[HISTORY: Adopted 1-26-2017 Special Town Meeting, Art. 3. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Zoning — See Ch. 171.
The purpose of the Great Barrington Affordable Housing Trust
Fund (the "Trust") is to provide for the creation and preservation
of affordable housing in Great Barrington, for the benefit of low-
and moderate-income households and for the funding of community housing,
as defined in and in accordance with the provisions of MGL c. 44,
§ 55C.
There shall be a Board of Trustees, which shall include seven
Trustees, to be appointed by the Selectboard for terms not to exceed
two years. To the extent possible, the Board of Trustees should include
members with experience in banking, real estate, real estate law and
residential development. Trustees must be residents of the Town of
Great Barrington. At least one member of the Board of Trustees shall
be a member of the Selectboard. In order to stagger the terms of the
Trustees, the first three Trustees appointed shall have terms of one
year, and the remaining four shall have terms of two years.
The powers of the Trustees, all of which shall be carried on
in furtherance of the purposes set forth in MGL c. 44, § 55C,
shall include the following:
A.
To
accept and receive real property, personal property or money, by gift,
grant, contribution, devise or transfer from any person, firm, corporation
or other public or private entity, including but not limited to money,
grants of funds or other property tendered to the Trust in connection
with any bylaw or any general or special law or any other source,
including money from Chapter 44B of the General Laws (Community Preservation
Act); provided, however, that any such money received from Chapter
44B shall be used exclusively for community housing and shall remain
subject to all the rules, regulations and limitations of that chapter
when expended by the Trust, and such funds shall be accounted for
separately by the Trust; and provided further, that at the end of
each fiscal year, the Trust shall ensure that all expenditures of
funds received from said Chapter 44B are reported to the Community
Preservation Committee of the Town for inclusion in the community
preservation initiatives report, Form CP-3, to the Department of Revenue.
B.
To
purchase and retain real or personal property, including without restriction
investments that yield a high rate of income or no income;
C.
To
sell, lease, exchange, transfer or convey any personal, mixed, or
real property at public auction or by private contract for such consideration
and on such terms as to credit or otherwise, and to make such contracts
and enter into such undertaking relative to Trust property as the
Board deems advisable notwithstanding the length of any such lease
or contract;
D.
To
execute, acknowledge and deliver deeds, assignments, transfers, pledges,
leases, covenants, contracts, promissory notes, releases, grant agreements
and other instruments sealed or unsealed, necessary, proper or incident
to any transaction in which the Board engages for the accomplishment
of the purposes of the Trust;
E.
To
employ advisors and agents, such as accountants, appraisers and lawyers
as the Board deems necessary;
F.
To
pay reasonable compensation and expenses to all advisors and agents
and to apportion such compensation between income and principal as
the Board deems advisable;
G.
To
apportion receipts and charges between income and principal as the
Board deems advisable, to amortize premiums and establish sinking
funds for such purpose, and to create reserves for depreciation depletion
or otherwise;
H.
To
participate in any reorganization, recapitalization, merger or similar
transactions; and to give proxies or powers of attorney with or without
power of substitution to vote any securities or certificates of interest;
and to consent to any contract, lease, mortgage, purchase or sale
of property, by or between any corporation and any other corporation
or person;
I.
To
deposit any security with any protective reorganization committee,
and to delegate to such committee such powers and authority with relation
thereto as the Board may deem proper and to pay, out of Trust property,
such portion of expenses and compensation of such committee as the
Board may deem necessary and appropriate;
J.
To
carry property for accounting purposes other than acquisition date
values;
K.
To
borrow money on such terms and conditions and from such sources as
the Board deems advisable, to mortgage and pledge Trust assets as
collateral;
L.
To
make distributions or divisions of principal in kind;
M.
To
compromise, attribute, defend, enforce, release, settle or otherwise
adjust claims in favor of or against the Trust, including claims for
taxes, and to accept any property, either in total or partial satisfaction
of any indebtedness or other obligation, and subject to the provisions
of MGL c. 44, § 55C, to continue to hold the same for such
period of time as the Board may deem appropriate;
N.
To
manage or improve real property; and to abandon any property which
the Board determines not to be worth retaining;
O.
To
hold all or part of the Trust property uninvested for such purposes
and for such time as the Board may deem appropriate; and
P.
To
extend the time for payment of any obligation to the Trust.
Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary,
all moneys paid to the Trust in accordance with any zoning bylaw,
exaction fee, or private contributions shall be paid directly into
the Trust and need not be appropriated or accepted and approved into
the Trust. General revenues appropriated into the Trust become Trust
property and to be expended these funds need not be further appropriated.
All moneys remaining in the Trust at the end of any fiscal year, whether
or not expended by the Board within one year of the date they were
appropriated into the Trust, remain Trust property.
The Trust is a public employer and the members of the Board
are public employees for purposes of Chapter 258 of the General Laws.
The Trust shall be deemed a municipal agency and the Trustees
special municipal employees, for purposes of Chapter 268A of the General
Laws.
The books and records of the Trust shall be audited annually
by an independent auditor in accordance with accepted accounting practices.
The Trust is a public body for purposes of MGL c. 30A, §§ 18
through 25.
The Trust is a board of the Town for purposes of Chapter 30B
and § 15A of Chapter 40 of the General Laws; but agreements
and conveyances between the Trust and agencies, boards, commissions,
authorities, departments and public instrumentalities of the Town
shall be exempt from said Chapter 30B.
Except as may be specifically authorized in this chapter, neither
the Trustees nor any agent or officer of the Trust shall have the
authority to bind the Town.
