The Mayor and the Council Members of the City of Salamanca shall constitute the Board of Public Works, shall each have the right to one vote and shall exercise all the powers and duties conferred by this Title upon the Board of Public Works.
The City Clerk shall at all times, without additional compensation, act as Clerk to said Board. It shall be his or her duty to keep a record of its proceedings in a book kept for that purpose The City Clerk shall have the custody of all books and papers belonging to said Board. Said books and papers shall at all times be open for the inspection of the members of the Board. The City Clerk shall do all such clerical work as such Board shall from time to time prescribe.
The Board of Public Works shall within the first meeting in each year organize by the Mayoral appointment of one (1) of their members as Chairperson for the ensuing year, who shall preside at the meetings when present and who shall not lose his or her vote as a member of the Board by reason of his or her acting as presiding officer.
In case any vacancy shall occur in the office of the Board of Public Works in said City, such vacancy shall be filled in accordance with § 25 regarding the filling of vacancies of the Mayor or Council Member.
The Board of Public Works shall hold a meeting at least once in each month. Special meetings may be held on the call of the Chairperson or any two (2) members of the Board. At any meetings of the Board of Public Works, a majority shall constitute a quorum.
The Board of Public Works shall be Commissioners of Highways in and for said City and shall have the powers and perform all the duties of the Commissioner of Highways, other than as provided in this Charter. The Board of Public Works shall have power to:
1. 
Make rules and regulations for its own government and for the government of the Superintendent of Public Works and City Engineer.
2. 
Approve all contracts relating to construction, paving and repair of the streets, sidewalks and storm sewers and the cleaning of the streets, the grading, paving and repaving and macadamizing and remacadamizing of all streets and public places and laying and extending of storm sewers and the provision of all materials, machinery, implements and utensils necessary therefor.
The Superintendent of Public Works shall hold office for two-year terms. However, after having completed satisfactory service for three (3) terms, shall hold office for an indefinite term and shall be removed only through the exercise by the Common Council of those procedures and processes as equate with those set forth in the Civil Service Law.
The Superintendent of Public Works shall be under the direction of the Common Council, sitting as the Board of Public Works. The Superintendent of Public Works shall be the head of the Department of Public Works and shall have the authority and obligations, to the following:
1. 
To enforce all rules and regulations for the conduct of all labor, services and functions of said Department.
2. 
Have the general supervision and direction over all the streets, storm sewers and related engineering and shall perform such other duties as the Board of Public Works shall direct.
3. 
Subject to the approval of the Board of Public Works, to initiate all contracts and prepare all specifications for contracts relating to construction, paving and repair of the streets and sidewalks and the cleaning of the streets, the grading, paving and repairing and macadamizing and remacadamizing of all streets and public places and the provisions of all materials, machinery, implements and utensils necessary therefor.
4. 
To lay out, make, open, grade, level, regulate, pave, macadamize, clean, repair and improve highways, streets, lanes, alleys, sidewalks, storm sewers, gutters, drains, crosswalks and alter, amend, widen, straighten and discontinue the same through any lands, buildings or enclosures in said City.
5. 
To supervise, control and direct the maintenance, repair, operation and conduct of all parks and recreation areas.
6. 
To supervise, control and direct all operations and functions as are presently assigned to the Department of Public Works and as from time to time may hereafter be assigned by the Board of Public Works to said Department of Public Works.
1. 
Whenever the Board of Public Works shall intend to lay out, alter, widen, extend, contract or discontinue any street, lane, alley or highway in said City and the lands of any person or corporation or any right or easement therein that will be necessary for such purpose and whenever the Board of Public Works shall intend to acquire lands, rights or easements therein for any other purpose mentioned in this Charter, it shall cause the same to be surveyed and monuments placed showing the line thereof and a map to be made of the same, which shall be filed in the City Clerk's office, showing upon such map the lots, tracts and parcels of land and rights or easements therein that are deemed necessary to be taken and the commencement, course and termination of the street, lane, alley or highway proposed to be laid out, widened, extended or altered or other work or improvement proposed to be made in or through the land so to be taken. And for that purpose, the Board of Public Works and those acting under its direction shall have power to enter upon any grounds in said City.
The Board of Public Works, subject to the approval of the Common Council, shall then declare by resolution its intention to take and appropriate said property for the proposed improvement, and thereafter it may purchase of the owner or owners thereof the land or right or easement therein deemed necessary and make him or her or them such compensation as it shall judge reasonable upon receiving from such owner or owners a conveyance thereof to the City subject to the approval of the Common Council. In case the Board of Public Works is unable to agree with the owner or owners for the purchase of any real estate or land or right or easement therein required for the purpose aforesaid, it shall acquire the same by condemnation proceedings under the provisions of the condemnation law of this state, Chapter 23 of the Code of Civil Procedure now the Civil Practice Law and Rules and amendments thereto.
2. 
After such damages shall have been ascertained and determined, or in case of agreement with owner or owners as herein provided, said Common Council shall declare a district of assessment making the award to assess the amount awarded for damages, specifying the aggregate amount of the same, upon the property within such district of assessment, or in case of agreement with the owner or owners as herein provided, the Common Council shall proceed to assess the amount agreed upon for compensation upon the property within such district of assessment.
The Common Council shall proceed to assess such amount upon the property benefited by such improvement in a just and equitable manner and as near as may be, in proportion to the benefits received; such assessment shall be made in the same manner as other local assessments, except that the Common Council shall direct such part of said expenses to be assessed upon the City, and such part locally, as they or it shall deem just; the powers and duties of the Common Council shall be the same as those of Assessors. When the assessment roll shall be filed, the assessment may be appealed from in the same manner and the Common Council shall possess the same powers in reference thereto and proceed in the same manner as on appeals from other local assessments.
3. 
Immediately after the final determination of all proceedings in which any award shall have been made, the Common Council shall cause to be paid or tendered to the respective owners the amount awarded to each, respectively, less any sum which shall have been assessed against them for any benefits on account of such improvements. In case any such owner shall refuse the same or be unknown or nonresident of the City or for any reason be incapacitated from receiving the amount or the right thereto be disputed or doubtful, the Common Council may make payment of the portion to the County Treasurer of the County of Cattaraugus and file therewith a statement of the facts and circumstances in each case and a transcript of the proceedings of the Common Council relating to the ascertainment of the amount so paid in. Upon such payment or tender or payment to said Treasurer being fully made, the fee of the land shall be vested in the City.
The Board of Public Works shall on an order from the Common Council have power to enter upon any lands or grounds in the City and appropriate such property for the purpose of conveying off any stagnant or surface water within and throughout the City, and thereafter said Board of Public Works may purchase from the owner or owners thereof the land or right or easement whenever deemed necessary and make him or her or them such compensation as it shall judge reasonable and just upon receiving from such owner or owners a conveyance thereof to the City.
In case said Board is unable to agree with the owner or owners for the purchase of any real estate or land or right or easement required therein for the purpose aforesaid, it shall acquire the same by condemnation proceedings under the provisions of the condemnation law of the state, proceeding in the same manner as obtaining lands for the street purposes elsewhere specified in this Title.
If the Board of Public Works of the City of Salamanca, by resolution or resolutions duly adopted by that Board, may at any time or times decide that any street or section of a street should be paved, repaved or macadamized and the owners of more than one-half (1/2) of the total of feet front or more than one-half (1/2) of the bona fide owners of the property abutting upon the street upon which the improvement is to be made give consent thereto, in writing, or if in place of said consents the Common Council shall by resolution vote unanimously to concur with said Board of Public Works that such improvement is expedient and necessary.
Said Board shall publish at least two (2) weeks' notice in the official newspapers of said City that at a time and place therein specified it will meet to make a final determination thereof. Such notice shall contain a brief description of the character, location and extent of the proposed improvement. At such meeting of said Board, any person shall be entitled to be heard for and against such improvement.
1. 
Expense of improvement: The expenses of such aforesaid improvements as are made along and border upon and are contiguous and adjacent to any property owned by the City, including crosswalks and intersections of streets, and one-third (1/3) of the remainder of such improvements, exclusive of the amount charged to any railroad company, shall be paid by the City at large from the General and Special Public Works Improvement Fund.
2. 
Determination to make improvement: If the Board of Public Works shall determine to make the improvement, it shall record an order therefor in its minutes, shall estimate the whole cost thereof, the Department of Public Works may build and construct such pavement or improvement by contract therefor duly advertised and let to the lowest bidder in all things as provided in the Purchasing Policy Guidelines of the City of Salamanca.
3. 
No paving, repairing, asphalting or macadamizing shall be done in any street until the gas and water mains and storm and sanitary sewers have been installed and service and house connection pipes to the same laid to the curbline of each separate piece of property, at least to a point within the line of the curbing, in such manner as the Board of Public Works shall prescribe. In case of neglect or refusal of the owner, the Department of Public Works is authorized to do such work, and the actual expense thereof shall be assessed on the property benefited thereby the same as other local assessments. The word "pavement," as herein used, is intended to include curbs and gutters.
4. 
Change of grade: After said Board of Public Works shall have caused to be established the grade necessary for the paving in any manner of any street, alley or public place or any part thereof which it has determined to improve under the provisions of this section. It shall give notice, in writing, to the owner or owners or persons interested in the lands which front or abut upon any such street, alley or public place as are above or below the grade thus established, to construct and maintain a retaining wall of suitable materials and in such manner as said Board of Public Works may direct along such street, alley or public place in front of their respective land. In case any such owner or owners or persons interested in said lands shall neglect or refuse to complete such retaining wall within such reasonable time as may be required by said Board of Public Works or shall neglect or refuse to keep said retaining wall in good repair and condition after its completion, then said cost and expense of building, completing and maintaining the same shall be by said Board of Public Works assessed upon the property upon and in front of which said retaining wall was built, completed and maintained, and the amount thereof added by said Board of Public Works to the next City assessment upon said property and levied and collected in the ordinary way of levying and collecting taxes and expenditures in said City.
The Board of Public Works shall construct and repair all sidewalks and crosswalks upon the streets in the City wholly at the expense of the City of Salamanca. The owner or occupant of lands adjoining a street may, with the consent and approval of the Board of Public Works construct along said street a sidewalk, the Board of Public Works shall have the power to refund to such owner or occupant the cost of said sidewalk.
It shall be the duty of every owner or occupant of every lot or piece of land to keep the sidewalks adjoining his or her lot or piece of land at all times clean and free from snow, ice or other obstructions. In case such owner or occupant shall neglect or refuse to clean said sidewalk in a timely manner, he or she may be subject to a fine or penalty to be assessed against the property to be set by the Board of Public Works. In addition, the Department of Public Works in such case may proceed to clean the same without notice to such owner or occupant.
The Board of Public Works shall have power to cause the streets, lanes, alleys, highways and public grounds and places of said City to be cleaned and repaired from time to time, and the expense thereof shall be paid by the City.