Year-round Housing Trust Fund

(1) A Seasonal Community may establish a Trust to provide for the creation and preservation of Attainable Housing Units for the benefit of year-round residents. (2) A Seasonal Community may establish a Trust by a majority vote of the municipal legislative body under M.G.L. c. 4, § 4 and may establish a Regional Trust with other Seasonal Communities, provided that each Seasonal Community participating in such Regional Trust accepts its participation in the Regional Trust by a majority vote of the municipal legislative body. (3) A Regional Trust shall expire after a set term of calendar years agreed upon by all members to said trust, measured from the date of its creation or reauthorization, unless specifically reauthorized for a subsequent period byall Seasonal Communities participating in such Regional Trust. If EOHLC revokes the designation of a Seasonal Community participating in a Regional Trust pursuant to 760 CMR 76.12, the Seasonal Community that has had its designation revoked may continue to participate in said Regional Trust only until the expiration of such term, or after five years from the creation or authorization of said Regional Trust, whichever is sooner. (4) Each Trust shall have a Board, which shall include not less than five trustees. (5) A Board for a Trust that is not a Regional Trust shall include the chief executive officer, as defined by M.G.L. c. 4, § 7, of the city or town, or its designee, and where the chief executive officer is a multi-member body, that body shall designate one of its members to serve on the Board. All other trustees of such Board shall be appointed in a city by the mayor or by the city manager in a Plan D or Plan E municipality, subject in either case, to confirmation by the city council, and in a town by the select board. (6) A Board for a Regional Trust shall include, to the extent that it is practicable, not less than one resident from each Seasonal Community participating in such Regional Trust. A trustee from each Seasonal Community shall be appointed in a city by the mayor or by the city manager in a Plan D or Plan E municipality, subject in either case, to confirmation by the city council, and in a town by the select board unless the Regional Trust has established a process for participating Seasonal Communities to appoint, elect, or otherwise designate trustees, provided that a Regional Trust shall ensure, to the extent practicable, representation from each community participating in the Trust. (7) Trustees of a Board for a Trust or Regional Trust shall serve for a term not to exceed three years and may be reappointed for successive terms. (8) A trustee of a Board for a Trust or Regional Trust may, to the extent not otherwise prohibited by law, serve on any other municipal board or committee, including, but not limited to a board of trustees established pursuant to M.G.L. c. 44, § 55C. (9) The powers of the Board, all of which shall be carried out in furtherance of the purpose of the Trust and in accordance with M.G.L. c. 44B and M.G.L. c. 23, § 32, shall include, to the extent not otherwise prohibited bylaw, the following powers, which may be modified or omitted to the extent authorized by law: (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, including a Year-round Housing Occupancy Restriction, tendered to the Trust in connection with any ordinance or by-law or any general or special law or any other source, including money from M.G.L. c. 44B; provided, however, that any such money received from M.G.L. c. 44B shall be used exclusively for community housing, as defined in M.G.L. c. 44B, § 2, and shall remain subject to all the rules, regulations and limitations of M.G.L. c. 44B 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 M.G.L. c. 44B are reported to the community preservation committee of the city or town for inclusion in the community preservation initiatives report to the department of revenue; (b) To purchase and retain real or personal property; (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 incomes 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 anyreorganization, 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 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 to continue to hold the same for such period of time as the Board may deem appropriate; (n) To manage or improve real property, including but not limited to subdividing said real property; and to abandon any property which the Board determined 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; (p) To extend the time for payment of any obligation to the Trust; and (q) Any additional powers authorized by any general law or special law. (10) To the extent authorized by law, moneys paid to the Trust in accordance with any zoning ordinance or by-law, fee, or private contribution may be paid directly into the Trust and need not be appropriated or accepted and approved into the Trust. General revenues appropriated into the Trust may, to the extent authorized by law, become Trust property and, to the extent authorized by law, 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, may, to the extent authorized by law, remain Trust property. (11) To the extent required by law, the Trust shall be a public employer and the members of the board shall be public employees for purposes of M.G.L. c. 258. (12) To the extent required by law, the Trust shall be deemed a municipal agency and the Trustees special municipal employees, for purposes of M.G.L. c. 268A. (13) The books and records of the Trust shall be audited annually by an independent auditor in accordance with accepted accounting practices. (14) To the extent required by law, the trust shall be a governmental body.