USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > Town annual report of Braintree, Massachusetts for the year 1940 > Part 6
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SECT. 2. The Moderator immediately following the final adjourn- ment of each annual Town Meeting shall appoint five members, for the term of three years, to fill the vacancies which will be occasioned by the expiration of the terms of the members whose terms expire by limi -. tation in that particular year. Such appointees shall be (a) voters of the Town and (b) appointed from such precincts as will make the precinct representation of the total membership of said committee as nearly pro- portionate to the number of registered voters in each precinct as may be.
SECT. 3 Interim vacancies in the committee shall be filled by the remaining members of the committee, in each case by the election of voters from the precincts in which such vacancies occur. The terms of office of all persons chosen to fill such interim vacancies shall expire at the final adjounment of the annual Town Meeting next succeeding, and thereafter the Moderator, in addition to appointments under Section 2 hereof, shall appoint a successor or successors from the same pre- cinct or precincts as the original appointee or appointees to fill out the unexpired term of each member whose office has been vacated.
SECT. 4. If any member is absent from five consecutive meetings of the finance committee, except in case of illness, said committee shall declare his position vacated, and proceed to fill the vacancy under the provisions of Section 3 of this Article.
SECT. 5. The finance committee may consider any or all munici- pal questions for the purpose of making recommendations to the Town, to any Town board, officer or committee relative to such matters.
SECT. 6. Whenever the warrant for any Town Meeting contains an article or articles under which an appropriation or expenditure of money or disposal of any of the property of the Town may be made, the finance committee shall consider said articles after giving one or more public hearings thereon, and shall report in print its recommendations
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to the said Town Meeting, but their failure to so report shall not affect the validity of any action taken at any meeting held in the absence of such report.
SECT. 7. The finance committee shall choose from its members a chairman and secretary, shall regulate its proceedings, and shall serve without pay except the secretary thereof, who may receive such com- pensation as the committee may vote from any appropriation for the use or expenses of said committee.
SECT. 8. The committee may employ stenographic, clerical or other assistance, to be paid from such funds as the Town may appropriate for the use of said committee.
ARTICLE IV LEGAL AFFAIRS
SECTION 1. The board of selectmen shall have authority to prose- cute, defend and compromise all litigation to which the Town is a party, and to employ special counsel to assist the Town Counsel whenever in their judgment necessity therefor arises. The Town Counsel shall draft or approve as to form all bonds, deeds, leases, obligations, conveyances and other legal instruments, and do every professional act necessary for the protection of the town's interest which may be required of him, by vote of the Town or any board or officer of the Town. Also when re- quired by any of said boards or officers, he shall furnish a written opinion on any question that may be submitted to him in writing relative to the rights or duties of said board or officers, and he shall at all times furnish legal advice to any officer of the Town who may require his opinion upon any subject concerning the duties incumbent upon such officer by virtue of his office. He shall prosecute all suits ordered to be brought by the Town or board of selectmen, and shall appear in any court in the Com- monwealth in defence of all actions or suits brought against the Town or its officers in their official capacity, and shall try and argue any and all causes in which the Town shall be a party, before any tribunal, whether in law or in equity, in the Commonwealth, or before any board of referees or commission, and shall appear at any and all hearings on behalf of the Town whenever his services may be required.
SECT. 2. The board of selectmen shall annually appoint an at- torney at law to act as Town Counsel, who shall be paid such salary as the Town votes.
SECT. 3. Whenever it shall be necessary to execute any deed conveying land, or any other instrument required to carry into effect any vote of the Town, the same shall be executed by the Treasurer in behalf of the Town, unless otherwise provided by law or by vote of the Town.
SECT. 4. The Selectmen may sell property, the title to which has been acquired by the Town under tax title foreclosure procedure or the so-called low value tax title statute at public auction pursuant to a notice of such sale published in one or more newspapers published in the Town at least one week before the date of said sale and shall execute such deeds or instruments of conveyance as may be necessary to carry out the purpose of this section.
SECT. 5. The Selectmen, when in their judgment it is for the interests of the Town so to do, may bring on behalf of the Town any proceedings before any court, legislative committee, administrative board or other public official and may answer and defend any such proceedings brought against the Town and may appear on behalf of the Town in any such proceedings instituted by others in which the Town has an interest. They may prosecute such suits to final judgment or may com-
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promise any claims by and against the Town on such terms as shall seem to them for the best interests of the Town, whether or not such claims are in litigation, provided that they shall not, without the approval of the finance committee, comprise any tort claim against the town for a greater sum than $300.
Any other town board having authority to take property by eminent domain may in like manner, on recommendation of the Town Counsel, compromise any claim for property so taken by them.
ARTICLE V TOWN REPORT
SECTION 1. The head of each Town department, and every committee or board appointed or elected shall on or before the 15th of January report in writing to the Selectmen on their doings during the preceding calendar year and their recommendations for action by the Town. These reports shall be in such form as the Selectmen shall prescribe.
SECT. 2. The Selectmen shall cause to be printed and distributed before the annual Town Meeting the reports of the various town officers, boards and committees, and shall cause a copy of said report to be left at each occupied hotel, dwelling house and tenement, seven days at least before the date of holding said meeting.
ARTICLE VI TOWN CONTRACTS
SECTION 1. No officer or board of the Town shall make any contract on behalf of the Town in which such officer or any member of such board is directly or indirectly financially interested.
SECT. 2. No Town officer or board of Town officers having the power or authority to appoint any Town officer or agent shall appoint himself or any member of such board to any salaried office or position, but this shall not prohibit any Town officer from being chairman or clerk of the board of which he may be a member.
SECT. 3. Every officer or board in charge of a department and every committee of the Town, when authorized to purchase any supplies or property, or do any public work, or erect, construct or repair any building, in each case when the estimated cost of the entire property, work, or other matter in question does or may exceed five hundred dollars, shall, before letting any such contract, invite written proposals on identical specifications therefor by advertising in one or more newspapers, pub- lished in the Town, such invitation to state time and place for opening the proposals, and reserving the right of such officer, board or committee to reject any or all proposals.
SECT. 4. Nothing in this Article contained shall prevent the award- ing of contracts without such advertising in cases of emergency.
SECT. 5. A bond or other security satisfactory to the board or officer for whose department the expenditure is to be made may be re- quired for the faithful performance of any or all such contracts.
SECT. 6. Whenever any work is to be done by any officer or department of the Town, the whole or a portion of which is to be paid for by private parties, the officer or department having such work in charge shall, before proceeding on such work, require a deposit of the estimated expense with the Town Treasurer, except as otherwise pro- vided by law.
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Except as otherwise provided by law, if it appears during the prog- ress of the work that amount of the initial deposit will not cover the cost of the work to be paid for by the private parties in interest, the officer or department having the work in charge shall call for an additional deposit sufficient with the amount of the initial deposit to cover the then apparent total cost, before proceeding with the work, and so from time to time until the entire work is finished and in no instance shall any work for private parties be done or continued until the deposit sufficient to pay for the same is in possession of the Town, Treasurer either as an ititial or subsequent deposit. When the work is finished, any surplus of the deposit over cost as certified by the officer or department in charge shall be returned to the depositor by the Town Treasurer.
SECT.7. No personal property of the Town shall be sold by any officer or board, unless by vote of the Town or by the joint authoriza- tion of the Selectmen and of the Chairman of the Finance Committee, except that if its initial cost or value was $200 or less, it may be sold by the authorization of the Selectmen; such authorization shall, in each case, (a) be in writing; (b) certify that the proposed selling price is fair; and (c) be filed with the Town Accountant.
ARTICLE VII CEMETERY
SECTION 1. The sole care, superintendence, management and control of the Cemetery, shall be intrusted to a Cemetery Superintendent, who shall be subject to the general supervision of the Board of Select- men, and shall be annually appointed by them to take effect on the first day of April in each year.
SECT. 2. Lots in the Cemetery shall be sold at prices to be fixed from time to time by the Board of Selectmen.
SECT. 3. The Superintendent, in addition to his other duties, shall maintain a set of books in which shall be kept the records relative to the sale and ownership of lots and records of interments.
ARTICLE VIII AUDITING BOOKS
SECTION 1. The books and accounts for all departments of the Town shall be audited annually under the direction of the Director of Accounts, Department of Corporations of the Commonwealth.
ARTICLE IX THAYER PUBLIC LIBRARY
SECTION 1. The Town shall, once in every two years, at the Annual Meeting elect by ballot two Trustees of the Thayer Free Public Library, who shall be residents of the Town. and shall hold office for the term of two years.
ARTICLE X PLANNING BOARD
SECTION 1. There shall be a planning board of the Town which shall exercise the powers and perform the duties provided by Chapter 41 of the General Laws.
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SECT. 2. The Town planning board shall consist of five elected members, who shall serve without pay. Said board shall choose one of its members as Chairman and shall appoint a secretary. There shall be elected at the Annual Town Meeting for three year terms, members to fill vacancies occasioned by the expiration of the terms of the members.
SECT. 3. The Town Engineer shall be a member ex officio of the planning board.
ARTICLE XI JUNK DEALERS
SECTION 1. No person shall be a collector of or a dealer in junk, old metals, or second-hand articles, or a keeper of a shop for the pur- chase, sale or barter of junk, old metals or second-hand articles, without first obtaining a license therefor from the selectmen upon payment of a fee of at least five dollars.
ARTICLE XII HAWKERS AND PEDDLERS
SECTION 1. No person shall hawk or peddle fish, fruit or vege- tables within the limits of the Town, except as authorized by law, without first obtaining a license therefor from the selectmen upon payment of a fee of five dollars.
ARTICLE XIII WAYS
SECTION 1. The board of selectmen shall name all streets and avenues in the Town, but no present name of any street or avneue shall be given to any other street or avenue. The Town Engineer shall order all buildings on public streets to be numbered, designating the numbers to be used. The owner or occupant of any such building shall comply with such order within ten days thereafter. The Town Engineer may also re- commend such numbering of buildings on any private way of the Town.
SECT. 2. No opening or obstruction shall be made in, nor, except as provided in Sect. 15, shall any materials be placed on a public way or a way under control of the Town of Braintree, either by a department of the Town or a private individual or corporation, unless a permit therefor shall first be obtained from the board of selectmen or Superin- tendent of Streets. Before such permit is granted, an applicant other than a town department, may be required to file a bond in a sum satisfactory to the board of selectmen conditioned upon the faithful discharge and performance of every duty an drequirement imposed by statute, by-law of the Town or regulation of the board of selectmen applicable thereto, and upon conformance to all directions of the Superintendent of Streets relating to the work to be done under such permit, and upon the payment of all expenses and damage incurred by the Town or recovered from it by reason of or in connection with such occupation, opening or work.
Each applicant for a permit to open a street shall deposit with the Town Treasurer an amount prescribed by the Superintendent of Streets as a condition to the issuing of the permit to cover the cost of resurfacing after the opening has been closed, provided, however, that an applicant may be excused from making such payment in advance when a satisfactorv guarantee is given.
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SECT. 3. No person shall throw, place or cause to be thrown or placed upon any street or sidewalk in the Town, any dirt, ashes, stones, hoops, boards or other wood with nails projecting therefrom, shavings, sawdust, manure, nails, spikes, screws, glass, tin cans, filth, rubbish or any noxious or refuse liqiud or solid matter or substance.
SECT. 4. No person shall fire or discharge any gun, fowling piece, pistol or other firearm within any street, public way, place or square in the Town, except with the permission of the board of selectmen; pro- vided, however, that this section shall not apply to any firing in ac- cordance with law.
SECT. 5. No person shall distribute or display posters, handbills, placards, pamphlets or other advertising matter in any public street or way without first obtaining a permit therefor from the board of selectmen.
SECT. 6. No person shall place, or cause or allow to be placed, posters, handbills, placards or other advertising matter of any nature upon any wall, fence, structure, pole or tree, in any highway or street, and in or upon any sidewalk or footwalk in the Town, except upon prop- erty owned or occupied by such person so advertsing.
SECT. 7. No person shall kick a football or play at any game in which a ball or other missile of any kind is used, or throw any stones or other missiles, or use a bow and arrow or air gun in any public street of the Town.
SECT. 8. No person shall coast upon or across any sidewalk or street in the Town except at such times and in such places as may fromn time to time be designated by the selectmen.
SECT. 9. No person shall allow any gate or door on premises under his control, and adjoining any public way, to swing on, over or into said public way.
SECT. 10. Three or more persons shall not stand together or near each other in any street, or on any footwalk or sidewalk or upon any land left open and used as a sidewalk in the Town, so as to obstruct the free passage for foot passengers, after being ordered to move by any con- stable or police officer of the Town.
SECT. 11. No person shall loaf or loiter upon any public way after having been requested by a constable or police officer to move.
SECT. 12. No person shall swim or bathe in any of the waters within or surrounding the Town so as to be exposed in a nude state.
SECT. 13. No person shall obstruct the free and convenient use for travel of any public street, sidewalk or footpath.
SECT. 14. No person shall remove, extinguish, injure or destory any light lawfully in a public way.
SECT. 15. No person shall place, or cause to be placed upon any sidewalk, any coal, bale ,box or trunk, crate, cask, barrel, garbage can, package or anything, so as to obstruct the same for more than one hour, or for more than ten minutes after being notified by a constable, police officer or selectman to move it. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the placing in suitable locations at the edge of the street or sidewalk of suit- able containers filled with rubbish for disposition in connection with a duly authorized public rubbish collection, provided that said containers shall be seasonably removed from the street or sidewalk after being emptied.
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SECT. 16. No person intending to erect, repair or take down any building on land abutting on any street or way which the Town is re- quired to keep in repair, and desiring to make use of any portion of said street or way for the purpose of placing therein building materials or rubbish, shall do so until he shall have given notice thereof to the select- men and obtained their permit therefor. The selectmen may grant a permit to occupy a portion of said street or way, and if such permit be granted, it shall be upon the condition that the licensee shall keep a sufficient number of lighted lanterns at or near the parts of the street or way obstructed or unsafe, and shall keep a railing or guard around the way while such obstruction shall continue. If such obstruction is more than a temporary condition, the licensee shall place a good temporary walk around said obstruction, and at the completion of the work shall restore the street or way to its former condition. Before issuing a permit as hereinabove provided, the selectmen shall require from the person applying for the same a written agreement (and may require a bond) to indemnify and save harmless the Town against and from all damages, by reason of any claim for damages or by reason of any proceeding, criminal or civil, on account of the existence of such obstruction or excavation.
SECT. 17. The selectmen may from time to time make reasonable rules and regulations as to the use of town ways and ways under the control of the Town.
ARTICLE XIV CONSTRUCTION OF TERMS
SECTION 1. Except where the context forbids such construc- tion, words in these by-laws, importing the singular use, will include the plural, and words importing the plural will include the singular, and words importing the masculine gender shall include women and boards.
SECT. 2. The word "owner" applied to a building or land shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common or joint tenant of the whole or part of such building or land.
SECT. 3. The word "occupant" applied to a building or land shall include any person who occupies the whole or part of such building or land, either alone or with others.
SECT. 4. The word "Person" shall include firms and corporations.
SECT. 5. The word "officer" shall include officers and boards in charge of departments, and the members of such boards ..
SECT. 6. Words purporting to give a joint authority to three or more officers or other persons shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such officers or persons.
SECT. 7. Words prohibiting anything from being done, except in accordance with a license or permit or authority from a board or officer, shall be construed as giving such board or officer power to license or permit or authorize such thing to be done.
ARTICLE XV
REPEAL OF EXISTING BY-LAWS AND EFFECT THEREOF
SECTION 1. These By-Laws may be referred to as the "Revised By-Laws of the Town of Braintree, Massachusetts, 1940." These By-Laws, to the extent approved by the Attorney General shall take effect on the first day of the salendar month next after (1) surh approval and (2) publi- cation as required by law.
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SECT. 2. Insofar as any existing Town by-law, except Article Al-A, or the subject matter thereof, is not covered in these by-laws, the sanie is hereby repealed; but any repeal under this section sliall have no effect to revive any by-law theretofor repealed or suspended by any prior amendment. This section shall not effect Article XI-A of the existing by-laws referring to "Fire Districts and Regulations of the Construction and Inspection of Buildings, with Rules and Regulations" whichi article shall remain in effect until otherwise amended or repealed.
SECT. 3. The provisions of these by-laws, so far as they are the same in effect as previously existing by-laws, shall be construed as con- tinuations thereof and not as new enactments, and a reference in a by- law which has not been repealed to provisions of any by-law which has been revised, amended or re-enacted herein, shall be construed as applying to such provisions as so incorporated herein. These by-laws and the repeal or revision of any previously existing by-law shall not affect any act or thing done or begun, liability incurred, or any right accrued or established, or any penalty incurred, or any suit, prosecution or proceeding, civil or criminal, pending or instituted under any previous by-Law herein repealed in whole or in part, to enforce any right or penalty or to punish any offence under the authority of any previously existing by-laws, at the time these by-laws take effect, except as herein otherwise provided and subject to said limitations.
ARTICLE XVI ALTERATIONS, AMENDMENTS AND REPEALS
SECTION 1. These by-laws may be altered, amended or repealed at any Town Meeting, but only by the affirmative vote of at least two- thirds of all the voters present and voting, subject to referendum provis- ions in Chapter 17 of the Acts of 1937 and unless otherwise provided by law, providing the warrant for such meeting shall contain an article or articles setting forth the substance of such proposed alterations, amend- ments or repeals.
SECT. 2. Every alteration, amendment or repeal shall take effect when approved and published according to law, unless otherwise pro- vided therein, subject to the same constructions and limitations as pro- vided in Article XV, Section 3, of these by-laws.
ARTICLE XVII PENALTIES
SECTION 1. Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of these by-laws, as set forth in Articles XI to XIII, inclusive, shall be subject to a penalty of not more than $20.00 for each offence, except as otherwise provided by law.
Article 3. To see if the Town, acting upon the report of the Zon- ing Committee will vote to amend its By-Laws by adopting a Zoning Act in substantially the following form, or take any other action rela- tive thereto :-
PROPOSED ZONING BY-LAW FOR THE TOWN OF BRAINTREE, MASSACHUSETTS Prepared by the Zoning Committee Arthur C. Comey, Planning Consultant May 2, 1940
A by-law to promote the health, safety, convenience, and welfare of the inhabitants by dividing the town into districts and regulating the use and construction of buildings and premises with a view to encourag- ing the most appropriate use of land in the town.
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SEC. I ESTABLISHMENT OF DISTRICTS
1. CLASSES OF DISTRICTS. The Town of Braintree is hereby divided as shown on the Zoning Map dated May 2, 1940, and filed with the Town Clerk, into five classes of districts:
Residence A. districts,
Residence B districts, Residence C districts, Business districts, Industrial districts.
2. LOTS IN TWO DISTRICTS. Where a district boundary line divides any lot existing at the time such line is adopted, the regulations for the less restricted portion of such lot shall extend not more than thirty feet into the more restricted portion, provided the lot has frontage in the less restricted district.
SEC. II RESIDENCE A AND B DISTRICT USES
In a residence A or B district no building shall be erected or altered and no building or premises shall be used for any purpose except
1. Detached one-family dwelling;
2. Two-family dwelling in any dwelling containing more than six rooms exclusive of halls and bathrooms at the time this by-law is adopted, provided such building is not enlarged;
3. Private club not conducted for profit and not containing more than five sleeping rooms;
4. Church;
5. Educational use; -
6. Farm, poultry farm, garden, or nursery, selling only produce or plants the major portion of which is raised on the premises, and ex- cluding any use injurious, noxious or offensive to the neghborhood; ,
7. Municipal recreational use;
8. Accessory use on the same lot with and customarily incident to any of the above permitted uses and not detrimental to a residential neighborhood. The term "accessory use" shall not include
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