[HISTORY: Adopted by the Albany County Legislature as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 4-13-1981 by L.L. No. 2-1981]
This article shall be entitled "An Act to Require the Filing with the Commissioner of Public Works of Notice of Highway Defect Prior to the Maintenance of a Civil Action Arising out of Such Defect."
No civil action shall be maintained against the County of Albany for damages or injuries to person or property sustained in consequence of any street, highway, bridge, culvert, sidewalk or crosswalk being out of repair, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed, or in consequence of the existence of snow or ice thereon, unless it appears that written notice of the defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition, or of the existence of the snow or ice, was actually given to the Commissioner of Public Works of the County of Albany and there was a failure or neglect within a reasonable time after the giving of such notice to repair or remove the defect, danger or obstruction complained of, or to cause the snow or ice to be removed or to cause the place to be otherwise made reasonably safe.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
The Commissioner of Public Works shall keep an indexed record, in a separate book, of all written notices which he/she shall receive of the existence of such defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition, or such snow or ice, which record shall state the date of receipt of the notice, the nature and location of the condition stated to exist and the name and address of the person from whom the notice is received. All such written notices shall be indexed according to the location of the alleged defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition, or the location of accumulated snow or ice.
The record of notices of defect shall be a public record.
The record of each notice shall be preserved for a period of five years after it is received.
[Adopted 6-10-1985 by L.L. No. 2-1985]
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the County Legislature of Albany County shall hereafter be empowered to acquire by purchase, or other lawful manner, any bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway situate within the County of Albany when the County Legislature shall deem the acquisition to be in the public interest. Any bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway so acquired shall be added to the County Highway System.
A. 
The acquisition of any such bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway may be instituted by a petition requesting such acquisition, signed by the owners of the property benefited thereby or signed by the record owners of the bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway. The petition shall describe the bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway sought to be acquired and shall include:
(1) 
A list of all properties directly benefited by the highway;
(2) 
A brief statement of the reasons why the petitioners believe the acquisition would be in the public interest and benefit the County;
(3) 
The cost of the bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway to be acquired;
(4) 
The petitioners' intentions regarding repayment of the costs of acquisition; and
(5) 
The petitioners' intentions regarding maintenance of such bridges, overpasses, underpasses and/or highways.
B. 
Upon receipt of any such petition requesting County acquisition of a bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway, the County Legislature shall, by majority vote, determine: 1) whether the acquisition is in the public interest; 2) the properties benefited thereby; and 3) the total cost of the acquisition, including the purchase price of the bridges, overpasses, underpasses and/or highways. Upon such determination and findings, the Legislature shall by resolution authorize the County Executive to sign all necessary documents to effectuate the acquisition thereof.
When the County Legislature has determined that the acquisition of any bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway for the County Highway System shall be in the public interest, the County may pay the acquisition cost directly, or shall be empowered to issue bonds pursuant to the Local Finance Law to pay the cost therefor, and to charge the property benefited thereby as hereafter set forth. The period of probable usefulness for such acquired property shall be not longer than as specified in § 11.00, Subdivision a(10) or (20), of the Local Finance Law as though the bridge, overpass, underpass and/or highway were constructed by the County.
For the purpose of recovering the costs of any such acquisition of bridges, overpasses, underpasses and/or highways pursuant to this article, the County may assess the costs of any such obligations, including the debt service thereon, against the benefited properties by apportioning the costs thereof on such basis as will be just and equitable considering the amount of benefit derived by each property benefited thereby. The County may further determine by resolution to assess all costs of maintenance during the period of the probable usefulness of the acquired property against the benefited properties.
Any such benefit assessments shall become a lien on the benefited property on January 1 of each year and shall be due and payable to the County of Albany on or before January 31 of each year, without interest. Interest in the sum of 2% shall be added each month for payment during the months of February and March and an additional 1% for payment during each succeeding month, together with any and all additional interest and penalties as prescribed by law.
When all obligations of the County which may have been issued or incurred in accordance herewith have been fully retired, no further levy of assessments shall be made against the benefited property. Maintenance of the improvements shall thereafter be a general charge of the County in the same manner and on the same terms as any other highway in the County system.
The purpose of this article is to provide a method whereby the County Legislature may acquire previously constructed bridges, overpasses, underpasses and/or highways at no expense to the County and add same to the County Highway System when the owners thereof request the same and the County as a whole, and its traffic system, would be benefited thereby.
This article is adopted pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Albany County Charter and Municipal Home Rule Law § 10(1)(a), (4) and (6), and is meant to exercise, to the fullest extent possible, the powers granted to Albany County by the County Charter and provisions of the Municipal Home Rule Law.
This article shall be effective concurrently with the effective date of the agreement between Pyramid Crossgates Company, the County of Albany and the State of New York, and the agreement between Pyramid Crossgates Company and the County of Albany.