City of Buffalo, NY Common Council

to enact local laws for any public purpose as may be provided by the constitution and the laws of the state of New York and of the United States of America and to the extent that it has the power to act by ordinance, resolution or rule and regulation.

to enact ordinances for any purpose authorized by any general or special law, including without limitation, those purposes set forth in section 2-1 and section 3-18 hereof.

to adopt resolutions and rules and regulations in the exercise of its functions, powers and duties.

to regulate by ordinance the method of exercising by one of the departments created by this act any power conferred upon the city by this charter or any law when the method of exercise is not therein prescribed; if such power be legislative, the common council shall exercise the power.

to adopt by the procedures specified within this charter the annual operating budget of the city, the annual capital budget of the city and the four-year capital program of the city.

to authorize the borrowing of funds by the city in accordance with article VIII of the constitution of the state of New York and applicable provisions of state law.

to impose taxes and special assessments as authorized by any general or special law.

(h)

to acquire by purchase, gift or eminent domain any interest in real and personal property for any city purpose or as authorized by any general or special law.

(i)

to acquire by condemnation lands and property and/or easements therein situate without the city of Buffalo as may be necessary for the purposes of water supply and/or sewage disposal and drainage for lands owned by the city and held or used for public purposes, and situate without the city of Buffalo.

(j)

to dispose of any real or personal property of the city as allowed by any general or special law.

(k)

to appoint local officers and to confirm appointments of local officers as specified within this charter.

(l)

to appoint a city clerk, a deputy city clerk, a deputy city clerk of birth records, and other staff to the common council as deemed necessary for the proper functioning of the common council, provided that, until January 1, 2006, such other staff to the common council shall be limited in number to 37.

(m)

to fix the salary and compensation of every officer and employee of the city except as may be otherwise provided by law.

(n)

to regulate its own proceedings and to adjudge the qualifications of its members.

(o)

to investigate and inquire into all matters of concern to the city and its inhabitants and to require and enforce by subpoena the attendance of witnesses or the production of documents at such investigations.

§ 3-8 Duties of the Common Council.

The common council shall have the duty:

to convene an organizational meeting on the second day of January in each even numbered year, unless it be Saturday or Sunday, and in such event on the following Monday, for the following purposes:

(i)

to elect at that time one of its members president of the common council pro tempore to act during the temporary absence or disability of the president of the common council;

(ii)

to determine the qualifications and responsibilities of the members of the common council staff including the council chief of staff, to define the organizational structure of the common council staff and to define the administrative and supervisory relationship between the staff and the common council.

to meet at least every two weeks except during the month of August.

to conduct all meetings in public.

to designate one or more daily newspapers published in the city for the publication of notices (except as otherwise provided by the local finance law), advertising matters or proceedings as required by this charter or by law or ordinance. The common council in its discretion may make any such publication in the city record now being published by the city under the direction and supervision of the city clerk.

§ 3-9 Special Council Meetings.

Special meetings shall be called by the president on the written request of the mayor or five council members. The council may provide by rule for additional stated meetings and for additional modes of calling special meetings, and for the form of notices of meetings and the method of serving same.

§ 3-10 Quorum.

A majority of the council members elected shall constitute a quorum of the council, but less than a quorum may adjourn from time to time and compel the attendance of absent members.

§ 3-11 Rules of Procedure.

The council shall determine the rules of its own proceedings; shall keep a journal of its proceedings; shall have authority to compel the attendance of absent members and to punish its members for disorderly behavior and suspend any member with the concurrence of two-thirds of the council members present.

Each council member, including the president of the council, shall have equal voting powers. The affirmative vote of a majority of the members elected to the council shall be necessary to adopt any resolution or ordinance, or to pass any measure unless a greater number is required by the provisions of this act or by general law not inconsistent with this act. The ayes and nays shall be called and recorded in the journal upon every vote in the council where a roll call is requested by any member or where more than a majority vote is required, and every motion, resolution and ordinance shall be reduced to writing and read before the vote is taken thereon.

§ 3-12 Members of the Common Council; Duty.

Every member of the common council shall have the duty to consider and address in a timely and thorough manner any concerns regarding the affairs of the city of Buffalo that are communicated to him or her by residents of or visitors to the city of Buffalo.

§ 3-13 President of the Common Council; Powers and Duties.

The president of the common council shall preside at all meetings of the common council and shall appoint all committees, regular or special, and may appoint and at pleasure remove a secretary.

§ 3-14 City Clerk; Powers and Duties.

The city clerk shall be the clerk of the common council and of its committees and of the pension board and shall be the ex officio registrar of vital statistics, who shall have the qualifications prescribed by the public health council of the state, if any are so prescribed. He or she shall also possess the power and be charged with the duty:

to appoint such deputies and subordinates as may be permitted by ordinance and at pleasure to remove them.

to make up and keep under the direction of the common council a journal of its proceedings and certify the same and to publish the same in the manner provided by ordinance.

to record, in a book to be provided for such purpose, every ordinance.

to give notice in writing to every officer of his or her election or appointment and of the amount of his or her bond or undertaking.

to make or cause to be made publications of all notices, advertising, matters or proceedings required by provisions of this charter or by law or ordinance, except as otherwise provided therein.

to be charged with all the powers and duties conferred by the public health law and sanitary code of the state on the registrar of vital statistics and such other duties as may be assigned to him or her from time to time or be required by him or her by ordinance.

to exercise such other powers and perform such other duties as may be conferred upon him or her by the common council or by any provision of this charter or by any general law.

§ 3-15 Deputy City Clerk; Powers and Duties.

The deputy city clerk shall, during the absence or disability of the city clerk, possess all the powers and perform all the duties of the city clerk. In the event of a vacancy in the office of the city clerk, the deputy clerk shall act as city clerk until the appointment and qualification of a city clerk. The deputy city clerk, subject to the direction and supervision of the pension boards and the city clerk, shall have immediate supervision of all matters incident to the administration of the provisions of article 25 of this act relating to the police and firemen's pension funds and, subject to the supervision of the city clerk, shall have immediate supervision of all matters incident to the administration of the domestic relations law of the state of New York relating to the issuance of marriage licenses and of all matters incident to the administration of the provisions of the agriculture and markets law of the state of New York relating to the licensing of dogs. He or she shall also perform such other duties as may be assigned to him or her from time to time by the city clerk and as may be required by ordinance.

§ 3-16 Deputy City Clerk of Vital Statistics; Powers and Duties.

The deputy city clerk of vital statistics shall supervise the functions of vital statistics including the prompt and complete return of births and deaths to the state, supervise the registration of births and deaths in the city of Buffalo and assign work through subordinates to affect such and supervise the compilation of records and reports as required. The deputy city clerk of vital statistics shall be authorized to act generally for and in place of the city clerk. He or she shall also perform such duties as may be assigned to him or her from time to time by the city clerk and as may be required by ordinance.

§ 3-17 Procedure for Adoption and Amending of Local Laws.

A proposed local law may be introduced only by a common council member at a meeting of the common council. Unless the mayor certifies the necessity for immediate passage of a local law and it is passed by two-thirds of the total voting power of the common council, the proposed local law in its final form shall be upon the desks of the common council members at least seven calendar days excluding Sundays prior to its final passage.

Before it is passed by the common council, a proposed local law that is not certified as to the necessity of its immediate passage shall be laid on the table in its final form at least seven calendar days exclusive of Sunday prior to its final passage.

[Amended 2-20-2001 by L.L. No. 4-2001, effective 3-13-2001]

A proposed local law that is not certified as to the necessity of its immediate passage shall be passed by the majority affirmative vote of the total voting power of the common council. On the final passage of the local law the question shall be taken by ayes and noes, and the names of the members present and their votes shall be entered in the journal of the common council.

Every local law shall be certified by the clerk after its passage by the common council and shall be presented to the mayor for his or her approval. Upon approval and return of the local law to the clerk, the local law shall be deemed to have been adopted.

If the mayor disapproves the local law, the mayor shall return it to the clerk with the objections to it in writing. The clerk shall return the local law and disapproval to the common council at its next regular meeting, when the mayor's objections shall be recorded in the common council journal.

The common council may reconsider the local law within thirty days thereafter. If, after reconsideration the local law is repassed by a vote of at least two-thirds of the total voting power of the common council, the local law shall be deemed adopted. The votes shall be taken by ayes and noes, and the names of the council members present and their votes shall be entered in the journal of the common council. Only one vote shall be had upon such reconsideration.

If within thirty days after a local law shall have been presented to the mayor, the mayor neither approves nor returns the local law to the clerk with written objections, the local law shall be deemed to be adopted in like manner as if the mayor had signed it.

§ 3-18 Ordinance Powers.

The council shall have power to enact ordinances:

(1)

To define and prevent disorderly conduct; to prevent disorderly assemblages; disturbing noises and drunkenness in public places; to punish vagrants, beggars and disorderly persons as defined by law.

(2)

To regulate the use of the harbors, canals and other public waters of the city and to prevent encroachments thereon.

(3)

To license and regulate owners and drivers of all vehicles used for the transportation of passengers or property for hire and persons or corporations supplying messenger service and to fix the rates to be charged by them; to license and regulate pawnbrokers and the business of pawnbrokerage and to fix the rates to be charged in said business; to license and regulate plumbers, auctioneers, butchers, hawkers, peddlers, junk dealers, dance halls, dancing schools and other entertainment of like character; to prohibit or to license and regulate public billiard rooms, bowling alleys, solicitors for houses of entertainment, railroads, vessels and vehicles, and the exhibition of shows of every kind and of theatrical representations; to prescribe the terms and conditions on which licenses shall be granted.

(4)

To examine, license and classify the engineers of all steam engines, stationary or otherwise, except locomotive engines of incorporated railroad companies and except engines propelling vessels on navigable waters of the state or of the United States, and to prohibit unlicensed persons from operating the same; to provide for the inspection of steam engines and boilers and to prohibit the use of unsafe ones.

(5)

To prohibit or to license and regulate the keeping, sale and conveying of gunpowder and other explosive substances and other dangerous or highly inflammable fluid or material, and to provide for the inspection, forfeiture or destruction of same; to license and regulate the public and/or commercial parking of automobiles for a fee in open areas, areaways or spaces.

(6)

To prohibit or regulate the use of locomotives and of steam; to regulate other motive power and the speed on any railroad within the city; to require any railroad company to keep a flagman or gates at any railroad crossing of a public street.

(7)

To regulate the erection and maintaining of wires, cables and other electrical conductors, and the poles supporting the same, in the streets, alleys and public grounds, and to require that such wires, cables and other electrical conductors be placed underground subject to the restrictions and regulations contained in the ordinance, and to require the removal of overhead wires, cables and other electrical conductors, and the poles supporting the same, heretofore or hereafter erected from any street, alley or public ground, and the placing underground of such wires, cables and conductors within a reasonable time not less than six months after the enactment of such ordinance.

(8)

To regulate the sale of fish, meats and vegetables; to prevent the adulteration of articles of food or drink; the sale for domestic use of unwholesome articles of food and ice frozen from dirty or impure water and to provide for the inspection, forfeiture and destruction thereof; to prevent and punish fraud in sales by weight and measure.

(9)

To prevent and abate nuisances; to prohibit or regulate the blowing of steam whistles or the ringing of bells; to prevent the emission of dense smoke, soot or dust; to regulate or prohibit the use of public pumps, wells, hydrants or reservoirs; to regulate the construction of public and private sewers, sinks and privies; to locate, regulate and remove slaughterhouses, butchers' stalls, fish stands, livery stables, tanneries and unwholesome or noisome buildings or places and to compel the cleansing of same.

(10)

To regulate burials, incinerations and funerals, and to prescribe limits in which there shall be no burials or incinerations of the dead; to locate and regulate mortuaries.

(11)

To regulate the use of the public streets, alleys, parks and park approaches, wharves and public grounds, and to prevent unlawful encroachments and encumbrances thereon; to license and regulate the placing, maintenance and operation in any street, alley or public ground of newsstands, public telephone facilities, and of tanks, containers, pumps or other facilities for the storage, sale or distribution of motor fuel; to prohibit the running at large of animals therein and to authorize the distraining, impounding and sale of them for the penalty and costs of the proceeding; to regulate and direct the planting and care of trees in streets and public places and to spray trees on lands contiguous thereto; to compel the owners of lands to destroy noxious weeds growing thereon and owners of vacant lands to fence or enclose them; to regulate and compel the numbering of buildings and the naming of streets and alleys.

(12)

To regulate and limit the height and bulk of buildings hereafter erected and to regulate and determine the area of yards, courts and other open spaces, and to regulate the density of population in any given area; to regulate and restrict the location of trades and industries and the location of buildings designed for specific uses pursuant to the general city law and to vary or modify any such ordinance in the manner prescribed in this subdivision; to provide for the appointment by the council of a zoning board of appeals and to confer on such board the right to hear any appeal from the decision of the appropriate officer refusing to grant a building permit, or any order, or requirement made by such officer in reference thereto in any case that satisfies the criteria specified in section 80-b of the general city law and to recommend to the council a variation or modification of the terms of the ordinance in the particular case so that its spirit shall be observed, public safety secured and substantial justice done. If the city shall be hereafter empowered by general law to appoint a zoning board of appeals, then such board may be appointed and shall have the powers and authority conferred by such general law with any right of review conferred thereby upon any person aggrieved.

(13)

To regulate the erection of all buildings and structures in the city; to define limits within which wooden buildings shall not be constructed or reconstructed, and the manner in and materials of which all buildings within such limits shall be constructed; to define outer limits within which wooden buildings may be constructed or reconstructed and to provide for a special permit from the appropriate officer for such construction or reconstruction or from the council, if such officer refuses the permit; to regulate the construction, maintenance and cleaning of chimneys, flues, stoves, pipes and other things used for fire or conducting smoke; to prevent the deposit of ashes in unsafe places or receptacles; to regulate the use of lights in buildings in which combustible articles may be deposited; to regulate the carrying on of factories liable to cause fires; to prevent bonfires in the streets and public grounds; to regulate or to prohibit the use of fireworks; to compel the owners or occupants of buildings to have scuttles in the roofs and stairs or ladders leading thereto; to require the construction and maintenance of fire escapes on buildings when and as directed by the commissioner of fire.

(14)

To protect the public health.

(15)

To regulate or to empower the commissioner of police to surprise, control and regulate the traffic on any food or produce market resorted to by the public and privately owned and operated, upon the request of the owner thereof.

To regulate, control or prohibit persons from parking, standing storing or leaving motor vehicles upon any publicly or privately owned premises, parking areas or parking lots, without the consent and permission of the owner or lessee of such premises; such ordinances shall contain a provision for the posting of a conspicuous sign or signs at the entrances to such parking lot or parking area informing the public as to the permitted conditions of parking thereon; such ordinances may be enforced by the police in the same manner as a traffic or parking ordinance and may provide, among other things, that proof of ownership of a vehicle shall be presumptive evidence that the owner parked or caused such vehicle to be parked on such premises, and may authorize police officers to enter upon such premises at the request of the owner or lessee thereof to enforce such ordinances.

(16)

To regulate the hours during which any establishment or place may be open for the sale of goods, wares or merchandise.

(17)

To prohibit persons from offering or exposing for sale any goods or products upon privately owned food or produce markets without the consent of the owner of such market; to prohibit persons from entering upon privately owned food or produce markets resorted to by the public for the purpose of offering or exposing for sale thereon any goods or products, without the consent of the owner of such market, or for any other purpose after warning from the owner of such market; and to prohibit persons from willfully remaining upon such markets after the direction of the owner to remove therefrom.

In addition to the power granted by the foregoing subdivisions of this section and by any other section of this act to pass ordinances on subjects specifically enumerated therein, the council shall have power to enact such other ordinances, not inconsistent with the power and duties conferred by this act, or by any law specially applicable to the city unrepealed by this act or by any general law, upon any department, officer, board, commissioner or other agency of the city, as it may deem necessary and proper for the good government and good order of the city, the protection of persons and property, the preservation of health, the exercise of the corporate powers and the performance of the corporate duties of the city.

§ 3-19 Procedure for Adoption, Amending and Repeal of Ordinances and Resolutions.

Every proposed ordinance, unless the common council, by a two-thirds vote of the members, certifies the necessity for its immediate passage and every resolution creating a city debt or granting or authorizing any franchise or right to occupy or use the streets, highways, bridges or public places for any purpose shall be presented to the common council in open meeting, shall be read and spread upon the minutes and shall then remain on file with the city clerk for public inspection until the next stated meeting of the common council and shall be published once before the final vote of the common council on its adoption.

Unless the mayor and the common council, by a two-thirds vote of the members, certify the necessity for its immediate passage, a proposed ordinance shall be referred, prior to its passage, to an appropriate committee of the common council.

[Amended 2-20-2001 by L.L. No. 4-2001, effective 3-13-2001]

Every ordinance and resolution, after its passage by the council, shall be presented to the mayor for approval with the following exceptions: resolutions exercising the powers of appointment of the common council, certifying the canvass of votes, directing the preparation of plans and specifications, and advertising for bids for any work or improvement.

If the mayor approves an ordinance or resolution, he or she shall sign it and shall return it to the city clerk; it shall then be deemed to have been adopted. If the mayor disapproves the ordinance or resolution, the mayor shall return it to the clerk with the objections to it in writing. The clerk shall present the same to the common council at its next stated meeting, and such objections shall be recorded in the common council journal.

The council within thirty days thereafter may reconsider the same. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the voting power of the council entitled to vote thereon if it originally required a majority vote, or three-fourths of such voting power if it originally required a two-thirds vote, be cast in favor of repassing such resolution or ordinance, it shall be deemed adopted notwithstanding the objections of the mayor. Only one vote shall be had upon such reconsideration.

If any resolution or ordinance is not returned to the city clerk by the mayor as disapproved within ten days after its presentation to the mayor, it shall be deemed to have been adopted.