Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Subsection (c) of section 2-1 of Article 2 of the charter of the city known as the town of Methuen, which is on file in the office of the archivist of the commonwealth, as provided in section 12 of chapter 43B of the General Laws, is hereby amended by striking out the second sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- No person shall hold office of town councillor for more than three consecutive terms.

SECTION 2. Subsection (b) of section 3-1 of Article 3 of said charter is hereby amended by striking out the second sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- No person shall hold the office of mayor for more than three consecutive terms.

SECTION 3. Subsection (c) of section 4-1 of Article 4 of said charter is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- No person shall hold the office of school committee member for more than three consecutive terms.

SECTION 4. Section 1 of chapter 95 of the acts of 1993 is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- No person shall hold the office of Methuen Housing Authority member for more than three consecutive terms.

SECTION 5. Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter 330 of the acts of 1960, chapter 274 of the acts of 1961 and section 16, et seq., of chapter 71 of the General Laws, or any agreements formed thereunder, no person shall hold the office of the Methuen elected representatives to the greater Lawrence regional vocational technical high school committee for more than three consecutive terms.

SECTION 6. This act shall be submitted for acceptance to the voters of the city known as the town of Methuen at a special election to be held in November, 1999, or a date set by the town council in the form of the following question: "Shall an act passed by the general court in the year 1999, entitled 'An Act providing for term limits for elected officials in the city known as the town of Methuen' be accepted?". If a majority of the votes cast in answer to said question is in the affirmative, this act shall take effect, but not otherwise.

SECTION 7. This act shall take effect upon its passage.