Leino Park Water District

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About Leino Park Water District

The Board of Commissioners

The Leino Park Water District Board of Commissioners, currently consists of the following members:

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Leino Park Water District Bylaws, 2009

NAME: The name of the organization shall be: Leino Park Water District, hereinafter referred to as the District.

PURPOSE: The District is organized and shall be operated exclusively for these purposes; maintenance of private ways and supervision of the Water District. The District is chartered by legislation of the Massachusetts General Court. Chapter 390, House Bill 6604, October 3, 1985.

MEMBERSHIP: Membership consists of all property owners in Leino Park, Westminster, of lots 1-118 on Revised Plan of Otto A. Leino, et ux, Sept 12, 1923, Plan Book 35, Plans 10A and 10B Worcester Northern District Registry of Deeds. Membership shall be in effect for the duration of the existence of the District, and shall transfer upon the transfer of ownership of the properties named above. Each membership shall have two votes at meetings of the District.

ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP: Any property owner outside the District, but within the Leino Park Area, may, with the payment of yearly dues, be considered an associate member. Dues for an associate member shall be $25 per year. Associate members shall be entitled to notification of any and all meetings and information regarding improvements to the ways.

ANNUAL MEETING: The annual District meeting will be held in June, notice of time and place shall be given in writing.

SPECIAL MEETINGS: Special meetings may be held at any time at the call of the Commissioners, or upon written petition of 10% of the membership. Such petition shall include the reason for said meeting. Notice as to time and place shall be given in writing.

QUORUM: Representatives of 10 District memberships constitutes a quorum

AMENDMENT TO BYLAWS: These bylaws may be amended, and new bylaws not inconsistent with the legislation or with any law, may be proposed at any annual or special meeting to be placed on the agenda of a subsequent meeting. Adoption of changes to these bylaws shall require a 2/3 majority vote.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

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Our Charter

The Leino Park Water District was created by the Massachusetts legislature in 1985. Below is the full text of the legislation that defines who we are and what we do.

1985 Mass. Acts and Resolves

Chapter 398. AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE LEINO PARK WATER
                          DISTRICT IN THE TOWN OF WESTMINSTER.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. The inhabitants of the town of Westminster, liable to
taxation in said town and residing within the territory comprised within
the following boundary lines, to wit:
Lots 1 through and inclusive of Lot 118 shown on Plan entitled
"Revised Plan of Land of Otto A. Leino, et ux", dated September 12,
1923, and recorded with Worcester Northern District Registry of Deeds
in Plan Book 35, Plan 10a and 10b, shall constitute a water district, and
are hereby made a body corporate by the name of the Leino Park Water
District hereinafter called the district, for the purpose of supplying
themselves and others, for fair consideration, with water for the
extinguishment of fires and for domestic and other purposes, with power
to establish fountains and hydrants and to relocate and discontinue the
same, to regulate the use of such water and to fix and collect rates to be
paid therefor, and for the purposes of assessing and raising taxes as
provided herein for the payment of such services, and for defraying the
necessary expenses of carrying on the business of the district, subject to
all general laws now or hereafter in force relating to such districts,
except as otherwise provided herein. The district shall have power to
prosecute and defend all actions relating to its property and affairs.

SECTION 2. For the purposes aforesaid, the district, acting by and
through its board of water commissioners hereinafter provided for, may
contract with any municipality, acting through its water departments, or
with any water company, or with any water district, for whatever water
may be required, authority to furnish the same being hereby granted, and
may take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine or chapter
eighty A of the General Laws, or acquire by lease, purchase or
otherwise, and hold, the waters, or any portion thereof, of any pond,
spring or stream, or of any ground sources of supply by means of driven
artesian or other wells within the limits of the district and not already
appropriated for the purposes of a public supply and the water and
flowage rights connected with any such water sources; and for said
purposes may take as aforesaid, or acquire by purchase or otherwise, and
hold, all lands, rights of way and other easements necessary for
collecting, storing, holding, purifying and preserving the purity of the
water and for conveying the same to any part of said district; provided,
that no source of water supply or lands necessary for preserving the
quality of the water shall be so taken or used without first obtaining the
advice and approval of the department of environmental quality
engineering and that the location and arrangement of all dams,
reservoirs, springs, wells, pumping, purification and filtration plants and
such other works as may be necessary in carrying out the provisions of
this act shall be subject to the approval of said department. The district
may construct and maintain on the lands acquired and held under this act
proper dams, wells, springs, reservoirs, standpipes, tanks, pumping
plants, buildings, fixtures and other structures, including also the
establishment and maintenance of filter beds and purification works or
systems, and may make excavations, procure and operate machinery and
provide such other means and appliances, and do such other things as
may be necessary for the establishment and maintenance of complete
and effective water works; and for that purpose may construct pipe
lines, wells and reservoirs and establish pumping works, and may
construct, lay, acquire, and maintain aqueducts, conduits, pipes and
other works under or over any land, water courses, railroads, railways
and public or other ways, and along such ways, in said towns, in such
manner as not unnecessarily to obstruct the same; and for the purposes
of constructing, laying, maintaining, operating and repairing such
aqueducts, conduits, pipes and other works, and for all proper purposes of
this act, the district may dig up or raise and embank any such lands,
highways or other ways in such manner as to cause the least hindrance to
public travel on such ways; provided, that the manner in which all things
are done upon any such way shall be subject to the direction of the
selectmen of the town of Westminster. The district may enter upon any
lands for the purpose of making surveys, test wells or pits and borings,
and may take or otherwise acquire the right to occupy temporarily any
lands necessary for the construction of any work or for any other purpose
authorized by this act.

SECTION 3. Any person sustaining damages in his property by any
taking under this act or any other things done under authority thereof
may recover such damages from the district under chapter seventy-nine
or chapter eighty A of the General Laws; but the right to damages for
the taking of any water, water right or water source, or for any injury
thereto, shall not vest until water is actually withdrawn or diverted
under authority of this act.

SECTION 4. For the purposes of applying the necessary expenses and
liabilities incurred under this act, other than expenses of maintenance
and operation, the district may borrow from time to time such sums as
may be necessary and may issue bonds or notes therefor which shall bear
on their face the words "Leino Park Water District Loan Act of 1985".
Each authorized issue shall constitute a separate loan and such loans
shall be payable in not more than forty years from their dates.
Indebtedness incurred under this act shall be subject to the provisions of
chapter forty-four of the General Laws pertaining to such districts.

SECTION 5. The district shall, at the time of authorizing any loan or
loans, provide for the payment thereof and, when a vote to that effect
has been passed, a sum which, with the income derived from water rates,
shall be sufficient to pay the annual expense of operating its water works
and the interest as it accrues on the bonds or notes issued as aforesaid by
the district, and to make such payments on the principal as may be
required under this act, shall without further vote be assessed upon the
district by the assessors of said town of Westminster annually thereafter
until the debt incurred by said loan or loans is extinguished.

SECTION 6. Any land taken or acquired under this act shall be
managed, improved and controlled by the board of water commissioners
hereinafter provided for, in such manner as they shall deem for the best
interest of the district. All authority vested in said board by this section
shall be subject to section nine.

SECTION 7. Whenever a tax is duly voted by the district for the
purposes of this act, the clerk shall send a certified copy of the vote to
the assessors of said town, who shall assess the same on property within
the district in the same manner in all respects in which town taxes are
required by law to be assessed; provided, that no estate shall be subject
to any tax assessed on account of the system of water supply under this
act if, in the judgment of the board of water commissioners hereinafter
provided for, after a hearing, due notice whereof shall have been given,
such estate is so situated that it will receive no aid in the
extinguishment of fire from the said system of water supply, or if such
estate is so situated that the buildings thereon, or the buildings that
might be constructed thereon, could not be supplied with water from said
system in any ordinary or reasonable manner; but all other estates in the
district shall be deemed to be benefited and shall be subject to such tax.
A certified list of the estates exempt from taxation under the provisions
of this section shall annually be sent by said board of water
commissioners to said assessors, at the same time at which the clerk
shall send a certified copy of the vote as aforesaid. The assessment shall
be committed to the town collector, who shall collect said tax in the
manner provided by law for the collection of town taxes, and shall
deposit the proceeds thereof with the district treasurer for the use and
benefit of the district. The district may collect interest on overdue
taxes in the manner in which interest is authorized to be collected on
town taxes.

SECTION 8. Any meeting of the voters of the territory included
within the boundaries set forth in section one to be held prior to the
acceptance of this act, and any meeting of the voters of the district
to be held prior to the qualification of a majority of the water
commissioners, shall be called, on petition of ten or more legal voters
therein, by a warrant from the selectmen of said town, or from a justice
of the peace, directed to one of the petitioners, requiring him to give
notice of the meeting by posting copies of the warrant in two or more
public places in the district seven days at least before the time of the
meeting. Such justice of the peace, or one of the selectmen, shall
preside at such meeting until a clerk is chosen and sworn, and the clerk
shall preside until a moderator is chosen. At any meeting held hereunder
prior to the acceptance of this act, after the choice of a moderator for
the meeting the question of the acceptance of this act shall be submitted
to the voters, and if it is accepted by a majority of the voters present
and voting thereon, it shall thereupon take effect, and the meeting may
then proceed to act on the other articles in the warrant. After the
qualification of a majority of the water commissioners, meetings of the
district shall be called by warrant under their hands, unless some other
method be provided by by-law or vote of the district.

SECTION 9. The district shall, after the acceptance of this act as
aforesaid, elect by ballot, either at the same meeting at which this act
shall have been accepted, or thereafter, at an annual meeting or at a
special meeting called for the purpose, three persons, inhabitants of and
voters in the district, to hold office, one until the expiration of three
years, one until the expiration of two years, and one until the expiration
of one year from the day of the next succeeding annual district meeting,
to constitute a board of water commissioners; and at every annual
district meeting following such next succeeding annual district meeting
one such commissioner shall be elected by ballot for the term of three
years. The date of the next annual meeting shall be fixed by by-laws or
by vote of the board of water commissioners, but in no event shall it be
later than fifteen months subsequent to the date on which the water
commissioners were first elected. All the authority granted to said
district by this act, except section five, and not otherwise specifically
provided for, shall be vested in said board of water commissioners who
shall be subject, however, to such instructions, rules and regulations as
the district may by vote impose. At the meeting at which said water
commissioners are first elected and at each annual district meeting held
thereafter, the district shall elect by ballot, each for a term of one year,
a clerk and a treasurer of the district. The treasurer shall not be a
water commissioner and shall give bond to the district in such an amount
as may be approved by said water commissioners and with a surety
company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth as
surety. A majority of said water commissioners shall constitute a
quorum for the transaction of business. Any vacancy occurring in said
board from any cause may be filled for the remainder of the unexpired
term by the district at any legal meeting called for the purpose. No
money shall be drawn from the treasury of the district on account of its
water works except from the treasury of the district on account of its
water works except upon a written order of said water commissioners or
a majority of them.

SECTION 10. Said board of water commissioners shall fix just and
equitable prices and rates to account for all costs and shall prescribe the
time and manner of payment. The income of the water works shall be
appropriated to defray all operating expenses, interest charges and
payments on the principal as they shall accrue upon any bonds or notes
issued under authority of this act. If there should be any surplus
remaining after providing for the aforesaid charges, it may be
appropriated for such new construction as said water commissioners may
recommend. Said water commissioners shall annually, and as often as
the district may require, render a report upon the condition of the works
under their charge, and an account of their doings, including an account
of receipts and expenditures.

SECTION 11. The district may adopt by-laws, prescribing by whom
and how meetings of the district may be called, notified, and conducted;
and, upon the application of ten or more legal voters in the district,
meetings may also be called by warrant as provided in section eight. The
district may also establish rules and regulations for the management of
its water works, not inconsistent with this act or with any other
provision of law, and may choose such other officers not provided for in
this act as it may deem necessary or proper.

SECTION 12. Whoever wilfully or wantonly corrupts, pollutes or
diverts any water obtained or supplied under this act, or wilfully or
wantonly injures any reservoir, well, standpipe, aqueduct, pipe or other
property owned or used by the district for any of the purposes of this
act, shall forfeit and pay to the district three times the amount of
damages assessed therefor, to be recovered in an action of tort, and upon
conviction of any of the above wilful or wanton acts shall be punished by
a fine of not more than three hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not
more than one year, or both.

SECTION 13. Upon a petition in writing addressed to said board of
water commissioners requesting that certain real estate, accurately
described therein, located in said town and abutting on said district and
not otherwise served by a public water supply be included within the
limits thereof, and signed by the owners of such real estate, or a major
portion of such real estate, said water commissioners shall cause a duly
warned meeting of the district to be called, at which meeting the voters
may vote on the question of including said real estate within the
district. If a majority of the voters present and voting thereon vote in
the affirmative the district clerk shall within ten days file with the town
clerk of said town and with the state secretary an attested copy of said
petition and vote; and thereupon said real estate shall become and be
part of the district and shall be holden under this act in the same manner
and to the same extent as the real estate described in section one.

SECTION 14. This act shall take effect upon its acceptance by a
majority vote of the voters of the territory included within said district
established by section one of this act present and voting thereon, by the
use of a check list, at a district meeting called, in accordance with
section eight, within four years after its passage.

Approved October 15, 1985.

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1987 Mass. Acts and Resolves

Chapter 620. AN ACT VALIDATING THE AUTHORIZATION OF
                          CERTAIN BONDS BY THE LEINO PARK WATER
                          DISTRICT.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section ten of chapter
forty-four of the General Laws and section four of chapter three
hundred and ninety-eight of the acts of nineteen hundred and
eighty-five, the proceedings taken by the Leino Park water district on
January twenty-eighth and April twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and
eighty-seven by which vote was authorized the borrowing of three
hundred and sixty-three thousand dollars for the construction and
installation of a water supply system within said district are hereby
ratified, validated and confirmed and said bonds may be issued.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Approved December 29, 1987.

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1994 Mass. Acts and Resolves

Chapter 182. AN ACT AUTHORIZING SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS FOR WATER
                          IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LEINO PARK WATER DISTRICT IN
                          THE TOWN OF WESTMINSTER.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter three hundred and
ninety-eight of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-five or any other general or special
law to the contrary, and notwithstanding the Leino park water district's failure to seasonably
comply with the provisions of section one of chapter eighty of (he General Laws and
seasonably to adopt and to comply with the provisions of sections forty-two G to forty-two L
inclusive, of chapter forty of the General Laws, the Leino Park Water District in the town
of Westminster may utilize the assessment and betterment provisions of said chapter forty
and said chapter eighty to satisfy outstanding fiscal obligations incurred for capital
expenditures made for the purpose of laying pipes and otherwise supplying said water
district with water under section one of said chapter three hundred and ninety-eight.

SECTION 2. The authority granted under section one shall terminate upon the
Leino park water district's, failure to implement the provisions hereof by ordinance, by-law
or vote on or before one year following the effective date of this act.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Approved November 20, 1994.

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2009 Mass. Acts and Resolves

Chapter 73. AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE LEINO PARK WATER DISTRICT.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court
assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1.  Section 2 of chapter 398 of the acts of 1985 is hereby
amended by striking out, in line 12, the word “said” and inserting in place
thereof the following words:-  present and future.

SECTION 2.  Said section 2 of said chapter 398 is hereby further amended
by inserting after the word “Lands”, in line 14, the following words:- ,
roads, bridges, structures.

SECTION 3.  Said section 2 of said chapter 398 is hereby further amended
by inserting after the word “water”, in line 16, the following words:-  , or
aiding in the convenient access and operation thereof,.

SECTION 4.  Said section 2 of said chapter 398 is hereby further amended
by inserting after the word “fixtures”, in line 26, the following words:-
, roads, bridges.

SECTION 5.  Said section 2 of said chapter 398 is hereby further amended
by inserting after the word “pipes”, in line 33, the following words:-
, roads, bridges, structures.

SECTION 6.  Said section 2 of said chapter 398 is hereby further amended
by inserting after the word “highways”, in line 40, the following words:-
, roads, bridges, structures.

Approved August 26, 2009.

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Non-Discrimination Statement

In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discrimination
on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)

To file a complaint of discrimination,
write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410,
or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).

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The Basics

• Members of the Board of Commissioners
• Full text: Leino Park Water District Bylaws
• Our Charter
• Full text: 1985 Mass. Act c. 398 Establishing The Leino Park Water District In The Town Of Westminster
• Full text: 1987 Mass. Act c. 620 Validating The Authorization Of Certain Bonds By The Leino Park Water District
• Full text: 1994 Mass. Act c. 182 Authorizing Special Assessments For Water Improvements In The Leino Park Water District In The Town Of Westminster
• Full text: 2009 Mass. Act c. 73 An Act Relative to the Leino Park Water District
• Non-Discrimination Statement

Mass State Library

• The State Library of Massachusetts has digitized volumes of laws available online. Click here to visit them. Search for "Leino Park" while you are there.