Section 6 of chapter 34B of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by labeling the existing first three paragraphs as sub-sections a thru c respectively and adding the following sub-sections –

d)      Title to all interests in real property that were held by counties for county road purposes on the date that the county was abolished  is hereby transferred from the commonwealth as provided in this subsection. For any abolished county that has a successor council of governments, title is hereby transferred to the successor council of governments. For any abolished county that has no successor council of governments title is hereby transferred to the respective towns in which the interests lie. Exempt from the provisions of the instant sub-section are the following properties:

1.      The fee interest in and to a parcel of land in the city known as the town of Agawam bounded on the east by the low water mark of the Connecticut river, on the south by land now or formerly of Kuzmierz, on the west by River road, and on the north by the extent of the holding of the abolished county, which is in the vicinity of land located across River road and now or formerly of Vanotti, all as shown on “Profile Sheets” numbers 13 through 16 in a set of plans of the Massachusetts Highway Department, titled “Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Highway Department, Transportation Improvement Project Connecticut River Walk and Bikeway, in the Town of Agawam,” project file number 601296, and stamped “received” by the Agawam planning board on October 26, 2000.

2.      A right of way containing approximately 0.48 acres in the town of Concord, as authorized by chapter 294 of the acts of 1947 as amended by chapter 375 of the acts of 1949 and chapter 286 of the acts of 1950, providing public access to White pond, a great pond, in the towns of Concord and Sudbury, a great pond, along Plainsfield road.

3.      The fee interest in certain parcels of land in the city of Peabody and the towns of Middleton and Topsfield containing approximately 141 acres, taken or acquired for conservation purposes, of which approximately 34.02 acres located in said city, approximately 97.99 acres located in the Town of Middleton and approximately 9.17 acres located in the town of Topsfield, located along the Ipswich river and Norris Brook, as shown on maps of the assessor of the city of Peabody on Map 1, Lot 28 (6.4 acres); Map 1, Lot 29 (2.70 acres); Map 2, Lot 1 (9.370 acres);Map 5, Lot 1A (3.76 acres); Map 10, Lot 19 (0.35 acres); Map 10, Lot 20 (0.34 acres); Map 10, Lot 21 0(.35 acres); Map 10, Lot 22 (0.35 acres); Map 10, Lot 23 (0.35 acres); Map 10, Lot 24 (0.35 acres); Map 10, Lot 25 (0.35 acres); Map 10, Lot 26 (0.35 acres); Map 10, Lot 27 (0.35 acres); Map 10, Lot 28 (0.35 acres); Map 10, Lot 29 (0.35 acres); Map 10, Lot 30 (0.35 acres); Map 10, Lot 31 (0.69 acres); Map 10, Lot 32 (.58 acres); Map 10, Lot 33 (0.34 acres); Map 11, Lot 23 (0.35 acres); Map 16, Lot 55 (0.40 acres); Map 16, Lot 56 (0.38 acres); Map 16, Lot 57 (0.35 acres); Map 16, Lot 58 (0.35 acres); Map 16, Lot 59 (0.35 acres); Map 16, Lot 60 (0.35 acres); Map 16, Lot 61 (0.35 acres); Map 16, Lot 62 (0.35 acres); Map 16, Lot 63 (0.39 acres); Map 16, Lot 64 (0.42 acres), and on maps of the assessor of the town of Middleton on Map 8, Lot 14 (.9 acres); Map 13, Lot 36 (0.25 acres); Map 13, Lot 37 (12.9 acres); Map 13, Lot 40 ( 20.7 acres); Map 13, Lot 41 (11.7 acres); Map 13, Lot 44B (2.258 acres); Map 13, Lot 105 (5.53 acres); Map 13, Lot 112 (3.4 acres); Map 13, Lot 113 (2.68 acres); Map 19, Lot 23 (3.68 acres); Map 19, Lot 105 (1.22 acres); Map 26, Lot 13A (6.89 acres); Map 32, Lot 54 (10.02 acres); Map 32, Lot 55 (10.47 acres);  Map 33, Lot 45 (5.4 acres), and on maps of the assessor of the town of Topsfield on Map 57, Lot 6 (8.33 acres) and Map 65, Lot 30 (0.843 acres), provided said land remains held for conservation purposes and is retained predominantly in its natural, scenic and open condition as buffer land along the river and to assure preservation and protection of habitat and passive recreation values.

4.      A right of way containing approximately 3.38 acres in the city of Springfield, as authorized by chapter 341 of the acts of 1951, providing public access to Five Mile pond, a great pond, along Boston road.

5.      A right of way containing approximately 0.45 acres in the city of Springfield, as authorized by chapter 343 of the acts of 1951, providing public access to Loon pond, a great pond, along Pasco road.

6.      A right of way containing approximately 0.06 acres in the town of Brimfield, as authorized by chapter 258 of the acts of 1948, providing public access to Little Alum pond, a great pond, along Little Alum road.

7.      A right of way containing approximately 0.014 acres in the town of Wilbraham, as authorized by chapter 253 of the acts of 1955, providing public access to Nine Mile pond, a great pond, along Pond road.

8.      A right of way containing approximately 0.30 acres in the town of Belchertown, as authorized by chapter 339 of the acts of 1954, providing public access to Metacomet lake, a great pond, along Poole road.

9.      A right of way containing approximately 1.87 acres in the town of Huntington, as authorized by chapter 254 of the acts of 1955, providing public access to Norwich lake, a great pond, along Pisgah road.

10.  Any interest in and to two parcels of land in the town of Wayland, containing approximately 2.2 acres and 5.9 acres respectively, shown on assessors map number 17 of the town of Wayland as “county commissioners” and bounded by Old Sudbury road, the Sudbury river, and River road.  Said parcels may have been acquired for either highway purposes or natural resource purposes, and said parcels shall be held for natural resource purposes and shall remain predominantly in their natural, scenic and open condition.

11.  Any interest in land associated with a parking area along Farm road and a right of way, containing approximately 0.39 acres, in the town of Sherborn, as authorized by chapter 374 of the acts of 1946, providing parking and public access to Little pond, a great pond, along Farm road.

12.  A right of way containing approximately 2.30 acres in the town of Hardwick, as authorized by chapter 371 of the acts of 1958, providing public access to Hardwick pond, a great pond, along Greenwich road.

13.  A right of way containing approximately 0.36 acres in the city of Springfield, as authorized by Chapter 342 of the Acts of 1951, providing public access to Lake Lorraine, a great pond, along Lorimer street.

14.  The fee interest in and to a parcel of land in the town of West Boylston containing approximately 41.56 acres, located along River road at or near Quinapoxet river and the Wachusett reservoir, as shown on the West Boylston assessors map 122-1, and as described in a deed recorded at the Worcester district registry of deeds in book 2146 at page 20.

15.  The fee interest in and to a parcel of land in the town of West Boylston containing approximately 34 acres and an associated thirty-foot wide right of way running from Paul X. Tivnan drive to said parcel, shown as “Parcel D” and “30’ Right of Way” on a plan titled “Plan of Land in West Boylston, Massachusetts Owned By Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” dated November 4, 1999, and prepared by R. W.  Hart Associates of Northborough.  The registry of deeds shall accept the referenced plan for recordation, regardless of any action or approval by the local planning board under the Subdivision Control Law, sections eighty-one K to eighty-one GG of chapter 40 of the General Laws, as said law does not apply to interests in land of the commonwealth.

16.  Any interest in real estate the transfer of which was provided for by special legislation enacted subsequent to the dissolution of the county in which it is located and prior to [the effective date of this legislation]. 

e)      In cases where it is unclear whether or not an interest in real estate was held for county road purposes on the date that a county was abolished, a written determination executed by the commissioner of the division of capital asset management and maintenance shall settle the matter.  The determination may be recorded in the appropriate registry of deeds and shall be final and binding on all parties. 

f)        The transfer of right, title, and interest of personal property stated earlier in this section shall not apply in any way to county roads records. All right, title, and interest of personal property associated with records of county roads situated within the boundaries of any abolished county that has a successor council of governments are hereby transferred to the successor council of governments. All right, title, and interest of personal property associated with records of county roads situated within the boundaries of any abolished county that has no successor council of governments are hereby transferred to the registry of deeds for the respective county.

g)      Adjudicatory authority over county roads is transferred in accordance with the provisions of section one of chapter 82.

h)      The transfer of real and personal property interests and adjudicatory authority with respect to county roads in Berkshire County shall be exempt from the above provisions and shall be subject to the provisions of section 364 of chapter 159 of the acts of 2000.

SECTION 2. Subsection (b) of section 20 of said chapter 34B, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “commissioners” in line 43, the following words: - including, but not limited to the powers and duties of county commissioners with regard to county roads.

SECTION 3. Said subsection (b) of section 20 of chapter 34B, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the words “under the charter” in line 46, the following sentence: -

Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, road actions, taken by Hampshire Council of Governments after Hampshire Counties was abolished and before the effective date of this legislation, are hereby ratified and deemed to have been authorized by law.

SECTION 4. Said section 20 of chapter 34B, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following subsection: - (n) All councils of governments shall, at their discretion, have the power to maintain all records relating to county roads within their jurisdictions.

SECTION 5. Section 1 of chapter 82 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the first sentence and replacing it with the following sentences – County commissioners or other duly authorized councils, committees or boards, which will hereafter be referred to as county commissioners, in their respective jurisdictions may lay out, alter, relocate, order specific repairs, discontinue highways, and discontinue maintenance of highways in the manner herein provided, unless other provision is made by law. In counties abolished under chapter 34B or by section 567 of chapter 151 of the acts of 1996 where a council of governments has been formed and authority of the former county commissioners with respect to the instant chapter has been transferred to the council of governments, the councils of governments shall have the authority to designate the powers of the council with relation to county roads to a sub-group of the council, duly constituted within the general provisions of their respective county charters. In counties abolished under chapter 34B or by section 567 of chapter 151 of the acts of 1996 where no councils of government exist, a regional adjudicatory board comprised of four members of the regional planning agency advisory board and the district highway director of the Massachusetts highway department defined in chapter 81, or his/her designee, shall be granted the authority of the former county commissioners with respect to the instant chapter. Real property and personal property interests held for county road purposes in abolished counties on the date that the counties were abolished are transferred in accordance with the provisions of the above referenced general law and acts. The transfer of real and personal property interests and adjudicatory authority with respect to county roads in Berkshire County shall be exempt from the above provisions and shall be subject to the provisions of section 364 of chapter 159 of the acts of 2000. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, any county, council of governments, ad judicatory authority authorized under the provisions of chapter 82 to lay out, alter, relocate, order specific repairs, discontinue highways, or discontinue maintenance of highways, excluding town ways, shall not be held liable for the payment of damages on account of making any such decision to lay out, alter, relocate, order specific repairs, discontinue highways or ways, or discontinue maintenance of highways or ways, if any such actions were made at the request of any petitioners and were made in accordance with the provisions of chapter 82. Nothing herein shall prohibit any petitioner from being held liable for damages resulting from the alteration, relocation, layout, ordering of specific repairs discontinuance, or discontinuance of maintenance of any such highway or way.  

SECTION 6. Said section 1 of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking all occurrences of the words “and/or discontinue” and replacing them with – discontinue, and/or discontinue maintenance of.

SECTION 7. Said section 1 of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking in the second paragraph the words “relocation or discontinuance” and replacing them with – relocation, discontinuance, or discontinuance of maintenance.

SECTION 8. Said section 1 of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentences to the end of the second paragraph – The above applies to towns or cities notifying and receiving concurrence from abutting towns or cities in the case of town roads; or counties, councils of governments, or regional adjudicatory boards notifying and receiving concurrence from abutting counties, councils of governments, or regional adjudicatory boards in the case of county roads.

SECTION 9. Said section 1 of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking the final paragraph.

SECTION 10. Section 2 of chapter 82 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the words “alteration, specific repair or discontinuance” in line 3,  and replacing them with – alteration, relocation, specific repair, discontinuance or discontinuance of maintenance.

SECTION 11. Said section 2 of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking all e occurrences  of the words “to the county” and replacing them with – to the jurisdiction.

SECTION 12. Section 3 of chapter 82 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking all occurrences of the words “alteration, specific repair, or discontinuance” or “alteration or specific repair” and replacing them with – alteration, relocation, specific repair, discontinuance, or discontinuance of maintenance.

SECTION 13. Section 4 of chapter 82 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the words “altering, specific repairing, or discontinuing” and replacing them with – altering, relocating, specific repairing, discontinuing, or discontinuing maintenance of.

SECTION 14. Section 5 of chapter 82 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking all occurrences of the words “order specific repairs upon or alter” and replacing them with – alter, relocate, or order specific repairs upon.

SECTION 15. Said section 5 of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after all occurrences of the word “discontinuing” the following words – or discontinuing maintenance of.

SECTION 16. Said section 5 of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after all occurrences of the word “discontinued” the following words – or no longer maintained.

SECTION 17. Said section 5 of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “discontinuance” the following words – or discontinuance of maintenance.

SECTION 18. Said section 5 of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following sentence – Upon petition of a town or city, the commissioners may discontinue a county highway and thereafter the way or section of way so discontinued shall be a town way. Unless so petitioned, the discontinued way shall no longer be a public way.

SECTION 19. Section 7 of chapter 82 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the words in the second sentence “alteration, relocation, or discontinuance of a highway, or by specific repairs thereon, or by the establishment or discontinuance of a building line” and replacing them with the following words – alteration, relocation, discontinuance, or discontinuance of maintenance of a highway, or by specific repairs thereon, or by the establishment or discontinuance of a building line

SECTION 20. Section 8 of chapter 82 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the words in the first sentence “specifically repaired, and shall” and replacing them with the words – specifically repaired, and may.

SECTION 21. Said section 8 of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “begun” in line 13, the following words – if so required in the return.

SECTION 22. Said section 8 of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking the words “agents shall” in the second to the last sentence and replacing it with the words – agents may.

SECTION 23. Section 12 of chapter 82 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the words in the first sentence “altered relocated or discontinued or when specific repairs are ordered on an existing highway” and replacing them with the words – altered, relocated, discontinued, or maintenance discontinued or when specific repairs are ordered on an existing highway.

SECTION 24. Section 13 of chapter 82 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the words in the first sentence “altered or discontinued, or if specific repairs are not ordered” and replacing them with the words – altered, discontinued, or maintenance discontinued, or if specific repairs are not ordered.

SECTION 25. Section 32A of chapter 82 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in the section heading, the words “Abandonment of municipal ways” and inserting in place thereof the following words – Discontinuance of Maintenance.

SECTION 26. Said section 32A of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the words “against entering thereon” in lines 16 and 17, and inserting in place thereof the following words – that the way is no longer maintained.

SECTION 27. Said section 32A of chapter 82, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following sentence – Upon petition in writing of the board or officers of a city or town in which a county highway is located, the county commissioners may, whenever common convenience and necessity no longer require such way to be maintained in a condition reasonably safe and convenient for public travel, after giving notice in the manner prescribed in section three, and after viewing the premises and hearing the interested parties in the manner prescribed in section four, adjudicate that the town shall no longer be bound to keep the said way in repair, and thereupon such adjudication shall take effect; provided that sufficient notice to warn the public that the way is no longer maintained is posted at both ends of such way, or portions thereof.

SECTION 28. Subsection (e) of section 567 of chapter 151 of the acts of 1996, is hereby amended by inserting after the second sentence,  the following sentence: - The transfer of right, title, and interest in real property stated earlier in this subsection shall not apply in any way to county roads. All right, title, and interest in real property situated within the boundaries of Franklin County and held by Franklin County for county highway purposes on the effective date of the abolition  of Franklin county is hereby transferred to the Franklin council of governments. The transfer of right, title, and interest to personal property stated earlier in this subsection shall not apply in any way to county roads records. All right, title, and interest in personal property associated with records of county roads situated within the boundaries of Franklin county is hereby transferred to the Franklin council of governments. Adjudicatory authority over former county roads is transferred in accordance with the provisions of section one of chapter 82 of the general laws.

SECTION 29. Subsection (r) of said section 567 of chapter 151 of the acts of 1996, is hereby amended by inserting after the words “inclusive, of the General Laws” the following words: - including, but not limited to the authority of the former county commissioners with regard to county roads. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, road actions taken by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments after Franklin county government was abolished and before the effective date of this legislation are hereby ratified and deemed to have been authorized by law.

SECTION 30. Said section 567 of chapter 151 is further amended by adding the following subsection: - (z) The Franklin council of governments shall, at its discretion, have the power to maintain all records relating to county roads within Franklin county.