Town of
Special
Meeting – Means the Meeting set forth in Article 2, Section 2.2.
Standard
Administrative Procedures (SAPs) – Means the
collection of administrative
procedures prepared and approved by the Board of Directors.
Standard
Operating Procedures (SOPs) – Means the collection of operating procedures
necessary for the proper operation of the
Tax
Collector – Means the individual elected to the position of Tax Collector of
the
Western Coventry Fire
District by the Qualified Voters at an Annual Meeting or appointed to fill
a vacancy, with the duties defined in this Charter, the
By-Laws and the WCFD SAPs.
Treasurer
– Means the individual elected to the position of Treasurer of the Western
Coventry Fire District
by the Qualified Voters at an Annual Meeting or appointed to fill a
vacancy, with the duties defined in this Charter, the By-Laws
and the WCFD SAPs.
Western
Coventry Fire District – Has the same meaning as District.
WCFD
SAPs – Means the Western Coventry Fire District
Standard Administrative
Procedures.
WCFD
SOPs – Means the
Operating
Procedures.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC00744
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