City of Kingston, NY Article XIII Common Council

§ C13-1 Constitution; salaries.

A. The Aldermen of said city shall constitute the Common Council. It shall meet at the Common Council Chambers in the City Hall or such other place designated by the Aldermen-at-Large.

B. Members of the Common Council shall not be required to devote their entire time to the duties of the office. The annual salary to be paid to the Mayor, Aldermen and Comptroller shall be set and adjusted by the Common Council.

C. If a vacancy occurs among the Aldermen, such vacancy shall be filled through appointment by the Mayor for the residue of the term, unless otherwise provided by law.

§ C13-2 Meetings; quorum; passage of legislation.

A. The Common Council shall hold meetings at least once in each month, and the Mayor, or in his absence the acting Mayor, or five Aldermen, may call special meetings by notice, in writing, served personally on the members of the Common Council or left at their usual places of residence, such notice to be given at least 48 hours prior to the time set for such meeting. Emergency meetings may be called at the discretion of the Mayor or Acting Mayor at any time.

B. The Common Council meetings shall be recorded, and the minutes shall be kept by the City Clerk and be open to public inspection.

C. A majority of the members of the Common Council at a meeting shall be a quorum for the transaction of business, but no taxes, assessment or legislative ordinance shall be passed except by a majority vote of all the members of the Common Council in office.

D. Redistricting shall take place during 1994, pursuant to Federal mandate and the provisions of the Municipal Home Rule Law of the State of New York. The redistricting shall result in nine wards. Said redistricting shall be completed so as to provide for the election of Aldermen for nine wards in the election to be held in November of 1995. Aldermen shall be elected to represent each of the nine wards and shall take office on January 1, 1996. Each such Aldermen shall serve a term of two years. Each such Alderman shall reside in the ward which they represent. In addition, there shall be elected an Alderman-at-Large. Said Alderman-at-Large shall serve a term of four years. The Alderman-at-Large shall be the presiding officer of the Common Council and shall reside in the City of Kingston.

E. The Alderman-at-Large shall have the powers and duties set forth in §§ C4-5 and C6-1 of the Charter of the City of Kingston, and any other powers to be designated to the Alderman-at-Large.

§ C13-3 Powers and duties.

A. The powers and duties of the Common Council shall be as set forth in this Charter and shall not include those powers and duties specifically delegated to the Mayor hereunder.

B. The Council shall have the power to investigate the affairs of every department or agency of City Government and the official conduct of every officer and employee. The Council shall have access to all records kept by all City Officers, departments of agencies of city government. The Mayor shall have the power to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, documents and other evidence at any meetings of said Council and for such purposes may issue subpoena signed by the Mayor, unless prohibited by state or federal law.

C. No contract for the purchase or sale of real estate shall be made without the vote of 2/3 of all of the members of the Common Council in office after receiving the recommendations of the Mayor with regard thereto.

D. All powers of the city shall be vested in the Common Council, except as otherwise provided by law or this Charter, and the Council shall provide for the exercise thereof and for the performance of all duties and obligations imposed on the city by law. The Common Council shall be responsible to the electorate for the efficient and economical management of city government. It shall deal with legislative matters as a body and effectuate its policy and decisions accordingly. There shall be no administrative committees of the Common Council. Council members shall not negotiate individually with the Mayor or with any city department or department head regarding any matter for which the Common Council as a whole is responsible under this Charter. The Common Council shall establish the compensation of every officer of the city where the same is not otherwise provided for by law.

E. The Common Council shall adopt an Administrative Code, within two years of the adoption of this Charter, which shall prescribe the functions of all city departments, offices or agencies, and shall amend the Administrative Code from time to time, upon recommendation of the Mayor, to add to or delete in addition to those departments, offices or agencies created by this Charter.

F. The Common Council shall limit city officers from making contracts for the city and regulate the manner in which the same are made.

G. The Common Council shall designate one newspaper in said city which may be used for the publication of all ordinances, rules, regulations, official notices, business and proceedings of the Common Council and City government and officials, which said newspaper shall be one which is published in either the City of Kingston or County of Ulster, New York. Such designation shall be for a period of one year.

H. The Common Council shall make general ordinances, rules, regulations as the Council may deem necessary to affect the purposes of this Charter and in the interest of the city.

I. For the aforesaid purpose or for executing powers conferred upon the Council or upon the city under this Charter, the Common Council may make modify, amend or repeal ordinances, rules, regulations and local laws and prescribe, fix and enforce penalties and fines for the violation of them respectively, for any offense and may declare any such violation to be a misdemeanor and fix the punishment therefore, but it shall not be necessary to publish any such ordinance, rule, regulation or local law in the full text in the official newspaper, designated for such purpose by the Council, before it takes effect. Any such publication shall be sufficient, provided that it contains a summary or abstract of the material portions of any such ordinance, rule, regulation and local law. Every such ordinance, rule, regulation and local law, together with the certificate by the City Clerk of the time and manner of the publication, shall be entered and recorded in a book to be provided and kept for that purpose and said record of copy thereof, certified by the City Clerk, shall be presumptive evidence in all courts and in all actions and proceedings of the passage of such ordinance, rule, regulation and local law of its having been published.

J. Except for the purpose of inquiries and investigations under Subsection B, herein above, the Common Council or its members shall deal with city officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the Mayor solely through the Mayor, and neither the Common Council nor its members shall give orders to any such officer or employee, either publicly or privately.

K. The Common Council shall provide for an independent annual audit of all city accounts and may provide for more frequent audits as it deems necessary. Such audits shall be made by a certified public accountant or firm of such accountants who have no personal interest, direct or indirect, in the fiscal affairs of the city government or any of its officers. The Common Council may, through a formal request for proposals process, designate such accountant or firm annually or for a period not exceeding three years, but the designation for any particular fiscal year shall be made no later than 90 days after the beginning of such fiscal year. If the State of New York makes such an audit, the Common Council may accept it as satisfying the requirements of this section.