No civil action shall be maintained against the Town of Dayton or the
Town Superintendent of Highways of the Town, or against improvement district
in the Town for damages or injuries to person or property (including those
arising from the operation of snowmobiles) sustained by reason of any highway,
bridge, culvert, highway marking, signs, or device, or any other property
owned, operated or maintained by the Town or any property owned, operated
or maintained by any improvement district therein, being defective, out of
repair, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed unless written notice of such defective,
unsafe, dangerous, or obstructed condition of such highway, bridge, culvert,
highway marking, sign or device or any other property owned, operated or maintained
by the Town, or any property owned, operated or maintained by any improvement
district, was actually given to the Town Clerk of the Town or the Town Superintendent
of Highways of the Town, and there was thereafter a failure or neglect within
a reasonable time to repair or remove the defect, danger or obstruction complained
of; and no such action shall be maintained for damages or injuries to persons
or property sustained solely in consequence of the existence of snow or ice
upon any highway, bridge, culvert or any other property owned by the Town
or any property owned by any improvement district in the Town unless written
notice thereof, specifying the particular place, was actually given to the
Town Clerk of the Town or the Town Superintendent of Highways of the Town
and there was a failure or negligence to cause such snow or ice to be removed
or to make the place otherwise reasonably safe within a reasonable time after
the receipt of such notice.
The Town Superintendent of Highways of the Town shall transmit, in writing,
to the Town Clerk of the Town, within five days after receipt thereof, all
written notices received by him pursuant to this chapter, and he shall take
any and all corrective action with respect thereto as soon as practicable.
The Town Clerk of the Town shall keep an indexed record, as set forth
in Town Law § 65-a, of all written notices which the Town Clerk
shall receive of the existence of a defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed
condition in or upon, or of an accumulation of ice and snow upon, any Town
highway, bridge, culvert or a sidewalk, or any other property owned by the
Town, or by any improvement district. The Town Clerk, upon receipt of such
written notice, shall immediately and in writing notify the Town Superintendent
of Highways of the Town of the receipt of such notice.
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be held to repeal or modify
or waive any existing requirement or statute of limitations but, on the contrary,
shall be held to be additional requirements to the rights to maintain such
action. Nothing contained herein shall be held modify any existing rule of
law relative to the question of contributory negligence, nor to impose upon
the Town, its officers and employees, and any of its improvement districts,
any greater duty or obligations than that it shall keep its streets, sidewalks
and public places in a reasonably safe condition for public use and travel.