[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Health of the Town of Walpole as
indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Board of Selectmen Fee Schedule — See Ch. 308.
[Adopted effective 4-1-2005]
These regulations are adopted pursuant to the authority granted to local
boards of health under MGL c. 111, § 31, and MGL c. 44, § 53G.
With respect to any matter pending before it or under its consideration,
the Board may determine that the assistance of outside consultants is warranted
due to the size, scale or complexity of the issues before the Board of Health,
because of an issue's potential impacts, or because the Board lacks the necessary
expertise to perform the analysis related to the issues before the Board.
Whenever possible, the Board will provide the applicant a list of three consultants
which are acceptable to the Board of Health. The applicant may then choose
one of the consultants to be used in the review process. The Board shall work
cooperatively with the applicant to identify appropriate consultants if it
cannot provide three names and to negotiate payment of the consultant fees.
Alternatively, the Board may, by majority vote, require that the applicant
pay a reasonable "consultant fee" of a sufficient sum to enable the Board
to retain consultants chosen by the Board alone. The Board may require that
the applicant deposit a lump sum in order to retain consultants. In the event
that such sum is insufficient to fund the necessary consulting services, the
Board may require additional deposits.
In hiring outside consultants, the Board may engage engineers, scientists,
lawyers, or other appropriate professionals who can assist the Board in analyzing
an issue to ensure compliance with all relevant laws, bylaws, and regulations.
Such assistance may include, but not be limited to, analyzing the issues,
monitoring or inspection of the site and/or plans for compliance with the
Board's decision or regulations, or inspecting the property during construction
or implementation. The Board of Health or the Board acting through its Agent
will do its best to work with the applicant to define the scope of work prior
to actually retaining the consultant. However, it will be the Board of Health
that has the final determination as to what the final scope of work will be
and will provide it in writing to the applicant.
Funds received by the Board pursuant to this article shall be deposited
with the Finance Director, acting as Town Treasurer, who shall establish a
special account for this purpose, as provided by MGL c 44, § 53G.
Expenditures from this special account may be made at the direction of the
Board without further appropriation. Expenditures from this special account
shall be made only for services rendered in connection with a specific issue
or issues for which a consultant fee has been or will be collected from the
applicant. Accrued interest may also be spent for this purpose.
Failure of an applicant to pay a consultant fee shall be grounds for
denial of any application.
At the completion of the Board's review of an issue, any excess amount
in the account, including interest, attributable to a specific issue shall
be repaid to the applicant or the applicant's successor in interest. A final
report of said account shall be made available to the applicant or applicant's
successor in interest. For the purpose of this regulation, any person or entity
claiming to be an applicant's successor in interest shall provide the Board
with documentation establishing such succession in interest.
Any applicant may take an administrative appeal from the selection of
the outside consultant to the Board of Selectmen. Such appeal must be made
in writing and may be taken only within 20 days after the Board of Health
has mailed or hand-delivered notice to the applicant of the selection. The
grounds for such an appeal shall be limited to claims that the consultant
selected has a conflict of interest or does not possess the minimum, required
qualifications. The minimum qualifications shall consist either of an educational
degree in, or related to, the field at issue or three or more years of practice
in the field at issue or a related field. The required time limit for action
upon an application by the Board shall be extended by the duration of the
administrative appeal. In the event that no decision is made by the Board
of Selectmen within one month following the filing of the appeal, the selection
made by the Board of Health shall stand.
