Chap. 0276 An Act authorizing the town of canton to establish a board of public works exercising the powers of certain other boards, departments and town officers, and authorizing the selectmen to act as said board. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: Section 1. There shall be established in the town of Canton a board of public works, hereinafter called the board, to consist of three members. From and after the next annual town election following the acceptance of this act, the board of selectmen, as constituted from time to time, shall be termed, constituted and serve as a board of public works, and the selectmen shall so serve during their respective terms of office. Section 2. The board shall have all the powers, rights and duties now or from time to time vested by general or special law in the following boards, departments and officers in said town, to wit: water commissioners, sewer commissioners, cemetery committee, highway department, including the highway surveyor, moth department and tree warden, and such boards, departments and officers shall thereupon be abolished during such time as this act is in effect as to them, respectively. No contracts or liabilities in force on the date when this act becomes fully effective shall be affected by such abolition, but the board shall in all respects be the lawful successor of the boards, departments and officers so abolished. Section 3. The board shall appoint, and fix the compensation of, a superintendent of public works, who shall exercise and perform under its supervision and direction, such of the powers, rights and duties transferred to it under section two as it may from time to time designate. He shall be responsible for the efficient exercise and performance of such powers, rights and duties, and shall hold office subject to the will of the board. He shall be specially fitted by training and experience to perform the duties of said office, and may or may not be a resident of the town. During his tenure he shall hold no elective or other appointive office, nor shall he be engaged in any other business or occupation. He shall give to the town a bond with a surety company authorized to transact business in the commonwealth as surety, for the faithful performance of his duties, in such sum and upon such conditions as the board may require, and shall, subject to the approval of the board, appoint such assistants, agents and employees as the exercise and performance of his powers, rights and duties may require. He shall keep full and complete records of the doings of his office and shall render to the board, as often as it may require, a full report of all operations under his control during the period reported upon; and annually, and from time to time as required by the board, he shall make a synopsis of such reports for publication. He shall keep the board fully advised as to the needs of the town within the scope of his duties, and shall annually furnish to the board, not less than ten days prior to the expiration of the fiscal year of said town, a carefully prepared and detailed estimate in writing of the appropriations required during the next succeeding fiscal year for the proper exercise and performance of all said powers, rights and duties. Section 4. The town may rescind all or any part of the action taken by it in pursuance of this act by a majority vote of the legal voters present and voting thereon by ballot at any town meeting held after three years following the annual town election at which this act becomes fully effective and at least thirty days before the annual town election next to be held after such meeting, and thereupon said town shall, at said next annual town election, nominate and elect such officers as are necessary to exercise and perform such of the powers, rights and duties transferred to the board under section two as are affected by said vote. Section 5. This act shall be submitted for acceptance to the legal voters of said town at the biennial state election in the year nineteen hundred and forty-eight, in the form of the following question which shall be placed on the official ballot to be used in said town at said election:-"Shall an act passed by the General Court in the year nineteen hundred and forty-eight, entitled 'An Act authorizing the Town of Canton to establish a Board of Public Works exercising the powers of certain other Boards, Departments and Town Officers, and authorizing the Selectmen to act as said Board', be accepted?" If a majority of the votes cast in answer to such question is in the affirmative, this act shall become fully effective at the next annual town election; otherwise it shall be of no effect. Approved May 8, 1948.