The City Clerk shall be appointed by the Mayor and shall hold
office at the Mayor's pleasure.
It shall be the duty of the City Clerk to preserve and file
the original minutes of any and all of the proceedings of the Common
Council in the city archives, and the copies of all papers, proceedings
or records required to be published in the official papers shall be
read and compared by him with the originals thereof, and said originals
shall be preserved and filed by him in the City Archives. The City
Archives shall contain all official city reports, records and documents
necessary for the conduct of the city's business, and they shall
be maintained to assure accessibility to city personnel and citizens.
The City Clerk shall, in addition to the duties in this Charter required
of him, keep all papers belonging to said city and make a record of
the proceedings of the Common Council.
Copies of all instruments, maps and all other papers on file
in his office and transcripts from the records of the proceedings
of the Common Council certified by him to be true copies of the originals
shall be evidence in all courts and places in like manner, as if the
originals were produced and proven. He shall have the custody of the
corporate seal. He shall be ex officio a Commissioner of Deeds of
the city, and as such shall have power to administer oaths and affirmations
and take the proof of acknowledgment of the execution of any conveyance
or instrument in writing.
The City Clerk shall receive, file in an orderly manner and
make available for public inspection official records of the City
Court and of all other departments of the city which shall generate
records deemed, by the City Clerk, the Mayor or the Common Council,
to be necessary to assure public access to them. The City Clerk shall,
after appropriate consultation with the Mayor and Council, devise,
implement and maintain a records-keeping and management system for
all such purposes as this Charter shall require and as shall be directed
by the Mayor or Council.
He shall attest all licenses of every description granted or
issued by the city, and no license shall be valid unless so attested.
A record of all such licenses, numbered consecutively, shall be kept
by the City Clerk and the City Chamberlain in their respective offices.
All fees or commissions charged for or received by him under
the provisions of this Charter shall belong to the City of Oswego
and, as soon as collected, shall be paid to the City Chamberlain.
The Office of the City Clerk is hereby declared a town office
for the purpose of depositing and filing therein all books and papers
required by law to filed in a Town Clerk's office in said city;
and with regard to such books and papers, he shall possess the powers
and perform the duties of a Town Clerk except as provided by the Local
Finance Law.
The City Clerk shall cause to be published in the official newspaper
any and all notices of election as required by the general Election
Law of the State of New York.
The City Clerk shall receive and verify the oaths of office
of all elected and appointed officials of the city, and until such
oath of office shall have been certified by the City Clerk, no person
shall occupy and perform the duties of the office to which appointed
or elected. If a person shall fail to submit his oath to the City
Clerk within ten (10) working days of the commencement of his term,
the office shall be considered vacant.
The City Clerk shall notify all persons of their appointment
to office and shall advise them of the necessity for executing bonds,
if required under the terms of this Charter, and of the necessity
for filing an oath of office.
The City Clerk shall report to the Mayor, in writing, the names
of all persons elected or appointed to any office who shall have neglected
to file their bond and/or oath of office according to the requirements
of this Charter within ten (10) days after such default.
The City Clerk shall receive from the Mayor any objections the
Mayor may have to Council acts, record those objections in the journal
of the Council having determined that the Council shall have received
such objections at its next meeting after the filing of such objections
and shall include in his preparation of the Council's Journal,
the Council's reactions to mayoral objections.
The City Clerk shall be responsible for the publication of all
ordinances of the Common Council being published twice in the city's
official paper. Not more than six (6) days nor less than three (3)
days shall elapse between the day of the first publication and the
day of the second publication, and every ordinance shall take effect
at the expiration of ten (10) days after the first publication thereof
in the official paper. The City Clerk shall make and sign an entry
or record, in a book to be provided for that purpose, of every ordinance
enacted by the Common Council and of the time of the first publication
thereof, and such original entry or record or a copy thereof certified
by the Mayor or City Clerk under the city seal shall be presumptive
evidence in all courts and places of the due passage of such ordinance,
of its having been duly published and of the time of its first publication.
The printed copy of the ordinances published under the direction of
the Common Council, with the time of the first publication designated
at the end of the respective sections, shall also be presumptive evidence
of the above recited facts; and the printed copy of the Charter published
in like manner shall be like evidence to the same extent as volumes
of laws printed under the direction of the Secretary of State.
The City Clerk shall be responsible for the maintenance and
posting of a suitable bulletin board in the rotunda of City Hall.
The City Clerk shall be responsible for the preparation and
dissemination in the city's official paper of all notices required
by this Charter and the Council. He shall, under the direction of
the Council, determine appropriate rates for payment thereof.
The City Clerk shall also perform such other duties as the Common
Council may assign.
