No civil action shall be brought or maintained against the Town
of Walton for damages or injuries to person or property sustained
by reason of any street, highway, bridge, culvert, sidewalk or crosswalk
being defective, out-of-repair, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed unless
written notice of such defective, out-of-repair, unsafe, dangerous
or obstructed condition was actually given to the Town Clerk of the
Town of Walton or to the Highway Superintendent of the Town of Walton;
and that there was a failure or neglect on the part of said Town to
cause such condition to be corrected within a reasonable time after
the giving of such notice; or, in the absence of such notice, unless
such defective, out-of-repair, unsafe, dangerous or obstructed condition
existed for so long a period of time that the same should have been
discovered and remedied by the Town of Walton in the exercise of reasonable
care and diligence; but no such action shall be maintained for damages
or injuries to person or property sustained solely by reason of the
existence of snow or ice upon any highway, bridge, culvert, sidewalk
or crosswalk unless written notice thereof, specifying the particular
place, was actually given to the Town Clerk of the Town of Walton
or to the Highway Superintendent of the Town of Walton and there was
a failure or neglect to cause such snow or ice to be removed or to
make the place otherwise reasonably safe within a reasonable time
after receipt of such notice.
The Superintendent of Highways for the Town of Walton shall
transmit, in writing, to the Town Clerk of the Town of Walton within
10 days after receipt thereof all written notices received by him
pursuant to this chapter.
The Town Clerk of the Town of Walton shall keep an index record,
in a separate book, of all written notices which the Clerk shall receive,
pursuant to this chapter, 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, sidewalk or
crosswalk, which record shall state the date of the 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 was received.
The record of each notice shall be preserved for a period of five
years after the date it is received.
Nothing herein contained, however, shall be held to revive any
claim or cause of action now barred from any existing requirement
or statute of limitations, nor to waive any existing limitation now
applicable to any claim or cause of action against the Town of Walton.
This chapter shall, in accordance with § 27 of the
Municipal Home Rule Law, become effective 20 days after its adoption
by the Town Board of the Town of Walton and after it has been filed
in the Office of the Secretary of State.