10-LA104

2010 -- H 8050

Enacted 06/25/10

A N A C T

RELATING TO AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE MISQUAMICUT FIRE DISTRICT

Introduced By: Representative Samuel A. Azzinaro

Date Introduced: April 27, 2010

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Sections 4, 5, 6, 12 and 13 of "An Act to Incorporate the Pleasant View

Beach Fire District", as passed at the January session, A.D. 1915 as amended, including an Act

passed at the January session A.D. 1929 changing the name to “Misquamicut Fire District” are

hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 4. District Officers

     Said qualified voters, at each annual meeting and 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 their stead: which officers shall consist of: one (1) moderator, one (1) clerk, one (1)

treasurer, one (1) tax collector, one (1) tax assessor, one (1) fire chief, two (2) members-at-large,

whose duties and powers in said district shall be such as like officers of towns in this state have in

their respective towns or as prescribed in the district by-laws.

Section 5. Special Meetings

     Special meetings may be convened which, as well as the annual meeting, in such manner

as the district by-laws shall prescribe, with notice in such manner and it shall be the duty of the

district clerk to call. Special meetings may be called: (1) at the request of the moderator, (2) on

the vote of a majority of the district officers or (3) upon receipt of a petition signed by four (400)

two hundred fifty (250) qualified taxpayers as are entitled to vote.

Section 6. Powers and Purposes for Taxing

     Said district may raise money by tax on the real and tangible personal property within

said district for the purchasing and procuring of implements and apparatus for the extinguishing

of fire, for the purpose of supplying water to the inhabitants of said district for fire and district

purposes, of equipment and apparatus, used in the training of personnel for fire suppression,

prevention, and the protection and preservation of life and property endangered by fire or any

other emergencies involving life and property that may occur within the boundaries of the district;

for the payment of such police force as it may deem necessary for the protection of the property

and inhabitants of said district from fire, for the purpose of providing for the collection and

disposal of garbage for the purpose of improving property of said district and purchasing

additional property, for the purpose of sites for, and for the erection and repair of, district

buildings, for making and repair of sidewalks, for the purpose of carrying on such operations as

may be necessary to abate and prevent the erosion of the shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean within

the district, for all necessary charges and expenses, whatsoever, arising within the district,

incidental or not to the above.

Section 12. Authority to Borrow Sidewalks

     (a) The Misquamicut Fire District is hereby authorized and empowered from time to time

to hire a sum not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars, and to issue its notes or bonds, or

either, therefore, and to renew any such notes from time to time as they shall become due and

payable. All moneys received by said fire district by authority hereof shall be exclusively used

and expended for the construction of sidewalks within said fire district.

     (b) The treasurer of said fire district shall cause any bonds or notes issued by authority

hereof to be issued for such times, and conditions as shall be authorized by the fire district, except

that upon notes maturing not more than one year from their date, the time and the discount or

interest rate may be fixed by the treasurer of the fire district. The fire district shall annually

appropriate the sum necessary to pay the interest on such bonds or notes so issued, and a further

sum sufficient for the redemption or payment of one-tenth (1/10) of the principal of the said

bonds or notes hereby authorized when and as the same may become due and payable.

     (c) The notes or bonds, or either, hereby authorized shall be signed by the treasurer of the

fire district and countersigned by the moderator and clerk of the fire district.

Section 13. Improvement Committee/Sidewalks

The qualified electors of the district shall at the annual meeting elect an improvement

committee consisting of not more than five (5) members to serve until the next annual meeting,

and until others be chosen in their stead.

(a) To construct, improve, alter and repair the sidewalks of said district, and to select the

type of material to be used in said sidewalks; to determine the width and elevation thereof and to

determine the time when such construction, improvement, alteration and repair shall be

undertaken in accordance with the requirements and needs of the inhabitants of said fire district,

and to inspect or cause to be inspected from time to time the sidewalks kept and maintained by

said fire district for the purpose of maintaining and keeping the same in good repair and safe for

travel.

(b) To make a report to the annual meeting each year showing the work performed during

the year preceding the cost of the same, and containing such recommendation as the improvement

committee may deem advisable in regard to the extension and improvement of the sidewalks in

said fire district.

Whenever the said improvement committee shall determine by its vote that a sidewalk

shall be made and laid in and upon any street or highway in said fire district, it may order the

same to be made and laid upon five (5) days notice to the abutting land owner, or if any of the

land owners reside without the state, upon three (3) weeks notice by registered letter to the last

known place of residence. At the time and place named in said notice the said improvement

committee shall proceed TO hear ail such parties and to make and pass such order in references to

the making and laying of such sidewalks as they may think proper.

Whenever any sidewalk in an upon any street or highway shall be ordered made and laid

as hereinbefore provided, the owners of the land abutting on such sideways shall pay one half

(1/2) of the cost thereof, to be set against their respective lands as hereinafter specified, the

balance of the cost to be taken from the regular appropriation for sidewalks as hereinafter

provided or any special appropriation for said purposes.

Such cost shall be ascertained and approved by the improvement committee for said fire

district, and thereafter the said improvement committee shall demand one half (1/2) of said costs

from such abutting land owner, and if such land owner shall neglect and refuse to the same, the

said improvement committee shall certify the costs so ascertained and approved to the assessors

of taxes for said fire district, and the said assessors shall include the owners’ portion of the cost of

such making and Saying said sidewalk, which sum shall be included in the next assessment of

taxes for such fire district against such land owner thereof.

Whenever any abutting landowner shall deem itself aggrieved by the ascertainment of

costs for making and laying of any sidewalk as hereinbefore provided, he may appeal therefrom

according to provisions of law, with reference to appeals from town councils.

If the person appealing from any ascertainment of costs for the making and laying of any

sidewalk shall fail to have such amount reduced on appeal he shall be adjudged to pay the cost of

suit and the collector of taxes shall collect from him only so much of said tax as shall have been

found on appeal to be due from said appellant.

If heretofore a sidewalk shall have been made and laid in and upon any street or highway

in said fire district by an abutting land owner, the improvement committee may, if such sidewalk

shall be approved by said improvement committee, reimburse such abutting land owner for one

half (1/2) the cost of the making and laying of such sidewalk, out of funds appropriated for

sidewalks; provided, however that said improvement committee shall not pay to said abutting

property owner a sum which shall be in excess of one-half (1/2) of the then prevailing contract

price for the contract price for the making and laying of such sidewalk.

Indemnity:

The district hereby indemnifies any and all elected or appointed fire district official, fire

district employees, members of boards, agencies and commissions appointed by the district, from

all loss, cost, expense and damage, including legal fees and court costs, if any, arising out of any

claim, action, compromise, settlement or judgment by reason of any alleged error or misstatement

or action or omission or neglect or violation of the rights of any person under any federal or state

law which imposes personal liability on any such district individual, if such neglect was acting

within the scope of his or her duties or employment. Such indemnification shall not extend to any

error, misstatement, act of omission or neglect if the same resulted from willful, wanton or

malicious conduct on the part of such district individual. The district, acting through the district

solicitor, will provide legal counsel at the expense of the district, and/or the reimbursement for

reasonable attorneys' fees and other expenses incurred in connection with the conduct of such

defense, including payment of the judgment thereon. The district solicitor is further authorized to

pay any such expenses in advance of the final disposition of such claim upon receipt of a written

undertaking by or on behalf of such district individual to repay such amount unless it shall

ultimately be determined that he or she is entitled to be indemnified hereunder.

SECTION 2. That act passed at the January session, A.D. 1915, entitled “An Act to

Incorporate the Pleasant View Beach Fire District”, as amended, Including an Act passed at the

January session A.D. 1929 changing the name to “Misquamicut Fire District” is hereby amended

by adding the following section:

Section 14. Committees:

(a) The moderator of the district shall appoint the following standing committees:

(i) Finance;

(ii) Fireman’s Incentive;

(iii) Insurance;

(iv) Improvements; and

any other committees authorized in the district’s bylaws or approved at a meeting of the

district.

(b) Each committee shall define their duties, relative to the needs of the district.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC02441

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