City officers, within the meaning of this chapter, include all
persons elected or appointed to any office of the City created or
authorized by this chapter or otherwise by law.
[Amended by L.L. No. 4-1927; L.L. No. 5-1939; L.L. No. 1-1972; L. 1981, Ch. 694; L.L.
No. 2-1982]
There shall be elected by the qualified electors of the City
a Mayor, a Comptroller, five City Councilmen, two City Judges and
such County Legislators and other officers as may be provided by law.
a.
Wherever
the term "Alderman" or "Aldermen" may be used in this Charter or any
amendment thereof, said terms shall mean "City Councilman" or "City
Councilmen," respectively.
b.
Wherever
the term "City Councilman" or "City Councilmen" may be used in this
Charter or any amendment thereof, said terms shall be held to include
the words "City Councilwoman" or "City Councilperson" and "City Councilwomen"
or "City Councilpersons", wherever such inclusion would be proper.
c.
Wherever
the term "Common Council" or "Board of Aldermen" may be used in this
Charter or any amendment thereof, said terms shall mean "City Council."
d.
Nothing
herein contained shall in any manner affect or impair any legislation
heretofore enacted by or other act of the Board of Aldermen or Common
Council of this City.
[Amended by L.L. No. 1-1928; L.L. No. 1-1958; L.L. No. 4-1961; L.L. No. 54-1961; L.L. No. 6-1968; L.L. No. 10-1968; L.L. No. 10-1969; L.L. No. 5-1972; L.L. No. 7-1985]
There shall be appointed by the Mayor, to hold office during
his pleasure, a Commissioner of Public Works, a Fire Commissioner,
a Commissioner of Buildings, a Commissioner of Public Safety, a Corporation
Counsel and as many Commissioners of Deeds as may be authorized by
ordinance of the City Council. There shall also be appointed by the
Mayor a Commissioner of Assessment and Taxation who shall hold office
for a term of six years pursuant to § 1522 of the Real Property
Tax Law.[1] All matters relating to the qualifications, term of office,
appointment and removal of the Commissioner of Assessment and Taxation
shall be in accordance with § 1522 of the Real Property
Tax Law. The term of office of the Commissioner of Assessment and
Taxation shall commence on the first day of October 1971 and each
sixth year thereafter. There shall also be appointed by the Mayor
an Associate City Judge, who shall hold office for a term of two years.
The term of office of the Associate City Judge shall commence on January
1, 1962, and thereafter on January 1 each succeeding two years. The
Commissioner of Public Safety shall be a resident of the City of Mount
Vernon and shall give his whole time to his duties and shall not accept
any additional place of public trust or civil emolument.
[Amended by L.L. No. 6-1968; L.L. No. 9-1968; L.L. No. 5-1972; L.L. No. 11-1980; L. 1981, Ch. 694]
Every person elected or appointed to office shall possess qualifications prescribed by § 3 of the Public Officers Law. No person shall be eligible to the office of either Mayor or Comptroller or City Councilman or City Judge or County Legislator, unless he has been a resident elector of the City during a period of three years before such election. No person shall be eligible to the office of City Judge or Associate City Judge of the City Court of the City of Mount Vernon, unless he has been admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor in the Supreme Court of the State of New York and has had at least five years' active practice of his profession in the State of New York. No person shall be eligible to the office of Corporation Counsel unless he has been admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor in the Supreme Court of the State of New York and has had at least three years' active practice of his profession in the State of New York. No person shall be eligible to appointment as a Commissioner of Assessment and taxation who does not possess the qualifications established for Assessors by § 1522 of the Real Property Tax Law.[1] No person shall be eligible to appointment to the office
of the City Engineer unless he is a civil engineer of at least three
years' practical experience in his profession or a graduate of a technical
school or college.
[Amended by L.L. No. 1-1972]
The term of office of an elective officer, unless elected to
fill a vacancy, shall commence on the first day of January next succeeding
his election. The terms of office of the Mayor, the Comptroller, the
Councilmen and the City Judge shall be four years. All of the elective
officers in office at the time of the passage of this Act, except
as hereinafter provided, shall continue to hold their respective offices
until the terms of office to which they have been elected as heretofore
provided by law shall expire. The terms of office of the Receiver
of Taxes, the City Treasurer, and the Assessors in office at the time
of the passage of this Act, shall cease and determine on the 31st
day of December, 1922.
[Amended by L.L. No. 1-1972]
If a vacancy shall occur, otherwise than an expiration of term,
in an elective office of the City, except those of the Mayor and the
Councilman, the Mayor shall appoint a person to fill such vacancy.
The person so appointed to such vacancy shall hold office until the
commencement of the political year next succeeding the first annual
election after the happening of the vacancy at which a successor can
be elected, and a successor for the balance of the unexpired term,
if any, shall be chosen at the next City election happening not less
than 60 days after such vacancy occurs.
[Amended by L.L. No. 1-1972]
Every appointment to a City office must be made by a certificate
in writing, signed by the appointing officer; or if made by a board,
or the City Council, by the presiding officer thereof, and must be
filed in the office of the City Clerk before the same becomes effective.
[Amended by L.L. No. 1-1972]
No person shall at the same time, hold more than one City office.
Upon the acceptance by a City officer of a second office the office
first held by him shall thereupon become vacant. No member of the
City Council or other officer or employee of the City, or person receiving
a salary or compensation from funds appropriated by the City, shall
be interested directly or indirectly in any contract to which the
City is a party, either as principal, surety or otherwise; nor shall
any such member of the City Council, City officer or employee or person,
or his partner, or any agent, servant, or employee of such officer,
employee or person, or of the firm of which he is a partner, purchase
from or sell to the City, or any officer thereof, any real or personal
property for the use of the City, or any board or officer thereof,
nor shall he be interested directly or indirectly in any work to be
performed for, or services rendered to or for it, or in any sale to
or from said City, or to any officer, board or person in its behalf.
Any contract made in violation of any of these provisions shall be
void. A person shall not be deemed to be interested in a contract,
purchase or sale made by a corporation with, from or to the City solely
by reason of the fact that he is a stockholder or director of such
corporation. The term "City officer" as used herein, however, shall
not be deemed to include a Commissioner of Deeds.
[Amended by L.L. No. 4-1927; L.L. No. 5-1939; L.L. No. 1-1972]
At the general election in the year 1923, there shall be elected
by the electors of the City a Mayor for a term of four years, a Comptroller
for a term of two years, a City Judge for a term of four years, three
Councilmen for a term of two years, two Councilmen for a term of four
years and County Legislators for a term of two years. At the general
election to be held in the year 1925, there shall be elected by the
electors of the City a Comptroller to hold office for a term of four
years, three Councilmen to hold office for a term of four years, and
County Legislators to hold office for a term of two years. At the
general election to be held in the year 1927 and in each and every
odd-numbered year thereafter, there shall be elected by the qualified
electors of the City, officers to fill vacancies in elective offices.
[Amended by L.L. No. 2-1925; L.L. No. 3-1931; L.L. No. 6-1939; L.L. No. 2-1945; L.L. No. 3-1949; L.L. No. 3-1955; L.L. No. 2-1959; L.L. No. 13-1960; L.L. No. 6-1966; L.L. No. 11-1968; L.L. No. 7-1969; L.L. No. 1-1971; L.L. No. 4-1972; L.L. No. 2-1973; L.L. No. 4-1974; L.L. No. 1-1977; L.L. No. 6-1979; L.L. No. 11-1980; L.L. No. 8-1981; L.L. No. 1-1982; L.L. No. 5-1983; L.L. No. 2-1984; L.L. No. 9-1985; L.L. No. 2-1986; L.L. No. 1-1987; L.L. No. 4-1987; L.L. No. 1-1988; L.L. No. 1-1989; L.L. No. 5-1999; L.L. No. 1-2000; L.L. No. 1-2004; L.L. No. 2-2004; L.L. No. 2-2007; L.L. No. 3-2007]
The annual salary of the Mayor shall be $143,000 and of the
Comptroller $128,700. The annual salary of a Council member shall
be $33,000, except that the Councilmember duly elected as President
of the City Council shall receive, in addition to such salary as Councilmember,
the further sum of $3,500. Whenever there shall exist a vacancy in
the office of the Mayor, by reason of death, resignation, disqualification
or removal of the incumbent thereof, the President of the City Council,
while acting as Mayor during such vacancy, shall be entitled to receive
an amount equal to the salary of the Mayor, and the President Pro
Tempore of the City Council, while acting as President of the City
Council during the same period shall be entitled to receive an amount
equal to the salary of the President of the City Council. Whenever
there shall exist a vacancy in the office of the President of the
City Council, but not in the office of the Mayor, the President Pro
Tempore of the City Council shall be entitled to receive an amount
equal to the salary of the President of the City Council while acting
as President of the City Council during such vacancy. All such salaries
shall be paid in installments as directed by the Board of Estimate
and Contract.
No allowance or compensation, in addition to the salary or compensation
prescribed by law or authorized by this chapter otherwise by law,
shall be paid to any officer or employee of the City or to any person
paid out of City funds, nor shall any amount in excess of the sum
payable under any contract be paid on account thereof.
[Amended by L.L. No. 5-1961; L.L. No. 3-1967; L.L. No. 11-1980]
No officer of the City, except the Marshals of the City Court,
the Court Reporters of the City Court and Commissioners of Deeds,
shall have or receive to his use any perquisites, compensation or
fees for services pertaining directly or indirectly, or which may
hereafter be added to the duties of his office, in addition to his
salary; and all perquisites, compensation and fees paid to and received
by any such officer for services pertaining directly or indirectly,
or which may hereafter be added to the duties of his office, other
than his salary received from the City, shall be the property of the
City, and shall be paid by the officer receiving the same to the Comptroller.
The compensation of all the officers, clerks and subordinates in the
several departments shall not exceed in the aggregate the appropriation
made by the Board of Estimate and Contract for that purpose.
[Amended by L.L. No. 5-1964; L.L. No. 1-1972]
The Comptroller, the First Deputy Comptroller and the Second
Deputy Comptroller, and such other officers and employees as may be
required so to do by ordinance of the City Council, before entering
upon the duties of their respective offices or employment, shall each
execute and file with the City Clerk an official undertaking in such
penal sum as may be prescribed by the City Council. The City Council
may also, in a proper case, require an undertaking of any officer,
employee or person, in addition to that required by law. The Mayor
shall examine the sufficiency of the proposed sureties of any officer,
employee or person from whom an official undertaking is required and
may require such sureties to be examined on oath as to their property
qualifications and liabilities. The deposition of each surety shall
be reduced to writing, subscribed by him, certified by the officer
administering the oath and annexed to and filed with the undertaking.
The City Council may by ordinance designate which officers and
employees may be covered by a blanket undertaking from a duly authorized
corporate surety in accordance with the provisions of § 11
of the Public Officers Law.
No person elected or appointed to a City office, or employed
by the City shall enter upon or continue in the discharge of the duties
of his office or employment until he shall have executed and filed
with the City Clerk the official undertaking, if any, required to
be given and the same shall have been approved as to its form and
validity by the Corporation Counsel and as to the sufficiency of the
sureties by the Mayor. All such undertakings shall be recorded in
the office of the City Clerk. In case any City officer or employee,
shall fail to file the required official undertaking, if an elective
officer, within 30 days after receipt of his certificate of election,
and if an appointive officer or employee within 15 days after receipt
of notice of his appointment, the office or position shall be deemed
to be vacant and the vacancy shall be filled in the manner herein
provided for the filling of a vacancy therein happening otherwise
than by expiration of term. The official undertaking of a City officer
or employee shall not be a lien upon real estate owned by him or the
sureties on such undertaking.
Any officer or employee who willfully violates or evades any
provision of law, or of this chapter, or by culpable neglect of duty
allows any public property to be lost to the City, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor and, in addition to the penalties imposed
by law, shall on conviction forfeit his office or employment.
[Amended by L.L. No. 11-1980]
The Mayor and Comptroller may be removed by the Governor in
the same manner as a sheriff, except that the Governor may direct
the inquiry provided by law to be conducted by the Attorney General.
After charges have been received by the Governor, he may suspend the
officer affected thereby for a period not exceeding 60 days pending
the investigation.
[Amended by L.L. No. 2-1958; L.L. No. 8-1969; L.L. No. 5-1972]
Except as otherwise provided by law or herein otherwise specified,
all appointive officers except the Commissioner of Assessment and
Taxation, may be removed from office by the officer or board making
the appointment. The Commissioner of Assessment and Taxation may be
removed in accordance with the provisions of § 1522 of the
Real Property Tax Law.[1] Whenever an appointive officer shall be removed from office,
the officer or board making the appointment shall file with the City
Clerk a written statement setting forth the fact of such removal.
An elective officer who has been removed from office under any
provision of this chapter shall not be eligible for election to fill
the vacancy caused by his removal.
[Amended by L.L. No. 1-1972]
The City Council and the several members thereof, and all officers
and employees of the City are hereby declared trustees of the property,
funds and effects of the City respectively, so far as such property,
funds and effects are or may be committed to their management or control,
and every taxpayer residing in the City is hereby declared to be a
cestui que trust in respect to the said property, funds and effects
respectively; and any cotrustee or any cestui que trust shall be entitled
as against said trustees and in regard to said property, funds and
effects to all the rules, remedies and privileges provided by law
for any cotrustee or cestui que trust, to prosecute and maintain an
action to prevent waste and injury to any property, funds and estate
held in trust; and such trustees are hereby made subject to all the
duties and responsibilities imposed by law on trustees, and such duties
and responsibilities may be enforced by the City or by any cotrustee
or cestui que trust aforesaid. The remedies herein provided shall
be in addition to those now provided by law. (See also L.L. No. 5-1960.)
[Amended by L.L. No. 8-1960; L.L. No. 1-1972]
The several heads of departments, including the Commissioner
of the Board of Water Supply, shall present to the Mayor annually,
on or before the first day of February, a report of the proceedings
of their respective departments and boards during the preceding calendar
year. The Mayor shall transmit the same to the City Council with the
annual message, which he is required to submit to the City Council;
but nothing in this section contained shall be construed to relieve
such heads of departments or boards from furnishing such other information
as may be required by the Mayor or City Council at any time.
