The Mayor and Council members of the City shall
constitute the Common Council thereof.
The Common Council shall meet on the first day
of January after the election at the regular place of meeting of the
Common Council for the previous year, and thereafter it shall meet
at such place as it may choose, within or without the territorial
limits of the City but in reasonable proximity thereto, and at times
hereinafter provided.
[Amended 7-3-1991 by L.L. No. 3-1991; 9-19-1991 by L.L. No. 6-1991; 4-22-1997 by L.L. No.
2-1997[1]]
A.
Procedure at meetings.
(1)
The meetings of the Common Council shall be public
except when the public interest shall require secrecy.
(2)
At all meetings of the Common Council, the Mayor,
when present, shall preside.
(3)
The minutes of the proceedings shall be kept by the
City Clerk, and the same shall be open at all times to public inspection.
B.
Voting.
(2)
A majority of the members of the Common Council shall
be a quorum for the transaction of business. If a member abstains
from voting, it shall be considered as if that member did not vote.[3]
[3]
Editor's Note: Former Subsection B(3), regarding tax and assessment
orders, which immediately followed this subsection, was repealed 11-3-2021 by L.L. No. 2022-07, passed at referendum 11-8-2022.
[1]
Editor's Note: The City determined during
1996 that several local laws enacted by Common Council during the
last 30 years were subject to the mandatory referendum requirement
of the New York Municipal Home Rule Law but were not in fact submitted
to or approved by referenda. Local Law No. 2-1997 corrects the text
of the Ithaca City Code by deleting language inserted pursuant to
unapproved and therefore invalid local laws and reinserting the preexisting
language which is still legally effective.
A.
The Common Council shall hold regular meetings at
least once each month, on the first Wednesday of the month, and the
Mayor or, in his or her absence any three Council members, may call
special meetings by 24 hours' notice, in writing, served personally
or by mail upon the other members of the Common Council or by leaving
it at their respective usual places of business during business hours
or their respective places of abode at other times.
[1]
Editor's Note: The City determined during
1996 that several local laws enacted by Common Council during the
last 30 years were subject to the mandatory referendum requirement
of the New York Municipal Home Rule Law but were not in fact submitted
to or approved by referenda. Local Law No. 2-1997 corrects the text
of the Ithaca City Code by deleting language inserted pursuant to
unapproved and therefore invalid local laws and reinserting the preexisting
language which is still legally effective.
B.
Notwithstanding the provisions hereinabove, any six
Council members may call a special meeting of the Common Council by
24 hours' notice, in writing, served personally or by mail upon the
other members of the Common Council or by leaving said notice at either
their respective usual places of business during business hours or
their respective places of abode at other times.
[Added 2-14-1976 by L.L. No. 3-1976]
[Amended 3-25-1997 by L.L. No. 1-1997]
The Common Council shall determine the rules applicable to its own proceedings and be judge of the qualifications of its own members and have power to compel the attendance of absent members from time to time and to prescribe the duties of all the officers and persons appointed by it to any place whatever, subject to the provisions of this Charter and the general statutes of this state.§ C-33.
A.
By the time of the first regular Common Council meeting
of each year, the Mayor shall appoint a member of the Council to serve
(when needed) as Acting Mayor until the next such annual appointment
or replacement by the Mayor. In the Mayor's absence or in the event
of a vacancy in the office of the Mayor, the Acting Mayor shall preside
at meetings where the Mayor would normally preside, if there is no
other provision for another officer to preside at that meeting in
the Mayor's absence. In the event that the Mayor is unable to perform
the other duties of the Mayor's office, due to absence and unavailability,
sickness or incapacitation, or resignation, removal or death, the
Acting Mayor shall be vested with all the powers and perform all the
duties of the Mayor, except as specified herein, until the Mayor shall
resume the duties of the office or until any vacancy in the office
of Mayor shall be filled for the unexpired term, by election according
to law. The Acting Mayor shall not be authorized to make appointments,
unless the Mayor is absent or incapacitated for more than 30 days.
The Acting Mayor shall sign all necessary papers with the Mayor's
name, adding thereto the words "Acting Mayor."
[Amended 11-3-2021 by L.L. No. 2022-07[2]]
[2]
Editor's Note: This local law passed at referendum 11-8-2022.
B.
The Mayor shall in the same manner and for the same
term appoint another member of the Common Council as Alternate Acting
Mayor, which person shall assume the powers and perform the duties
of the Mayor in the same manner and fashion as the Acting Mayor, whenever
the Acting Mayor is required to assume such powers and duties of the
Mayor’s office but is unable to do so as a result of absence
and unavailability, sickness or incapacitation, or resignation, removal
or death.
C.
In the event
of the failure of the Mayor to appoint an Acting Mayor or Alternate
Acting Mayor, as provided for above, the Common Council may do so,
which appointment(s) shall stand until the first Council meeting of
the following year.
[1]
Editor's Note: This local law was passed at a mandatory referendum
held at the general election 11-2-2010.
A.
At its first regular meeting in each year, the Common
Council shall designate one or more banks or trust companies in said
City as the depository of all moneys received by the City Chamberlain
and may agree with such bank, banks or trust companies upon a rate
of interest per annum to be paid on moneys so deposited. Each such
depository so designated shall, for the benefit and security of the
City and before receiving any such deposits, execute to the City a
good and sufficient undertaking with two or more sureties or with
one or more surety companies authorized to do business in the State
of New York or with the deposit of bonds, certificates or notes as
collateral thereto as hereinafter provided, such undertaking in any
event to be approved as to form, amount and sufficiency by the Common
Council. Such undertaking shall be conditioned for the safekeeping
and payment, on the order or warrant of said City Chamberlain or of
other lawful authority, of all such deposits and the agreed interest
thereon, and it shall be the duty of the City Clerk to file such undertaking
of each such depository in his/her office. It shall be the duty of
the City Chamberlain to deposit all funds belonging to the City that
may come into his/her hands in such depository or depositories, and
failure so to do will be a misdemeanor. The designation of any such
bank or trust company and the depositing of moneys therewith by such
City Chamberlain shall not release him/her or his/her sureties from
any liability, except for loss through failure or fault of such designated
bank or trust company.
B.
The bonds, certificates or notes offered as collateral
security shall be in such sum as fixed by the Common Council and shall
be deposited in such place and under such conditions as determined
by the City Clerk. The bonds, certificates or notes so deposited as
collateral shall be bonds, certificates or notes of the United States
of America, the State of New York or the City of Ithaca.
The legislative power of the City is vested
in the Common Council, and it has power to enact and enforce any ordinance
or resolution not repugnant to the Constitution or laws of this state
for any local purpose pertaining to the government of the City and
the management of its business, the protection of the business and
property interests of its citizens, the preservation of order, peace
and health and the safety and welfare of the City and the inhabitants
thereof, except that it shall not enact or enforce any local law or
ordinance or resolution for any purpose pertaining in any manner to
the fluoridation of the water under the control of the City or of
the Water Department of the City government; and it shall also have
such powers of legislation, by ordinance or resolution, as are conferred
upon it by this Charter or any other provision of law affecting the
City not inconsistent with this Charter, except such as are specially
conferred by this Charter upon any separate department or board of
the City government. It shall have the management and control of the
finances and of all the property, real and personal, belonging to
the City, except as otherwise provided by this Charter or by any other
provision of law not inconsistent therewith. The powers conferred
by this section are not limited by the enumerated powers in the following
section.
A.
In addition to the powers conferred by the last section,
the Common Council has power to and, in the exercise thereof, may
make, establish, modify, amend and repeal ordinances:
(2)
To restrain and suppress disorderly and gaming houses
and all instruments and devices used in gaming, to prevent all gaming
and fraudulent devices in the City and to regulate billiard rooms
and bowling alleys and shooting galleries.
(3)
To prohibit, restrain and regulate all exhibitions
of any natural or artificial curiosities, caravans, circuses, theatrical
and other shows or exhibitions or performances for money within the
bounds of the City or, if the Common Council shall deem it advisable,
to license any of them upon such terms as the Common Council may direct.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: See also Ch. 173, Entertainment,
Public.
(4)
To suppress, repress and restrain disorderly houses,
houses of ill fame and houses and places where intoxicating liquors
are sold to be drunk on the premises and to restrain and punish the
keepers thereof.
(5)
To restrain and punish vagrants, mendicants, street
beggars and persons soliciting alms, common prostitutes and lewd and
disorderly persons and to prevent and punish drunkenness and disorderly
and immoral conduct in public places or streets.
(6)
To prohibit the obstruction of the streets of the
City by the gathering or assembling of persons therein and to authorize
the police officers of the City to disperse all such gatherings or
assemblages of persons; and upon the refusal of persons so congregated
or assembled to disperse when commanded so to do by a duly appointed
police officer under regulations prescribed by the Common Council,
such police officer may make summary arrest of any person or persons
so refusing and take him/her or them forthwith before the City Judge
of the City to be tried as disorderly persons and punished as such;
and all such persons are hereby declared to be disorderly persons.
(7)
To direct the location of all slaughterhouses, markets
and houses for storing gunpowder or any other combustible or explosive
substance and to regulate the keeping and conveying thereof and of
other dangerous materials and the use of lights in barns, stables
and other places.
(9)
To prevent racing and immoderate driving or riding
of any vehicle in the streets of the City and to authorize the stopping
of anyone who shall be guilty of immoderate riding or driving in said
streets and to prevent flying of kites, riding a bicycle on sidewalks,
rolling hoops, playing at ball, coasting or any other amusement practiced
having a tendency to injure or annoy or endanger persons passing on
the streets or sidewalks or to frighten teams of horses in the City.[4]
(10)
To prevent any encroachment, encumbrance in or obstruction
upon or over any street, sidewalk, highway or public ground in the
City and, in case of neglect or refusal of any person who shall have
caused any such encroachment, encumbrance or obstruction or of the
owner or occupant of any premises upon which shall be any building,
fence or other structure or thing encroaching upon, encumbering or
obstructing any street, sidewalk, highway or public ground in the
City to remove the same after being notified to do so, to cause such
removal at the cost and expense of such person or of such owner or
occupant and to collect such cost and expense as hereinafter provided.[5]
(11)
To prohibit or regulate and determine the times and
places of bathing and swimming in any waters within the City.
(12)
To establish and regulate public pounds and to appoint
all necessary poundmasters and to prescribe their duties.
(13)
To restrain the running at large of cattle, horses,
swine, sheep, goats, fowl and geese and other animals and to authorize
the distraining, impounding and sale of the same for the penalty incurred
and the costs of keeping and proceedings.
(15)
To prevent or regulate the ringing or tolling of bells,
the blowing of horns or whistles, the crying of goods or wares, the
firing of guns, powder or other explosive compounds and the making
of any improper noise which may tend to disturb the peace of the City
and the sale and use of firecrackers, rockets, squibs or other explosive
articles or compounds.[7]
(16)
To prohibit, restrain and regulate all gift enterprises
or sales of goods founded upon or connected with any gift, lottery
or chance within the corporate limits of the City and to restrain
and regulate the sale of goods and merchandise at public auction within
the same limits and to authorize the licensing of the latter upon
such terms as the Common Council shall deem proper.[8]
(17)
To prohibit and regulate all hawking and peddling,
auctioneering or sales of property in or upon the streets, alleys,
lanes, sidewalks and public parks and places of the City and to regulate
pawnshops and pawnbrokers.
(18)
To procure fire engines and other apparatus for the
extinguishment of fires and to have the charge and control of the
same and to provide fit and secure engine houses and other places
for keeping and preserving the same.
(19)
To organize and establish a Fire Department and to
make such fire laws, rules, regulations and ordinances of said Department
and the rights and duties thereof and of citizens during fires in
the City as the Common Council may deem best and to enforce the same
by suitable fines and penalties.[9]
(20)
To protect property, both real and personal, of individuals
at times of fires and to appoint guards for the protection of the
same and to prescribe their various duties and compensation.
(22)
To regulate by ordinance the planting and removal
of shrubs and shade and ornamental trees along the streets and sidewalks
in said City and to prevent the injury or defacement of any shrubs,
trees, fences, walls, posters or buildings in the streets, parks and
public places of the City.[11]
(23)
To license and regulate cab drivers and the drivers
of hackney carriages, stages, omnibuses or other conveyances for the
transportation of passengers within the City, to fix the rates of
fare and to require them to have licenses and numbers.[12]
(24)
To regulate runners, stage drivers and others in soliciting
passengers and others to travel or ride in any carriage, stage or
omnibus or upon any railroad or to go to any hotel or otherwise.
(25)
To license and regulate baggage carriers and other
express people doing a baggage or parcel delivery business within
the City, to fix their rates of compensation and to require them to
have licenses and numbers for their vehicles.
(26)
To regulate by ordinance the laying, maintenance,
alteration and repair of subways, conduits, mains and pipes in and
under the public streets, highways and places.
(27)
To regulate and control the erection, construction
and maintenance of poles, cables and wires in, upon, over and under
the public streets, highways and places and to require cables and
wires to be placed underground.
(28)
To require by general ordinance any corporation, company
or person, after laying or repairing any pipes in any street or highway
in the City, to put such street or highway in good condition or repair
and to remove all encumbrances or obstructions which such corporation,
company or person may have placed or caused to be placed in any such
street or highway, without unnecessary delay, and to require such
corporation, company or person to keep proper signal lights burning
at night at all holes or ditches or other places which may have been
rendered dangerous to persons traveling such streets or highways;
and in case such corporation, company or person shall neglect or refuse
to do any of the acts so required of them, said Common Council shall
have power to cause the same to be done at the cost and expense of
such corporation, company or person and to collect such cost and expense
by suit in law or as hereinafter provided.[13]
(29)
To compel the owner or occupant of any wall or building
in the City which may be in a ruinous or unsafe condition to render
the same safe or to take down and remove the same and to prohibit
such erection; and in case of the neglect or refusal of such owner
or occupant to render such wall or building safe or to take down and
remove the same after being notified so to do, the Common Council
shall have power to cause the same to be taken down or removed at
the expense of such owner or occupant and to collect such cost and
expense by suit as in this act provided.[14]
(30)
To regulate the speed of locomotives, cars and other
vehicles propelled by steam, electricity or other power and to prevent
the unnecessary obstruction of the streets by the same; to require
signal persons to be stationed or gates to be erected at street crossings
by railroads in the City; and to make needful regulations in regard
thereto for public safety.[15]
(31)
To cause buildings, signs and other structures encroaching
on or extending over the streets or watercourses to be removed at
the expense of the owners or occupants thereof and to make such expense
of removal a lien on the lot and to issue warrants against any such
owner or occupant to collect the necessary expenses of such removal
as assessments and taxes are collected.[16]
(32)
To provide for the care, custody and preservation
of the public property, books, records and papers belonging to the
City; to prevent and punish any injury to or trespass upon the same;
to make any and all necessary repairs and improvements to the same;
and to cause any part thereof to be insured when deemed necessary.
(33)
To authorize the auditing of such accounts and claims
against the City not otherwise provided for in this Charter as are
made out in items and verified and to direct the payment of such as
shall be allowed and to make such rules and regulations in regard
to the auditing and payment of said accounts and claims as it may
deem necessary and proper.
(34)
To correct the assessment roll in respect to taxes
imposed by virtue of this Charter in the same manner and to the same
extent as a Board of Supervisors may by law correct the town rolls
of their county, with all the powers in relation to such assessment
roll that a Board of Supervisors has by statute in case of town assessment
rolls and town and county taxes.
(35)
To require suitable fire escapes to be placed and
maintained in or upon such buildings in the City as may be, in case
of fire, dangerous for the occupants by reason of their construction,
occupancy, height or location.
(37)
To grant franchises, by a concurring vote of a majority
of all members of the Common Council, to use any streets, highways
or public places for any public utility upon such terms and conditions
as the Common Council may deem proper, but subject to the limitations
and requirements provided by the laws of the state; but no such franchise
shall be granted or be operative for a period longer than 99 years,
nor shall the period of such franchise be extended or renewed except
within the last five years thereof, and no such extension or renewal
shall be for a longer period than 50 years.
(38)
To make the costs and expenses incurred by the City
in pursuance of the powers granted in this section a lien upon the
premises or lots therein mentioned or implied and to issue warrants
against the owners or the occupants thereof respectively and to collect
such costs and expenses by action or as assessments and taxes are
collected.
(39)
To make such general ordinances, bylaws and regulations
not repugnant to the general laws of this state as it shall deem expedient
for the good government of the City.
(40)
To lease or sell City-owned real estate on such terms
and conditions as it deems advisable, with the approval of at least
3/4 of the full Common Council, after notice of the proposed sale
or lease has been published in the official paper at least once each
week for three weeks, the first such notice being published no less
than 30 days prior to the approval vote, which sale or lease shall
be subject further to the following limitations: that any sale or
lease be for full value and that any sale or lease be subject to permissive
referendum as set forth hereinafter. The question whether any proposed
sale or lease of City-owned real estate shall be approved shall, upon
a demand being filed as hereinafter provided, be submitted to the
voters of the City at a general or special election after public notice
to be published at least once each week for three weeks in the official
paper. Such demand shall be signed by registered voters of the City
equal in number to at least 10% of the total number of votes cast
in the City at the last preceding general election and shall be filed
in the office of the City Clerk before the adoption of an ordinance
or resolution authorizing such sale or lease. If such demand is filed
as aforesaid, such sale or lease of real estate shall not take effect
unless, in addition to the foregoing requirements, a majority of the
electors voting thereon at such election shall vote in the affirmative.
[Added 10-1-1986 by L.L. No. 4-1986]
[Amended 7-10-1985 by L.L. No. 1-1985]
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this
Charter or of any ordinance or department rule, the Common Council,
by the majority affirmative vote of the total voting power thereof,
may establish and from time to time amend a compensation plan governing
the salaries and wages of such officers and employees of the City
of Ithaca as said Council may determine, including a minimum and maximum
salary or wage rate and a maximum annual increment for each classification
included in such plan, and may adopt and from time to time amend rules
governing the operation thereof. The authority hereby conferred shall
not extend to the salaries of elective officers of said City.
A.
Penalties. For the purposes specified in exercising
the powers of the Common Council in enacting ordinances as provided
in this article, the Common Council shall have the power to provide
for penalties, including fine and imprisonment, for the violation
of any of its ordinances. Notwithstanding the foregoing and in addition
thereto, the Common Council may also provide for civil penalties,
and the City may maintain an action or proceeding in a court of competent
jurisdiction for an injunction or to compel compliance with the requirements
of any ordinance of the City.
B.
Enactment procedure.
(1)
Every ordinance or resolution imposing any penalty
or forfeiture for the violation of its provisions shall take effect
upon its enactment or adoption, subject to publication of a notice
as hereinafter provided. The notice shall contain the title and a
brief description, together with a statement that such ordinance or
resolution is on record with the City Clerk, which notice shall be
published at least once in the official newspaper of the City of Ithaca
before it shall become effective. It shall not be necessary to publish
any ordinance, resolution, rule or regulation to be enforced within
the City except as herein provided.
[Amended 11-3-2021 by L.L. No. 2022-07[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This local law passed at referendum 11-8-2022.
(2)
In case of insurrection, riot, conflagration or other
necessity requiring immediate operation of such ordinance, resolution,
rule or regulation, it shall take effect as soon as proclamation thereof
by the Mayor and after such proclamation has been posted in five conspicuous
places in the City of Ithaca.
