SECTION 32. Municipal inspector of wires; appointment; qualifications; powers and duties; liability for removal of wires

A city or town shall, by ordinance, vote or by-law, appoint an inspector of wires. Said inspector shall be a licensed electrician. Two or more cities or towns may vote to form a district and shall appoint an inspector of wires, whose compensation shall be fixed by the district and paid for by each city and town comprising such district as the city and town members thereof shall determine and who shall have the same powers and duties of an inspector of a city or town. Such inspector shall supervise every wire over or under streets or buildings in such a city, town or district and every wire within or supplied from buildings and structures subject to the provisions of chapter one hundred and forty-three, and the state building code, except wires within a manufactured building or building component as defined in the state building code and inspected in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the building code commission; shall notify the person owning or operating any such wire whenever its attachments, insulation, supports or appliances are improper or unsafe, or whenever the tags or marks thereof are insufficient or illegible; shall, at the expense of the city or town, remove every wire not tagged or marked as hereinbefore required, and shall see that all laws and regulations relative to wires are strictly enforced. A city, town or district may recover in contract from the owner of any such wire so removed the expense which it has incurred for the removal thereof.