The territory in the County of Westchester included
within the boundaries described in the next section shall be a city
by the name of the "City of Peekskill," and the citizens of this state
from time to time inhabitants within the said boundaries shall be
a corporation by the name of the "City of Peekskill."
The city boundaries shall be as follows: All that part of the Town of Cortlandt, in the County of Westchester, embraced within the following bounds, that is to say: Beginning at the middle of the Hudson River, at a point due west of the intersection of the high-water mark of the Hudson River and the east line of Hudson Avenue as laid down on a map of Verplancks, New York, made by Cyrus Latham, civil engineer, dated June 30, 1836; thence running due east to the high-water mark of the Hudson River at the above-mentioned intersection; thence easterly along high-water mark of the Hudson River and the southerly and westerly side of Dickey Brook or Creek to a point where the south line of Welcher Avenue, extended, intersects the aforesaid brook or creek; thence easterly along the south line of Welcher Avenue, extended, to the west exterior line of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company's right-of-way; thence southerly along the west exterior line of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company's right-of-way to a point, said point being on a line at right angles to the monumented center line from the stone marked P. C., at station 211 091.68; thence easterly to a point where the easterly line of Albany Post Road intersects the northwesterly line of Reynolds Lane; thence southeasterly along said Reynolds Lane to the center of Dickey Brook; thence easterly and northerly along the center of said brook till it intersects the land of Willett Cornell; thence along said Cornell land and land of Mount Florence estate to land late of B. Kittridge; thence northerly along the east line of said Kittridge land and land of William McCord to the south line of Crompond Road; thence easterly to a point opposite the Dayton Lane; thence northerly along the center of said lane to McGregory Brook; thence easterly along the center of said brook to the mouth of a small brook on the premises of Julia Nichols; thence northerly along said brook to Main Street; thence due north (magnetic meridian) 1,000 feet; thence to a rock on reservoir property marked B. M. X.; thence westerly to a monument set in the center of Hillside Avenue just north of milk spring of Van Cortlandt estate; thence along line between land of W. D. Southard and King and Lynch to the creek; thence along the southerly side of creek to the west side of Annsville Road; thence northerly along the west side of said road to the north shore of said creek; thence westerly in part along the north shore of said creek to the south exterior line of the wood dock; thence westerly along the shore of said creek at low-water mark to the lands of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company; thence in a due west line to the center of the Hudson River; thence southerly to the place of beginning. Comprising all the territory within the Village of Peekskill, and which is set forth more specifically in Chapter
7 of the Laws of 1915, enacted February 18, 1915.
The corporation known as the "Village of Peekskill,"
and included in the boundaries heretofore described and set forth,
is hereby declared to be dissolved on and after the first day of January
1940; and all property, real and personal, rights, powers, privileges
and contracts at the time of this dissolution possessed, owned, occupied,
exercised or enjoyed by, as well as all the duties, contracts, obligations
and liabilities imposed upon, said Village of Peekskill are, on and
after the first day of January 1940, hereby transferred to, vested
in and imposed upon said City of Peekskill; and all ordinances, rules
and regulations of the Board of Trustees of said Village of Peekskill
then in force shall be and remain valid and effectual as the ordinances,
rules and regulations of said city and its Common Council until repealed,
modified or changed, subject, however, to the provisions of this act;
and said Common Council is hereby authorized and empowered, in the
name, for and in behalf of the City of Peekskill, to enforce all such
contracts, ordinances, rules and regulations, including collection
of debts and demands, imposition and collection of fines and penalties,
prosecution and defense of all suits, and to do, take and perform
other acts and proceedings that may be or become necessary and proper
to carry out and enforce said contracts, ordinances, rules and regulations
with the same force and to the full extent as might have been done
by or on the part of the Board of Trustees and the Village of Peekskill,
or either; and the rights and privileges of all persons or parties
that may have arisen or accrued under, pursuant to or by reason of
any such contract, ordinance, rule or regulation, or otherwise, as
well as any liability that may have arisen by reason thereof, shall
remain and be the same under this act as they would have been under
said Village Charter; and all rights and liabilities of said village
existing on the 31st day of December 1939 shall be in no wise affected
or changed thereby; but all actions and proceedings which may be thereafter
commenced to enforce or protect any such accrued or existing rights,
privileges or liabilities shall be brought and prosecuted or defended
by or in the name of the City of Peekskill. All actions or proceedings
then pending for or against said village may be continued by or against
and in the name of said village, or at the option of the parties thereto,
the name of said city may be substituted, and in such name all such
actions or proceedings may be continued. All rules and regulations
pertaining to the organization and government of the Fire Department
of the Village of Peekskill in force on the 31st day of December 1939
shall, except as hereinafter in this act provided, remain, be and
continue the same under the said city as under said village government
until repeal thereof and the adoption of other or further rules and
regulations in relation thereto, and all officers and members of said
Fire Department shall be such officers and members of the Fire Department
of the City of Peekskill and shall perform all the duties devolving
upon them as such firemen and have and retain all their rights and
privileges in the same manner and in all respects as if this act had
not been passed, subject, however, to the further provisions of this
act. The ownership and control of all property and effects pertaining
to or connected with the Fire Department of the Village of Peekskill
shall, by virtue of this act, vest in the City of Peekskill and in
the Fire Department thereof, respectively, in the same manner and
to the same extent in all respects as the same is now vested in said
village and its Fire Department, respectively.
The village government of the Village of Peekskill,
as it exists at the time of the passage of this act, shall continue
until the first Mayor elected takes office under this act, and the
officers of said village, elective and appointive, including the members
of all boards and commissions thereof at the time of the passage of
this act, shall continue to hold office as such until such Mayor elected
takes office under this act, except as herein otherwise provided.
This provision, however, shall not be construed as changing or qualifying
the authority now vested by the Charter of the Village of Peekskill
or by the Village Law in the Board of Trustees or other officers of
the village to make removals or appointments or to fill vacancies
as empowered by said Charter of the Village of Peekskill or said Village
Law.
The Town of Cortlandt shall, on and after the
first day of January 1940, consist of all that portion of said town
not included within the boundaries of the City of Peekskill, and the
territory embraced within the boundaries of the City of Peekskill
as hereinbefore described shall not constitute or be a part of the
Town of Cortlandt.
That portion of the present Town of Cortlandt
which at the time of passage of this act lies without the limits of
the present Village of Peekskill, and which, after this act goes into
effect, is to constitute the whole of the said Town of Cortlandt,
shall, at the election of town officers to be held in 1939, elect
town officers to take the place of the said town officers whose terms
expire on the 31st day of December 1939, and no person shall then
be nominated or elected to any of said offices who shall at the time
of such election be a resident of the Village of Peekskill. If any
town officer of the Town of Cortlandt at the time of passage of this
act shall be a resident of the Village of Peekskill, that officer
shall serve out the unexpired term of office as said officer of the
Town of Cortlandt, and any successor shall be a resident of the Town
of Cortlandt, as same shall be constituted on and after the first
day of January 1940. As soon as practicable after the passage of this
act and prior to the first day for registration, 1939, the Town Board
of the Town of Cortlandt as constituted at the time of passage of
this act shall meet and redistrict for election purposes that portion
of said town which lies without the limits of the City of Peekskill.
The town officers of the Town of Cortlandt are hereby continued in
office and shall have jurisdiction according to their respective offices
only in that portion of the town hereby set apart and created as the
Town of Cortlandt after the officers provided for by this act shall
qualify.
The word "his" as used in the original Charter
language has been replaced with gender-neutral language and the word
"person" shall be held to include and be coextensive with the words
"persons," "company," "joint-stock association" and "corporation."
The word "street" shall be held to include and be coextensive with
"roads," "bridges," "avenues," "highways," "alleys" and "squares";
the word "work" shall be held to include and be coextensive with "improvements"
and "repairs"; the word "materials" shall be held to include and be
coextensive with "supplies," "stationery," "books," "furniture" and
"repairs to furniture"; the word "tax" shall in all proper cases be
held to include and be coextensive with "water rents or rates," "assessments
or reassessments for local improvements," and the singular noun shall
be held to include and be coextensive with the plural.