A. 
Licenses issued under the provisions of this chapter may be revoked or suspended by the Town Board of the Town of Smithtown in accordance with the adjudicatory procedures set forth herein.
B. 
A licensee shall be given reasonable notice of such hearing, which notice shall be mailed postage prepaid to the licensee's last known address at least five days prior to the date set for the hearing. Such notice shall include:
(1) 
A statement of the time, place and nature of the hearing.
(2) 
A statement of the legal authority and jurisdiction under which the hearing is to be held.
(3) 
A reference to the particular sections of the statutes, ordinances or rules or regulations involved wherever possible.
(4) 
A short and plain statement of matters asserted.
C. 
Upon application of the licensee a more definite and detailed statement shall be furnished. Whenever the Town of Smithtown finds that the statement is not sufficiently definite or not sufficiently detailed, the findings of the Town of Smithtown as to the sufficiency or definiteness or detail of the statement or its failure or refusal to furnish a more definite or detailed statement shall not be subject to judicial review. Any statement furnished shall be deemed in all respects to be part of the notice of hearing.
D. 
All license revocation hearings shall be conducted in the manner wherein the accused licensee is afforded full due process of law.
E. 
All parties shall be afforded an opportunity to present written argument on issues of law and an opportunity to present evidence and such argument of issues of fact; provided, however, that nothing contained herein shall be construed to prohibit the Town of Smithtown from allowing parties to present oral argument within a reasonable time. In fixing the time and place for hearings and oral argument, due regard shall be had for the convenience of the parties, convenience of the witnesses and the public welfare sought to be protected.
F. 
Unless precluded by statute, disposition may be made of any adjudicatory proceeding by stipulation, agreed settlement consent order, default or other informal method. Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the Town Board of the Town of Smithtown from convening another license revocation hearing at any future time.
A. 
The record in a license revocation proceeding shall include:
(1) 
All notices, pleadings, motions and intermediate rulings.
(2) 
Evidence presented.
(3) 
A statement of matters officially noticed, except matters so obvious that a statement of them would serve no useful purpose.
(4) 
Questions and offers of proof, objections thereto and rules thereon.
(5) 
Proposed findings and exceptions, if any.
(6) 
Any decision, determination, opinion, order or report rendered.
B. 
The Town of Smithtown shall make a complete record of all adjudicatory proceedings conducted before it. For this purpose, unless otherwise required by statute, the Town of Smithtown may use whatever means it deems appropriate, including but not limited to the use of stenographic transcriptions or electronic recording devices. Upon request made by any party upon the Town of Smithtown within a reasonable time but prior to the time for commencement of judicial review of its giving notice of its decision, determination, opinion or order, the Town of Smithtown shall prepare the record together with any transcript of proceedings within a reasonable time and shall furnish a copy of the record and transcript of any part thereof to any party as that party may request. Except when any statute provides otherwise, the Town of Smithtown is authorized to charge not more than its cost for the preparation and furnishing of such record or transcript or any part thereof or the rates specified in the contract between the Town of Smithtown and a contractor, if prepared by a private contractor.
C. 
Findings of fact shall be based exclusively on the evidence and on matters officially noticed.
Except as otherwise provided by statute, the Town of Smithtown, one or more members of the Town Board, the Town Board or one or more hearing officers designated and empowered by the Town Board of the Town of Smithtown to conduct hearings shall be presiding officers. Hearings shall be conducted in an impartial manner. Upon the filing in good faith by a party of a timely and sufficient affidavit of personal bias or disqualification of a presiding officer, the Town Board shall determine the matter as part of the record in the case, and its determination shall be a matter subject to judicial review at the conclusion of the adjudicatory proceeding. Whenever a presiding officer is disqualified or it becomes impractical for him or her to continue the hearing, another presiding officer may be assigned to continue with the case, unless it is shown that substantial prejudice to the party will result therefrom.
Except as otherwise provided by statutes, presiding officers are authorized to:
A. 
Administer oaths and affirmations.
B. 
Sign and issue subpoenas in the name of the Town of Smithtown at the request of any party requiring attendance and giving of testimony by witness and the production of books, papers, documents and other evidence, and said subpoenas shall be regulated by the Civil Practice Law and Rules. Nothing herein contained shall effect the authority of an attorney for a party to issue such subpoenas under the provisions of the Civil Practice Law and Rules.
C. 
Provide for the taking of testimony by deposition.
D. 
Regulate the course of the hearing, set the time and place for continued hearings and fix the time for filing of briefs and other documents.
E. 
Direct the parties to appear and confer to consider the simplification of the issues by consent of the parties.
A. 
Irrelevant or unduly repetitious evidence or cross-examination may be excluded. Except as otherwise provided by statute, the burden of proof shall be on the party who initiated the proceeding. No decision, determination or other shall be made except upon consideration of the record as a whole or such portion thereof as may be cited by any party to the proceeding and as supported by and in accordance with substantial evidence. Unless otherwise provided by statute, the Town of Smithtown need not observe the rules of evidence observed by courts but shall give effect to the rules of privilege recognized by law. Objections to evidentiary offers may be made and shall be noted in the record. Subject to these requirements, the Town of Smithtown may, for the purposes of expediting hearings and when the interest of parties will not be substantially prejudiced thereby, adopt procedures for the submission of all or part of the evidence in written form.
B. 
All evidence, including records and documents, in the possession of the Town of Smithtown which it desires to avail itself shall be offered and made a part of the record, and all such documentary evidence may be received in the form of copies or excerpts or by incorporation by reference. In case of incorporation by reference, the materials so incorporated shall be available for examination by the parties before being received in evidence.
C. 
All parties shall have the right of cross-examination.
D. 
Official notice may be taken of all facts of which judicial notice could be taken and of other facts within the specialized knowledge of the Town of Smithtown. When official notice is taken of a material fact not appearing in the evidence in the record and of which judicial notice could not be taken, every party shall be given notice thereof and shall, on timely request, be afforded an opportunity prior to decision to dispute the fact or its materiality.
A. 
A final decision, determination or order adverse to a party in an adjudicatory proceeding shall be in writing or stated in the record and shall include findings of fact and conclusions of law or reasons for the decision, determination or order. Findings of fact, if set forth in statutory language, shall be accompanied by a concise and explicit statement of the underlying facts supporting the findings. If in accordance with the Town of Smithtown rules a party submitted proposed findings of fact, the decision, determination or order shall include a ruling upon each proposed finding. A copy of the decision, determination or order shall be delivered or mailed forthwith to each party and to his or her attorney of record.
B. 
Unless required for the disposition of ex parte matters authorized by law, members or employees of the Town of Smithtown assigned to render a decision or to make findings of fact or conclusions of law in an adjudicatory proceeding shall not communicate directly or indirectly in connection with any issue of fact with any person or party nor in connection with any issue of law with any party or his or her representation except upon notice and opportunity for all parties to participate. Any such Town of Smithtown member or employee may:
(1) 
Communicate with other members of the Town of Smithtown; and
(2) 
Have the aid and advice of Town of Smithtown staff other than staff which have been assigned or are engaged in the investigative or prosecuting functions in connection with the case under consideration or a factually related case.
C. 
The Town Clerk shall maintain an index by name and subject of all written final decisions, determinations and orders rendered by the Town Board of the Town of Smithtown in adjudicatory proceedings. Such index and the text of any such written final decision, determination or order shall be available for public inspection and copying. Each decision, determination and order shall be indexed within 60 days after having been rendered.
D. 
The Town Board of the Town of Smithtown may delete from any such index, decision, determination or order any information that if disclosed would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy under the provisions of Subdivision 2 of § 89 of the Public Officers Law and may also delete at the request of any person all references to trade secrets that if disclosed would cause substantial injury to the competitive possession of such person. Information which would reveal confidential or privileged material protected by federal, state or local statute, ordinance, rule or regulation shall be deleted from any such index decision, determination or order.
Adjournment of any hearing or proceeding conducted pursuant to this chapter shall be granted only for good cause. Written request for adjournment shall be submitted to the hearing officer in the hearing or proceeding or to the Town Board, as the appropriate case may be, for which the adjournment is sought. The request must be accompanied by an affidavit which contains sufficient detail to allow the hearing officer or the Town Board to rule on the request.
Under this chapter, adjudicatory proceedings shall be conducted in an expeditious manner with all due regard for the rights of the parties concerned. Every effort should be made by the parties to effectuate a speedy disposition of the case.
The hearing officer exercising discretion may elect to conduct any hearing or proceeding under these rules ex parte after a showing that the party who is the subject of the hearing and its representative of record have been notified by certified mail of the pending hearing or proceeding or otherwise served with notice of the hearing. The party who is the subject of the hearing shall at no time be deprived the opportunity to appear. However, if a party has been served with two written notices of hearing and fails to appear after each notice, the hearing officer on proof of service shall have the authority to proceed with the scheduled hearing. Proof of service shall consist of a signed certified mail receipt or affidavit.
A. 
At the close of the hearing or proceeding the hearing officer shall make findings of fact and a recommendation as to the appropriate penalty or fine to be assessed or any other recommended action to be taken. The proposed findings of fact and the recommendation shall be transmitted to the Town Board of the Town of Smithtown for approval and simultaneously mailed or delivered to the parties to the proceeding. The parties shall have an opportunity to respond, in writing, in the form of a brief to the findings of fact and the recommendation of the hearing officer and such response shall be directed to the Town Board for its consideration within 15 days after the submission of the hearing officer's recommendation to the Town Board. In their briefs submitted in response to the findings of fact and the recommendation of the hearing officer, the parties may not submit or discuss evidence which is not a part of the official record of the hearing or proceeding. The Board shall act on the findings of fact and the recommendation as expeditiously as possible. The Board may affirm or reverse the findings of fact and the recommendation of the hearing officer in whole or in part, or it may remand and/or dismiss the proceeding based upon the record produced at the hearing. In the event that the Town Board of the Town of Smithtown sitting en masse hears and presides over the hearing, the provisions of this subsection shall not apply.
B. 
The assessment of civil penalties under applicable law procedures shall not preclude the referral of an appropriate violation to a prosecutor for prosecution of criminal charges.
C. 
If the alleged violation has been established and the Board determines in light of all the circumstances that the violation is not serious enough to warrant assessment of a civil penalty or if the imposition of civil penalties is not otherwise authorized by law, the Board in its discretion may take such other action as appropriate, including but not limited to written admonition or recommendation that disciplinary action be taken or referral to a prosecutor for prosecution of criminal charges.
At the conclusion of said hearing and as a result of the evidence adduced thereon and upon the recommendation of the hearing officer, the Town Board may, in its discretion, revoke said license, suspend the subject license for a specified period of time, censure the licensee and/or impose a fine not to exceed $25,000 per violation. Nothing herein shall be construed to limit the authority of the Town Board to refer such violation to an appropriate prosecutor for criminal prosecution in addition to any civil penalty assessed under the provisions of this chapter.