Section 29 Accounts and reports of housing authorities; investigations by department; rules and regulations of department - Massachusetts Statutes

Section 29. Each housing authority shall keep an accurate account of all its activities and all its receipts and expenditures and shall annually in the month of January make a report thereof to the department, to the state auditor and to the mayor of the city or to the selectmen of the town within which such authority is organized, such reports to be in a form prescribed by the department with the written approval of said auditor. The department or said auditor shall investigate the budgets, finances and other affairs of housing authorities and their dealings, transactions and relationships. They shall severally have the power to examine into the properties and records of housing authorities and to prescribe methods of accounting and the rendering of periodical reports in relation to clearance and housing projects undertaken by such authorities. The department shall from time to time make, amend and repeal rules and regulations prescribing standards and stating principles governing the planning, construction, maintenance and operation of clearance and housing projects by housing authorities.

In the development or administration of a project which is not federally aided, a housing authority shall furnish the commissioner of labor and industries, upon his request, with a list of the classifications of work performed by all architects, technical engineers, draftsmen, technicians, laborers and mechanics employed therein, and shall notify him from time to time of any changes in said classifications. Said commissioner shall determine rates of wages and fees and payments to health and welfare plans for each such classification and shall furnish the housing authority with a schedule of such rates, fees and payments. The rates of wages and fees paid by each housing authority to such architects, technical engineers, draftsmen, technicians, laborers and mechanics shall not be less than those determined by said commissioner who shall set the rate at no less than eighty per cent of the prevailing wage in accordance with sections twenty-six and twenty-seven of chapter one hundred and forty-nine. In the event that any housing authority fails to furnish said commissioner with said list within two weeks after the date of his request, said commissioner shall determine said rates of wages and fees and payments to health and welfare plans.

A housing authority shall bargain collectively with labor organizations representing its employees and may enter into agreements with such organizations.

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary the provisions of sections four, ten and eleven of chapter one hundred and fifty E shall apply to said authorities and their employees.

No employee of any housing authority, except an employee occupying the position of executive director, who has held his office or position, including any promotion or reallocation therefrom within the authority for a total period of five years of uninterrupted service, shall be involuntarily separated therefrom except subject to and in accordance with the provisions of sections forty-one to forty-five, inclusive, of said chapter thirty-one to the same extent as if said office or position were classified under said chapter.

Except as otherwise stated therein, compliance with this chapter, the rules and regulations adopted by the department and the terms of any low-rent housing project or clearance project authorized by this chapter, may be enforced by a proceeding in equity.