All claims against the City for damages for injuries to persons
or property, claimed to have been caused or sustained by defects,
want of repair or obstructions from snow or ice or other causes in
the highways, streets, sidewalks or crosswalks of the City, or because
of negligence of the City as to the highways, streets, sidewalks or
crosswalks of the City, shall be presented to the Common Council,
in writing, within one month after said injury is received. Such writing
shall describe the time, place, cause and extent of the injury so
far as then practicable, and shall be verified by the oath of the
claimant. The omission to present said claim, as aforesaid, within
one month shall be a bar to any claim or action therefor against the
City. The filing of such claim in writing with the City Clerk shall
be deemed a presentation thereof to the Common Council, for the purpose
of avoiding the limitation as to the time within which to present
such claim as provided by this section; provided, however, in case
the physical or mental condition of a person injured is such as to
prevent his giving such notice within one month, then the notice shall
be given within 10 days after such disability shall cease.
The City of Hudson shall not be liable for any damage or injury
sustained by any person in consequence of any highway, street, sidewalk
or crosswalk in said City being out of repair, unsafe, dangerous or
obstructed by snow, ice or otherwise, or in any way or manner, unless
written notice of the defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition
of any such highway, street, sidewalk or crosswalk shall have been
given to the Mayor, the City Clerk or to the Superintendent of Public
Works thereof at least 24 hours previous to the happening of any such
damage or injury.
It shall in all cases be the duty of the owner of every lot
or piece of land in said City to keep his sidewalks adjoining his
lot or piece of land in good repair, and to remove and clean away
all snow and ice and other obstructions from such sidewalk. Such owner
and each of them shall be liable for any injury or damage by reason
of omission, failure or negligence to make, maintain or repair such
sidewalk, or to remove snow, ice or other obstructions therefrom,
or for a violation or nonobservance of the ordinances or local laws
relating to making, maintaining and repairing sidewalks and the removal
of snow, ice and other obstructions from sidewalks.
No person shall have power to make any purchase or contract
any debt on behalf of the City, except as herein provided. No account,
claim or demand of any kind shall be audited, allowed or paid by the
Common Council or by any board or commission unless the same was duly
authorized or ratified by it.
If judgment in any action or special proceeding shall be rendered
against the City by any court or judicial officer, an appeal therefrom
may be taken to the proper court in the same manner and with the same
effect as though the City were a natural person, except that no undertaking
on appeal shall be necessary to be executed by or on behalf of the
City.
No person shall be disqualified from acting as judge, juror,
witness or justice, by reason of being an inhabitant or freeholder
in the City of Hudson, in any action or proceeding in which the City
or any of its officers, boards or commissions is a party or interested.
All ordinances and local laws heretofore passed and now in force
shall continue in force until the same are repealed or modified, in
accordance with the provisions of this Charter.
The Common Council shall not, in any case, give or appropriate
by resolution or otherwise, except as in this Charter provided, any
sum or amount to any member thereof or of any board or commission,
or to any officer of the City whose salary is fixed by the Charter
or local laws, ordinances or resolution of the Common Council, for
services rendered in the discharge of official duties. All claims
for extra services shall be made and presented and audited as other
claims against the City.
No member of the Common Council or member of any commission
or other City official created under this Charter shall be interested,
directly or indirectly, in any work done or supplies furnished, or
contract made, in pursuance of any action of the Common Council or
any board or commission or officer of the City.
[Amended 3-18-1997 by L.L. No. 3-1997; 7-15-1997 by L.L. No.
5-1997]
The fiscal year, under the provisions of this Charter, shall
commence on the first day of January in each and every year, commencing
January 1, 1999.
A.
The power of the Common Council and of the several departments of
the City of Hudson to fix the compensation of any office or position
is hereby extended to include the power to increase during any fiscal
year the compensation of any officer or person paid out of the treasury
of the City of Hudson. Such increased compensation may be made after
such salary or compensation shall have been fixed and provided for
in the budget of the City for the fiscal year. The provisions of this
section shall supersede § 25 of the General City Law, as
amended, supplemented and in effect.
B.
Before any such increased compensation shall be paid to any person receiving compensation from the City treasury as provided for in Subsection A of this section, an application in writing, signed by the Mayor, commissioner or officer in charge of or directing the work performed by the person or persons applying, stating the amount of increase, shall be presented to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for consideration. If approved by a majority of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, said application shall be presented to the Common Council for final approval at its next regular meeting and, if approved by the Common Council, shall become effective on the first day of the month next following.
C.
This section shall not apply to the yearly increment of police officers,
which increase shall have been provided for in the fiscal budget.
[Amended 7-19-2022 by L.L. No. 5-2022]
A.
Boards
and commissions to hold regular monthly meetings. Each board and commission
created or continued under the provisions of this Charter shall hold
regular meetings at least once in each month. The time of such meetings
shall be fixed by each board or commission by resolution and a copy
of such resolution shall be filed in the office of the City Clerk.
B.
Authorization
of meetings by videoconferencing. All public bodies, boards, and committees
of the City of Hudson are authorized to use videoconferencing technology
to conduct their meetings in accordance with the provisions of Section
103-a of the NY Public Officers Law, subject to the following conditions:
(1)
A
minimum number of members of the public body sufficient to fulfill
the public body' s quorum requirement must be present in the same
physical location where the public can attend;
(2)
All
members of the public body shall be physically present at any meeting
of the public body unless a member is unable to be physically present
due to extraordinary circumstances, including, but not limited to:
disability; illness; quarantine order; the death of an immediate family
member where such term is defined to include a spouse, parent, sibling,
child, domestic partner, or individual for whom the member is the
designated guardian; caregiving responsibilities for an immediate
family member, or any other significant or unexpected factor that
may preclude physical attendance.
(3)
A
member who wishes to participate in a meeting by videoconference must
provide advance notice and justification for their absence to the
extent possible to the appointed leadership of the public body. For
purposes of the Common Council, such notice shall be provided to the
Council President, or in the Council President's absence, to the Deputy
Council President. In the case of a public committee, the Planning
Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals, notice shall be provided to
the Chair or his/her designee when the Chair is unavailable.
(4)
The
leadership of a public body may require any member requesting to participate
in a meeting by videoconference to provide documentation, to the extent
possible, supporting such request and may publicly confirm that such
documentation was received without publicly stating the contents of
such documentation.
(5)
Except
in the case of executive sessions, the public body shall ensure that
members who are participating remotely can be heard, seen, and identified
at all times when the meeting is being conducted.
(6)
The
minutes of meetings involving videoconferencing shall state which
members, if any, participated by videoconference, and shall be available
to the public.
(7)
If
videoconferencing is being used to conduct a meeting, the public notice
for the meeting shall inform the public that videoconferencing will
be used, where the public can view and/or participate in such meeting,
where required documents and records will be posted or available,
and identify the physical location for the meeting where the public
can attend.
(8)
If
videoconferencing is used to conduct a meeting, the public body shall
provide the opportunity for members of the public to view such meeting
via video, and to participate in proceedings via videoconference in
real time where public comment or participation is authorized and
shall ensure that videoconferencing authorizes the same public participation
as in-person participation.
(9)
Any
and all videoconferencing technology used for public meetings shall
be made accessible to members of the body and the public with disabilities
in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as
amended.
(10)
Nothing herein shall prohibit the Common Council or any other board
or body of the City of Hudson from holding meetings entirely by videoconference,
with no in-person requirement, during a state of emergency declared
by the Governor of New York pursuant to Executive Law § 28, by
the Columbia County Executive, or the City, if such public body determines
that the circumstances necessitating the emergency declaration would
affect or impair the ability of the public body to hold an in-person
meeting.
C.
The written procedures set forth in Subsection B of this section governing member attendance by videoconference at meetings of public bodies, together with any supplemental, but not contrary, written procedures that public bodies may adopt on the subject of videoconferencing, shall be conspicuously posted on the City's website.
Once each month each board and commission shall deliver, in
writing to the City Clerk, a summary of all claims and demands presented
to said board or commission on account of services rendered for or
supplies delivered to it during the month last past, and the City
Clerk shall forthwith cause said summary so presented to him in each
month to be published once in the official newspaper, and no such
claim or demand shall be paid by any board or commission until said
publication shall have been had.
The several wards of the City shall be considered towns for
the purpose of the return and summoning of jurors; and the supervisors
elected in the respective wards shall execute the duties relating
thereto, and duplicates of the returns of jurors made by them shall
be filed in the office of the City Clerk.
This Charter shall be a substitute for and take the place of
the present charter of the City, and each and all of the provisions
of the present charter, and all local laws relating to all or any
of the matters in this Charter provided for, and all acts or local
laws or parts of acts or local laws inconsistent with this Charter
are hereby repealed.
The repeal of an act or local law, or any part of it, by the
provisions of this Charter, shall not affect or impair the title or
interest of the City to or in any property heretofore acquired by
the City and owned by it, or any bonded or other indebtedness of the
City of Hudson, at the time of the taking effect of this Charter,
or any right accrued or acquired under or by virtue of the law so
repealed; nor shall this Charter be so construed as to affect in any
way any action or proceeding pending at the date of its passage in
any court or before any judicial officer in this state. Where any
contract has been entered into by the City prior to the taking effect
of this Charter, or any bond or undertaking has been given to or in
favor of the City, such contract, bond or undertaking shall not in
any manner be impaired but shall continue in full force, and if any
such contract, bond or undertaking contains provisions that the same
may be enforced by some officer, commission or department therein
named and by the provisions of this Charter such office, commission
or department is abolished, the powers conferred and the duties imposed
with reference to the same upon the officer, commissioner or department
which has been abolished shall thereafter be exercised and discharged
by the officer, commission or department upon whom, or upon which,
is conferred or imposed like powers, functions or duties under this
Charter.
If any provision or provisions of this Charter are held to be
invalid, ineffective, unconstitutional in whole or in part or inapplicable
to any person or situation, it is the purpose and intent of this Charter
that such determination shall not affect the validity, force and effect
of any other provision or provisions thereof.
This Charter shall take effect on the first day of June 1921.
