Continued non-compliance with minimum standards by cities or towns; contracts by commissioner; court orders

Section 4A. If such city or town fails, within a reasonable time, to comply with the notice and requirements of the commissioner and continues to fail to meet the minimum standards provided in section one and to value property for taxation in violation of section thirty-eight of chapter fifty-nine, (a) the commissioner may contract on behalf of the city or town to provide engineering, professional or technical services for the installation of such record keeping systems, the production and installation of tax maps, the appraisal or reappraisal of property, or such other action as he has required for the town to meet the minimum standards prescribed, or (b) a single justice of the supreme judicial court may, on the petition of the commissioner, order the mayor or selectmen to comply with the requirements of the commissioner or order its assessors to value property for taxation at its fair cash valuation and to classify real property according to use and to meet the minimum standards necessary to accomplish this within a definite period of time to be determined by the court. The commissioner shall file with his petition copies of his directions to the assessors and of his notice to the mayor or selectmen under the provisions of section four, together with such other evidence in his possession which he has collected in accordance with sections one A and six as will be helpful to the court in determining whether or not such an order should be issued.