The term "work" or "improvement," as used in this article, shall be deemed to include all work, improvements, betterments, repairs and service (except personal service), and shall not be deemed to include the purchase and sale of property under article 27 of this charter and the purchase of materials, supplies and equipment as provided by article 10 of this charter.
If provision has been made in the annual budget for the current
fiscal year for the cost of any work or improvement payable wholly
by general taxation or payable in the first instance out of the annual
budget to be later wholly reimbursed by the collection of local assessments,
the head of the department may proceed with the work or improvement
without direction of the council, otherwise the direction of the council
shall be required.
If the direction of the council is required to proceed with
any work or improvement and the same shall involve any expense exceeding
seven thousand dollars, the council by resolution shall direct the
head of the department charged with the execution of the work or improvement
to prepare plans and specifications to and advertise for bids thereon.
Upon the receipt of such bids the head of the department shall make
a report thereof to the council, and certify the lowest responsible
bidder or bidders.
Upon the receipt of the report provided for by section 30-3 of this act or, if advertisement for bids for the work or improvement is not required by this act, then, without such report, the council may order the work or improvement by a two-thirds vote of the members elected to the council. If the cost of the work or improvement is to be met in whole or in part by local assessment, the resolution ordering the work or improvement shall specify what part of such expense is to be paid by local assessment and, if the expense of such work or improvement shall exceed seven thousand dollars, shall direct the commissioner to make a local assessment roll therefor. If the expense of the work or improvement shall not exceed seven thousand dollars and the cost thereof is to be met in whole or in part by local assessment, the resolution ordering the work or improvement need not include a direction to the commissioner to make a local assessment roll therefor, but such direction may be given by resolution subsequently adopted. Any bidder, conceiving himself aggrieved by the determination of the common council in ordering the work or improvement pursuant to this section, shall be limited to reviewing the action of the common council in the manner and within the time prescribed by article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules of the state of New York.
Where the expense of any work or improvement, except lighting or power service, shall involve an expense exceeding seven thousand dollars, the head of the department charged with the execution of the work or improvement shall advertise for bids for the period and in the manner required by ordinance, and the contract therefor shall be awarded by him to the lowest responsible bidder, and he shall have the power to reject any and all bids and advertise anew. The award of any such contract shall be subject to review as provided in section 10-27 of this act. The head of the department shall, not later than the day following the making of the award, mail written notice to all bidders of such award and a copy of the bid upon which the award was made. The board of review shall have the power and authority to affirm said award or reverse the same, and reject all bids, and require that new bids be advertised for. Any contract awarded on such new bids shall be subject to like review. This section shall not apply to an award of a contract by the head of a department made pursuant to the determination of the common council to order the work and improvement under the provisions of section 30-4 of this charter.
If the expense of a work or improvement or any part thereof
is required to be met by local assessment, the provisions of this
act relative to the review of the award of a contract and notice thereof
to bidders, shall not apply to such work or improvement or the award
of a contract therefor.
If the expense or any part thereof is required to be met by
local assessment, no contract shall be awarded until the local assessment
roll is confirmed, excepting a contract for keeping and maintaining
in navigable condition Buffalo river and other navigable waterways
within the city and except a contract for a work or improvement the
expense of which does not exceed seven thousand dollars.
When no part of the expense of any paving or repaving is to
be paid by local assessment, the commissioner of public works shall
determine the kind of pavement and the plans and specifications therefor
before awarding the contract, and his determination in this respect
shall be final and shall not be considered on the review of such award.
All plans and specifications for any work or any improvement
shall provide among other things that the person or corporation to
whom any contract for a work or improvement is awarded shall give
an undertaking with a sufficient surety or sureties approved by the
head of the department making the contract and in an amount specified
therein for the faithful performance of the contract, which undertaking
shall provide, among other things, that the person or corporation
entering into the contract with the city will pay for all materials
and services rendered in the execution of the contract, and that any
person or corporation furnishing such materials or rendering such
services may maintain an action to recover for the same against the
obligors in the undertaking as though such person or corporation was
named therein, provided the action is brought within one year after
the time the cause of action accrued.
The commissioner of public works, parks and streets shall prepare
and keep on file in his office general specifications for paving,
repaving, and resurfacing streets. Such specifications shall include
all of the requirements fixed by the ordinances of the city of Buffalo.
Any person or corporation engaged in or intending to engage in the
work of constructing public pavements in the city may file with the
commissioner of public works, parks and streets specifications for
paving, repaving, or resurfacing streets differing from the general
specifications prepared by the commissioner. The commissioner shall,
within two weeks after such filing, approve or disapprove such specifications
and shall promptly notify the person or corporation who filed the
same of his determination stating therein specifically the reasons
for any disapproval, and shall at the same time transmit to the council
a copy of his determination.
Within two weeks after any such notice of disapproval, the person
or corporation interested may appeal to the council from the determination
of the commissioner, and the council in such event, after giving such
person or corporation an opportunity to be heard, may affirm the determination
of the commissioner or may approve such specifications and order the
same filed in the commissioner's office.
Any such person or corporation may file new or amended specifications
to meet the objections of the commissioner or of the council, and
the same procedure shall be followed with respect to such new or amended
specifications as with respect to the original specifications.
The commissioner shall include in the plans and specifications
for the pavement and in the advertising for bids thereon all specifications
for pavements on file in his office.
The plans, specifications and quantities for paving work shall
include a provision requiring the contractor to maintain the same
in good repair for any period which may be fixed from time to time
by the council by ordinance, and shall include the specifications
and quantities of work and material necessary for the purpose of making
connections with the pavement or grade in all streets crossing or
intercepting one in which such pavement is to be laid and for connecting
the termination of such payment with the work and grade on such crossing
or intercepting street, and the expense of such maintenance and of
the labor and materials in making the connections aforesaid shall
be included in the assessment, if any, ordered to defray the expense,
or any part of the expense, of the improvement and shall be assessed
upon the property benefited thereby, anything in this act to the contrary
notwithstanding.
If owners of land fronting on a street, alley, parkway, park
approach or lateral roadway of such parkway or park approach, or a
portion thereof, shall file a written petition as hereinafter provided
with the city clerk for such work or improvement, he shall refer such
petition to the assessors for a certification by them of the sufficiency
thereof.
The petition may designate particularly any kind of pavement
for which specifications are on file with the commissioner of public
works, parks and streets, and the form and contents of such petition,
and the method of adding names thereto or withdrawing names therefrom,
and the authentication of signatures thereto shall be prescribed by
ordinance. The board of assessors shall promptly transmit such petition
to the council with their certificate as to whether the same is signed
by a majority of the owner of lands fronting on the street, alley,
parkway, park approach, or lateral roadway of such parkway or park
approach, or a portion thereof, specified, representing at least two-fifths
of all the feet front of the lands assessable for the paving or repaving
thereof, which certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the facts
certified.
Except as provided in the foregoing sections of this article,
the council shall determine the particular kind of pavement to be
used for which specifications are on file with the commissioner of
public works, parks and streets, and such designation shall be made
in the resolution ordering the work.
The commissioner of public works, parks and streets shall award and enter into all contracts, but for a period not exceeding five years, for lighting the streets, alleys, parks, park approaches, public grounds and buildings of the city and for furnishing electric power to the city, and no advertisement for bids for such service shall be necessary, but the award of any such contract shall be subject to review as provided in section 10-27 of this act.
The council may adopt and from time to time amend a plan of
main thoroughfares for the betterment accommodation of street traffic
covering the whole or part of the city, but such plan or amended plan
shall not include any part of any park or park approach. Such plan
or amended plan shall consist of a description of the streets or alleys,
or portions thereof, to be included and of a map of the city, showing
thereon the various streets or alleys or parts thereof designated
as main thoroughfares, and shall be filed in the office of the city
engineer. Before adopting any such plan or amended plan, a public
hearing shall be held thereon upon such notice given in such manner
as shall be prescribed by ordinance. At the time of the adoption of
such plan or amended plan the council shall adopt an ordinance which
shall in substance provide that the streets or alleys, or parts thereof,
designated therein shall thereafter be known as main thoroughfares
in accordance with the plan or amended plan so filed.
Upon the recommendation of the city engineer the council by
a two-thirds vote of its membership may alter the grade of any street,
alley or park approach as heretofore established and described and
as may hereafter be established and described by the city engineer,
and such alteration shall be recorded as provided in this act for
the recording of the original establishment and description of such
grade.
Whenever the head of a department or any city agency receives
bids for the doing of a work or improvement to be paid wholly by general
taxation and he shall certify to the council that in his judgment
the work or improvement can be done by the city directly at less than
the lowest responsible bid received for the same, the council may
direct the head of the department or other city agency to reject the
bids and do the work or make the improvement. The head of the department
or city agency undertaking the work or improvement shall keep a separate
accurate account of the cost of the work and shall charge thereto
all expenses incurred therein, including the time, or any portion
of the time, of any city employee devoted to the performance of the
work or improvement which would not have been required under contract,
and upon the completion of said work or improvement he shall make
to the council a detailed, accurate report of such expense certified
by the comptroller and a comparison thereof with the lowest responsible
bid.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this article, where
the work or improvement consists of the laying, relaying or extending
the water mains of the city, and where the estimated cost does not
exceed five thousand dollars, and where funds are available in the
budget or otherwise, the commissioner of public works, parks and streets
may proceed with the construction of such work or improvement without
direction of the council, and by the purchase of materials and employment
of services and without advertising for bids: and where the estimated
cost of such work or improvement exceeds five thousand dollars, where
funds are available in the budget or otherwise, and where the commissioner
of public works, parks and streets specifies to the council the work
or improvement and the estimated cost thereof, and certifies that
in his or her judgment it can be done by the city directly, more efficiently,
economically and quickly than by contract, the council, by a two-thirds
vote of its members, may by resolution authorize the commissioner
of public works, parks and streets to proceed with the construction
of such improvement by the purchase of materials and employment of
services and without advertising for bids. The purchase of materials
for a work or improvement to be constructed pursuant to this section
shall be subject to review as provided in section 10-27 of the charter.
Buffalo river within the city is a public highway, and any bridge
built prior to the year eighteen hundred ninety-five and now existing
over the same and any swing or drawbridge and any high level bridge
leaving a clearance above mean water level sufficient to permit the
free passage thereunder of vessels capable of navigating the river
at the point of crossing thereafter built over the same by authority
of the city is a lawful structure. Any tunnel constructed under the
Buffalo river by authority of the city at a depth sufficient as not
to obstruct or impede navigation is a lawful structure. Such bridges
and tunnels shall be subject, however, to the laws and regulations,
if any, of the federal government affecting the same.
