The City of Auburn having adopted the simplified
form of government, defined as Plan C under the Optional City Government
Law, known as Chapter 444 of the Laws of 1914, the elective officers
of such City are a Mayor and four Councilors, all of whom shall be
elected by the qualified voters of all of the City. All such elective
officers shall at the time of nomination be citizens of the United
States and residents of the City. The removal of any such officer
from the City during his or her term of office shall render the office
held by him or her vacant.
The terms of office of the Mayor and Councilors,
hereafter elected, shall be four years each. The terms of all such
elective officers shall begin on the first day of January, following
their election.
The Election Law of the State of New York shall
apply to the nomination and election of all elective officers of the
City.
The Mayor and the four Councilors shall constitute
the Council of the City of Auburn, in which is vested all the legislative
power of the City however conferred or possessed. As such Council,
they shall possess all the powers and perform all the duties provided
in the said Optional City Government Law for the Council under Plan
C thereof, in other general statutes of the State, in this Charter,
and in any other special or local act relating to the City of Auburn
and shall have power by local law, ordinance or resolution to carry
into force and effect all the powers belonging to, or conferred upon,
the City or the Council, by general or special law or otherwise. They
shall receive as compensation an annual salary payable pursuant to
the compensation pay plan enacted by the Council.
[Amended 3-22-2007 by L.L. No. 3-2007; 6-7-2012 by L.L. No. 2-2012]
Regular meetings of the Council shall be held
on a designated day each week, each month. Special meetings may be
held at any time on unanimous consent, or may be called at any time
by any member upon two days' notice. Such call shall be signed and
immediately filed with the City Clerk. The Council shall have power
at any of its meetings to adjourn to any time and place it may deem
proper. The Council may adopt rules governing its proceedings and
provide for the enforcement thereof.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The Rules and Procedures of the Auburn City
Council are on file in the office of the City Clerk.
A.
The Council shall appoint a City Manager who shall
possess the powers and perform the duties provided in and by said
Optional City Government Law, other general laws of the state, and
the ordinances of the Council of the City. He or she shall hold office
during the pleasure of the Council and receive compensation fixed
by the Council.
B.
The City Manager shall appoint an Assistant City Manager.
The Assistant City Manager is authorized to act generally for and
in the place of the City Manager and, in the absence, disability or
vacancy in the office of the City Manager, shall serve as Acting City
Manager. The Assistant City Manager shall be appointed on the basis
of his or her training and experience in the field of public administration
or related fields.
[Amended by L.L. No. 3-1991]
[Amended 12-22-1994 by L.L. No. 4-1994; 9-26-1996 by L.L. No. 2-1996]
A.
The Council shall appoint a City Clerk, Deputy City
Clerk and three Civil Service Commissioners and may appoint such other
officers as may be provided in said Optional City Government Law.
B.
The City Clerk and the Deputy City Clerk shall have
such powers and perform such duties as are prescribed by said Optional
City Government Law, and otherwise by law, and as the Council may
from time to time prescribe. The City Clerk and Deputy City Clerk
shall hold office during the pleasure of the Council and receive such
salary as shall be fixed by the Council.
C.
The Deputy City Clerk shall, from time to time when
required, act for and in place of the City Clerk.
[Amended 6-24-1993 by L.L. No. 2-1993; 2-8-1996 by L.L. No.
1-1996]
At the expiration of the term of each of the
present Civil Service Commissioners, there shall be appointed by the
Council a Civil Service Commissioner to serve for six years. The salary
of such Commissioners shall be fixed by the Council of the City. Such
Civil Service Commissioners shall have the powers and perform the
duties imposed by law on Civil Service Commissioners. Not more than
two members of the Commission shall be adherents of the same political
party. Any Civil Service Commissioner may be removed at any time by
a unanimous vote of the Council by resolution stating the reason for
such removal and after such Commissioner has been given an opportunity
of making an explanation.
The Council may, from time to time, determine
and provide what other City officers and employees are necessary for
the administration of the City, and the same shall be appointed by
the City Manager. Any such officer or employee may be removed by the
City Manager at any time. Each such appointment and removal shall
be reported to the Council by the City Manager at the next meeting
thereof following such appointment or removal. Except as otherwise
provided in this Charter, the Mayor shall appoint all members of all
boards and commissions of the City.
The Council may, from time to time, as it deems
it advisable, abolish, change or consolidate any office or position
of the City and determine whether the continuance of any such office
or position is essential. It may authorize the appointment of deputies,
assistants or clerks to any officer.
The acceptance by any officer of the City of
any other City office shall vacate his first office.
Any officer or employee of the City who shall
have resigned, or shall have been removed from office, or whose term
of office shall have expired, shall deliver to the City Manager forthwith
all property, papers and effects of every description in his or her
possession, or under his or her control, which belong to the City,
or which appertain to the office held by him or her. In case of the
resignation or removal of the City Manager, he or she shall forthwith
deliver all like property, papers and effects to the Mayor.
The Council may by ordinance creating or continuing
the various other offices in the City define and state the powers
of each such officer, and the duties to be performed, which said powers
and duties may, from time to time, be changed, amended or otherwise
modified as the Council may deem advisable.
In addition to the powers and duties conferred
or imposed upon any officer by this Charter, each officer and employee
shall perform such duties, exercise such functions and have such powers
as are conferred or imposed by law upon such officers generally performing
like duties and shall have such additional powers and perform such
additional duties as may be conferred or imposed by ordinance of the
Council.
The Council shall fix the salary or compensation
of all persons in the service of the City and the time of payment
thereof. It may authorize the City Manager to fix the salaries of
laborers necessary or essential in his or her judgment in the various
departments of the City.
No salaried officer of the City shall have or
receive to his or her own use any compensation or fees for services
pertaining directly or indirectly to the duties of his or her office,
in addition to his or her salary, and all perquisites, compensation
and fees paid to, or received by, any such officer for services pertaining
directly or indirectly to his or her office, other than his or her
salary received from the City, shall be the property of the City and
shall be paid by the officer receiving the same into the City treasury.
No member of the Council or officer or employee
of the City shall be pecuniarily interested in any contract, directly
or indirectly, in which the City is a party, nor furnish for pay or
compensation, directly or indirectly, to the City for its use any
goods, wares, merchandise, labor, materials or supplies, nor be interested,
directly or indirectly, in any bill or claim, under the penalty of
loss of his or her claim except as provided in Article 18 of the General
Municipal Law.[2]
Every officer shall, before entering upon the
discharge of his or her duties, take and file in the office of the
City Clerk the constitutional oath of office. Any officer may resign
at any time by filing his or her written resignation with the City
Clerk.
The Council may require any officer or employee
of the City before assuming his or her duties to execute a bond to
the City in such sum as it may fix, to be approved as to execution
and sufficiency of surety by the City Manager, excepting the bond
of the City Manager, which shall be approved by the Mayor. When so
approved such bonds shall be filed in the office of the City Clerk.
All officers or employees may, from time to time, be required to furnish
additional or new bonds. The Council may in its discretion provide
for the payment of the premium upon such official bonds.
Any vacancy in the office of Mayor or Councilman
shall be filled as prescribed by the said Optional City Government
Law. Any vacancy in any other elective office shall be temporarily
filled by appointment of the Council. Such temporary appointment shall
continue in effect until the first day of January next following the
next general election held after such appointment. At the next general
election following any such vacancy in an elective office, except
the City Judge or Associate City Judge,[1] a successor shall be elected to serve the unexpired portion
of the term for which the vacating officer was elected, or as herein
fixed, unless such term shall expire on or before the first day of
January next following such general election, in which case such successor
shall be elected for the full term.
[1]
Editor's Note: For filling a vacancy in the
office of City Judge, see the Uniform City Court Act, § 2104(f)(2).
A.
Whenever the Mayor shall be temporarily unable for
any cause to perform the duties of his or her office, the Council
may appoint one of its members to exercise the powers and perform
the duties of the Mayor during such absence or disability.
B.
Should any appointive officer be temporarily unable
for any cause to perform his or her duties, the body or the officer
having the power of original appointment may make a temporary appointment
of some person to act until such official shall resume his or her
duties.
A.
In addition to all other powers conferred by law,
the City of Auburn, and the Council of the City, on its behalf, shall
have power:
(1)
Contracts; suits. To contract and be contracted with
and to institute, maintain and defend any action or proceeding in
any court.
(2)
Acquisition, retention, and disposal of property.
To take, purchase, acquire, lease and hold real and personal property,
or either, within or without the corporate limits, for any public
or municipal purpose, and to sell, convey and lease the same, or any
part thereof, and to provide for the management and control of such
property and designate the particular purpose to which it shall be
devoted.
(3)
Gifts; administering of property. To take by gift,
grant or devise, and to hold and administer, real and personal property,
or either, within or without the corporate limits, absolutely or in
trust, for any public or municipal purpose, upon such terms as may
be prescribed by the grantor or donor and accepted by the City.
(4)
Sinking funds. To provide, establish and maintain
sinking funds for the liquidation of any bonds issued prior to January
1, 1939, and serial bonds issued subsequent to such date.
(5)
Satisfaction of claims. To pay any claim due or owing
by the City, or a binding obligation upon it; to pay any judgment
recovered against the City, providing the funds therefor, in whole
or in part, either by taxation or pursuant to the Local Finance Law;
and to pay or compromise any claim equitably payable by the City although
not a binding legal obligation.
(6)
Taxes and assessments. Subject to the provisions of
general law, and of this Charter, to assess, levy and collect taxes
on real and personal property within the City, for the various purposes
authorized or contemplated by this Charter, and otherwise by law;
to assess, levy and collect, as tax, the charges or cost of all local
improvements; if not otherwise provided herein, to provide for the
payment of the cost of any local improvement to or for the benefit
of any property by assessment against such property, and for the payment
of such assessment; and to declare and provide that the cost of all
local improvements, or of any other work or benefit to or for abutting
property, as determined by it, shall be a lien upon the property which,
if not paid, may be added to the City tax roll and collected as delinquent
taxes by sale, auction or foreclosure.
(7)
Reserve for uncollected taxes. To raise by real property
taxes for each fiscal year hereafter such sum as it may deem sufficient
to produce in cash an amount equal to the anticipated deficiency in
the collection of City taxes on real property required to be collected
by the City in such fiscal year. Such sum shall be known as the "reserve
for uncollected real property taxes."
(8)
Assessments; maps. Subject to the provisions of law,
to provide for making assessments of property, and to provide and
establish a uniform system or method thereof; and to provide for,
and have made, maps of the City showing the various streets, highways,
lots and parcels, or any part of them.
(9)
Records, accounts, and affairs of City. To regulate
the method and manner of transacting the City's business and affairs;
to provide, establish and maintain a system of records and accounts;
and to provide and establish a uniform system of examination and audit
of claims.
(10)
Rights and franchises. To grant rights and franchises,
or permission, to use the streets, highways and public places, or
any part thereof, or the space above or under them, or any of them,
for any specified purpose, upon such terms and conditions as it may
deem proper, and as may be permitted by law.
(11)
Condemnation of property. To acquire by condemnation
proceedings, conducted as provided by law, any lands or rights needed
or required for any municipal purpose.
(12)
Commissioners of Deeds. To determine the number of
Commissioners of Deeds for the City and direct their appointment.
(13)
Streets, highways and public places. To pave, repave,
surface and resurface streets, highways and public places, to provide
for the payment thereof, in whole or in part, as a general City charge,
or partly as a general City charge and partly as a local assessment
on abutting property, as in this Charter provided; to open, extend,
widen and straighten streets, highways and lanes, to acquire necessary
lands and rights therefor, and to provide for the determination and
assessment of the cost thereof upon the real property benefited, as
in this Charter provided; and to build, cover with hard material,
macadamize and improve other than as hereinbefore provided, and to
repair, level, grade, alter, clean and maintain streets, highways,
alleys, lanes and squares, and to sprinkle, flush, cover with a dust-allaying
substance, and oil such streets, highways, alleys, lanes and squares,
or any part thereof, and to provide for the payment thereof as a general
charge.
(14)
Sidewalks, curbs and gutters. To construct, build,
flag, surface, resurface, alter, repair, grade, regrade, maintain,
care for and clean sidewalks, curbs and gutters in public streets;
to direct and order, as herein provided, any such work or improvement
to be done by the property owner or occupant and, on default, to have
the same done by the City and charged or assessed against the abutting
property; to regulate and prescribe the grade, width, materials, construction
and other specifications of any such work; at the request of the property
owner, to have any such work or improvement done by the City, or by
contract, to pay for the same from City funds, and assess such total
cost against the property benefited; and to provide that the cost
of any such work or improvement be paid at once or in annual installments.
(15)
Street names; house numbering. To designate streets
by name, and houses and lots by number, and from time to time to change
such designations and numbers; and to require owners and occupants
of lots and buildings to place thereon or in a prominent place the
designated number.
(16)
Removal of snow, ice, dirt, etc. To require the owners
and occupants of lots abutting on streets to keep the sidewalks in
front of such premises free and clear of all snow, ice, dirt and other
obstruction, and to remove from such sidewalk any dirt, rubbish, snow
or ice which may be thereon, and all accumulations of dirt and rubbish
between the sidewalk and the center of the street; to require such
owner and occupant to keep such walk in a safe condition for public
travel and to repair and remedy all defects; and to require the owners
and occupants of lots fronting upon streets to keep the grass, and
grass plots, along the traveled portions of streets cut and trimmed,
to cut all noxious weeds, long grass and other rank growths, and to
erect barriers or safeguards along the line of such streets at dangerous
points.
(17)
Underground conduits and subways; overhead wires and
cables. To lay out, establish, maintain, build, acquire, operate and
continue subways and underground conduits for wires and cables; to
control, manage, lease, and operate all such subways and underground
conduits now owned by the City or hereafter acquired; to regulate
and control the occupancy thereof; to provide rules, regulations and
bylaws for the management, care and use of such subways, conduits
and appurtenances thereto, and to establish and promulgate rates and
rentals therefor, and to make and execute leases covering the use
and occupancy thereof; to prohibit and restrain any improper or unwarranted
interference with such subways, conduits and appurtenances, including
manholes and manhole covers; to control and regulate, or cause to
be removed, all overhead telegraph, electric light, power and telephone
wires, cables and other electrical conductors and poles in or adjacent
to all streets, or part of streets, in which said subways or conduits
furnish adequate facilities for carrying such wires and cables; and
to direct and require that all such wires, cables and other overhead
electrical conductors be placed in such subways or conduits.
(18)
Sewers and drains. To lay out, establish, build, rebuild,
continue, operate, control, alter, repair, clean, extend, discontinue
and maintain sewers, drains, laterals and sewage disposal plants,
and to provide for the cost thereof as in this subsection provided;
to create, continue, alter, amend and change sewer districts and make,
direct and provide that the cost of building and rebuilding sewers
and drains therein shall be paid by assessment upon the real property
of such districts, as in this Charter provided; to make, direct and
provide that the cost of building and rebuilding all sewers and drains
which are outside of sewer districts shall be paid by local assessment
upon the property thereby benefited in proportion to the benefits
received; to make, direct and provide that the cost of building and
rebuilding sewage disposal plants and the cost of maintaining, operating
and cleaning all sewage disposal plants and all public sewers and
drains, whether within a sewer district or not, be a general City
charge; to operate, manage and control all public sewers, drains,
sewer systems and sewage disposal plants, whether built pursuant to
the provisions of special laws or not; and to provide that sewers
intended and designed for storm- or surface water exclusively may
be a general City charge, whether situated in sewer districts or not,
anything in this Charter to the contrary notwithstanding.
(19)
Private sewers and drains. To regulate, control and
prohibit the construction, maintenance and use of private sewers and
drains in public streets and to order the discontinuance and removal
thereof; to prescribe terms and conditions upon which such sewers
and drains may be constructed, continued and used; and to require
the same to be kept in proper and sanitary condition by the owners
and users.
(20)
Structures for public use. To lay out, establish,
construct, alter, repair, continue, discontinue, operate, build and
maintain public buildings, fire houses, police stations, parks, playgrounds,
markets, public places, bridges and other structures deemed needful
or convenient for public use.
(21)
Leases. To provide for the leasing of buildings, or
parts thereof, for City purposes and to make such leases.
(22)
Trees, shrubbery and playground equipment. To provide
for the planting, trimming, protecting, removing and preserving of
trees in streets, parks and other public places of the City; and to
prohibit any injury, defacement, mutilation or destruction of trees,
shrubs, or grass plots in public streets or places, or park or playground
equipment.
(23)
Planning. To provide for a City Planning Commission,
with advisory powers in reference to public improvements, streets,
parks and other matters of general welfare, and to provide for the
expense thereof.
(24)
Water supply and charges. To furnish and supply the
City of Auburn, and the people thereof, with a sufficient quantity
of good and wholesome water, except that no fluoride or fluoride solution
shall be added to or be made part of the water supply of the City
of Auburn, and for that purpose to take over, manage, operate, continue,
discontinue and extend the present water system of the City, with
all of the plant, equipment, mains, machinery, apparatus and devices
used, employed, owned or controlled by the City through its Water
Department in the supplying of the City with water, including the
filtration plant, and to take and conduct water, and continue to take
and conduct water, from Owasco Lake through the pipes and mains now
laid and in use, or hereafter laid or used, to the City, subject to
the rights and obligations specified in Chapter 341 of the Laws of
1903; to enlarge, increase, contract and extend such system and to
provide therefor machinery, pumps, mains and other necessary equipment,
supplies, devices and apparatus; to employ all labor and help necessary
in supplying such water; to furnish water to owners and occupants
of property lying outside of but adjacent to the City of Auburn; to
buy, sell or acquire by condemnation or otherwise all rights and property
needed or essential in the maintenance, control and extension of such
system and to sell, lease and convey the same, or any part thereof;
to adopt, continue and enact, and from time to time change, ordinances,
rules, regulations and bylaws for the preservation and protection
of such water works, system, property and shed, and the sources from
which such water is or may be furnished, and to prescribe and impose
penalties, fines and punishment for any violation or infringement
thereof; to continue the present sinking fund for the retirement of
water bonds and to provide for payments thereto; to prescribe and
establish rates and rentals for the use of water and charges for service
and from time to time to alter, amend, modify, increase and diminish
such charges, rates and rents; and to provide that unpaid water rates
and rentals and charges shall become and be liens upon the property
to which such water was furnished, or service rendered, and that if
the same remain unpaid they may be added to the annual City tax to
be thereafter known as tax, and collected in the same manner as taxes.
(25)
Water distribution. To preserve and protect all hydrants,
drinking fountains, and all equipment, machinery and apparatus used
in the distribution of water; and to prohibit any injury thereto and
any tampering or interference therewith.
(26)
Lighting facilities. To provide for lighting the streets
in the City and to make such lighting in whole or in part a general
charge; to create, continue and from time to time change, alter, amend
and abolish separate lighting districts and provide that special lighting
facilities and equipment be therein provided, and to assess the cost
of such special lighting upon the property in such district and provide
for the collection and payment of such assessments; and to protect
all lamps and other apparatus used in public lighting and to prohibit
injury thereto and tampering or interference therewith.
(27)
Referendum. Except as otherwise provided by § 34.00
of the Local Finance Law, to submit to the qualified voters of the
City, at any general or special election, for their approval or disapproval,
any proposition concerning the exercise of any power herein given,
or otherwise conferred by law, and to provide for the expense thereof.
(28)
Charitable and correctional institutions; public conveniences.
To establish, maintain, continue, manage and administer hospitals
and dispensaries, a City jail and such other charitable and correctional
institutions deemed necessary; to relieve, assist, instruct and care
for children and poor, sick, infirm, defective and insane persons;
to provide for the burial of deceased indigent persons; to establish
and maintain such institutions and instrumentalities for education,
instruction, enlightenment, entertainment, recreation and welfare
of its inhabitants as it may deem appropriate or necessary for the
public interest; and to establish and maintain public drinking fountains,
public comfort stations, urinals and other conveniences for the public.
(29)
Garbage, ashes, rubbish and refuse; collection and
disposal. To provide for the collection, removal and disposal of garbage,
ashes and rubbish and to fix and determine whether the same shall
be a general charge or in whole or in part a local assessment against
the people and property benefited, and if any part is made a local
assessment to arrange and provide for such assessment and collection;
to create, establish, alter and change special districts for such
purposes and to provide for the assessment and collection of the cost
within such districts; to provide for the collection of dead animals
and other refuse in, upon or near public streets and highways; and
to provide for the erection and operation of garbage crematories and
other apparatus for the destruction of garbage, dead animals and other
substances and to acquire sites therefor.
(30)
Course of Owasco River. To keep open and preserve
the course of the Owasco River through said City; to prevent and punish
encroachments upon or over the flowing waters thereof; to prevent
the throwing into such river of any dead animal, earth or other material;
and to regulate and provide for places of bathing in such river.
(31)
Animals and fowl. To establish and regulate public
pounds and to restrain the running at large of animals and poultry
in the streets, highways and public places.
(32)
Holidays, recreation and entertainment. To establish
and proclaim local holidays and to appropriate funds for band concerts,
public recreation, celebrations of holidays and other events and for
the entertainment and expense of municipal conventions and conferences
held in the City and of visiting delegations, officials and persons
whom it is desired to honor.
(33)
Cemeteries. To regulate and control the establishment
and continuance of cemeteries within the City and the burial of dead
therein; to continue and discontinue existing cemeteries and establish
new ones and provide for the management, administration, maintenance
and upkeep thereof; to cause maps and plats to be prepared and arranged
for the sale of lots; to provide and erect necessary buildings, vaults,
fences and other equipment; and generally provide for such things
as are needful or essential in connection therewith.
(34)
Soule Cemetery. To continue the Soule Cemetery and
to provide for its management, control, maintenance and protection,
including protection of the rights and property of individual lot
owners; to make all necessary constructions and erections; to acquire
additional land to be used in connection therewith; to limit, control
and regulate the use of such cemetery, interments therein and the
erection of structures, monuments, fences and markers; and generally
to provide for the upkeep and repair of such cemetery and of the roads
leading thereto from the City.
(35)
Fire protection. To prevent and extinguish fires and
to protect the people and property of the City from fire and other
casualty; to establish, continue, discontinue, alter and maintain
a Fire Department and all needed houses, equipment and apparatus and
to provide for the payment of the same; and to provide regulations
for the discipline, organization, operation, equipment and compensation
of such Fire Department.
(36)
Police Department. To establish, continue and maintain
a Police Department; to regulate and control the number of employees
therein; and to provide for its discipline, organization, equipment
and compensation.
(37)
Fire alarm system. To establish, provide and maintain
a fire alarm system and to prohibit false alarms and all interference
and tampering with the fire alarm system and fire apparatus.
(38)
Traffic; littering. Subject to general laws of the
state, to regulate the use of streets, sidewalks and public places
by pedestrians, animals, and motor and other vehicles; to regulate
and license the running and operation of engines, omnibuses, trucks,
taxicabs, trolley cars, bicycles, motorcycles, motor vehicles, vehicles,
airplanes, and other instrumentalities and devices for transportation
and fix the rate of speed thereof; to regulate parades and public
assemblages in streets and public places of the City; to regulate
and prohibit the dropping of pamphlets, tracts and other matter from
airplanes and other aerial machines within the City; to regulate and
prevent the depositing of ashes, garbage, rubbish and filth upon the
streets; and to regulate and prohibit coasting on the streets of the
City.
(39)
Excavations, drains, laterals and pipes in streets.
To regulate and license digging and excavating in streets and public
places, whether by persons or corporations; to require persons and
corporations having or controlling mains, pipes, water laterals, drains
and sewer laterals in streets to keep the same in proper condition
and repair; and to regulate and provide for the care and maintenance
of drains, laterals and water pipes in streets.
(40)
Use of sidewalks and streets. To regulate the use
of sidewalks and store, house and other building fronts; to regulate
and prohibit the erection and construction of any stoop, steps, platform,
bay window, stairs, cellar, area, areaway, descent to or ascent from
any building, or any projection from any building in, to, over, upon
or under any street or public place; to control, regulate and prohibit
the building, use and occupancy of any cellar, underground areaway
or excavation under the sidewalk or street or any part thereof and
to provide terms and conditions of any permitted use; and to control,
prohibit and order removed any grating, manhole cover or other construction
in the walks or streets.
(41)
Advertising. To regulate and control the erection
and construction in, upon and near streets and other public places
of billboards and other advertising media.
(42)
Licenses, banners, noises, etc. To license, regulate
and restrict hawking, vending, peddling and the crying of goods, wares,
merchandise or other commodities in the streets and public places
and by going from house to house; to control and restrain the distributing
and peddling of handbills, pamphlets, tracts and other like matter
in the streets and by going from house to house; to license distributors
of bills and other advertising matter; to regulate the use of the
streets for lights, signs, awnings, horse troughs, posts, poles and
wires; to regulate and control the hanging, exhibiting and swinging
of banners, placards and flags in, upon and across streets and from
one building to another; and to regulate and prohibit whistles, ringing
of bells and noise.
(43)
Destructive matter on streets and sidewalks. To prohibit
the placing, dropping and throwing of any glass, nails or other destructive
matter in public streets and the leaving and permitting them, or any
of them, to remain therein.
(44)
Traffic. To regulate traffic pursuant to Article 39
of the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
(45)
Oversize loads. To regulate, control and prohibit
the moving of any house or structure upon or over any street or sidewalk
pursuant to the Vehicle and Traffic Law.
(46)
Building and construction. To enforce the New York
State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code and to enact more
stringent requirements pursuant to Article 18 of the Executive Law.
(47)
Fire districts. To make, establish and fix, and from
time to time alter and amend, fire districts.
(48)
Places of public assemblage. To enforce the provision
of the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code and
to enact more stringent requirements pursuant to Article 18 of the
Executive Law.
(49)
Dangerous construction, conditions and activities.
To prevent dangerous construction and conditions of buildings, chimneys,
fireplaces, stoves, boilers and other heating apparatus in any building;
to regulate the deposit of ashes; to provide for the inspection of
steam engines and boilers and to prohibit the use of unsafe ones;
and, subject to general provisions of law, to provide for the licensing
of steam engineers and persons managing and operating steam plants,
engines and boilers.
(50)
Safety, health, comfort and welfare of inhabitants.
To maintain order and enforce law, protect property and preserve and
care for the safety, health, comfort and general welfare of the inhabitants
of the City and for any of such purposes to regulate, license and
control occupations, businesses and public exhibitions and the construction,
use and occupancy of buildings used for dwellings, and other structures,
and to adopt and promulgate general housing regulations.
(51)
Regulating enumerated pursuits. Subject to the Constitution
and general laws of the state, to provide for licensing and otherwise
regulating auctioneers, pawnbrokers, junk dealers, dealers in secondhand
articles, hawkers, vendors, peddlers, public cartmen, truckmen, hackmen,
cabmen, expressmen, taxicab drivers, drivers, bootblacks, porters,
scavengers, sweepers, theaters, moving-picture houses, bowling alleys,
shooting galleries, billiard parlors, skating rinks, halls or places
for dancing, circuses, menageries, public exhibitions of any kind,
places of amusement and shows.
(52)
Rates of fare of vehicles for hire. To regulate and
prescribe the rates of fare to be taken or charged by owners and drivers
of taxicabs.
(53)
Combustible materials; noxious businesses. To license,
regulate and prohibit within the limits of the City the manufacture,
sale, transportation, storage, preparation and use of gunpowder, dynamite,
nitroglycerin and other explosives, kerosene, petroleum, gasoline,
naphtha and other combustible and dangerous materials and to license,
regulate and prohibit within the limits of the City slaughtering of
animals, bone boiling, fat rendering and other noxious businesses.
(54)
Air pollution. To regulate and prohibit the emission
of smoke, noxious gases, deposits or other pollution from buildings,
locomotives, engines and other sources and to regulate, restrict and
prohibit the use of bituminous coal within the City or any portion
thereof.
(55)
Public nuisances. To prevent, restrain, remove and
abate public nuisances.
(56)
Private sewers, drains, sinks, vaults and privies.
To regulate and prohibit the construction and use of private sewers,
drains, sinks, vaults and privies and to compel the owner and occupant
of any premises upon which is situated any objectionable stable, privy,
sewer, drain, cistern, vault or any unwholesome or nauseous condition
to cleanse, remove or abate the same.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Original § 26(57),
Milk control, which immediately followed this subsection, was deleted
as preempted by the state. See Art. 21 of the Agriculture and Markets
Law.
(57)
Sale of meat, poultry and fish. To regulate and control
the sale of meats and to provide for the inspection thereof and to
prohibit the sale of any diseased, tainted or bad meat, poultry or
fish.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: Regulation of the inspection
and sale of meat and poultry has been preempted by the state. See
Arts. 5-B and 5-D of the Agriculture and Markets Law.
(58)
Discharge of weapons; explosives. To prohibit, restrain
and regulate the discharge of firearms, fireworks, and the explosion
of gunpowder and gun cotton.
(59)
Loitering. To prohibit persons collecting, loitering,
standing upon and occupying sidewalks, bridges, hallways, passageways
and stairways.
(60)
Preservation of order. To preserve the public peace
and good order; to prevent fighting, threatening or challenging to
fight, and quarreling; and to prevent riots, disturbances and disorderly
conduct.
(61)
Disorderliness, gambling, drunkenness and vagrancy.
To suppress and prohibit disorderly houses, houses of ill fame, gambling
houses, gambling, and the use of any fraudulent or chance device of
any kind; to prevent and prohibit drunkenness and disorderly conduct
in streets and public places; and to restrain and punish vagrants,
mendicants, street beggars, common prostitutes and disorderly persons.
(62)
Electric power.
(a)
To furnish and supply the City of Auburn and
the people thereof with a public utility service which shall include
works, structures, poles, lines, wires, conduits, mains, systems,
waterpower and any and all other real and personal property used or
necessary for, connected with or appertaining to the furnishing of
such service; to construct, lease, purchase, own, acquire, use and/or
operate any public utility service within or without its territorial
limits for the purpose of furnishing to itself or for compensation
to its inhabitants any service similar to that furnished by any public
utility company specified in Article 4 of the Public Service Law or
as the same shall be amended from time to time; and to purchase gas
or electrical energy from the state or from any state agency or other
municipal corporation or from any private or public corporation.
[Amended 9-9-1993 by L.L. No. 3-1993]
(b)
To provide an initial public utility system
consisting of the renovation of and construction of improvements to
the Mill Street Dam and the power station property on the Owasco Outlet
in order to produce economical electrical energy for municipal use.
The cost thereof is estimated to be $605,000 and the maximum cost
thereof will not exceed $650,000.
[Amended 9-9-1993 by L.L. No. 3-1993]
(c)
To undertake future public utility system projects from time to time in accordance with Subsection A(62)(a) hereof for the City and its inhabitants, to include the construction of additional hydropower and landfill/natural gas service systems, as well as other potential public utility systems, and to expend a maximum amount not to exceed $15,000,000 for each public utility project and that any bond issued for each public utility project may not exceed the maximum amount of $10,000,000.
[Amended 9-9-1993 by L.L. No. 3-1993; 7-10-2009 by L.L. No.
1-2009]
(63)
Ordinances for government of City; exercise of its
powers. To take all measures, do all acts and enact any ordinances
not inconsistent with the laws of the state as shall be deemed expedient
or desirable for the good government of the City, its management and
business, protection of its property, the safety and health of its
inhabitants, the protection of their property, preservation of peace
and order, suppression of vice, the benefit of trade, the preservation
and protection of the public streets, preservation of public health,
the prevention and extinguishment of fires, and the exercise generally
of the powers of the City.
The Council may make, continue, modify and adopt
all local laws and ordinances necessary to carry into full effect
any and all powers conferred upon the said City or said Council. It
may provide for the enforcement of local laws and ordinances by legal
or equitable proceedings, prescribe in its discretion that a violation
thereof shall constitute a misdemeanor or violation pursuant to the
Penal Law of the State of New York, and provide for the punishment
of such violations by civil penalty, fine, forfeiture or imprisonment,
or by two or more such punishments.
A.
Every ordinance or regulation imposing a fine or imprisonment
or both such fine and imprisonment shall take effect upon publication
of a notice as hereinafter provided or a later date specified in such
ordinance or regulation. The notice shall contain the title and a
brief description with a statement that such ordinance or regulation
is on record with the City Clerk, which notice shall be published
at least once in the official newspaper of the City or, if there is
no official newspaper, then in a daily newspaper published in the
City. It shall not be necessary to publish any ordinance or regulation
to be enforced within the City except as herein provided.
B.
In case of insurrection, riot, conflagration or other
necessity requiring immediate operation of such ordinance 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 Auburn.
The Mayor, the Councilmen (Councilors), City
Manager, City Clerk, and each deputy of the City Clerk shall have
the power to administer oaths and take affidavits and acknowledgments
within the City, the same as Commissioners of Deeds. They shall also
have power to administer any oaths or take any affidavit in respect
to any hearing, trial or matter pending before them, or any of them,
and to issue subpoenas and compel the attendance of witnesses and
the production of papers and documents. Any false testimony upon any
such hearing, or inquiry, is hereby declared to be perjury and may
be punished as provided by law for that crime.
Whenever any notice is required by this Charter
or by law to be given and details of such notice are not prescribed,
the Council may, by ordinance, prescribe for the giving of such notice,
either by personal service, mail or publication, and the length of
time thereof.
Before determining to make any improvement,
the cost of which shall be, in whole or in part, a local improvement
charge, or a charge against the abutting property, a public hearing
thereon shall be given by the Council when practicable, upon such
notice as it may prescribe. But this shall not apply to directions
or orders to individual owners or occupants of premises to remedy
or repair defective or dangerous conditions in walks or highways in
front of such premises, or to lay, relay or otherwise improve sidewalks,
curbs and gutters, or to any work or expenditure by the City in cleaning
or repairing sidewalks or otherwise remedying dangerous conditions
which are in violation of ordinances.
The Council may prescribe that any improvement
or public work which it determines upon may be done by contract or
by the City under the direction of the City Manager. If ordered done
by contract, the City Manager shall prepare uniform terms and conditions
for proposals, fix the security to be given, and advertise for proposals.
Upon receiving such proposals, he or she shall, at the time fixed,
open and tabulate them and report the result to the Council, with
such recommendations he or she may have to make. Any or all of such
proposals may be rejected by the Council. If a satisfactory proposal
is received, the Council may award a contract for the improvement
or work and direct the execution of such contract on behalf of the
City. Every contract so made shall provide that the improvement or
work shall be in substantial accord with plans and specifications
previously adopted by the Council for such work, so far as may be.
