An Act To Repeal and Replace the Kittery Water District Charter
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 1542
Committee: Energy, Utilities and Technology
Sponsors: MATHIESON, LAWRENCE

Legislative Document
No. 1542
H.P. 1147
House of Representatives, April 22, 2021
An Act To Repeal and Replace the Kittery Water District Charter
Received by the Clerk of the House on April 20, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Energy, Utilities and Technology pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to 
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative MATHIESON of Kittery.
Cosponsored by Senator LAWRENCE of York.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  Corporate limits; purpose.  Pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 
35-A, chapter 64, the territory described as follows and its inhabitants constitute a standard 
district under the name "Kittery Water District," referred to in this Act as "the district," for 
the purpose of supplying the inhabitants of that district with pure water for domestic, 
sanitary, commercial, industrial and governmental purposes, except that the district may 
supply water pursuant to any contract with the United States Government:  so much of the 
Town of Kittery in the County of York, beginning:  At the intersection of the Kittery, Eliot 
and York town lines, near the intersection of Beech Ridge Road and Birch Hill Road, York, 
-70-43-59.334577 W 43-08-53.8973311 N, to the intersection of Kingsbury Lane and the 
northerly end of Boulter Pond, York, -70-42-49.6480387 W 43-10-45.3033869 N, to the 
Kittery Water District Treatment Plant, New Boston Road, York, -70-41-26.9790881 W 
43-09-47.4562265 N, to the intersection of Cider Hill Road and Cider Hill Creek, near #63 
Cider Hill Road, York, -70-40-52.4809683 W 43-09-14.843154 N, to U.S. Route 1, at a 
valve in front of #4 U.S. Route 1, York, -70-42-07.4670456 W 43-07-58.9788246 N, and 
so much of the Town of Eliot:  Beginning at the intersection of River Road and Shapleigh 
Old Mill Pond, Eliot, thence running northeasterly to -70-49-17.1735813 W 43-07-
53.5036442 N, the intersection of Fore Road and State Road, Eliot, thence running 
northeasterly, -70-48-22.2209294 W 43-08-18.0445193 N, to the intersection of Harold L. 
Dow Highway and Arc Road, thence 500' northeasterly along Arc Road, to a point, thence 
running southeasterly, 500' from and parallel to, the Harold L. Dow Highway, -70-47-
08.7509814 W 43-08-39.169043 N, to the intersection of the Kittery and Eliot town lines, 
near the intersection of Hanscom Road and Bolt Hill Road, Eliot, -70-45-30.1957606 W 
43-07-20.8098403 N.
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, except as otherwise provided in this Act.
The district is hereby authorized and empowered to extend its business into the Town 
of Eliot for the purpose of supplying the Town of Eliot and the inhabitants thereof with 
water for domestic, commercial, industrial and governmental purposes.
The district is hereby given and granted the same authority, rights and privileges to 
install, transact and carry on its business in the Town of Eliot as it has in the Town of 
Kittery.
For accomplishing the purposes of this Act, the district, through its trustees, is 
authorized to issue its notes or bonds to an amount sufficient to procure funds to pay the 
expenses necessary to install its business in the Town of Eliot.
The district is hereby authorized and empowered to extend its business into the Town 
of York, from its present water main, over Cider Hill, so-called, to Great Bridge, so-called, 
and over Beech Ridge, so-called, for the purpose of supplying the Town of York, within 
this territory and the inhabitants thereof, with water for domestic, commercial, industrial 
and governmental purposes.
The district is hereby given and granted the same authority, rights and privileges to 
install, transact and carry on its business in the Town of York within the territory above 
named as it has in the Town of Kittery.
Sec. 3.  Power to take water; purchase water.  The district is authorized to take 
water from any spring, pond or streams in the district or adjoining towns within or outside 
of the district, including surface and groundwater sources, except that no water except as 
provided in this Act may be taken from springs or ponds now used for similar purposes 
without consent of the owner, to erect and maintain pumping stations, with all necessary 
appliances required thereto, to erect and maintain reservoirs and standpipes and to lay down 
and maintain pipes and aqueducts necessary for the proper accumulating, conducting, 
discharging, distributing and disbursing of water, and forming proper reservoirs therefor.  
The district may take and hold by purchase or otherwise any lands, or real estate necessary 
therefor, may excavate through any lands when necessary for the purposes of the district 
and may purchase water from another water district.
Sec. 4.  Trustees.  Trustees in office at the time of voter approval of this Act shall 
serve the remainder of their terms.  The board of trustees of the district is composed of 5 
trustees.  A trustee must be a resident of the district and a registered legal voter and may 
not be a municipally elected official.  Of the trustees who are first elected after the effective 
date of this Act, one trustee must be elected to a term of one year, 2 trustees must be elected 
to a term of 2 years and 2 trustees must be elected to a term of 3 years pursuant to the Maine 
Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 6410, subsection 4.  A trustee must be chosen by 
ballot, including by absentee or mail-in ballot, by the legal voters within the district.  
Whenever the term of office of a trustee expires or to otherwise fill an unoccupied office 
of trustee, the legal voters of the district shall elect a successor to serve for a full term of 3 
years, and if any other vacancy occurs it may be filled in like manner for the unexpired 
term.  In the event of a tied vote, a run-off election must be conducted pursuant to the Maine 
Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, section 2528, subsection 10 within 6 weeks of the election, 
with 30 days' public notice, and the incumbent, if any, continues to hold office until the 
election is decided.  As soon as convenient after the board of trustees has been chosen, the 
board of trustees shall hold a meeting at such time as determined by the board of trustees 
at the office of the water district in the Town of Kittery and organize by the election of a 
chair and clerk, adopt a corporate seal and when necessary choose a treasurer and all other 
needful officers and agents for the proper management of the affairs of the district.  The 
trustees may procure an office and incur such expenses as may be necessary.  The district 
at any legal meeting thereof, called for the purpose, may adopt such bylaws and provisions, 
not inconsistent with the laws and constitution of the State and the United States, as 
considered expedient and necessary for the better government and regulation of the 
municipal affairs within the district, in which case such bylaws and provisions so adopted 
extend to the district as fully, to all intents and purposes, as the other provisions of this Act, 
subject only to alterations or additions by a 2/3 vote, at a legal meeting of the district called 
for the purpose.
Sec. 5.  United States Government contracts.  All contracts existing on the 
effective date of this Act between the Kittery Water District as established by Private and 
Special Law 1907, chapter 424, as amended, and any persons or corporations or the United 
States Government for supplying water within the district and any remaining portion of the 
Town of Kittery, the Town of Eliot, the Town of York or other adjoining town are assumed 
and carried out by the district under this Act.
Sec. 6.  P&SL 1907, c. 424, as amended, is repealed.
Sec. 7.  P&SL 1909, c. 109, as amended, is repealed.
Sec. 8.  P&SL 1911, c. 2, as amended, is repealed.
Sec. 9.  Referendum; effective date.  This Act takes effect 90 days after 
adjournment of the Legislature only for the purpose of permitting its submission to the legal 
voters within the territory described in section 1 at an election called for that purpose.  
Pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, section 2528, the election 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 question:
"Shall An Act To Repeal and Replace the Kittery Water District Charter, 
passed by the 130th Legislature, be accepted?"
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 Kittery, the Town 
of Eliot and the Town of York and due certificate of the results filed by the clerk with the 
Secretary of State.
This Act takes effect for all other purposes immediately upon its approval 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.
SUMMARY
This bill repeals and replaces the Kittery Water District charter, changing the 
boundaries of the district and making it a standard water district pursuant to the Maine 
Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, chapter 64.