[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Cohoes 12-22-2009 by L.L. No.
13-2009. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The Commissioner of Public Works may require the removal of
all encroachments upon public lands, streets and sidewalks and the
abatement of all nuisances. The Commissioner of Public Works or the
Code Enforcement Director may issue an order to the responsible party
to comply with this section or, in the event of an emergency, cause
the necessary work to be done to the extent of abating the emergency.
If said responsible party fails to comply with an order to abate after
notice and an opportunity to be heard, the Commissioner shall cause
the necessary work to be done to remove the nuisance or encroachment
and the costs shall be borne by the party in default. The same shall
be collected pursuant to law. Should the nuisance that needs to be
abated be upon private property, and the property owner found to have
been responsible for said nuisance, and the property owner having
had an opportunity to be heard at a hearing convened by the Commissioner
of Public Works in accordance with rules promulgated by the Board
of Managers to effectuate same, then the cost of the abatement of
the nuisance, if unpaid within the prescribed time period, shall be
added to the tax bill assessing said property, which shall remain
a lien against the property and collected by the City in the same
manner as taxes are collected.
The Commissioner of Public Works shall have the full power and authority to order the owner or occupant of property abutting upon a street to comply with his/her duty to repair any sidewalk in front thereof or bring the same to true grade and to remove snow and ice therefrom. The procedures, requirements, duties and liabilities associated with sidewalk maintenance, repair and snow removal are fully set forth in Chapter 244, Article III, of the Code of the City of Cohoes, and the Commissioner shall comply with the provisions thereof when exercising his/her authority under this section.
All public work performed pursuant to contract under the supervision
or control of the Commissioner shall, before it is accepted, be certified
to by him/her to the effect that such work was performed in a good
and substantial manner with the materials required, of the quality
and in the manner directed by the terms of the contract under which
the same was done. Within 10 days after the completion of any such
work, the Commissioner shall file a certificate of such completion
with the Comptroller and with the City Clerk, to be reported by him/her
to the Common Council. Such certificate shall state in substance that
said work has been duly examined by the Commissioner and that the
same has been fully performed and completed in accordance with the
terms of the contract therefor.
A.
Cost of operation and maintenance. The City of Cohoes or its City
Engineer shall determine the total annual cost of operation and maintenance
of the sewer system which is necessary to maintain its capacity and
performance during its service life. The total annual cost of operation
and maintenance shall include, but need not be limited to, labor,
repairs, equipment, replacement, maintenance, modification, power,
sampling, laboratory tests and a reasonable contingency fund.
B.
Scale of sewer rents. Pursuant to the authority granted by Subdivision
26-a of § 20 of the General City Law and to Article 14-F
of the General Municipal Law, the City of Cohoes establishes a scale
of sewer rents and does impose such sewer rents of the real property
within the City subject thereto as follows:
(1)
All premises or real property within the City using the sewer system
or any part or parts thereof shall be subject to a sewer rent charge.
(2)
The charges for operation and maintenance attributable to flows through
the sewer system shall be distributed among all users of the wastewater
system based upon the flow volume of the users.
(3)
The sewer rent charge shall be equal to a percentage of the water
bill charge to all premises or real property within the City for water
supplied by the City. Each user's cost contribution to the sewage
system shall be determined by the user's annual wastewater service
charge. Residential users and nonresidential users shall be considered
one class of users. The Board of Managers shall determine such percentage.
(4)
The City of Cohoes shall review the total annual cost of operation
and maintenance of the sewer system not less than each year and will
revise the sewer rents as necessary to assure equity of the user charge
system established herein and to assure that sufficient funds are
obtained to adequately operate and maintain the City's sewer
system.
The Common Council shall not change the grade of any street
which has been legally established, except by ordinance of the Common
Council and except also upon compensation for damages done, to be
ascertained in and by the proceedings provided by law for ascertaining
damages for lands taken for the opening of streets. The Common Council
shall not alter the name of any street except by ordinance and unless
a majority of the owners of property abutting on such street shall
petition therefor, in which case a majority vote shall be sufficient.
The Board of Managers shall fix and determine the amount and
proportion of the expense which shall be borne by the City at large
for opening, altering, grading, curbing or paving a street or for
constructing therein a public sewer, except as hereinafter provided
in this Code. This apportionment shall be approved by the Common Council
by ordinance. The amount and proportion of the expense of such improvements
which shall be borne by the City at large may be included in the budget
and raised by tax the same as other general City charges or may be
financed pursuant to the Local Finance Law. The proportion of the
expense which is not borne by the City shall be assessed and charged
upon the property affected by such improvement in the form and manner
provided by law or by this Code.
Whenever the Common Council shall contemplate the discontinuance
of any street, it shall cause a notice to be published for 10 days
in the official newspaper of the City of its intention to do so and
that all persons interested may be heard in reference thereto at a
time stated in such notice. If it shall be determined to discontinue
the street and any person shall claim to be damaged by such discontinuance,
such alleged damages, unless agreed to by the Commissioner of Public
Works and approved by the Board of Managers, must be ascertained and
determined in the manner provided by law for ascertaining damages
for lands taken for the opening of streets. An ordinance discontinuing
any street shall require the affirmative vote of 3/4 of all the members
of the Common Council.
All lands which shall have been used by the public as a street
for 20 years or more continuously shall be a street with the same
force and effect as if it had been duly laid out and recorded as such.
Whenever any real estate or interest therein shall be required
for any municipal purpose, except as otherwise provided by law, the
Commissioner of Public Works may acquire for the City the necessary
land and real estate by gift or by purchase, at a price approved by
the Board of Managers, or by the proceedings specified in the Eminent
Domain Procedure Law or, in the case of property required for street
purposes, by the proceedings provided by law for acquiring and ascertaining
damages for property taken for purposes of street openings.
