The title of this chapter is "Liability of the Town and Town
Superintendent of Highways in Certain Actions."
No civil action shall be maintained against the Town or Town
Superintendent of Highways for damages or injuries to person or property
sustained by reason of any highway, bridge, or culvert being defective,
out of repair, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed unless written notice
of such defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition of such
highway, bridge or culvert was actually given to the Town Clerk or
Town Superintendent of Highways, and that there was a failure or neglect
within a reasonable time after the giving of such notice to repair
or remove the defect, danger or obstruction complained of; no such
action shall be maintained for damages or injuries to person or property
sustained solely in consequence of the existence of snow or ice upon
any highway, bridge, or culvert, unless written notice thereof, specifying
the particular place, was actually given to the Town Clerk or Town
Superintendent of Highways and there was a failure or neglect to cause
such snow or ice to be removed or to make the place otherwise safe
within a reasonable time after the receipt of such notice.
This chapter shall supersede in its application to the Town
of Ulysses Subdivision 1 of § 65-a of the Town Law of the
State of New York.
The Town Superintendent of Highways shall transmit in writing
to the Town Clerk within 10 days after the receipt thereof all written
notices received by him/her pursuant to this section.
The Town Clerk shall keep an indexed record, in a separate file,
of all written notices which he/she shall receive of the existence
of a defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition in or upon,
or of an accumulation of ice or snow upon any town highway, bridge,
culvert or sidewalk, which record shall state the date of receipt
of the notice, the nature and location of the condition stated to
exist, and the name and address of the person from whom the notice
is received. All such written notices shall be indexed according to
the location of the alleged defective, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed
condition, or the location of accumulated snow or ice. The record
of each notice shall be preserved for a period of five years after
the date it is received.