Title 45
Towns and Cities

Chapter 39.2
Clear River Electric and Water District [Effective January 1, 2025.]

§ 45-39.2-7. Compensation of the board — Employees of the electric and water district. [Effective January 1, 2025.]

(a) Each member of the board of utility commissioners shall be entitled to receive compensation of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per year and not more than three thousand dollars ($3,000) per year for attendance at scheduled and special meetings of the board of utility commissioners, and shall be entitled to reimbursement of the actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties. The salaries, compensation, and expenses of all members and officers of the board, and all employees and agents of the electric and water district, shall be paid solely out of funds of the electric and water district. No part of the earnings of the electric and water district shall inure to the benefit of any private person.

(b) The board shall appoint general managers and may enter into employment contracts with its executive employees. The board shall have the authority to approve employee benefit plans, including fringe benefits such as, but not limited to, pension and health and disability and other insurances.

(c) No member of the board of utility commissioners shall directly or indirectly engage or participate in the proceeds of any contract or agreement to supply anything of value or receive anything of value from the electric and water district. The prohibition set forth in this subsection may be waived by a vote of five (5) members of the board of utility commissioners, if and only if the board of utility commissioners shall have first obtained an opinion of the attorney general and/or the Rhode Island ethics commission based on full disclosure of all relevant facts that the waiver does not contravene state law and is otherwise in the best interests of the consumers served by the electric and water district.

(d) The board of utility commissioners may elect to accept the provisions of chapter 21 of this title (“Retirement of Municipal Employees”) by resolution, the acceptance to be forwarded to the state retirement board by the board of utility commissioners in the same manner as provided in § 45-21-4.