All by-laws, ordinances, resolutions, town meeting votes, and rules and regulations of the town which are in force at the time the charter is adopted, not inconsistent with the provisions of the charter, shall continue in force until amended or repealed.
All town agencies shall continue to perform their duties until reappointed, re-elected, or until successors to their respective positions are duly appointed or elected or their duties have been transferred.
Any person holding an office or position in the administrative service of the town, or any person serving in the employment of the town shall retain such office or position and shall continue to perform his duties until provisions shall have been made in accordance with the charter for the performance of the said duties by another person or agency; provided, however, that no person in the permanent full-time service of[1] employment of the town shall forfeit his pay grade or time in service. All such persons shall be retained in a capacity as similar to their former capacity as it is practical so to do.
[1]
Editor's Note: So in original. Probably should read "or."
All records, property, and equipment whatsoever of any town agency or part thereof, the powers and duties of which are assigned in whole or part to another town agency shall be transferred forthwith to the town agency to which such powers and duties are assigned.
All official bonds, recognizances, obligations, contracts and other instruments entered into or executed by or to the town before its adoption of the charter, and all taxes, special assessments, fines, penalties, forfeitures incurred or imposed, due or owing to the town, shall be enforced and collected, and all writs, prosecutions, actions and causes of action, except as herein otherwise provided, shall continue without abatement and remain unaffected by the charter; and no legal act done by or in favor of the town shall be rendered invalid by its adoption of the charter.
The salary to be paid to each member of the town council elected at the first election held under the charter shall be $500.00 per annum. This salary shall continue until changed by ordinance under the provisions of section 2-3 of the charter.
This charter shall become fully effective on the second January 1st which occurs following its adoption by the voters, but it shall take partial effect in accordance with the following schedule:
(a) 
As soon as practicable after the charter is adopted the board of selectmen, with the advice and assistance of the board of registrars of voters, shall prepare and shall cause to be published before April, 1, in the year following the year in which the charter is adopted, new boundaries for the six precincts of the town. The precincts shall be as nearly equal in number of inhabitants as it is possible to achieve based on compact and contiguous territory, bounded insofar as possible by the center line of known streets or ways or by other well defined limits.
(b) 
A special election shall be held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in June for the purpose of electing members of the town council and of the school committee. All of the provisions of the charter which relate to the conduct of regular town elections shall apply to this special election. Any incumbent official of the town may be a candidate for any office to be filled at this election.
(c) 
The school committee elected at the said special election shall assume their office on the first secular day of July following their election and all of the provisions of the charter with respect to the school committee shall on that date become fully effective. The incumbent school committee in office when the special election takes place shall serve until their successors have been qualified.
(d) 
The town council elected at the said special election shall meet to organize and shall assume their office on the first secular day of July following their election. The powers and duties of the town council, however, shall not become fully effective until the first secular day of January next following, and in the meantime, the town council shall prepare for the transition to the new form of town government as follows:
1. 
They shall establish qualifications and procedures to follow in the selection of a mayor to serve under the charter. The appointment of a mayor shall be effective on the second Monday of September following their election.
2. 
They shall cause to be prepared and shall adopt rules and regulations governing the conduct of council business. They shall cause to be prepared and shall adopt any necessary ordinances to be effective and to replace the existing bylaws of the town, for the orderly and convenient exercise of the administrative affairs of the town.
(e) 
The mayor appointed in September following the election at which the charter is adopted shall assist the town council in the establishment of the new charter as they may request him to do.
(f) 
The board of selectmen in office at the time of the special election shall continue to serve in that office until December 31 of that year. They shall be responsible for the general operation of the government and shall continue to perform all of the powers, duties and functions of their office as though this, the charter, had not been adopted; except that they shall coordinate all of their long-range plans with the members of the town council.
(g) 
All legislative business necessary for the orderly conduct of the town during the transitional year shall continue to be conducted by the representative town meeting until the full powers of the town council become operative on the first secular day of January next following their election. On the said first secular day of January the terms of office of all members of the representative town meeting shall be terminated and the said representative town meeting shall thereafter cease to exist.
(a) 
Partial Repeal of Certain Special Acts -- The following Special Acts, insofar as they confer power upon the town of Agawam which the town would not otherwise hold under the charter, General Laws or the Constitution, are retained; otherwise, they are hereby repealed, it being the explicit intention of this paragraph that portions of any Special Acts retained which limit or restrict a power conferred or the manner in which it is to be exercised in accordance with the charter: chapter three hundred fifty-one; chapter ninety-three of the acts of nineteen hundred fifty-seven; chapter two hundred ninety-seven of the acts of nineteen hundred sixty.
(b) 
Special Acts Repealed -- Chapter six hundred thirty-two of the acts of nineteen hundred fifty five is hereby repealed.