[Amended 9-16-1975 by L.L. No. 4-1975]
The President of the Common Council and Aldermen, when assembled, or a quorum thereof, shall constitute the Common Council, and in the proceedings thereof each member present shall have a vote unless otherwise herein provided. The attendance of Aldermen entitled to cast the number of weighted votes as designated in Subsection C(2) of § C12-13 shall be required to constitute a quorum, but a less number may adjourn from day to day and compel the attendance of absent members. The members of the Common Council shall receive only such compensation as is otherwise herein provided.
[Amended 12-17-1985 by L.L. No. 1-1986]
The Common Council shall meet at the Common Council chambers
annually on the second Monday preceding the third Tuesday of January
at 7:00 p.m., prevailing time.
The Common Council shall hold regular meetings on the third
Tuesday of each month, and may adjourn the same to another day or
days. When the third Tuesday shall fall on a public holiday, the Common
Council shall hold the regular meeting on the next day following.
[Amended 11-21-1995 by L.L. No. 13-1995]
Special meetings may be called by the Mayor, by the President
of the Common Council or by any three Aldermen. Written notice of
all special meetings shall be served on the Mayor and each member
of the Common Council by mail to the place of residence or by hand
delivery at a meeting of the Common Council or by leaving the same
at his place of residence. Such notice shall contain a list of the
subjects to be considered at said special meeting, and no other business
shall be transacted at said special meeting, except by unanimous consent
of all the members of the Common Council.
The Aldermen shall perform the duties and possess the powers
prescribed herein or by the general laws of the state for Aldermen.
[Amended 11-26-2019 by L.L. No. 6-2019]
The President of the Common Council shall perform all the duties
and possess all the powers of an Alderman herein provided for, together
with such other powers and duties as are herein or may hereafter be
by law provided. The President shall perform all the duties, and exercise
all the powers, conferred upon the President of the Common Council
by this Charter. The President of the Common Council shall preside
at all meetings of the Common Council, and shall appoint all committees
thereof; the President may vote on all questions, and when the President
is absent or unavailable to attend a meeting, the Majority Leader
of the Common Council will preside over the meeting, and at said meeting
the Majority Leader shall have the powers of the President.
The general legislative powers of the City for all municipal
purposes, except such as may be vested in other boards, commissions
or officers of the City, and except as such powers may be limited
by the provisions of this Charter or by law, shall be vested in the
Common Council; and subject to the limitations herein stated the Common
Council shall have authority to govern the City, manage its affairs
and provide for the protection, security and welfare of the City,
its inhabitants and their property. The Common Council shall have
power to make such local laws and ordinances as it shall deem necessary
to insure the well-being and good order of the City, and to amend
the same. It may by vote of a majority of all its members, taken by
ayes and nays, repeal any local law or ordinance which may have been
passed under this Charter or which may have been passed under any
previous charter, act or local law.
A.
All local laws and ordinances, and all amendments thereto, as well
as all rules and regulations adopted by the Common Council, boards
or commissions, shall not take effect until after at least the title
of such local laws, ordinances, amendments, rules and regulations,
together with an explanatory statement sufficient to indicate the
nature thereof and a statement that the complete text thereof is on
file and may be examined at the office of the City Clerk, shall have
been published daily, for two days in succession, in the official
newspaper of the City. In case of insurrection, riot, pestilence,
conflagration, flood or other public necessity requiring immediate
operation of any local law or ordinance or amendment thereto, or any
rule or regulation adopted by the Common Council or any board or commission,
such local law, ordinance, amendment, rule or regulation shall take
effect as soon as approval thereof has been made by the Mayor and
the same has been posted in two public places in each ward of the
City.
B.
Whenever a local law, after its passage by the Common Council, shall
be presented to the Mayor for approval, he shall, within 10 days thereafter,
fix a day for a public hearing concerning such local law and cause
public notice of the time and place of such hearing to be given. Such
notice shall be given by publication for two successive days in the
official newspaper published in the City. Such hearing shall be held
not earlier than five days after the day of the last publication of
such notice. Such notice shall contain the title of the local law
and an explanatory statement concerning the same. The Mayor shall
attend at the time and place appointed for such hearing and afford
an opportunity for a public hearing concerning such local law. Such
hearing may be adjourned from time to time, but an adjournment shall
not operate to extend the time of the Mayor to approve such local
law or return it to the Common Council with his objections, pursuant
to the City Home Rule Law. In case of insurrection, riot, pestilence,
conflagration, flood or other public necessity requiring immediate
operation of any local law, however, the public hearing required by
the provisions of this subsection may be omitted at the discretion
of the Mayor, and such local law shall take effect as otherwise provided
by this Charter by law.
Every local law, ordinance, rule or regulation adopted as herein
provided shall take effect from and after its publication in the official
newspaper in the City, as herein provided.
Any person committing an offense against the provisions of any
local law, ordinance, rule or regulation adopted by the Common Council
or by any board or commission, and published as herein provided, wherein
no other penalty is set forth, shall be guilty of a violation punishable
as follows: by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 15 days or by
a fine not exceeding $250, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
The continuation shall constitute, for each day the offense is continued,
a separate and distinct offense thereunder. The City Court shall have
jurisdiction to try all such offenses.
The Common Council shall also have power and right to bring
suit in the name of the City of Hudson against any person violating
any local law, ordinance, rule or regulation of the City, in the Supreme
Court, County Court or City Court, to recover the penalties prescribed,
and to compel any and all such persons to refrain or desist therefrom,
and may sue out an injunction therefor.
The local laws, ordinances, rules, regulations, bylaws and resolutions
passed by the Common Council, or by any board or commission, and their
minutes and proceedings, may be proved in any court in this state
by the production of copies thereof attested by the Mayor or Clerk
under the seal of the City to the effect that the same are true copies
thereof, with the same force and effect as if the originals were produced.
[Amended 9-16-1975 by L.L. No. 4-1975; 4-20-2004 by L.L. No. 3-2004; 4-20-2004 by L.L. No. 4-2004; 2-19-2013 by L.L. No. 3-2013; 11-8-2016 by L.L. No. 5-2016[1]]
A.
Number of member of Common Council votes necessary for passage requirements.
(1)
The Common Council shall consist of 11 members. Each of said 11 members
shall be entitled to cast at each special or regular meeting of the
Common Council, or at a committee meeting of such Council on which
such member serves, one vote. Simple majority decisions shall require
six votes for passage. Two-thirds majority decisions shall require
eight votes for passage. Three-fourths majority decisions shall require
nine votes for passage.
(2)
Decisions of any committee of the Common Council shall require a
vote that constitutes a majority of all the members of the Common
Council serving on such committee.
(3)
No motion or resolution, or other action of the Common Council, or a committee of such Council, shall pass, unless with the assent of those members thereof as required in Subsection A(1) and (2) of this section. The ayes and nays shall be called and recorded on all motions and resolutions authorizing the expenditure or collection of money, or the making of local improvements or repairs, or on any vote whenever demanded by a member of the Common Council, and on the adoption, amendment or repeal of any local law or ordinance.
B.
Quorum.
(1)
The attendance of six members of the Common Council shall be required
to constitute a quorum at a general or special meeting which calls
for the adoption of any resolution, ordinance, local law, motion or
proposal which requires a simple majority of the Common Council under
applicable provisions of law.
(2)
The attendance of eight members of the Common Council shall be required
to constitute a quorum at a general or special meeting which calls
for the adoption of any resolution, ordinance, local law, motion or
proposal which requires a two-thirds vote of the Common Council under
applicable provisions of law.
(3)
The attendance of nine members of the Common Council shall be required
to constitute a quorum at a general or special meeting which calls
for the adoption of any resolution, ordinance, local law, motion or
proposal which requires a three-fourths vote of the Common Council
under applicable provisions of law.
(4)
The attendance of a majority of the members of the Common Council
serving on a committee of such Council shall be required to constitute
a quorum at such a committee meeting.
[1]
Editor’s Note: This local law also provided an effective
date for the amendments to this section of 1-1-2018.
The Common Council shall contract no debt and authorize no expenditure
on the part of the City which shall not be payable in the fiscal year
in which it is contracted or within one month thereafter and from
the revenues of the fiscal year in which it was contracted, except
as herein otherwise provided.
In case the Common Council shall contract any debt on or after
the first day of May in any year, and before the first day of May
next thereafter, which shall not be payable within said fiscal year,
or within one month thereafter, and cannot be paid from the revenue
of that year, or in case the Common Council shall authorize any expenditure
for any purpose in such year exceeding the amount of which said Common
Council is authorized by this Charter to raise for such purposes,
the City of Hudson shall not be liable to pay the same, nor shall
the Common Council audit or pay any debt so contracted or expenditure
so authorized.
All resolutions adopted by the Common Council authorizing the
expenditure of money shall appropriate specifically the maximum amount
to be expended.
The Common Council shall, in such manner and form as it may
deem proper, examine, settle and allow all accounts chargeable against
the City, as well as those of its officers and other persons, except
as herein otherwise provided.
[Amended 4-16-1974 by L.L. No. 1-1974; 9-16-1975 by L.L. No.
3-1975]
All claims and demands against the City, except claims for salaries,
wages and principal and interest of bonds and certificates of indebtedness,
and with the further exception of claims and demands against the Departments
of Fire, Police, Cemeteries, Public Works and Youth, the Commissioners
of said departments having the authority to audit claims and demands
against their respective departments, shall be acted upon by the Common
Council at least as often as once in each month, upon days to be designated
for such purpose by the Common Council. All claims must be presented
in writing and certified, setting forth the items of the claims. They
shall be numbered and filed with the City Clerk, and a brief entry
of the name of the claimant, number, nature and the amount of the
claim made by the Clerk in a book kept by him for such purpose, prepared
with appropriate letters and columns so that the entries shall serve
as an alphabetical index to the claims. The book shall be provided
with a column in which shall be entered after the claim the date when
it is audited and the amounts audited and paid, without unreasonable
delay. Each claim and demand for services rendered or materials furnished
to the City must be presented to the City Clerk within 30 days after
the rendition of the last services or the last delivery of materials
charged for therein. The Common Council shall not audit, allow or
cause to be paid any claims or demand for services or materials not
presented in conformity with the foregoing provision except by a two-thirds
vote of all its members. All claims and demands against the City presented
to the City Clerk for audit and allowance by the Common Council must
be so presented at least seven days before the day in that month designated
by the Common Council for acting upon claims and demands.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § C12-18, Verification of
bills, was repealed 4-16-1974 by L.L. No. 1-1974.
No member of the Common Council or any other City official shall
be concerned or interested in any way, directly or indirectly, in
the purchase or in procuring or receiving the assignment to himself
or any other person or persons of any claim, demand or allowance against
the City of Hudson. The City Treasurer shall not pay in whole or in
part any such claim, demand or allowance presented to him by or on
behalf of any member of the Common Council. Any person violating any
provision of this section shall be deemed guilty of a Class A misdemeanor,
and upon conviction thereof shall also forfeit his office.
[Amended 9-20-2022 by L.L. No. 6-2022]
The Common Council shall provide and assign suitable and convenient
offices in the City building, together with requisite light and fuel,
for the following officers, boards and commissions, namely: Mayor,
Common Council and committee rooms for same, City Judge and courtroom
for same, City Treasurer, City Clerk, Commissioner of Public Works,
Commissioner of Police, Commissioner of Fire, Board of Estimate and
Apportionment, Commissioner of Youth, Commissioner of Purchases, Commissioner
of Grants, Planning Board, Assessor, Examining Board of Plumbers and
police headquarters, and may in its discretion provide accommodation
for any other officer, board or commission, and shall further provide
necessary books and stationery for the Mayor, Common Council, City
Judge, City Treasurer, City Clerk, Board of Estimate and Apportionment,
Examining Board of Plumbers and Assessor.
In case the Mayor shall veto any audit or item of any audit
under the power conferred upon him by § C6-2 of this Charter,
the City Clerk shall forthwith, upon receiving a statement of the
Mayor's objections thereto, in writing notify the City Treasurer,
and the City Treasurer shall not pay any such audit or item thereof
unless, upon reconsideration thereof by the Common Council, board
or commission making such audit, 2/3 of its members shall agree to
pass the same. The City Treasurer shall not pay any audit or item
of any audit until after the expiration of six days from the day of
making the same.
The Common Council shall, at the first meeting held in May in
each year, or as soon thereafter as practicable, designate by resolution
a daily newspaper published in the City to be the official newspaper
for such term not exceeding one year as said Common Council may determine,
in which all matters required by law and the local laws and ordinances,
and any proceedings directed to be published by the Common Council,
shall be published, and to fix the compensation to be paid therefor,
not exceeding the rates allowed by law; and in case of the discontinuance
of said newspaper, or a refusal of the publisher thereof to publish
said matters and proceedings as required, or in case said newspaper
shall cease to be the official newspaper then to designate as aforesaid
some other daily newspaper. When any publication shall have been commenced
in such official newspaper, and such newspaper shall cease to be the
official newspaper before such publication shall have been completed,
such publication shall be completed in such other newspaper with the
same effect as if it were the original official newspaper.
The Common Council shall have exclusive power to lease property
belonging to the City, including the hall in the City Hall, so-called,
the markets, wharves and piers of the City. Such leases, when approved
by the Common Council, shall be executed by the Mayor and City Clerk
and filed in the office of the City Clerk. A copy thereof shall be
filed in the office of the City Treasurer.
The Common Council shall also have power by resolution to require
any officer, board or commission of the City to furnish reports, information
or estimates, whenever deemed proper by the Common Council. If any
officer, board or commission shall refuse or fail to furnish any such
report, information or estimate, the Common Council may issue subpoenas,
requiring the attendance of such officer or the members of any such
board or commission and the production of books, accounts, vouchers
or documents, and such subpoenas may be served at any place within
the state in the same manner as subpoenas in criminal cases. A witness
refusing to attend or to be sworn or affirmed, or to answer any proper
or pertinent question, or to produce such books, accounts, vouchers
or documents, may be proceeded against and punished in accordance
with the provisions of the General City Law.
The Common Council of the City of Hudson shall be the Board
of Auditors to examine the accounts of the officers of the City, with
the same powers and shall proceed in the same manner as prescribed
by law for Boards of Town Auditors in towns, and it shall not hereafter
be lawful for the Board of Supervisors of the County of Columbia to
audit or allow any account chargeable to said City.
A.
In each year next following the election of a City Treasurer, it
shall be the duty of the Common Council during the month of January
to advertise at least twice in the official newspaper of the City
for sealed proposals from the banking houses in the City to act as
depository of the public monies of the City for the term of two years
from and after the first day of May next following. Said proposal
shall state the rate of interest, if any, which the bidder will pay
to the City on the total daily balances standing to the credit of
the City. Such proposals shall be sealed and shall be delivered to
the Common Council on or before the date set in the notice for receiving
bids.
B.
At the time and place fixed in said notice, the Common Council shall
meet and all bids and proposals then filed shall be opened either
by the President of the Common Council or by the Clerk in the presence
of such persons as may then and there attend. And the Common Council
shall thereupon accept the offer of the bank or trust company which
it deems most advantageous to the City, and shall designate such bank
or trust company as such depository for the term of two years beginning
upon the first day of May next following, subject, however, to the
cancellation of such designation upon the giving of 30 days' written
notice by either the depository or the City.
C.
The Common Council is hereby empowered, in the event that no proposal
is received from any bank or trust company in the City, to make arrangements
for and designate a depository either in or without the City, such
arrangements and designation to be made by a two-thirds vote of all
the members of the Common Council, subject, however, to the provision
as to security as hereafter provided.
A.
The City Clerk shall immediately after such acceptance and designation
notify the bank or trust company so designated of such acceptance
and designation. Whereupon and before such depository shall receive
any moneys belonging to said City, such depository shall execute,
acknowledge and deliver to the Clerk of the City an undertaking to
the City in the penal sum of $300,000, with such sureties as the Common
Council shall approve, on condition that such depository shall faithfully
keep such deposits and shall on the last day of each month pay and
account for such interest on daily balances, if any interest is agreed
to be paid, by the depository, at the rate as such accepted proposals
stated, and shall faithfully pay all orders as shall be drawn upon
the Treasurer of the City as hereinafter provided. The depository
shall not pay any drafts, orders or checks drawn upon it by the City
Treasurer unless said drafts, orders or checks are signed by the Mayor
and countersigned by the City Clerk in addition to the City Treasurer,
where such drafts, orders or checks are to pay audits and allowances
by the Common Council, and at the end of the term will faithfully
pay over to its or their successor all moneys that shall remain in
its or their hands belonging to the City.
B.
The bank or trust company so designated as depository, in lieu of
any undertaking required or permitted by law to be executed by a surety
company, may execute an undertaking or undertakings with or without
sureties in the form and upon the conditions prescribed by law, and
deposit as collateral thereto in a safety deposit box in a bank or
trust company in the City of Hudson approved by the Mayor, City Treasurer
and President of the Common Council outstanding unmatured registered
or unregistered bonds of the United States of America, the State of
New York or any municipality in the State of New York, having a market
value of at least $300,000, together with an assignment in blank,
and for which the Mayor, City Treasurer and the President of the Common
Council shall deliver a certificate containing a description of the
bonds so deposited as such collateral.
C.
The bonds or securities shall be in the amount of $300,000, which
bonds or securities shall be approved by the Common Council.
D.
The Common Council shall have power under this Charter to fix the
amount of such undertaking for the term beginning May 1, 1938, and
any subsequent term. The amount of such undertaking shall in no event
be less than $300,000.
E.
In the event of a default on the undertaking of any depository herein
referred to and the subsequent necessity to complete the assignment,
such completion shall be by the Mayor, City Treasurer and President
of the Common Council.
F.
The Mayor, City Treasurer and President of the Common Council may
from time to time release securities in their custody as aforesaid,
but, however, the market value of the collateral shall at no time
be less than the amount of the undertaking. Upon the withdrawal of
all moneys from any depository and the closing and settlement of the
account thereof, such collateral so deposited shall be returned to
such depository. The Mayor, City Treasurer and President of the Common
Council are hereby authorized to lease or rent a safety deposit box
for the keeping of said collateral, the expense thereof to be a City
charge to be audited and paid in the same manner as other charges
against the City are audited and paid. A representative of the depository,
the Mayor, City Treasurer and President of the Common Council must
be present at all openings of said safety deposit box containing said
collateral.
[Added 5-18-1976 by L.L. No. 5-1976]
The Common Council of the City of Hudson shall have exclusive
power to acquire, own and operate transit facilities of any nature
within said City's boundaries. The operation and maintenance of any
such transit facilities shall be conducted by the Department of Public
Works of said City on behalf of the Common Council.
