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Suffolk County, NY
 
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Table of Contents
Code
New Laws (2) Index
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Suffolk County Legislature as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Land acquisition disclosure — See Ch. 551.
[Adopted 9-28-2004 by Res. No. 946-2004 (Ch. 830, Art. I, of the 1985 Code)]
Any license or other agreements that were in full force and effect as of December 31, 2003, for facilities used in the office of the Suffolk County Clerk at the Riverhead County Center by persons, associations, individuals, corporations, partnerships, joint ventures, and/or other entities that may perform searches of the records maintained by the County Clerk for title examination purposes and which licenses or agreements are in full compliance with Subsections A through C of § 1147-2 of this article, shall continue in full and effect for as long as they are in compliance in Subsections A through C of § 1147-2 of this article, subject to the terms and condition of such licenses and the terms and conditions of this article.
As any existing spaces, slots, cubicles or other defined portions of the County Clerk's facility become available on or after January 1, 2004, they shall be allocated by random selection of written proposals submitted to the Director of Purchasing in the County Department of Public Works (Director), no later than a deadline established by the Director, but in no event later than 90 days subsequent to the effective date of this article, outlining the requests for the use of such space and including a certificate of insurance naming the County of Suffolk as a named insured for the use of such facility at the County Riverhead Center and indemnifying the County against property damage and/or personal injury in such amounts as may be determined by the County Division of Insurance and Risk Management, such random selection to be conducted in the form of a lottery by which the total number of random selections made from the pool of requests shall be continued until the total number of spaces, slots, cubicles, or other defined portion of the County Clerk's facility available shall have been exhausted. The initial lottery shall be conducted no later than 90 days subsequent to the effective date of this article, if spaces, slots, cubicles, or other defined portions of the County Clerk's facility have become available. The lottery procedure shall continue to be applied to vacant slots, spaces, cubicles, or other defined portions of the Clerk's facility as they may become available after the initial lottery, and the conditions contained in Subsections A, B, C, and D shall apply to applicants under the lottery procedure authorized by this § 1147-2 as follows:
A. 
The party seeking to use said space shall submit written documentation verifying that it has been in the business of performing title searches or title examinations for at least 24 consecutive months; that its owner or full-time employees, working a minimum of 30 hours per week, will occupy said space; and that it shall produce documentation verifying that it has a "Doing Business As" certificate for the doing of business within the County of Suffolk, or a certificate of incorporation that cites Suffolk County as one of its places of doing business;
B. 
Such persons, associations, individuals, corporations, joint ventures, partnerships, and/or other entities who or which perform searches of the records maintained by the County Clerk pursuant to license or other agreement shall initially and then annually file disclosure forms in form and substance that conform to the requirements of Chapter 551 of the Suffolk County Code, together with a certificate of insurance or any amendments thereto, and their federal tax identification number and/or social security number;
C. 
No persons, associations, individuals, corporations, joint ventures, partnerships, and/or other entities who or which perform searches of the records maintained by the County Clerk pursuant to license or other agreement shall be entitled to more than one space, slot, cubicle, or other defined portion of the County Clerk's facility at the Riverhead County Center. Any individual with at least a ten-percent interest in an association, corporation, joint venture, partnership, or other entity performing searches of the records maintained by the County Clerk pursuant to license or other agreement shall be deemed to be a holder of one such slot, space, cubicle, or other defined portion of the County Clerk's facility in the Riverhead County Center, and shall be precluded from assignment or allocation of a second such space, slot, cubicle, or other defined portion of the County Clerk's facility in the Riverhead County Center, either as an individual or as someone holding a ten-percent interest in such association, partnership, corporation, joint venture, and/or other entity performing searches of the records maintained by the County Clerk pursuant to license or other agreement; and
D. 
In the event that any person, association, individual, corporation, joint venture, partnership, and/or other entity that may perform searches of the records maintained by the County Clerk pursuant to license or other agreement is selected via the process set forth in this § 1147-2, and such person, association, individual, corporation, joint venture, partnership, and/or other entity currently occupies a slot, space, cubicle, or other defined portion of the County Clerk's facility in the Riverhead County Center, then such person, association, individual, corporation, joint venture, partnership, and/or other entity shall be assigned and allocated the exact same physical space, slot, cubicle, or other defined portion of the County Clerk's facility at the Riverhead County Center in order to ensure a smooth transition with the least disruption.
In the event that the number of applications or proposals for use of said space, slot, cubicle, or other defined portion of the County Clerk's facility exceeds the number of spaces, slots, cubicles, or other defined portions of the County Clerk's facility available, then the Director shall maintain a waiting list against which future assignment and allocation shall be made as existing spaces, slots, cubicles, or other defined portions of the County Clerk's facility at the Riverhead County Center become available on or after the initial assignment and allocation of slots, spaces, cubicles, or other defined portions of the County Clerk's facility in the Riverhead County Center on or after the effective date of this article, in accordance with the provisions with Subsections A through D of § 1147-2.
The following terms and conditions shall apply to any issuance of a license or other agreement under this article:
A. 
The licenses or agreements shall be for a term not to exceed five years, said terms and conditions of which such license or agreement shall be in accordance with the provisions of this article and as shall be acceptable to the County Department of Law;
B. 
Charges for the use of said space to the persons, associations, individuals, corporations, joint ventures, partnerships, and/or other entities performing searches of the records maintained by the County Clerk pursuant to such license or other agreement shall be established by a fair market valuation (inclusive of a proportionate share attributable to utility expenses, parking, insurance, custodial maintenance, computer hookup fees, and other overhead expenses attributable to the use of such facilities), jointly performed by the Legislative Budget Review Office and the County Executive's Budget Office, to establish a schedule of such charges, said charges to automatically increase July 1 of each subsequent year by 2.5% over the charge in effect as of June 30 of the relevant year, or the increase in the consumer price index (CPI) for the New York — Northern New Jersey — Long Island Region published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor over the period of the prior 12 months measured from April 1 to March 31, whichever is greater;
C. 
The hours during which such persons, associations, individuals, corporations, joint ventures, partnerships, and/or other entities may perform searches of the records maintained by the County Clerk pursuant to license or other agreement shall be limited to the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. each business day of the week;
D. 
Subleasing or assignment of the space, slot, cubicle, or other defined portion of the County Clerk's facility at the Riverhead County Center shall be prohibited; and
E. 
The license or agreement may be renewed for periods not to exceed five years in duration.
The Space Management Steering Committee, pursuant to § A22-2 of the Suffolk County Administrative Code, is hereby directed to evaluate the space in the County Clerk's office in the Riverhead County Center and submit a written report of its recommendation to each member of the County Legislature and the County Executive, no later than 60 days subsequent to the effective date of this article, as to whether:
A. 
The space in the County Clerk's office in the Riverhead County Center, designated for use by title companies and/or title company examiners, can be declared surplus space; or
B. 
There is a need for additional space for use by the County departments located in the Suffolk County Center in Riverhead.
If the Suffolk County Center's architectural and mechanical systems are upgraded, in accordance with the County Legislature's version of the final adopted County 2005-2007 Capital Program, requiring the relocation of personnel from the various County departments as well as the title examiners (if they are granted license space), then the Director, as administrator of said licenses for the building, is hereby directed to terminate said licenses for the period required during construction operations, at no expense to the County of Suffolk.