Chap. 781.   An Act authorizing the county commissioners of
MIDDLESEX COUNTY TO CONSTRUCT NEW BUILDINGS FOR THE COURTS AND THE VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS OF THE COUNTY.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:
Section 1. For the purpose of providing new and adequate accommodations and facilities for the superior court and various county departments, the county commissioners of Middlesex county are hereby authorized to construct on land of said county, which land is bounded by Spring, Second, Thorndike and Third streets in the city of Cambridge, and on which is located the old jail and house of correction, an eighteen story building to be known as the superior court and county office building, and shall furnish and equip the same. Said building shall contain court rooms and facilities for the superior court, shall house the offices of the clerk of the courts, the district attorney, the probation office, the maintenance department, the county engineers, the county treasurer and the county commissioners, and shall contain the law library and a jail and house of correction with quarters for male and female prisoners.
Acts, 1963.— Chap. 781.
After the demolition of the existing jail and house of correction and the erection of said building and the removal thereto of the superior court and certain county offices, as set. forth in the preceding paragraph, the county commissioners are hereby authorized, for the purpose of providing new and adequate facilities for the probate court and for the registry of probate and the registry of deeds, to demolish the existing county court house building, located on land bounded by Thorndike, Second, Otis and Third streets in the city of Cambridge, and to erect at said location a three story structure and to equip and furnish the same, and a two level underground parking area with accommodations for over four hundred motor vehicles.
Upon the completion of the new building for the probate court and for the registry of probate and the registry of deeds, as set forth in the preceding paragraph, the county commissioners are hereby authorized to demolish the registry of deeds and probate court building on Cambridge street in the city of Cambridge and to construct thereon a plaza, appropriately landscaped, which shall provide a fitting approach and entrance to the buildings erected under the authority of this act.
Section 2. For the purposes set forth in section one, the treasurer of Middlesex county, with the approval of the county commissioners, may borrow from time to time on the credit of the county such sums as may be necessary, not exceeding, in the aggregate, sixteen million dollars, and may issue bonds or notes of the county therefor which shall bear on their face the words, Middlesex County Court House Buildings Loan, Act of 1963. Each authorized issue shall constitute a separate loan, and such loans shall be payable not more than thirty years from their dates. The bonds or notes shall be signed by the county treasurer and countersigned by a majority of the county commissioners. The county may sell the said securities at public or private sale, upon such terms and conditions as the county commissioners may deem proper, but not for less than their par value. Indebtedness incurred hereunder shall, except as herein provided, be subject to chapter thirty-five of the General Laws. The county treasurer, with the approval of the county commissioners, may issue temporary notes of the county, payable in not more than one year from their date, in anticipation of the issue of serial bonds or notes under this act, but the time within which such serial bonds or notes shall become due and payable shall not, by reason of such temporary notes, be extended beyond the time fixed by this act. Any notes issued in anticipation of the serial bonds or notes shall be paid from the proceeds thereof.
Section 3. Whenever in carrying out the provisions of section one the demolition of said old jail and house of correction becomes necessary, the sheriff of Middlesex county shall remove therefrom and transport to the house of correction at Billerica all persons held in custody therein awaiting trial or under sentence; thereafter, until the new jail and house of correction is completed and ready for use, all commitments which would otherwise be made to the jail in Cambridge shall be made to the house of correction at Billerica. Provision shall be made in the house of correction at Billerica for the separation of persons held in custody therein awaiting trial from those under sentence.
Section 4.   This act shall take effect upon its passage.        ^
Approved November 1, 1968.