SECTION 19. State commission for conservation of soil, water and related resources; establishment

There shall be in the division a commission for conservation of soil, water and related resources, hereinafter called the state commission. Said commission shall consist of thirteen voting members. The thirteen voting members shall include four ex-officio and nine appointed members. The ex-officio members shall be the commissioners of the departments of food and agriculture, environmental protection, environmental management, and fish and game or their designees. The nine appointed members shall be appointed by said ex-officio members as follows:— the chairman or his designee of each of the six divisions of conservation districts, established by section twenty, one from a list of two names submitted by the executive committee of the State Grange, one from a list of two names submitted by the executive committee of the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, and one from a list of two names submitted by the executive committee of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions. The state conservationist of the United States Soil Conservation Service, the state executive director of Agriculture Stabilization for Conservation Service and the dean of the college of food and natural resources at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst shall offer their technical expertise to the commission from time to time as advisory members. Appointed members shall serve for terms of four years, except that the nine members of the state commission initially appointed shall be appointed for terms of one, two, three and four years, respectively, as the members ex-officio may designate and until qualification of their successors. Each appointed member of the state commission shall receive, subject to appropriation, fifty dollars for each day for his services. The state commission shall hold regular meetings on the second Thursday in the months of January, April, July, October, and in addition shall hold meetings at the call of the chairman or on the request of any seven members. The state commission shall annually elect a chairman who is not an ex-officio member and a secretary from among the voting members of the commission. A majority of the voting members of the state commission shall constitute a quorum, and the concurrence of a majority in a matter within their duties shall be required for its determination.

Appointed members may be removed by the state commission after notice in writing that said member has failed to attend at least three regular meetings in any one year. Vacancies on the commission shall be filled as provided for in this section.