There may be a City Treasurer who shall be head of the Bureau
of the Treasury. The City Treasurer shall be appointed by the Mayor.
In the absence of a City Treasurer, the City Comptroller shall perform
the duties of such position. The City Treasurer shall be Deputy Comptroller
and, under the supervision and control of the Comptroller, shall have
the custody of all City funds, and, when properly authorized, shall
make all disbursements from such funds.
There shall be a City Assessor who shall be head of the Bureau
of Assessments and the Bureau of Surplus Property. The City Assessor,
certified by the state, shall be appointed by the Mayor and serve
a term of office as provided in Subdivision 2 of § 310 of
the Real Property Tax Law. Under the supervision and control of the
Comptroller, the City Assessor shall make all assessments for general
tax or special assessment purposes. The City Assessor shall adopt
and maintain a definite system of making appraisals to be used in
establishing assessed valuation of all parcels of taxable property
within the city. It also shall be the duty of the City Assessor to
expedite the sale of City-owned property and property acquired through
the foreclosure of tax liens and of other City property not dedicated
to be held for a public purpose.
There shall be a Registrar of Vital Statistics who shall be
appointed by the Mayor for an indefinite term of office under the
supervision and control of the Mayor. The Registrar shall maintain
permanent records of all births and deaths occurring within the City.
The Registrar shall record all stillbirths and issue burial permits.
There shall be a City Purchasing Agent who shall be head of
the Bureau of Purchases. The Agent shall be appointed by the City
Comptroller with the approval of the Mayor, to serve at the pleasure
of the Mayor. Under the supervision and control of the Comptroller,
the Purchasing Agent shall make all purchases for the City, including
purchases by contract, and shall have all powers of a purchasing agent
or a purchasing agency under the General City Law and any other applicable
state law. The Purchasing Agent shall comply with all public bidding
requirements, shall bid all contracts for services and goods so far
as reasonably possible, and shall make all purchases on a nonpartisan,
non-patronage basis, according to standards of price, quality, and
general terms and conditions of purchase.
The City Comptroller, the City Treasurer, the City Purchasing
Agent, the City Auditor, and department heads in general, before exercising
any of the powers or performing any of the duties of their respective
offices, shall execute a bond to the City in such sums as the City
Council may direct by ordinance, and with such sureties as the Council
may approve, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties
of their offices, and that they will properly apply and account for
all public money and public property received by them. Said bond may
be a blanket bond covering all such employees, whichever the Council
shall decide. Such bond or bonds shall be filed in the office of the
Clerk of Rensselaer County, and recorded at length in a book kept
for the purpose of recording bonds of City officers.