There shall be established a board of public works, herein after called the board, to consist of three members. The initial members thereof shall be elected to serve, one for three years, one for two years, and one for one year from date of annual town election at which said members are elected and thereafter when the term of any member expires, his successor shall be elected to serve for three years. In all cases, the members of the board shall serve until their successors are qualified. The members of the board shall forthwith after each annual town election, elect from its members a chairman and a clerk for the ensuing year. In case of a vacancy, the remaining members of the board shall, jointly with the board of selectmen, within thirty days, fill such vacancy until the next town election, when a new member or members shall be elected to fill the unexpired term. No person shall serve on the board who holds another elective or appointive office in the town.
Upon the qualification of the initial members of the board of public works, the board shall have all the powers and duties now and from time to time vested by the General Laws or by town by-law or special act in the following boards, departments and offices, or in boards, departments and offices having corresponding powers and duties in the town of Carver to wit: park commissioners, cemetery commissioners, tree warden, highway surveyor, gypsy moth superintendent, and such boards, offices and departments shall be abolished. No contracts or liabilities then in force shall be affected by such abolition, but the board of public works, shall in all respects be the lawful successor to the boards, departments and offices so abolished.
The board shall have such added powers with respect to public works as the town may from time to time by by-law provide, any other provisions of the law to the contrary notwithstanding.
The board shall consist of the park division, the cemetery division, the street division, and the tree and moth division.
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 and 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 which may remove the superintendent for just cause only by a vote of at least two members of the board. His removal must be preceded by a written notice, given to him, which notice must specify the reasons for which he is to be removed, such a notice to be given at least fourteen days prior to his removal. At his request, he shall be entitled to a public hearing on the charges brought against him. He shall be specially fitted by education, training and experience to perform the duties of said office, and may or may not be a resident of the town during his tenure of office.
He shall hold no other elective or appointive office nor shall be 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 the board, no less than sixty 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 rights and duties. There shall be no reduction in or dismissal of the present permanent employees without due cause due to the establishment of this act.
This act shall be submitted for acceptance to the legal voters of said town at the annual town election in the year nineteen hundred and seventy-two, in the form of the following question which shall be placed on the official ballot to be used for the election of town officers at said election: "Shall an act passed by the General Court in the year nineteen hundred and seventy-one, entitled 'An Act authorizing the town of Carver to establish a department of public works exercising the powers of certain other departments and town officials', be accepted?". If a majority of votes cast in answer to this question are in the affirmative, this act shall become fully effective beginning with, and for the purposes of, the annual town election in the year nineteen hundred and seventy-two; otherwise it shall be of no effect.
The town may after the expiration of three years from the date of acceptance of this act vote at an annual meeting to revoke such acceptance, and the question of such revocation shall be submitted to the voters in the form of the following question: "Shall the acceptance by the town of Carver of an act passed by the General Court in the year nineteen hundred and seventy-one, entitled "An Act authorizing the town of Carver to establish a department of public works exercising the powers of certain other departments and town officials', be revoked?". If a majority of the votes cast in answer to said question is in the affirmative, then at the next annual town election held after said vote to rescind, the town shall elect such officers as are necessary to exercise and perform the powers, rights and duties transferred to the board of public works by said act. Such action shall not affect any contract or liability then created or existing. All general laws respecting town administration and town officers, and any special laws, relative to said town, the operation of which has been suspended or superseded by the acceptance of this act, shall then be in full force and effect. Any by-law inconsistent with such special or general laws shall be revoked thereby. Any subsequent vote to rescind the acceptance of said sections shall not be taken more often than once in three years.