[Amended 1-20-2022 by L.L. No. 1-2022]
Subdivision 1 of §
85 of the Town Law is hereby amended in its application to the Town of North Hempstead, New York, to read as follows:
§ 85. Ward system for election of Councilmen. Whenever a proposition shall have been
adopted in the Town for the establishment of the ward system and the
election thereafter of one Councilman from each ward, the Town Board
shall divide the Town into four wards and fix the boundaries thereof,
unless a proposition shall have been adopted to increase the number
of councilmen from four to six, in which instance, the Town Board
shall divide the Town into six wards and fix the boundaries thereof
The division shall be made so that the number of inhabitants in each
ward, based upon the last regular federal census, shall be substantially
equal, with wards composed of convenient and contiguous territory
in as compact form as practicable. No election district heretofore
or hereinafter created under the Election Law shall contain parts
of two or more wards. The Town Board shall make appropriate revisions
of the boundaries of the wards so that they shall contain a substantially
equal number of inhabitants not later than six months after the publication
of the results of a regular federal census which indicates that the
districts do not contain a substantially equal number of inhabitants;
except that with regards to the 2020 federal census results, the time
to make appropriate revisions of the boundaries of the wards so that
they shall contain a substantially equal number of inhabitants shall
be extended to 12 months after the publication of the results of the
2020 federal census. This extension of time to 12 months shall only
apply to the results of the 2020 federal census. When the Town Board
shall have finally determined the boundaries of the wards, it shall
cause a map of the Town to be prepared, showing, in detail, the location
of each ward and the boundaries thereof. The original map so made
shall be filed in the office of the Town Clerk, and copies thereof
shall be filed in the offices of the County Clerk and the Board of
Elections of Nassau County. The ward system shall be deemed established
after such filing is complete. After a ward system shall have been
so established, the term of office of every Town councilman shall
terminate on the 31st day of December next succeeding the first biennial
Town election held not less than 120 days after the establishment
of such ward system, and, at such biennial Town election, one resident
elector from each odd-numbered ward shall be elected as councilman
therefrom for a term of two years, and one resident elector from each
even-numbered ward shall be elected as councilman therefrom for a
term of four years, each such term to begin on the first day of January
next succeeding such election, and thereafter at each biennial Town
election there shall be elected successors to the Town Councilmen
whose terms are expiring for terms of four years each to begin on
the first day of January next succeeding such election.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section,
word or part of this chapter is adjudged by any court of competent
jurisdiction to be invalid, the judgment shall not affect, impair
or invalidate the remainder of this chapter but shall be confined
in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part
of this chapter directly involved in the controversy in which judgment
is rendered.
This chapter shall be known as "A Local Law
to Amend the Town Law in Relation to the Ward System for the Election
of Councilmen in the Town of North Hempstead" and shall be immediately
effective upon filing with the Secretary of State.