[Added 11-13-1990 by Ord. No. 30-90; amended 4-27-1992 by Ord. No. 5-92; 9-12-2005 by Ord. No. 6-2005]
When used in this article and unless otherwise expressly stated or unless the content otherwise requires, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
AGENCY
Any public benefit corporation, not-for-profit corporation or public authority whose members are appointed by the City Manager or by the Council of the City of Newburgh or which by law have elected officials of the City of Newburgh as members of their governing boards.
LOCAL OFFICER OR EMPLOYEE
All elected officials, all members of appointed boards or commissions, the City Manager, all department heads and their deputies of the City of Newburgh or of any agency of the City of Newburgh and all City staff whose positions or titles are listed by the City Council in the form of a resolution or local law as required to file an annual letter of disclosure; except the term "local officer or employee" shall not mean a judge, justice, officer or employee of the unified court system.
SPOUSE
The husband or wife, or domestic partner, as this term is defined hereinabove, of the reporting individual unless living separate and apart from the reporting individual with the intention of terminating marriage or unless permanently separated pursuant to a judicial order, decree or judgment or a legally binding separation agreement.
UNEMANCIPATED CHILD
Any son, daughter, stepson, or stepdaughter by marriage or adoption of the reporting individual and/or of the spouse or domestic partner of the reporting individual who is under age 18, unmarried and living in the household of the reporting individual and who is not financially and otherwise self-sufficient or independent or legally emancipated from the reporting individual.
A. 
All local officers and employees required to do so by this chapter and all candidates for local elected office shall file an annual letter of disclosure containing the information and in the form set forth herein on or before the 15th day of May with respect to the proceeding calendar year, except that:
(1) 
A person who is required to file an annual letter of disclosure statement or equivalent with the Temporary State Commission on Local Government Ethics and who is granted an additional period of time within which to file such statement shall have a similar automatic extension of time to file the statement herein.
(2) 
The Board of Ethics may grant to anyone herein required to file an annual letter of disclosure an extension of time to file such letter for good cause shown.
(3) 
Candidates for local elected office or others who become subject to these filing requirements after May 15 in any calendar year, including newly hired employees of the City subject to the requirements of this chapter, shall file the letter required herein within 30 days after the filing by them of nominating petitions or of their designation as a candidate, or within 30 days of becoming so subject.
(4) 
A person subject to the filing requirements of Article 18 of the General Municipal Law or Article 4 of the Public Officers Law may file a copy of the statement required thereunder in lieu of the letter required herein, unless for some reason the content of same would differ from the content of the letter required to be filed hereunder.
B. 
The letters of disclosure required herein shall be filed with the Board of Ethics of the City of Newburgh. The Clerk of the City of Newburgh is hereby appointed Clerk of the Board of Ethics for the purpose of accepting letters of disclosure for filing. The Clerk shall transmit all filed statements of financial disclosure to the Board of Ethics within 30 days of their filing, or upon request of the Board of Ethics.
C. 
The annual letter of disclosure shall contain the information and shall be in the form set forth below.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The annual letter of disclosure form is included at the end of this chapter.
D. 
Upon the effective date of this article and annually thereafter on or about the first business day of the month of January, the City Manager shall notify all local officers and employees and all candidates for elected office required to file an annual letter of disclosure pursuant to this article. He shall also immediately notify all persons thereafter appointed or otherwise becoming obligated under the provisions of this article to file a disclosure statement of their obligation to so. Failure of the City Manager to so notify shall not release any person from his duty to file an annual letter of disclosure pursuant to this article.
Any person required to file an annual letter of disclosure who knowingly and willfully fails to file such annual letter or who knowingly and willfully, with intent to deceive, makes a false statement or gives false information which such individual knows to be false with respect to any statement or form filed pursuant to this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
The statements and forms filed pursuant to this article shall be made available to the public, except that any information contained therein which is of a sensitive personal nature and which is protected and/or exempt from disclosure under any other provision of law, including but not limited to the Freedom of Information Law, Personal Privacy Protection Law or other such federal or state law, rule or regulation, such as for example Social Security numbers, information relating to personal health status, or information relating to the welfare, safety or security of any person or entity which would be impaired if such were publicly disclosed, may be deleted therefrom prior to making such statements and forms publicly available.
If any provision of this article is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, that decision shall not affect the validity and effectiveness of the remaining provisions of this article, as long as the meaning, sense and purpose thereof is preserved.