[Adopted 5-3-2010 ATM by Art. 33]
There shall be established a Hopkinton Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board. The Board of Trustees (the “Board”) shall consist of five (5) trustees. The trustees shall be appointed by the Select Board and shall include one member of the Select Board. The members of the Board of Trustees are designated as public agents for the purposes of the constitution of the Commonwealth.
The initial terms of the trustees shall be staggered as one (1) or two (2) year terms. All terms thereafter shall be for two (2) years.
The purpose of the Hopkinton Affordable Housing Trust is to provide for the creation and preservation of affordable housing in Hopkinton for the benefit of low-and moderate-income households.
A. 
The Board shall administer the Hopkinton Affordable Housing Trust Fund, created by the vote taken pursuant to Article 7 of the May 2009 Special Town Meeting. The powers of the Board, all of which shall be carried on in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Chapter 44, section 55C of the Massachusetts General Laws, shall be as set forth in this section; provided, however, that the Board shall not purchase, sell, lease, exchange, transfer or convey any interest in real property except with the approval of the Select Board; and provided further that the Board shall not incur any debt, borrow money, grant and mortgage or pledge trust assets except with the approval of Town Meeting pursuant to applicable law. Subject to such limitations, the Board shall be authorized:
(1) 
To accept and receive property, whether real or personal, by gift, grant, contribution, devise, or transfer from any person, firm, corporation or other public or private entity including, without limitation, grants of funds or other property tendered to the trust in connection with provisions of any applicable general or zoning bylaw;
(2) 
To purchase and retain real or personal property including, without restriction, investments that yield a high rate of income or no income;
(3) 
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;
(4) 
To execute, acknowledge and deliver deeds, assignments, transfers, pledges, leases, covenants, contracts, promissory notes, releases 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;
(5) 
To employ advisors and agents, such as accountants, appraisers and lawyers as the Board deems necessary;
(6) 
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;
(7) 
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;
(8) 
To participate in any reorganization, recapitalization, merger or similar transactions; 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;
(9) 
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;
(10) 
To carry property for accounting purposes other than acquisition date values;
(11) 
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;
(12) 
To make distributions or divisions of principal in kind;
(13) 
To comprise, attribute, defend, enforce, release, settle or otherwise adjust claims in favor 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 Chapter 44, section 55C of the Massachusetts General Laws and this Article, to continue to hold the same for such period of time as the Board may deem appropriate;
(14) 
To manage or improve real property and to abandon any property that the Board determines not to be worth retaining;
(15) 
To hold all or part of the trust property uninvested for such purposes and for such time as the Board may deem appropriate; and
(16) 
To extend the time for payment of any obligation to the Trust.
B. 
All moneys paid to the Trust in accordance with any general or zoning bylaw, exaction fee, grant, development agreement, development approval, host community agreement, 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, shall remain trust property.
C. 
The books and records of the trust shall be audited annually by an independent auditor in accordance with accepted accounting practices.
D. 
The Board shall make an annual report to the Select Board. The report shall include a description and source of funds received and expended and the type of affordable housing programs or properties assisted with the funding.