Amd S351, Pub Health L; add Art 17-A S750, Gen Muni L; amd SS9-912 & 19-1900, add S18-1807, Vil L; amd
SS79-d, 81, 172 & 172-b, Town L
Pertains to the composition of county and part-county boards of health; and provides for petition requirements for initiating a referendum regarding municipal consolidation or dissolution.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
265
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 7, 2009
___________
Introduced by Sen. LITTLE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the composition of
county and part-county boards of health; and to amend the general
municipal law, the town law and the village law, in relation to the
petition requirements for initiating a referendum regarding municipal
consolidation or dissolution
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 351 of the public health law, subdivision 1 as
2 amended by chapter 83 of the laws of 1975, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 § 351. County or part-county health commissioner, public health direc-
5 tor or county health director; appointment; compensation. 1. The board
6 of health of each county and part-county health district or other body
7 authorized pursuant to section three hundred fifty-six of this title or
8 the county executive in those counties where the county charter provides
9 that said commissioner is to be appointed by the county executive shall
10 appoint a county health commissioner, county health director or, when
11 authorized under the state sanitary code, public health director;
12 except, however,
13 (a) that the boards of health of not more than three county or part-
14 county health districts or other bodies authorized pursuant to section
15 three hundred fifty-six of this title may appoint the same person to
16 serve as county health commissioner, county health director or, when
17 authorized by the state sanitary code, public health director for said
18 health districts, if the total population of health districts is not in
19 excess of one hundred fifty thousand according to the latest federal
20 decennial census, provided the approval of the commissioner is
21 obtained[.]; or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00960-01-9
S. 265 2
1 [The] (b) the board of health or other body authorized pursuant to
2 section three hundred fifty-six of this title of any county health
3 district with a population of less than thirty-five thousand [popu-
4 lation] according to the latest federal decennial census may appoint the
5 same person employed by a contiguous county or part-county health
6 district to serve as county health commissioner, county health director
7 or, when authorized by the state sanitary code, public health director
8 without regard to the total population of both health districts,
9 provided the approval of the commissioner is obtained.
10 [2.] The commissioner shall periodically review his or her determi-
11 nation to ensure such employment of the same county health director,
12 public health director or county health commissioner continues to serve
13 the interest of public health and may terminate his or her approval at
14 his or her discretion.
15 2. If the commissioner has approved the appointment of the same person
16 to serve as the county health director, county commissioner of health or
17 public health director of more than one county or part-county health
18 district pursuant to subdivision one of this section, then during the
19 continuation of such approval the commissioner may also authorize the
20 same members to be appointed to the board of health of each respective
21 health district, notwithstanding their residency in the other county.
22 3. Any boards of health or other bodies authorized pursuant to section
23 three hundred fifty-six of this title having the same members shall
24 annually submit such information and reports regarding the effect of
25 such employment on administration of the respective health districts and
26 the provision of public health services as the commissioner may require.
27 The commissioner shall use such information in determining whether such
28 common membership continues to serve the interest of public health.
29 4. The county health director, county health commissioner or public
30 health director shall possess such qualifications for office as are
31 prescribed in the sanitary code.
32 [3.] 5. The county health director, county health commissioner or
33 public health director shall serve for a term of six years and shall not
34 be removed during the term for which he or she shall have been
35 appointed, except upon written charges after a hearing and upon notice.
36 [4.] 6. The county health director, county health commissioner or
37 public health director shall receive such compensation as may be fixed
38 by the board of supervisors or, if the commissioner's approval has been
39 obtained for the employment of the same person as the county health
40 director, county health commissioner or public health director pursuant
41 to subdivision one of this section, by the boards of supervisors.
42 § 2. The general municipal law is amended by adding a new article 17-A
43 to read as follows:
44 ARTICLE 17-A
45 MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATION OR DISSOLUTION PETITIONS
46 Section 750. Citizen petitions.
47 § 750. Citizen petitions. 1. Intent. It is the intention of the legis-
48 lature by the enactment of this article to provide citizens with a
49 simplified process for petitioning their local government officials to
50 restructure their governments while maintaining local choice and control
51 over the final decision to consolidate or dissolve.
52 2. Application. This petition process shall apply to any consolidation
53 or dissolution of a county, city, town, village or district as author-
54 ized by law.
55 3. Eligible signatures. To start the consolidation or dissolution
56 process, a petition must have signatures from residents of the jurisdic-
S. 265 3
1 tion to be consolidated or dissolved who are qualified to vote at the
2 time of the filing of the petition with the municipal clerk, equal to at
3 least twenty-five percent of the resident electors qualified to vote in
4 the last election.
5 4. Time limit. A signature shall be invalid if it is signed upon the
6 petition more than one hundred eighty days before the petition is filed
7 with the municipal clerk, unless the governing board passes a resolution
8 to give additional time to collect signatures.
9 5. Form. The petition shall be in substantially the following form:
10 PETITION
11 We, the undersigned, electors of the (insert type of municipality -
12 county, city, town, village or district)_______ of _____________ (insert
13 name of municipality)_________, New York, qualified to vote at the next
14 general or special election, do hereby petition that there be submitted
15 to the voters of (insert name of municipality)_____, pursuant to law, a
16 proposition as follows:
17 (Insert proposition sought to be submitted)
18 The undersigned qualified electors hereby request that a referendum
19 vote upon the above proposition be taken as provided by law.
20 In witness whereof, we have signed our names on the dates indicated
21 next to our signatures.
22 Date Name - print name under signatureHome Address
23 1. _________________________________________________________
24 ___________________________________________________
25 2. _________________________________________________________
26 ___________________________________________________
27 3. _________________________________________________________
28 ___________________________________________________
29 (On the bottom of each page, after all the numbered signatures, insert
30 a witness statement or a statement by a notary public or commissioner of
31 deeds, in substantially the following form:)
32 I, (name of witness) , state that I am a registered voter of the State
33 of New York. I am a resident of the (county, city, town, village, or
34 district) of (name of county, city, town, village, or district). Each of
35 the persons that have signed this petition sheet containing (fill in
36 number) signatures, have signed their name in my presence on the dates
37 indicated above and identified themselves to be the same person who
38 signed the sheet. I understand that this statement will be accepted for
39 all purposes as the equivalent of an affidavit, and if it contains a
40 materially false statement, shall subject me to the penalties of perju-
41 ry.
42 ___________________ ________________________________________
43 DateSignature of Witness
44 (In lieu of the signed statement of a witness who is a duly qualified
45 voter of the State, qualified to sign the petition as a resident of the
46 county, city, town, village, or district, the following statement signed
47 by a notary public or a commissioner of deeds shall be accepted.)
48 On the date above indicated before me personally came each of the
49 voters whose signatures appear on this petition sheet containing (fill
50 in number) signatures, who signed same in my presence and who, being by
51 me duly sworn, each for himself, said that the foregoing statement made
52 and subscribed by him, was true.
53 ___________________ ______________________________________
54 DateNotary Public or Commissioner of Deeds
55 6. Liberal construction. In matters of form, this section shall be
56 given a liberal construction, and precise compliance is not required.
S. 265 4
1 § 3. Subdivision 2 of section 9-912 of the village law, paragraph (e)
2 as amended by chapter 230 of the laws of 1974, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 2. The questions which may or shall be submitted as propositions upon
5 petition or motion of the board of trustees, as hereinbefore provided,
6 are:
7 (a) Whether or not the area of the village should be diminished.
8 (b) Whether or not the village should be reincorporated.
9 (c) Whether or not the village should be consolidated with one or more
10 villages; provided, however, that a petition to submit this question as
11 a proposition shall be submitted in a form in accordance with subdivi-
12 sions five and six of section seven hundred fifty of the general munici-
13 pal law.
14 (d) Whether or not the name of the village should be changed.
15 (e) Whether or not the month of the general village election should be
16 changed.
17 § 4. Subdivision 3 of section 9-912 of the village law is amended to
18 read as follows:
19 3. The board of trustees of any village may, and upon a petition of
20 the electors of the village submitted in accordance with article seven-
21 teen-A of the general municipal law shall, adopt a resolution submitting
22 a proposition for the dissolution of the village in accordance with
23 article nineteen of this chapter.
24 § 5. The village law is amended by adding a new section 18-1807 to
25 read as follows:
26 § 18-1807 Proposition for consolidation. The board of trustees of two
27 or more adjoining villages may, and upon petition of the electors of
28 each village shall, adopt a plan for consolidation and a resolution
29 submitting a proposition for the consolidation of the villages in
30 accordance with the permissive referendum article.
31 § 6. Subdivision 1 of section 19-1900 of the village law, as amended
32 by section 34 of part X of chapter 62 of the laws of 2003, is amended to
33 read as follows:
34 1. The board of trustees of any village may, and upon a petition of
35 the electors of the village shall, adopt a plan for dissolution and a
36 resolution submitting a proposition for the dissolution of the village
37 in accordance with the permissive referendum article, except that in
38 determining the date for submission of the proposition pursuant to
39 section 9-912 of this chapter, the date of the public hearing under this
40 article shall be used and not the date that the question is presented.
41 [A petition to dissolve a village shall be sufficient if signed and
42 acknowledged or proved by qualified electors of such village, in number
43 equal to at least one-third of the total number of resident electors
44 residing in the village, qualified to vote at the last general village
45 or special village election immediately preceding the submission of the
46 proposition in question, and who signed the petition not earlier than
47 one hundred twenty days prior to filing thereof.]
48 § 7. Subdivision 1 of section 79-d of the town law, as added by chap-
49 ter 690 of the laws of 1973, is amended to read as follows:
50 1. The town boards of the several towns in the same county may, and
51 upon petition of the electors of each town in the manner provided by
52 article six of this chapter shall, submit a proposition for consol-
53 idation at a general or special election.
54 § 8. Subdivision 4 of section 81 of the town law, as amended by chap-
55 ter 434 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read as follows:
S. 265 5
1 4. Such petition shall be subscribed and authenticated, in the manner
2 provided by the election law for the authentication of nominating
3 petitions, by electors of the town qualified to vote upon a proposition
4 to raise and expend money, in number equal to at least five per centum
5 of the total votes cast for governor in said town at the last general
6 election held for the election of state officers, but such number shall
7 not be less than one hundred in a town of the first class nor less than
8 twenty-five in a town of the second class. In the case of petition for
9 town consolidation or dissolution, such petition shall be submitted by
10 electors in accordance with article seventeen-A of the general municipal
11 law. If such a petition be filed in the office of the town clerk not
12 less than sixty days, nor more than seventy-five days, prior to a bien-
13 nial town election, the proposition shall be submitted at such biennial
14 election. If a petition be presented at any other time, a special
15 election shall be called to be held not less than sixty days, nor more
16 than seventy-five days after the filing of such petition.
17 § 9. Section 172 of the town law, as amended by chapter 911 of the
18 laws of 1971 and the first undesignated paragraph as amended by chapter
19 37 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows:
20 § 172. Consolidation of fire districts. Irrespective of the manner of
21 their original establishment, whenever two or more fire districts
22 adjoin, the town board of the town in which such districts are located
23 or, if said districts be situate in more than one town, the town boards
24 thereof acting jointly by a majority vote of the members of each such
25 town boards, upon a written petition of [resident taxpayers owning taxa-
26 ble real property aggregating at least one-half of the assessed valu-
27 ation of all the taxable real property of each of the districts so
28 adjoining owned by resident taxpayers thereof, as such valuations appear
29 upon the latest completed assessment roll of said town or towns] resi-
30 dents of each fire district who are qualified to vote at the time the
31 petition is filed with the municipal clerk, equal to at least twenty-
32 five percent of the registered voters residing in each district at the
33 time of the last general election, or upon the written petition of a
34 majority of the members of the board of commissioners of each fire
35 district proposed to be included within the consolidated district may
36 consolidate such fire districts and establish the same into one fire
37 district after a public hearing thereon. Such petition or petitions
38 shall be [signed, and acknowledged or proved in the same manner as a
39 deed to be recorded, or authenticated in the manner provided by the
40 election law for the authentication of nominating petitions] in accord-
41 ance with article seventeen-A of the general municipal law, except that
42 on such petition, the name of the fire district and the town or village
43 in which it is located shall appear. Notice of such hearing shall be
44 given and such hearing held and the subject matters thereof determined
45 in the manner provided herein for hearings upon the establishment of
46 fire districts, except that the notice of hearing shall state in general
47 terms the purposes of the hearing and specify each of the existing
48 districts proposed to be included within the consolidated district.
49 In the event that at the time of consolidation, any district included
50 within the consolidated district shall have any indebtedness, either
51 bonded or temporary, such district shall continue to exist in law for
52 the purpose of paying such indebtedness, and there shall be annually
53 assessed and levied upon and collected from the taxable real property
54 within such original fire district, in the same manner and at the same
55 time and by the same officers as town taxes are assessed, levied and
56 collected, a sum sufficient to pay such indebtedness and interest there-
S. 265 6
1 on as the same shall become due. All the real property within the
2 consolidated district shall be liable for the payment of indebtedness
3 incurred for the purposes of the district after such consolidation. For
4 the purposes hereof, such consolidation shall be deemed effective upon
5 the adoption by the town board or town boards of the resolution provid-
6 ing therefor, unless such resolution shall specify some other date for
7 such purpose, in which case such consolidation shall become effective on
8 the date so specified.
9 § 10. Section 172-b of the town law, as amended by chapter 907 of the
10 laws of 1966 and the first undesignated paragraph as amended by chapter
11 37 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows:
12 § 172-b. Consolidation of fire protection districts. Irrespective of
13 the manner of their original establishment, whenever two or more fire
14 protection districts adjoin, the town board of the town in which such
15 districts are located or, if said districts be situate in more than one
16 town, the town boards thereof acting jointly by a majority vote of the
17 members of each such town boards, upon its or their own motion and with-
18 out a petition or upon a written petition of [resident taxpayers owning
19 taxable real property aggregating at least one-half of the assessed
20 valuation of all the taxable real property of each of the districts so
21 adjoining owned by resident taxpayers thereof, as such valuations appear
22 upon the latest completed assessment-roll of said town or towns] resi-
23 dents of each fire district who are qualified to vote at the time the
24 petition is filed with the municipal clerk, equal to at least twenty-
25 five percent of the registered voters residing in each district at the
26 time of the last general election, may consolidate such fire protection
27 districts and establish the same into one fire protection district after
28 a public hearing thereon. Such petition or petitions shall be [signed,
29 and acknowledged or proved in the same manner as a deed to be recorded,
30 or authenticated in the manner provided by the election law for the
31 authentication of nominating petitions] in accordance with article
32 seventeen-A of the general municipal law, except that on such petition,
33 the name of the fire protection district and the town or village in
34 which it is located shall appear. Notice of such hearing shall be given
35 and such hearing held and the subject matters thereof determined in the
36 manner provided herein for hearings upon the establishment of fire
37 protection districts, except that the notice of hearing shall state in
38 general terms the purposes of the hearing and specify each of the exist-
39 ing districts proposed to be included within the consolidated district.
40 Any resolution of consolidation made upon motion of the town board or
41 town boards without a petition shall be subject to a permissive referen-
42 dum as provided in article seven of this chapter.
43 For the purposes hereof, such consolidation pursuant to petition of
44 resident taxpayers shall be deemed effective upon the adoption by the
45 town board or town boards of the resolution providing therefor, unless
46 such resolution shall specify some other date for such purpose, in which
47 case such consolidation shall become effective on the date so specified,
48 and such consolidation upon motion of the town board or town boards
49 without a petition shall become effective as provided in section nine-
50 ty-one of this chapter. Unless renegotiated any existing contract for
51 the supplying of fire protection to any fire protection district so
52 consolidated shall be carried out in the same manner as if such consol-
53 idation had not taken place.
54 Where more than one fire protection district is situated in a town,
55 the town board after a public hearing thereon of which notice shall be
56 given as hereinbefore provided, may make a contract for fire protection
S. 265 7
1 covering all or any of such districts in which event the cost of the
2 contract shall be spread pro rata upon all the property in all of the
3 districts affected by such contract.
4 § 11. This act shall take effect immediately.
