If a supplier of water public water system loses its licensed operator, it shall secure a new licensed operator or enter into a contractual agreement with a licensed operator of proper classification until a new operator has been employed for the supplier of water that public water system.

Sec. 12. Transition provision.

1. The Board of Licensure of Water System Operators is the successor in every way to the power, duties and functions of the former Board of Licensure of Water Treatment Plant Operators.

2. All existing rules, regulations and procedures in effect, in operation or promulgated in or by the Board of Licensure of Water Treatment Plant Operators or any of its administrative units or officers are hereby declared in effect and continue in effect until rescinded, revised or amended by the proper authority.

3. All existing contracts, agreements and compacts currently in effect in the Board of Licensure of Water Treatment Plant Operators continue in effect.

4. Any positions authorized and allocated subject to the personnel laws to the former Board of Licensure of Water Treatment Plant Operators are transferred to the Board of Licensure of Water System Operators and may continue to be authorized.

5. All records, property and equipment previously belonging to or allocated for the use of the former Board of Licensure of Water Treatment Plant Operators become, on the effective date of this Act, part of the property of the Board of Licensure of Water System Operators.

6. All existing forms, licenses, letterheads and similar items bearing the name of or referring to the Board of Licensure of Water Treatment Plant Operators may be utilized by the Board of Licensure of Water System Operators until existing supplies of those items are exhausted.

7. That person appointed to the Board of Licensure of Water System Operators who represents a very small water system shall serve the balance of the term of the former member who represented consumers of public water systems. Thereafter, the term of the representative of a very small water system is subject to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, section 2624-A, subsection 2.