[Amended 11-5-1996; 11-5-2000; 11-2-2010; 11-4-2014]
There is established a Board of Water Commissioners
which shall be a department of the Town, consisting of five members
who shall be qualified electors and residents of their respective
voting districts, and who shall hereafter except as otherwise stated
below be elected at the election held on the first Tuesday following
the first Monday in November of even-numbered years. Members of the
Board shall hold no other public office or employment in the service
of any Town or of any state or federal government except that of Notary
Public, Justice of the Peace, or member of the National Guard or Air,
Military or Naval Reserve. If a member of the Board shall cease to
possess any of these qualifications, his/her office shall immediately
become vacant. Each Commissioner unless otherwise stated below shall
serve for a term of four years and until a successor is elected and
qualified. Two members shall be elected in June 1997, who shall be
elected to serve until December of 2000; three members shall be elected
in June 1999, who shall be elected to serve until the first Tuesday
of January of 2003; thereafter all terms and elections shall proceed
as stated above.
[Amended 11-5-1996]
The Town Council shall fill any vacancy occurring
in the membership of the Board of Water Commissioners from any cause
by the appointment of a properly qualified elector residing in the
voting district in which the vacancy occurs as a member to fill such
vacancy until the next succeeding election of local officers, provided
that if such vacancy shall occur before the first date allowable by
law for filing of declarations of candidacy for the next regular election,
a special election shall be called by the Town Clerk to be held within
30 days of the date of the occurrence of the vacancy, in order to
fill such vacancy.
[Amended 7-1-1975; 11-5-1996]
The members of the Board of Water Commissioners
shall receive an annual salary as may be prescribed by ordinance.
Any salary change shall not take effect during the current term of
office for which they are elected.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
The Board members shall organize without delay
after their election and elect from their members a Chairperson and
a Secretary. A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum for
transaction of business. The Board shall hold regular monthly meetings,
and may adopt bylaws and rules regulating the transaction of its business,
but no bylaws shall authorize any action by the Board except by the
majority vote thereof of the entire number of five members.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
The Board of Water Commissioners is authorized
and empowered:
(1)
To construct and maintain a water works system, and
to provide an adequate water supply for the Town of Lincoln or any
part thereof;
(2)
To make all necessary contracts and agreements with
the owners of privately owned water systems, quasi-municipal water
companies and other municipalities for the purchase or lease of their
property and equipment and for the purchase of water to be distributed
throughout said Town or any portion thereof;
(3)
To employ and fix the compensation of such attorneys
for the sole purpose of legal matters arising from the operation of
the water system, as well as engineers, surveyors, draftsmen, clerks,
a superintendent and other employees as may be necessary for the efficient
performance of its duties hereunder;
[Amended 11-4-2014]
(4)
To manage and control the water works system and,
if it chooses, it may elect a Superintendent of the Water Works system
and may contract for his/her services for a period of not more than
five years;
(5)
To expend moneys received from rates and charges of
water and such appropriated moneys as may be legally voted at any
Financial Town Meeting for the purpose of providing a water works
system for said Town, and in making purchases of supplies, materials
and equipment all such purchases, in accordance with the purchasing
policy of the Town;
[Amended 11-4-2014]
(6)
To frame rules and regulations concerning the rates
to be charged for water and to prescribe rates and charges sufficient
to pay the cost of operation and maintenance, provide an adequate
depreciation fund and pay the interest and principal of the bonds
and notes;
(7)
To keep a full and complete record of its receipts
and expenditures and of the financial condition of the water system;
(8)
To report annually to the Town Council and to the
Financial Town Meeting an accurate account of its financial transactions
and all its other acts and proceedings, and a schedule of the property
of the Town in its possession and the condition thereof, such report,
or a similar one, to be left in the Town Hall readily accessible for
public inspection;
(9)
To have the right of entry upon private property for
the purpose of making tests for groundwater;
(10)
To frame such rules and regulations as the Board may
deem necessary and advisable, and report all such rules and regulations
to the Town Council which, in its judgment, may pass an ordinance
including such rules and regulations;
(11)
To
apply for and receive grants;
(12)
To exercise such additional powers as the Town Council
is authorized by law to confer upon said Board and as the Town Council
may deem necessary.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
The office of the Town Treasurer shall collect
and receive all water rates and bills receivable for water supplied.
The revenue so received shall be kept in a separate fund. The Board
of Water Commissioners shall reimburse the Department of Finance for
any additional expense incurred by the office of said Treasurer in
the collection of water rates, in the administration of the separate
fund hereby created, and for any expense incidental to the collection
of said water rates. In addition, bonds authorized to be issued by
said Board shall be signed by the Town Treasurer and countersigned
by the Town Clerk and the proceeds arising from the sale of said bonds
shall be delivered to the Town Treasurer and the Town Treasurer shall
pay out of the moneys realized from the sale of said bonds. The Board,
through the Town Treasurer, shall at all times keep its funds and
surpluses invested to the advantage and profit of the Town's Water
Commission. The Town Treasurer shall perform such other financial
services for the Board as required by law and ordinance.
