All that part of the Town of Coventry lying
and being within the following lines and bounds: Beginning at a stone
bound in the dividing line between the Towns of West Warwick and Coventry,
on the north side of Pulaski Street, in the Village of Quidnick; thence
running northerly on said town line to a stone bound on the southerly
side of Woodside Avenue; thence turning and running westerly along
the south side of said Woodside Avenue to the east side of Fairview
Avenue; thence running to the southeast corner of Greenwood Cemetery;
thence turning and running westerly, bound northerly by said Greenwood
Cemetery, to the southwest corner of said cemetery; thence running
in a southwesterly direction to the so-called "Black Rock," located
on the west side of Blackrock Road, on property now or formerly of
John and Gladys Wragg; thence turning and running northerly, bounded
easterly by said Blackrock Road, a distance of 300 feet; thence turning
and continuing northerly to the northeast corner of land now or formerly
of Gerard and Estelle Bettez (AP 17 Lot 41); thence turning westerly
and running in a direct line to the northeast corner of land now or
formerly of Donat and Norman Anctil (AP 17 Lot 26); thence turning
and running northerly bounded easterly by Lot 40 AP 17; thence continuing
in a northerly direction to the northeast corner of Lot 26 AP 18;
thence continuing in a straight line to the northeast corner of Lot
1 AP 18; at which point is the dividing line of the Town of Scituate
and the Town of Coventry; thence turning and running westerly on said
town line to a point which is the northwest corner of Lot 25 AP 19;
thence turning and running southwesterly to the northwest corner of
Lot 11 AP 19; thence turning and running southerly bounded westerly
by Lot 1 AP 19, and easterly by Lot 11 AP 19; thence continuing southerly
to the northwest corner of said land now or formerly of Lionel J.
and Lucille Laboissonniere (Lot 3 AP 20); thence continuing southerly
along the western boundary lines of Lots 4, 38, 5 and 29 of AP 20;
thence continuing southerly along the western boundary lines of Lots
1, 2, and 4 of AP 21; thence continuing southerly along the western
boundary lines of Lots 1 and 2 of AP 22; thence continuing southerly
until it meets the eastern boundary line of the Washington lighting
district; thence continuing southerly along the eastern boundary line
of said Washington lighting district to the so-called "Seven and Ten
Man line"; (said Seven and Ten Man line is the southern boundary line
of the Town of Coventry school property and the northern boundary
line of said Washington lighting district) thence turning and running
easterly along said Seven and Ten Man line until it comes to a point
directly opposite to the northwest corner of the Rathbun Cemetery;
thence turning and running southeasterly through said cemetery until
it comes to the northwood abutment of the railroad bridge at Knotty
Oak; thence turning and running southeasterly to the gate house at
the outlet of Tiogue Reservoir; thence turning and running southeasterly
in a straight line until it comes to the southeast corner of land
now or formerly of George E. and Olive T. Bockstael (shown as Lot
429 on AP 7 of Coventry records); thence turning and running in an
easterly direction along the southern boundary lines of Lots 392,
396, 382, 385, 389, 379, on AP 7 Town of Coventry records to a point
on the boundary line between the towns of West Warwick and Coventry,
which point is on the south side of Tiogue Avenue (Route 3, state
highway); thence turning and running northerly along said town line
to the stone bound on the north side of Pulaski Street and the place
of beginning, is hereby incorporated into a district to be called
the "Coventry fire district."
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 1; P.L. 1889, Ch. 818, § 1; P.L. 1899, Ch. 697, § 1; P.L. 1945, Ch. 1578, § 1; P.L. 1946, Ch. 1681, § 1; P.L. 1949, Ch. 2232, § 1; P.L. 1953, Ch. 3071, § 1; P.L. 1959, Ch. 12, § 1; P.L. 1967, Ch. 106, § 1)
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The taxable inhabitants of said district qualified
to vote in town affairs, on propositions to impose taxes, or for the
expenditure of money, shall be eligible to vote and act in all meetings
of the corporation.
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 2)
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The annual meeting of said district shall be
holden on the second Monday of December in each year. The first meeting
shall be holden on the second Tuesday after the enactment of this
act, in the Town of Coventry within the limits of the fire district,
and may be called by any one or more of the taxable inhabitants of
said district. A vote by ballot shall be taken at said meeting upon
the proposition: "Shall the Coventry fire district be established
according to the act of incorporation passed by the general assembly
of the state?" If a majority of the persons so voting shall vote "yes,"
then said Coventry fire district shall be established according to
the provisions of this act. If a majority of the persons so voting
shall vote "no," then this act shall become null and void.
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 3)
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Said taxable inhabitants, at each annual meeting,
and at any other meetings when vacancies occur, may elect officers
to serve for one year or until the next annual meeting and until others
be chosen in their stead; which officers shall consist of a moderator,
clerk, treasurer, three accessors and a collector of taxes, whose
duties and powers within said district shall be such as like officers
of towns of this state have in their respective towns. They may also
elect firewards and any other needed officers.
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 4)
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Said taxable inhabitants, at any of their legal
meetings, shall have power to order such taxes, and provide for the
assessing and collecting the same on the taxable inhabitants and property
in said district, as they shall deem necessary for purchasing and
procuring implements and apparatus and a supply of water for the extinguishment
of fire, and for the purpose of lighting the streets and public highways
in said district with electricity, or otherwise; and such taxes so
ordered shall be assessed by the assessors of said district on the
taxable inhabitants and property therein, according to the last valuation
made by the assessors of the town next previous to the said assessment,
adding, however, any taxable property which may have been omitted
by said town assessors or afterwards acquired; and in the assessment
and collecting said taxes, such proceedings shall be had by the officers
of said district, as near as may be, as are required to be had by
the corresponding officers of towns in assessing and collecting town
taxes; provided, however, that the tax assessed and payable in any
one year under the provisions of this section shall not exceed three
mills on each dollar of said valuation.
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 5; P.L. 1907,
Ch. 1512, § 1)
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Said taxable inhabitants, at any legal meeting,
shall have the power to enact bylaws prescribing the duties of firewards,
and of the inhabitants of said district in time of conflagration,
and for the purpose of enforcing obedience to the commands of the
firewards and appointing officers for suppressing disorder and tumult,
guarding or removing property, or rendering other services in time
of fire, and also for the protection of the water pipes, hydrants,
safety valves, water gates, hose or other apparatus or property of
said district, and for breach of any such bylaws may provide a penalty
not exceeding a fine of $20, to be recovered for the use of said district,
or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 30 days, which penalty may
be enforced by prosecution on complaint of any member of said board
of firewards before any court of competent jurisdiction.
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 6)
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The firewards appointed by said district may
order, in time of fire, such buildings to be pulled down or blown
up as they shall judge necessary to stop the progress of the fire;
and if it shall happen that the pulling down or blowing up of any
such building, by direction as aforesaid, shall be the occasion of
stopping the progress of such fire, or if the fire stop before it
comes to the same, the owner shall be reasonably paid therefor, by
a tax upon said district, the amount of which tax shall be adjudged
by the court of common pleas for the County of Kent, which court is
hereby authorized and empowered, on application to them, made in behalf
of such owners, with or without jury trial, as such owners may request,
to adjudge as to the amount necessary, and cause the same to be certified
to the district, and such tax shall be assessed and collected in said
district. But no building in which any fire shall first break out
or begin shall be paid for under this provision.
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 7)
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Said taxable inhabitants at any annual meeting
or other legal meeting shall have power to choose and appoint so many
men as they shall think needful, to be formed into a hose company
or companies, and also hook and ladder company, and to make all such
laws and regulations for organizing and establishing the same as they
shall see fit; and the members of such companies shall be exempt from
jury or militia duty.
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 8)
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Said taxable inhabitants may hold special meetings
which, as well as the annual meetings, shall be notified in such a
manner as they shall prescribe, and it shall be the duty of the clerk
to call such a meeting upon written application, signed by 12 or more
such inhabitants; and whenever the subject of ordering a tax is to
be acted on, the same shall be mentioned in the notice, unless it
be an annual meeting.
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 9)
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Said district may enact all bylaws by them judged
necessary and expedient for carrying the provisions of this act into
effect; provided, that no greater penalty be inflicted thereby than
is prescribed in the sixth section hereof, and provided the same be
not in violation of or repugnant to the laws of this state.
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 10)
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Said district is hereby authorized, in such
manner as is necessary and proper, to procure and introduce into the
said Coventry fire district a supply of pure water for municipal,
domestic, and manufacturing purposes, and for fire protection, and
to take such means as are necessary and proper to establish and maintain
a system of lighting the streets and public highways in said district
with electricity, or otherwise; and may issue its bonds, notes, or
scrip therefor in such manner as the district may deem best.
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 11; P.L. 1902,
Ch. 1040, § 1; P.L. 1907, Ch. 1512, § 2)
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Said district may purchase, take, hold, use,
and permanently appropriate any land, water, rights of water and [rights-]of-way
necessary and proper to be used in furnishing or enlarging such water
supply, including sites and materials for dams, reservoirs, pumping
stations, aqueducts, and for coalhouses, with right-of-way thereto,
and right-of-way for water pipes along and across public highways
and through private lands, and including also lands to be covered
or to be flowed by water, or to be in any other way used in furnishing,
enlarging or maintaining such water supply, and in the event of such
taking, or of the exercise of the powers and privileges granted by
this section, the same procedure shall be had as is provided in chapter
123 of the General Laws.
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(P.L. 1889, Ch. 806, § 12; P.L. 1899,
Ch. 697, § 2; P.L. 1902, Ch. 1040, § 2)
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If any person shall willfully do or cause to
be done any act whatever whereby the works of the said district, or
any pipe, conduit, dam, reservoir, aqueduct, hydrant, faucet, or any
engine, machine, or structure, or any matter or thing appertaining
to the same shall be stopped, obstructed, impaired, weakened, injured
or destroyed, or shall corrupt the water supply belonging to or furnished
by said district, the person so offending shall forfeit and pay to
said district double the amount of damages sustained thereby, to be
recovered in an action of debt to be brought in the name of said district,
in any court of competent jurisdiction, together with all costs of
such suit.
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(P.L. 1902, Ch. 1040, § 3)
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[1]
Editor's Note: Sections 3 and 4 of P.L. 1902,
Ch. 1040, and § 3 of P.L. 1907, Ch. 1512, were not enacted
as specific amendments to the basic act from which this article is
derived. They have been renumbered as §§ 13, 14 and
15 to preserve the continuity of the section numbers in this article.
The owner and occupant of every tenement shall
severally be liable for the payment of the price of rent for the use
of the water introduced by said district into or upon such premises.
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(P.L. 1902, Ch. 1040, § 4)
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[1]
Editor's Note: See Note on § 13.
Said district, for the purpose of establishing
and maintaining a system of lighting the streets and public highways
in said district with electricity or otherwise, may carry any works
to be constructed or authorized to be constructed by them over or
under any highway, railroad, or street in such manner as not to permanently
obstruct or impede travel thereon; and may enter upon and dig up any
highway, road, or street for the purpose of erecting poles, laying
conduits or pipes and running wires, or for the purpose of maintaining
or repairing the same; provided, all such work upon, over, or under
any highway or street shall be performed with the assent of the town
council of said town wherein such highway, road, or street is located;
and no such work upon or in any portion of any railroad shall be done
until after five days' notice in writing to the superintendent of
such railroad of the intention of said district to do the same and
specifying in said notice the time when and place where such work
is to be commenced. Such district shall be liable to such town and
railroad corporations, severally, for such damages as may result to
them or either of them in any way in the execution of the powers herein
conferred upon said district.
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(P.L. 1907, Ch. 1512, § 3)
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[1]
Editor's Note: See Note on § 13.
