A Municipal Board of Light Commissioners, to
be known and designated as the "Board of Light Commissioners of the
Village of Endicott, New York," be and the same hereby is established.
The members of the Board of Light Commissioners
shall receive no salaries but shall be reimbursed their actual expenses
incurred in the discharge of their duties. This section shall not,
however, prevent such Board of Light Commissioners from employing
one of their members as Secretary or other executive officer and paying
to such member proper compensation for the duties so performed.
[Amended 1-8-1996 by L.L. No. 1-1996]
There be and hereby is conferred upon such Board of Light Commissioners, when so appointed as aforesaid, such powers, rights, duties, privileges and responsibilities which are set forth herein in Chapter
9, Article
I, of the Code of the Village of Endicott and which are delegated to such Board of Light Commissioners in the care, maintenance, control, operation, supervision and management of the municipal electric and/or light system.
[Amended 1-8-1996 by L.L. No. 1-1996]
A. Employees responsible for performance of the work
in the municipal electric and/or light system shall be hired, employed
and supervised by the Board of Trustees; said employees may include,
at the discretion of the Board of Trustees, a Superintendent and Assistant
Superintendent.
B. The Village Attorney shall act as legal advisor for
the Board of Light Commissioners and may appear for and represent
it in any or all actions, matters and proceedings relating to said
Board of Light Commissioners or the conduct of its business. The compensation
of such counsel shall be determined and paid by the Board of Light
Commissioners.
[Amended 12-13-1999 by L.L. No. 11-1999]
C. The Board of Light Commissioners may also, from time
to time, in its discretion, retain accountants or other advisors,
the compensation of which shall be determined and paid by the Board
of Light Commissioners.
[Amended 12-13-1999 by L.L. No. 11-1999]
[Amended 1-8-1996 by L.L. No. 1-1996]
A. All the properties, records, rights, privileges and prerogatives of the present municipal electric and/or light system are hereby transferred to said Board, and such system as defined in Article
12 of the Village Law of the State of New York shall be under the control and supervision of said Board of Light Commissioners.
B. Neither the Board of Trustees nor the Board of Light
Commissioners shall have the power or authority to sell or lease such
electric system or any part thereof to any person or persons, firm,
partnership or corporation except when authorized to do so by a vote
of the resident taxpayers at either a special or annual election.
The Board shall require all agents, servants
and employees who shall in any manner whatsoever handle any of the
moneys or funds of said system to file a bond in the form usual for
other municipal officers in the penal sum as shall be prescribed by
said Board. The cost of such bonds shall be a charge against the funds
of said Board.
The Board shall pay all wages, electric, gas,
telephone, tax and all other bills, debts and other expenses contracted
by it out of the moneys so deposited to its credit when proper claims
therefor have been presented and have been audited by said Board by
orders drawn upon the Village Treasurer and signed and approved by
the Chairman or Vice Chairman of said Board and countersigned by the
Clerk thereof. Payment thereof, however, shall be made by the Village
Treasurer.
The Board shall, at all times, keep such system
in repair and may, from time to time, improve the same, pursuant to
the provisions herein contained and may extend the plant and facilities
thereof within said Village and may, with the consent of the Board
of Trustees and with the consent and approval of such other regulatory
bodies as may be necessary, extend such plant and the facilities thereof
outside of said Village but within the Town of Union.
The Board shall estimate annually the sum which
shall be paid by the Village for use of electricity for its public
purposes, which estimate shall be based upon the actual cost thereof.
The Board of Trustees shall annually levy and raise the amount of
money thereby established by the Board of Light Commissioners, and
the amount so raised shall be levied and collected at the same time
and in the same manner as other general Village taxes are levied and
raised, and, in addition thereto, the sum thus raised shall be paid
by the Village Treasurer into the fund of said municipal electric
and/or light system under the jurisdiction of said Board of Light
Commissioners.
The Board is hereby authorized and empowered
to set up a sinking fund or capital budget fund for the purpose of
liquidating, at their maturity, any bonds which may hereafter be issued
in connection with the operation of such system and/or for the purpose
of setting up a fund to defray the expenses of meeting the obligations
of and to complete the accomplishment of any predetermined purpose
or plan of such Board. Such sinking or capital budget fund shall be
created and maintained as follows:
A. Out of the surplus earnings of the operation of such
system, after the payment of the cost of operation, management, maintenance,
improvements and extensions of said system and the payment of the
interest upon any outstanding bonds, if any there be, the Board shall,
upon the issuing of any bonds authorized hereby or upon the completion
of any predetermined plan of capital improvements, additions or extensions,
create a sinking fund for the payment of such bonds, principal and
interest, at the maturity thereof or to meet the proposed or tentative
expenditures of any predetermined plan, by setting apart annually
an amount sufficient to produce at the maturity of said bonds or other
obligations a sum equal to the principal then to become due.
B. If and when the revenues, as aforesaid, shall be insufficient
to enable said Board to provide for the sinking fund or capital budget
fund requirements and the interest upon any of said bonds, said Board
shall report such fact and the amount of any such deficiency to the
Board of Trustees.
C. It shall thereupon become the duty of the Board of
Trustees to provide for such deficiency (only in the case such deficiency
exists in the payment of any such bond or interest) and pay the same
in the same manner as it may provide for the payment of the principal
and interest upon any other bonded indebtedness of said Village.
D. The Village, in addition to the power which it now
possesses to raise money for all other purposes by taxation, shall
have the power to raise by a general tax annually, and it shall be
the duty of the Board of Trustees to levy and raise annually, upon
the real property assessed for taxation in said Village and as a part
of the general tax levy, such sum as may be necessary to provide for
the payment of any such bonds and interest. The Village may, if necessary,
make a temporary loan or loans therefor in anticipation of the tax
levy.
E. If the Board of Trustees shall have raised and paid
any sum of such deficiency arising from the insufficiency of the revenue
of such system, the Board of Light Commissioners, as soon as practicable
by exercising the powers conferred upon it, shall increase the revenue
of said system sufficiently to prevent any further deficiency and
shall also raise the amount of the deficiency that shall have been
paid by the Board of Trustees; and said Board of Light Commissioners
shall pay the amount of such deficiency when so raised into the general
fund of said Village.
F. The sinking fund or capital budget fund provided for
herein and the moneys belonging thereto shall be kept by the Village
Treasurer separate and apart from all other funds and accounts and
shall be deposited in such banks, trust companies or savings banks
as shall be designated by the Board of Light Commissioners and at
such rate of interest thereon as may be agreed upon between said banks
or trust companies and the Village Treasurer, subject to the approval
of the Board of Light Commissioners. No such deposit in any such bank
or trust company, however, shall at any time be authorized in excess
of 50% of the capital stock of such bank or trust company. The Board
of Light Commissioners or the Board of Trustees may require, by resolution,
each such trust company or bank wherein any such funds are deposited
to execute and to deliver to the Village Treasurer a bond with sufficient
sureties conditioned to save the Village harmless in any event from
loss by reason of any deposits therein made, such bond to be approved
by the Board requiring such bond. Any such deposits shall be made
in an account separate from other Village funds and shall be properly
distinguished and designated.
G. No money shall be withdrawn from any such fund except
upon the warrant of the Village Treasurer authorized by the resolution
of the Board of Light Commissioners and concurring approval of the
Board of Trustees for the payment, redemption or purchase of the bonds,
or some part thereof, for the payment of which said sinking fund was
created or for the transfer of such fund or some part thereof to another
depository designated or approved therefor by said Board of Light
Commissioners or for the payment of any capital expenditure upon the
fulfillment or part fulfillment of a predetermined purpose or plan.
H. Any bond paid, redeemed or purchased shall at once
be canceled and returned to the Village Treasurer with the report
thereof to both the Board of Light Commissioners and the Board of
Trustees.
I. The funds remaining in any of said funds at any time,
or any part thereof, may, however, be invested by the Village Treasurer
upon resolution of the Board of Light Commissioners and of the Board
of Trustees in interest-bearing obligations of the United States or
State of New York or any municipality thereof, and said Board of Light
Commissioners, upon the approval of the Board of Trustees, may, at
any time, having the funds for that purpose, purchase at no more than
par, any of the bonds issued for said system and cancel and pay the
same.
J. The surplus earnings of said system on hand at any
time after the payment of the cost of operation, management, maintenance,
improvements and extensions, and after the payment of the interest
upon the outstanding bonds issued by the Village in connection with
said system and the requirements of said sinking fund and/or capital
budget fund have been fully complied with and provided for, may be
applied by the Board of Trustees with the consent, however, of the
Board of Light Commissioners, toward the payment of any bonded or
other indebtedness of the Village now or hereafter contracted.
The Board of Light Commissioners shall, at all
times, keep books showing, in detail, the cost of maintenance of said
system and all its collections, rents, expenditures and proceedings
and shall furnish, whenever required by the Board of Trustees, such
information in writing as to the business and affairs of said system
as may be required by said Board of Trustees. All the books, records,
vouchers, contracts and all other papers kept by said Board or in
its possession or under its control shall be deemed to be public records.
A member of such Board of Light Commissioners
may be removed by a majority vote of the Board of Trustees for misconduct,
malfeasance or nonfeasance, on notice to such member and an opportunity
to be heard in defense thereof.