City of Newburgh, NY Chapter 20 Council, City

[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Newburgh 11-13-1967 (Ch. 2, Art. I, Secs. 2-1 through 2-8, of the Code of Ordinances). Amendments noted where applicable.]

§ 20-1 Meetings.

[Amended 4-28-1986 by Ord. No. 7-86; 6-13-1988 by L.L. No. 4-1988; 4-9-1990 by L.L. No. 12-1990; 8-8-2022 by L.L. No. 1-2022]

All meetings of the Council will be held in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 83 Broadway, Newburgh, New York, at 7:00 p.m. or at such other time and place as the Council may direct. Any meeting so held may be adjourned to a different time and place within the City by vote of a majority of the Council.

§ 20-1.1 Videoconferencing.

[Added 8-8-2022 by L.L. No. 1-2022]

A. All public bodies of the City of Newburgh are authorized to use videoconferencing technology to conduct their meetings in accordance with the provisions of § 103-a of the Public Officers Law, subject to the following conditions:

(1) A minimum number of members of the public body sufficient to fulfill the public body's quorum requirement must be present in the same physical location where the public can attend.

(2) All members of the public body shall be physically present at any meeting of the public body unless a member is unable to be physically present due to extraordinary circumstances. Extraordinary circumstances include, but are not limited to:

(a) Disability;

(b) Illness;

(c) Isolation or quarantine order;

(d) The death of a relative where such term is defined to include a spouse, parent, stepparent, sibling, stepsibling, sibling's spouse, child, stepchild, domestic partner, or individual for whom the member is the legal or designated guardian;

(e) Caregiving responsibilities for a relative;

(f) Responsibilities and/or obligations of the member's primary employment or business; or

(g) Any other significant or unexpected factor that may preclude physical attendance.

(3) A member who wishes to participate in a meeting by videoconference must provide advance notice and justification for their absence to the extent possible to the appointed leadership of the public body. For purposes of the Council, such notice shall be provided to the Mayor, or in the Mayor's absence to the President Pro Tem, with a copy to the City Manager and City Clerk.

(4) The leadership of a public body may require any member requesting to participate in a meeting by teleconference to provide documentation, to the extent possible, supporting such request and may publicly confirm that such documentation was received without publicly stating the contents of such documentation.

(5) Except in the case of executive sessions, the public body shall ensure that members who are participating remotely can be heard, seen, and identified at all times when the meeting is being conducted.

(6) The minutes of meetings involving videoconferencing shall state which members, if any, participated by videoconference, and shall be available to the public.

(7) If videoconferencing is being used to conduct a meeting, the public notice for the meeting shall inform the public that videoconferencing will be used, where the public can view and/or participate in such meeting, where required documents and records will be posted or available, and identify the physical location for the meeting where the public can attend.

(8) If videoconferencing is used to conduct a meeting, the public body shall provide the opportunity for members of the public to view such meeting via video, and to participate in proceedings via videoconference in real time where public comment or participation is authorized and shall ensure that videoconferencing authorizes the same public participation as in-person participation.

(9) Any and all videoconferencing technology used for public meetings shall be made accessible to members of the body and the public with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended.

(10) Nothing herein shall prohibit a City of Newburgh public body from holding meetings entirely by videoconference, with no in-person requirement, during a state of emergency declared by the Governor of New York pursuant to Executive Law § 28 or by the Orange County Executive or City Manager of the City of Newburgh pursuant to Executive Law § 24 if such public body determines that the circumstances necessitating the emergency declaration would affect or impair the ability of the public body to hold an in-person meeting.

B. These written procedures governing member attendance by videoconference at meetings of public bodies, together with any supplemental, but not contrary, written procedures that public bodies may adopt on the subject of videoconferencing, shall be conspicuously posted on the City of Newburgh's website.

§ 20-2 Appearances before Council work sessions.

A. Persons or groups wishing to address or appear before work sessions of the Council must submit a request in writing to the City Manager indicating:

(1) The name of the person or group, address and telephone number.

(2) The subject matter to be addressed.

(3) The time and date requested.

B. Also, a member of the Council may ask the City Manager to put a particular person or group on the agenda to address the Council at a work session.

C. Such requests by individuals or groups may be granted by the City Manager, in his discretion. Such requests by a Council member shall be put on the work session agenda, but, in either case, if one or more Council members so request, the question of permission to address a Council work session shall be put to a Council vote for Council determination.

§ 20-3 Order of business.

[Amended 11-8-1999 by Ord. No. 13-99[1]; 4-24-2017 by Ord. No. 8-2017]

The business of the Council shall be conducted in the following order:

A. Roll call.

B. Approval of minutes of previous meeting.

C. Communications.

D. Public hearings.

E. Public comments regarding any matter of City business.

F. Comments from the Council.

G. Report of City Manager.

H. Old business.

I. New business.

J. Further comments from the Council.

[1] Editor's Note: This ordinance provided that it would take effect at the next City Council meeting subsequent to its adoption.

§ 20-4 Sergeant at Arms.

The Chief of Police shall be the Sergeant at Arms of the Council and shall attend all of its meetings.

§ 20-5 Record of vote on ordinances; date of passage.

The City Clerk shall attach to every ordinance passed by the Council the names of the Councilmen voting in the affirmative and the negative and the date of its passage.

§ 20-6 Recording and filing of ordinances; proof of publication.

All ordinances passed by the Common Council shall be recorded by the City Clerk in a proper book or books, with indexes. The originals shall be filed in the City Clerk's office, and due proof of the publication of all ordinances requiring publication, by the certificate of the publisher or printer, shall be procured by the Clerk and attached thereto or written and attested upon the face of the record of such ordinance.

§ 20-7 When ordinances effective.

[Amended 6-13-1988 by L.L. No. 4-1988]

All ordinances shall take effect immediately upon their publication, unless an ordinance shall otherwise specify the time when it shall go into effect.

§ 20-8 Official newspaper.

[Amended 10-13-1992 by Ord. No. 22-92; 10-13-1998 by Ord. No. 17-98; 6-14-1999 by Ord. No. 2-99[1]; 4-22-2002 by Ord. No. 11-2002]

The Mid-Hudson Times, The Sentinel and the Hudson Valley Press shall be the official newspapers of the City. All notices and advertisements published by direction of the Council shall be published in all said official newspapers.

[1] Editor's Note: This ordinance provided that it would take effect 7-1-1999.