In addition to the qualifications prescribed by § 135 of the Second Class Cities Law and otherwise by law of appointment to and membership in the Police Department of the City, the Mayor, acting as the Commissioner of Public Safety, may also, by general rules and regulations, prescribe additional requirements as to age, height, weight and physical condition of applicants for appointment to membership therein. To be appointed as a member of the Binghamton Police Department the applicant must pass all New York State Civil Service requirements as prescribed by civil service law, rules and regulations.
SUBDIVISION 1. Bureau of Police [Amended 12-4-2006 by L.L. No. 3-2006] |
The members of the Police Department shall execute the orders and commitments of the City Court Judge of the City of Binghamton and of any judge having power and authority to act in criminal cases, and of all courts held by him or her or them for the trial of criminal cases. They shall convey all persons sentenced by the City Court Judge to confinement in any jail, and for such purpose shall have and possess all the powers of a peace officer under the general laws of the state.
No fee or compensation shall be charged or received by any member of the Police Department for the arrest, confinement or discharge of any person, or for mileage, or for serving any process or warrant, or for discharging any other required duty. Any reasonable expense incurred and actually paid by any police officer when traveling in the discharge of his or her duties as a police officer shall be paid by the Treasurer of the City of Binghamton.
No member of the Police Department shall receive any gift or reward for services rendered, or to be rendered, absent the approval of the Chief of Police and the Mayor, acting as the Commissioner of Public Safety, who, upon receiving and application in writing; shall refer to § 805-a of the General Municipal Law. Any police officer violating this section shall be subject to removal thereof.
The Police Pension Fund as created and established by Chapter 268 of the Laws of 1915 and the provisions relating thereto, as contained in said Chapter 268, shall be continued, and said Chapter 268 of the Laws of 1915 and all provisions thereof shall be and remain in full force and effect until changed otherwise by law.
SUBDIVISION 2. Bureau of Fire |
[Amended 12-4-2006 by L.L. No. 3-2006]
In addition to the qualifications prescribed by § 135 of the Second Class Cities Law and otherwise by law for appointment to and membership in the Fire Department of the City, the Mayor, acting as the Commissioner of Public Safety, may also by general rules and regulations prescribe additional requirements as to age, height, weight and physical condition of applicants for appointment to membership therein.
The Commissioners may, upon the approval of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, from time to time, sell and dispose of such personal property as shall not be needed for the (Fire) Department, in such manner as the Board of Estimate and Apportionment shall direct and the proceeds thereof shall be paid by him or her to the City Treasurer.
The fire limits of the City of Binghamton shall remain as existing at the time this Act (Laws 1917, Ch. 668) takes effect, until changed as hereinafter provided. The Common Council may, by ordinance, from time to time, adopted by a 2/3 vote of all the members, change the fire limits of the City of Binghamton as existing at the time this Act takes effect or as hereafter established, but no such ordinance shall take effect until it has been published in the official paper once a week during two weeks.
No building, structure, or part of the same, shall hereafter be erected, placed or moved, or added to, within the fire limits, for outside said fire limits of said City, if, in the opinion of the Superintendent of Buildings, such building or structure outside said limits will materially increase the fire hazard, unless the outside and party walls of said building, structure or part of the same shall be built and constructed of brick, stone, concrete or iron or partly of all of such materials, and the roofs covered with slate, tile, tin, gravel or other noncombustible material, but this section shall not be construed to apply to the inside finish of any such buildings or structures, nor prevent the erection of front or rear stoops or stairs of wood not enclosed, nor a bay window of wood. Permits shall be required for all buildings and structures and billboards, or parts of the same, hereafter built, erected, placed or moved within the City, and the Common Council shall, in its building code, specify the manner in which an application for building permits shall be made and to what officer, board or department of the municipality such application shall be made, and may in such code provide for filing with such officer, board or department a copy of the plans and specifications for such building or structure. All provisions of the building code of the City of Binghamton in force when this Act (Laws 1917, Ch. 668) takes effect shall continue in force until changed in the manner provided by law.
Any owner, builder, occupant, or other person offending against any of the provisions of the last preceding section (§ C-214), shall, for each such violation, be subject to a penalty of $300, to be recovered in an action brought in the name and for the benefit of the City of Binghamton in any court of competent jurisdiction. If such action is brought in the Supreme Court, the said Court, or any justice thereof, or the County Judge of Broome County, may grant a temporary injunction restraining such owner, occupant, builder or other person from violating the provisions of such section during the pendency of the action. The judgment in such action may perpetually enjoin such defendant from constructing said building or structure so built or being built in violation of the provisions of such section and may order the same to be removed or taken down.
[Amended 12-4-2006 by L.L. No. 3-2006]
The Mayor, acting as the Commissioner of Public Safety, may appoint a Fire Marshal or designate some member of the Fire Department to perform the duties of a Fire Marshal who shall have all the authority and power of a Fire Marshal. The Chief of the Fire Department and the Assistant Chiefs shall be ex officio Fire Marshals of the City of Binghamton under the direction and control of the Commissioner of Public Safety. The said Fire Marshals shall have the power, at reasonable hours of the day, to enter and inspect buildings, dwellings and other structures within the limits of the City of Binghamton and to ascertain whether such buildings and structures are safe from danger of fire. Whenever any Fire Marshal shall report that any dwelling, building or structure is not safe from danger of fire, the Commissioner of Public Safety shall be and he or she hereby is authorized to issue orders directing the owner of said building or structure to make such changes therein as shall be directed to lessen and decrease such danger, and the Common Council may adopt such ordinances as necessary to enforce such orders.
The Chief of the Fire Department, Assistant Chiefs and members of the Fire Department, including the Fire Marshals herein provided for, are not officers or agents of the municipal corporation known as the City of Binghamton for whose acts or omissions the said corporation shall be held liable in a civil action for injuries to persons or property.
[Amended 12-4-2006 by L.L. No. 3-2006]
Any two Aldermen, with the engineer in charge at a fire, or the Mayor, acting as the Commissioner of Public Safety, and such engineer, or the Mayor and such engineer, may cause to be pulled down or destroyed any building which they shall, in relation to said fire, deem hazardous or likely to communicate fire to any other building or buildings, and no action shall be maintained against the City of Binghamton nor against any person therefor; but the owner or any person interested in any building so pulled down or destroyed, or in any personal property therein, may, within three months, but not thereafter, apply to the Common Council by petition, stating the interest of the petitioner in said building, or the personal property therein destroyed, with a particular description of the property destroyed, and its value.
Upon the receipt of such petition (provided for in § C-218), the Common Council may agree with such petitioner on the amount of just compensation to be paid for any building or personal property so destroyed, but in case the Common Council is unable to agree with any petitioner as to the amount of just compensation, then said petitioner or the Common Council may make application for the appointment of Commissioners to ascertain and report the just compensation to be paid to the said petitioner, owner of said building or personal property therein destroyed, in the same manner and to the same court as is provided in Article VI of this Act (Laws 1917, Ch. 668) relating to the opening of streets.
The Commissioners so appointed (pursuant to § C-219) shall receive like fees and possess like powers to ascertain and report the just compensation to be paid to any petitioner, for the building or personal property destroyed, as the Commissioners named in Article VI of this Act (Laws 1917, Ch. 668) relating to the opening of streets, and may also take proof of the probability of said building or personal property having been destroyed or injured by fire, if the buildings had not been so pulled down, and may report that no compensation should equitably be awarded to said petitioner when the probability of its being destroyed by fire is established by proof to their satisfaction. The Commissioners, or a majority of them, shall make and sign their report and deliver the same to the City Clerk, and an appeal may be taken therefrom in like manner upon like condition, brought to hearing upon like notice, and the court shall possess upon said appeal like powers as are provided in the said Article VI of this Act relating to street opening proceedings.
The Common Council may, upon the confirmation or correction of the report of the Commissioners or upon agreement with any petitioner, for just compensation, direct the Assessors to assess the amount awarded by the Commissioners or agreed upon as just compensation, as aforesaid, upon the real estate benefited. The Assessors, upon receipt of a copy of the ordinances in either of said cases, shall possess like powers and proceed in like manner to make said assessment, and to make and subscribe an assessment roll thereof, to hear objections, correct amounts and complete and file the assessment roll thereof, as is given to the Assessors in said Article VI of this Act (Laws 1917, Ch. 668), relating to street openings. All the provisions of Article VI of this Act relating to street openings shall apply so far as applicable to said assessment roll and the amount therein assessed, and the same shall be collected and enforced as other local assessments are collected and enforced, under the provisions of this Act.
The Fire Fighter's Relief and Pension Fund as created and established by Chapter 403 of the Laws of 1912 and the provisions relating thereto as contained in said Chapter 403 and all acts amendatory thereof and supplemental thereto shall be continued, and said Chapter 403 of the Laws of 1912 and the acts amendatory thereof and supplemental thereto shall be and remain in full force and effect until changed otherwise by law.
A.
The Common Council may, by ordinance:
(1)
Take such measures as it shall deem effectual to prevent the entrance of any pestilential or malignant disease into the City;
(2)
Stop, detain and examine for the purpose every person coming from any place infected with such a disease;
(3)
Establish, maintain and regulate a hospital at some place within the City, and cause any person not being a resident of the City, and who shall be infected with any such disease, to be sent to such hospital;
(4)
Remove from the City or destroy any furniture, wearing apparel or other property of any kind, which shall be tainted or infected with any pestilential disease.
B.
Nothing in this section shall be deemed to supersede the powers of the Mayor, acting as the Commissioner of Public Safety, in making such orders and regulations as he or she deems necessary and proper for the preservation of life and health, and the execution and enforcement of the Public Health Law of the state.
[Amended 12-4-2006 by L.L. No. 3-2006]
[Amended 12-4-2006 by L.L. No. 3-2006]
Whenever, in the opinion of the Superintendent of Buildings, any building or any part thereof, or any fence or other erection or any part thereof, is liable to fall down whereby persons or property may be injured, he or she may order any owner or occupant of the premises on which said building, fence or other erection stands, to put the same in a safe condition or take down the same or any part thereof within a reasonable time to be fixed by the order or immediately as the case may require; or may immediately, in case the order is not complied with as therein provided, cause the same to be taken down at the expense of the owner of the premises, which expense may be sued for and recovered of such owner or occupant and shall, until paid, be a lien and charge on the lot on which said erection stood. Said order shall be served upon the owner or occupant personally or by leaving it at his or her residence if he or she resides in said City or, if he or she does not reside in said City, then in such manner as the Superintendent of Buildings may direct. The owner of any building who is ordered to put the same in a safe condition or take down the same may, within 24 hours after such order is given, appeal to the Mayor, acting as the Commissioner of Public Safety, who shall, after conference with the Commissioner of Public Works and the City Engineer and consideration by the said officers, either affirm or modify or vacate the order of the Superintendent of Buildings, which order of the Commissioner of Public Safety so given shall be final and binding upon the owner of the said property.