[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Beverly
as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 2-6-2017 by Ord.
No. 301[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also accepted the provisions
of MGL c. 44, § 55C.
The Beverly Affordable Housing Trust Fund is hereby established.
The Trustees of the Beverly Affordable Housing Trust Fund shall
administer an Affordable Housing Trust Fund to provide for the creation
and preservation of affordable housing within the City of Beverly
for the benefit of low- to moderate-income households and for the
funding of community housing, as defined in and in accordance with
the provisions of MGL c. 44B.
A.
Composition. The Beverly Affordable Housing Trust Fund shall have
a Board of Trustees composed of five (5) Trustees. The Mayor shall
serve as one of the Trustees.
B.
Appointment of Trustees; terms, vacancies. The Mayor shall appoint
Trustees annually in January, subject to confirmation by the City
Council. The Trustees first appointed shall have staggered terms,
with two (2) of the appointed Trustees initially serving a one-year
term, and the remaining two (2) serving a two-year term. Thereafter,
all appointments and reappointments, with the exception of the Mayor's
term, shall be for a period of two (2) years. If a vacancy shall occur
among the Trustees, it shall be filled in the same manner as the original
appointment for the unexpired term.
C.
Service without compensation. The Trustees shall serve without compensation.
D.
Removal. Trustees may be removed by the Mayor, subject to the provisions of Section 3-4 of the Beverly City Charter.
E.
Authority and Responsibilities.
(1)
The specific authority and responsibilities of the Trustees, all
of which shall be carried on in furtherance of the purposes set forth
in MGL c. 44, § 55C, and in this article, are as follows:
(a)
To accept and receive property, whether real or personal, by
gift, grant, devise, or transfer from any person, firm, corporation
or other public or private entity, including without limitation grants
or funds or other property tendered to the trust in connection with
provisions of any zoning ordinance or bylaw or any other ordinance
or bylaw;
(b)
To purchase and retain real or personal property, including
without restriction investments that yield a high rate of income or
no income;
(c)
To sell, lease, exchange, transfer or convey any personal, mixed,
or real property at public auction or by private contract for such
consideration and on such terms as to credit or otherwise, and to
make such contracts and enter into such undertaking relative to trust
property as the Board deems advisable, notwithstanding the length
of any such lease or contract;
(d)
To execute, acknowledge and deliver deeds, assignments, transfers,
pledges, leases, covenants, contracts, promissory notes, releases
and other instruments sealed or unsealed, necessary, proper or incident
to any transaction in which the Board engages for the accomplishment
of the purposes of the trust;
(e)
To employ advisors and agents, such as accountants, appraisers
and lawyers as the Board deems necessary;
(f)
To fund grant positions for municipal employees through specified
grants established by the trust, whose positions are in furtherance
of the purposes set forth in MGL c. 44, § 55C, and in this
article;
(g)
To pay reasonable compensation and expenses to all advisors
and agents and to apportion such compensation between income and principal
as the Board deems advisable;
(h)
To apportion receipts and charges between incomes and principal
as the Board deems advisable, to amortize premiums and establish sinking
funds for such purpose, and to create reserves for depreciation depletion
or otherwise;
(i)
To participate in any reorganization, recapitalization, merger
or similar transactions; and to give proxies or powers of attorney
with or without power of substitution to vote any securities or certificates
of interest; and to consent to any contract, lease, mortgage, purchase
or sale of property, by or between any corporation and any other corporation
or person;
(j)
To deposit any security with any protective reorganization committee,
and to delegate to such committee such powers and authority with relation
thereto as the Board may deem proper and to pay, out of trust property,
such portion of expenses and compensation of such committee as the
Board may deem necessary and appropriate;
(k)
To carry property for accounting purposes other than acquisition
date values;
(l)
To borrow money on such terms and conditions and from such sources
as the Board deems advisable, to mortgage and pledge trust assets
as collateral;
(m)
To make distributions or divisions of principal in kind;
(n)
To comprise, attribute, defend, enforce, release, settle or
otherwise adjust claims in favor of or against the trust, including
claims for taxes, and to accept any property, either in total or partial
satisfaction of any indebtedness or other obligation, and subject
to the provisions of this article, to continue to hold the same for
such period of time as the Board may deem appropriate;
(o)
To manage or improve real property; and to abandon any property
which the Board determined not to be worth retaining;
(p)
To hold all or part of the trust property uninvested for such
purposes and for such time as the Board may deem appropriate;
(q)
To extend the time for payment of any obligation to the trust;
and
(r)
To create guidelines and principles for the Trustees as to strategies
for the investment and expenditure of trust funds.
(2)
The powers and duties enumerated above are intended to encompass
all powers and duties of the Trustees. Any action, power or duty not
enumerated above shall require prior approval of the City Council.
A.
The conveyance of any real property § 33-3E(a), (b), or
(c) above, shall require the approval of the Mayor and the City Council.
B.
Any debt incurred by the trust shall not constitute a pledge of the
full faith and credit of the City of Beverly, and all documents related
to any debt shall contain a statement that the holder of any such
debt shall have no recourse against the City of Beverly, with an acknowledgement
of said statement by the holder.
The trust shall meet at regular intervals.
The Trustees shall keep a record of their doings and make a
report thereof to the City annually. The report shall include a description
and source of funds received and expended and the type of affordable
housing programs or properties assisted with the funding. Such report
shall be sent to the Mayor not later than January 15 in each year,
and a copy thereof shall be filed with the Department of Planning
and Community Development. The books and records of the trust shall
also be audited annually by an independent auditor in accordance with
accepted accounting practice. The audit of the trust may be done by
the City's auditors. The Trustees shall also provide the City
Council with a copy of the trust's annual audit.
Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary,
all moneys paid to the trust in accordance with any zoning ordinance
or bylaw or private contributions shall be paid directly into the
trust and need not be appropriated or accepted and approved into the
trust. General revenues appropriated into the trust become trust property,
and to be expended these funds need not be further appropriated. All
moneys remaining in the trust at the end of any fiscal year, whether
or not expended by the Board within one year of the date they were
appropriated into the trust, remain trust property.
A.
The trust is a public employer and the members of the Board are public
employees for purposes of Chapter 258 of the Massachusetts General
Laws.
B.
The trust shall be deemed a municipal agency and the Trustees shall
be deemed as special municipal employees for purposes of Chapter 268A
of the Massachusetts General Laws.
C.
The trust is exempt from Chapters 59 and 62 of the Massachusetts
General Laws, and from any other provisions concerning payment of
taxes based upon or measured by property or income imposed by the
commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof.
D.
The trust is a governmental body for purposes of Sections 23A, 23B
and 23C of Chapter 39 of the Massachusetts General Laws.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: MGL c. 39, §§ 23A, 23B
and 23C, regarding open meetings of government bodies, were repealed
by L. 2009, c. 28, § 20. See now MGL c. 30A, §§ 18
through 25.
E.
The trust is a Board of the city for purposes of Massachusetts General
Law Chapter 30B and MGL c. 40, § 15A; but agreements and
conveyances between the trust and agencies, Boards, commissions, authorities,
departments and public instrumentalities of the City or town shall
be exempt from said Chapter 30B of the Massachusetts General Laws.
