An Act To Create the Bayside Utilities District
Maine Legislature, Session 121, LD 1212
Committee: Utilities and Energy
Sponsors: ASH, HATCH, BERRY, BLANCHETTE, COLLINS, GERZOFSKY, LESSARD, PELLON, TWOMEY

Legislative Document 
No. 1212 
H.P.886 
House of Representatives, March 6, 2003 
An Act To Create the Bayside Utilities District 
Reference to the Committee on Utilities and Energy suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative ASH of Belfast. 
Cosponsored by Senator HATCH of Somerset and 
/il~/J1.~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Representatives: BERRY of Belmont, BLANCHETTE of Bangor, COLLINS of Wells, 
GERZOFSKY of Brunswick, HATCH of Skowhegan, LESSARD of Topsham, PELLON of 
Machias, TWOMEY of Biddeford. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. Territorial limits; corporate name. 
Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, chapter 64, 
of Northport described as follows: 
Pursuant to the Maine 
that part of the Town 
Beginning on the shore of the west side of Penobscot Bay at 
a point marking the southerly line of the property identified on 
the Town of Northport tax map U-9 as lot 2; thence southwesterly 
in a straight line to the intersection of U. S. Route 1 and the 
Pound Hill Road; thence northwesterly in a straight line to the 
intersection 
of 
the 
Rocky 
Road 
and 
the 
Bog 
Road; 
thence 
southwesterly by the center of the Bog Road 500 feet; 
thence 
northwesterly following a line 500 feet west of Rocky Road to the 
Belfast town line; thence following the town boundaries to the 
shore of the west side of Penobscot Bay; thence northeasterly, 
southeasterly and southerly by said bay to point of beginning and 
its inhabitants constitute a standard district under the name 
Bayside Utilities District, 
referred to in this Act as 
"the 
district." 
Sec. 2. Powers; authority: duties. 
The district has all the 
powers and authority and is subject to all the requirements and 
restrictions provided in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, 
chapter 64. 
Sec. 3. Authority to purchase water. 
Notwithstanding the Maine 
Revised Statutes, Title 
35-A, 
section 
6404, 
the district is 
authorized to purchase water from the Belfast Water District. 
Sec. 4. Additional powers. 
The 
provide water and sewage treatment 
public purposes and for the health, 
the inhabitants of the district. 
district is authorized to 
and collection systems for 
comfort and convenience of 
Sec. 5. 
Power to take water and sewer. 
The 
district is 
authorized to take, hold, use and distribute water and sewage 
from the Northport Village Corporation. 
Sec. 6. Number of trustees. 
The board of trustees of the 
district is composed of 5 trustees, 4 must be Northport Village 
Corporation eligible voters as defined in Private and Special Law 
1915, chapter 136, section 12 and one must be a trustee at large 
who is a utility user of the district. 
Sec. 7. Election of first board. 
The first board is elected in an 
election 
called 
by 
the 
municipal 
officers 
of 
the 
Town 
of 
Northport and the municipal officers of the Northport Village 
Corporation within 6 months of approval of this Act by the voters 
in 
accordance 
with 
this 
Act. 
The 
terms 
of 
the 
first 
Page l-LR1448 (1) 
board are governed by the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, 
section 6410. 
Sec. 8. Terms of trustees. 
After the election of the first 
board, trustees are elected to 3-year terms. 
Terms are staggered 
and no trustee may serve more than 4 3-year terms consecutively. 
Sec. 9. Authorized to acquire Droperty and franchises of Northport 
Village Corporation. 
The district, 
through its trustees, shall 
acquire by purchase in accordance with this section the plants, 
properties, 
franchises, 
rights 
and 
privileges 
owned 
by 
the 
Northport Village Corporation, 
including all lands, buildings, 
waters, 
water 
rights, 
reservoirs, 
tanks, 
standpipes, 
mains, 
pumps. pipes, machinery, 
fixtures, hydrants, meters, services, 
tools, 
equipment, 
apparatus 
and appliances used or usable in 
supplying water in the area of the district and all sewers, 
reservoirs, 
flush 
tanks, 
manholes, 
catch 
basins, 
filtration 
plants, pumping stations and other appliances and property used 
or usable for collecting, holding, purifying and disposing of 
sewage matter and waste waters. 
The 
Northport 
Village 
Corporation 
existing 
pursuant 
to 
Private and Special Law 1915, chapter 136 shall selL transfer 
and 
convey 
to 
the 
district 
by 
appropriate 
instruments 
of 
conveyance 
alL 
and 
not 
less 
than 
alL 
of 
their 
plants, 
properties, assets, franchises, rights and privileges, including, 
without 
limitation, 
lands, 
buildings, 
waters, 
water 
rights, 
springs, 
wells, 
reservoirs, 
tanks, 
standpipes, 
mains, 
pumps, 
pipes, machinery, 
fixtures, 
hydrants, 
meters, 
services, tools, 
equipment. apparatus and appliances used or useful in supplying 
water 
for 
domestic, 
commercial, 
industrial 
and 
municipal 
purposes, 
and all sewers, 
reservoirs, 
flush 
tanks, 
manholes, 
catch basins, 
filtration plants. 
pumping 
stations 
and 
other 
appliances and property used or usable for collecting, holding, 
purifying and disposing of sewage matter and waste waters in 
consideration of the assumption by the district of all of the 
outstanding water-related and sewer-related debts, 
obligations 
and liabilities of the Northport Village Corporation, including, 
without 
limitation, 
the 
assumption 
of 
any 
outstanding 
water-related and sewer-related notes or bonds of the Northport 
Village Corporation that are due on or after the date of transfer. 
The sale and transfer by the Northport Village Corporation 
to the district of its plants, properties, assets, franchises, 
rights and privileges; the assumption by the district of all of 
the 
outstanding 
debts, 
obligations 
and 
liabilities 
of 
the 
district pursuant to this section: and the subsequent use of the 
plants, properties, assets, franchises, rights and privileges by 
the district within the limits of the district are subject to the 
approval of the Public Utilities Commission as may be required by 
the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, Part 1. 
Sec. 10. Continuation of Northoort Village Corporation. 
Nothing 
in this Act is intended to alter or affect or may be interpreted 
as 
altering 
or 
affecting 
the 
Northport 
Village 
Corporation 
Charter. 
Sec. 11. Referendum; effectiv~ dat~. This Act takes effect when 
approved only for the purpose of permitting its submission to the 
eligible voters of 
the Northport Village Corporation at its 
annual meeting 
and to the legal voters within the territory 
described in section 1 of this Act at elections called for that 
purpose and held within one year of the effective date of this 
Act. 
The elections must be called, 
advertised and conducted 
according to the law relating to municipal elections, except that 
the registrar of voters is not required to prepare or the clerk 
to post a new list of voters. 
for the purpose of registration of 
voters, the registrar of voters must be in session the secular 
day preceding the election. 
The subject matter of this Act is 
reduced to the following questions. 
The question to be submitted 
to the eligible voters of the Northport Village Corporation must 
read as follows: 
"Do you favor permitting the Bayside Utilities District to 
acquire the water-related and sewer-related assets of the 
Northport Village Corporation?" 
The question to be submitted to the legal voters within the 
district must read as follows: 
"Do you favor creating the Bayside Utilities District?" 
The voters shall indicate by a cross or check mark placed 
against the word "Yes" or "No" their opinion of the same. 
The results must be declared by the municipal officers of 
the Town of Northport and due certificate of the results filed by 
the clerk with the Secretary of State. 
This Act takes effect for all purposes immediately upon its 
approval by a majority of the eligible voters of the Northport 
Village Corporation at its annual meeting and by a majority of 
the legal voters voting at the election. 
Failure to achieve the 
necessary approval in any referendum does not prohibit subsequent 
referenda consistent with this section, provided the referenda 
are held prior to January 1, 2005. 
SUMMARY 
This bill creates the Bayside Utilities District and allows 
the Northport Village Corporation to convey its water-related and 
sewer-related assets to the Bayside Utilities District.