2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title II - Executive and Administrative Officers of the Commonwealth › Chapter 21d - Massachusetts Hazardous Waste Facility Siting Act › Section 5 - Local Assessment Committee

Section 5. Not more than thirty days after the receipt of a notice of intent to construct, maintain and operate a hazardous waste facility on a site in a city or town, or notification by the department that this community is a host community in the final list of suggested sites established by the council pursuant to section seven, the chief executive officer of said city or town shall take appropriate action to establish a local assessment committee. Said committee shall be comprised of (1) the chief executive officer, who shall serve as its chairman, (2) the chairman of the local board of health or his designee, (3) the chairman of the local conservation commission or his designee, (4) the chairman of the local planning board or his designee, (5) the chief of the fire department or his designee, (6) four residents of said city or town appointed by a majority vote of the aforementioned city or town officials, three of whom shall be residents of the area of the city or town most immediately affected by the proposed facility; and (7) not more than four members nominated by the chief executive officer and approved by a majority vote of the city council, board of aldermen, or board of selectmen of said city or town. Alternate members shall serve on said committee in the absence of members appointed in accordance with clauses (6) and (7) who, in each instance, shall be appointed in the same manner as those members appointed pursuant to said clauses (6) and (7). Said four members nominated by the chief executive officer may include representatives of abutting communities; each representative of an abutting community shall be approved by a majority vote of the city council, board of aldermen, or board of selectmen of said abutting community. A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of conducting all business. The chairman shall preside over meetings of the committee. All actions and decisions of the committee pursuant to this chapter shall be made by majority vote. Not more than thirty days after the receipt of a notice of intent to construct, maintain and operate a hazardous waste facility on a site in said city or town, or notification by the department that this community is a host community on the final list of suggested sites established by the council pursuant to section seven, the chief executive officer of said city or town shall submit to the council the names and addresses of all the members of the local assessment committee. Each member of the committee shall receive, subject to appropriation, fifty dollars for each day or part thereof for his services and shall also receive all reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of his official duties.
If the chief executive officer of said city or town fails to take appropriate action to establish a local assessment committee and to submit the names and addresses of its membership to the council not later than thirty days after the receipt of said notice of intent, or notification by the department that this community is a host community on the final list of suggested sites established by the council pursuant to section seven of this chapter, the council shall establish and appoint the membership of said committee.
The chief executive officer shall promptly report to the council any changes that may occur in the members of the local assessment committee.
A local assessment committee shall have the following powers and duties:
(1) to represent generally the best interests of the host community in all negotiations with the developers of proposed facilities in said community;
(2) to negotiate with the developer the detailed terms, provisions, and conditions of a siting agreement to protect the public health, the public safety, and the environment of the host community, as well as to promote the fiscal welfare of said community through special benefits and compensation;
(3) to receive and expend such technical assistance and planning grants as may be made available pursuant to section eleven of this chapter and such other funds as may become available for such purposes from any other source, public or private;
(4) to enter into a nonassignable contract binding upon the host community, and enforceable against said host community in any court of competent jurisdiction, by the decision to sign a siting agreement pursuant to section thirteen of this chapter;
(5) to cooperate wherever possible with abutting communities in negotiations with the developer over compensation for said abutting communities; and
(6) to adopt such rules, regulations, procedures and standards as may be necessary to carry out its functions and perform its duties under this chapter.
The provisions of sections twenty-three A and twenty-three B of chapter thirty-nine shall apply to all meetings of a local assessment committee except that, in addition to the purposes for which executive sessions may be held pursuant to section twenty-three B of chapter thirty-nine, an executive session of a local assessment committee may also be held to discuss strategy with respect to the negotiation of a siting agreement or to consider the terms, conditions and provisions of said siting agreement if such discussion or consideration in an open meeting may have a detrimental effect upon the negotiating position of the local assessment committee or the establishment of the terms, conditions and provisions of said siting agreement.