[Amended 10-24-2022 by L.L. No. 5-2022[1]]
There shall be a Water division headed by the Superintendent of Water. The Superintendent of Water shall have administrative control and direction of the Water division and such other functions and duties as may be assigned by the City Manager or the Commissioner of Public Works in a manner consistent with Article IX of the City Charter.
It shall be the duty of the Council, and it shall have the power
to:
A.
Keep the property and works belonging to the City and used and provided
for the purpose of furnishing a supply of water in good order and
repair and to see that all proper measures are taken to preserve the
purity of the water and a sufficient supply thereof.
B.
When the Council shall deem it advisable, cause the line of waterpipes
connected with such waterworks to be laid down and extended through
any of the public streets, lanes or alleys of said City.
C.
Make such bylaws and regulations for the preservation, management
and protection of the waterworks and the use and control of the water,
including the installation of meters for measuring the consumption
of water upon the premises of any consumer thereof, as may be deemed
advisable and prescribe the penalty for any violation of such bylaws
or regulations or for tampering or in any manner interfering with
such water meters and to alter or amend the same at any times.
D.
Establish a scale of annual rates to be charged and paid annually
by the owners of all lots and buildings which shall be situated upon
any street or avenue upon which the distributing pipes are now or
may hereafter be laid and from which such lots and buildings can be
supplied with water. Such water rents, together with all fees and
interest thereon and the amounts due and unpaid for the introduction
and measurement of the supply of water, shall be, like other taxes
of the City, a lien upon the lots and buildings against which the
same are chargeable. Such rents may be based on the consumption of
water as measured by meters installed or may be apportioned to the
different classes of buildings in the City in reference to their dimensions
and the ordinary uses of water for the same and to different lots
as may be practicable and may, from time to time, be modified and
amended, increased or diminished as well as extended to other descriptions
of buildings, factories, stables, breweries, mills, foundries and
other buildings, establishments and trades which consume extra quantities
of water.
The water supply pipes leading from the buildings to the distributing
pipes shall be inserted and kept in repair at the expense of the owners
or occupants of the buildings and shall not be inserted or connected
with the main pipes until a permit therefor shall be obtained from
the City Manager or other person having charge thereof, and all such
connecting or supply pipes and fixtures shall be constructed under
the supervision of the City Manager or a person designated by him.
The Council of the City of Newburgh is hereby authorized by
its members or its authorized officers, agents or employees to enter
on any land or water for the purposes of making surveys of such property
as it may deem necessary for the enlargement, alteration or improvement
of the waterworks.
The Council is hereby authorized to make agreement with any
owner or owners of lands, lakes, ponds, springs or streams of water
or other property which may be required for the enlargement, alteration
or improvement of the waterworks of said City or which may be injuriously
affected thereby as to the price to be paid to such owner or owners
and may buy, in the name of the City of Newburgh, any such lands,
lakes, ponds, springs or streams of water or other property which
may be so required or any easements in any land for the purposes aforesaid,
and such acquisition shall be held in the City of Newburgh for waterworks
purposes.
In case of disagreement between the Council and the owner or
owners of any lands, lakes, ponds, springs or streams of water or
other property or easement thereon which may now or hereafter be required
for the enlargement, alteration or improvement of said waterworks
as to the amount of compensation to be paid to such owner or owners
or in case any such owner shall be an infant or insane or absent from
the state or the owner of an uncertain or contingent interest, the
Supreme Court at any Special Term thereof in the Ninth Judicial District
shall, on the application of either party, after 10 days' personal
notice in writing or, when such notice cannot be served within this
state, after three weeks' notice of such application published in
one of the newspapers published in the City of Newburgh, nominate
and appoint three disinterested persons Commissioners to examine such
property, who, being duly sworn faithfully and impartially to perform
their duties, shall estimate and report to said Court the several
sums which shall be a just compensation to such owners for the appropriation
to the purposes of this Act, for the waterworks aforesaid, of any
lands or property or easements therein or of any lakes, ponds, springs
or streams of water, or interest or estate therein, which may be required
for the enlargement, alteration, improvement or betterment of said
waterworks or which may be injuriously affected by any operation connected
therewith; and the said Commissioners, before proceeding make such
estimate, shall publish a notice once in each of two successive weeks
in at least one newspaper published in the City of Newburgh, stating
a time when and a place where they will meet to perform their said
duties. At such time and place, they are authorized and required to
take and hear such proofs and allegations as may be offered by any
of the said owners, showing in what manner and to what extent they
will sustain injury by reason of such appropriation rid also such
proofs and allegations in relation thereto as may be offered by the
City of Newburgh; and the said commissioners may adjourn from time
to time as may be necessary to enable them to take such proofs.
Whenever such report described in § C9-A.64 shall have been confirmed by the Supreme Court at any Special Term in the Ninth Judicial District, upon notice of eight days in writing of the motion confirm the same served upon the attorney or attorneys of the feral parties who shall have appeared by attorney upon the hearing before said Commissioners, the said City Council may deposit as the said Court may direct or pay to the said owner or owners or to such arson or persons as the said court may direct the sum mentioned in said report, in full satisfaction for all damages sustained by such owner or owners or such person or persons and in full compensation for the property required and taken.
The authority of this Act, conferred on the Council of said
City, to enlarge, alter and improve the waterworks of said City is
hereby declared to include the authority to construct such additional
aqueducts and reservoirs and to lay such additional mains and other
distributing pipes in connection with said waterworks and to acquire
the title to such lands, water and other property necessary thereto
as it shall, from time to time, determine necessary for the purposes
of supplying the City of Newburgh with pure and wholesome water or
for the extinguishing of fires.
The Council in behalf of the City of Newburgh and all persons
acting under its authority shall have the right to use the ground
or soil under any street, highway or road within the Towns of New
Windsor and Newburgh for the purpose of introducing water into and
through any portion of the City of Newburgh on condition that they
shall cause the surface of said street, highway or road to be relaid
and restored to its former state and cause all damages thereto to
be repaired.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Sec. C9.68, which immediately followed this section and dealt with contaminating the water supply, was deleted from the Charter 9-14-1987 by L.L. No. 4-1987 and transferred to Ch. 295, Water Pollution. In addition, former Sec. C9.69, Extension of water or sewer service outside corporate limits, added 3-12-1984 by L.L. No. 1-1984, was repealed 12-12-1988 by L.L. No. 7-1988.
[Added 2-15-1995 by L.L. No. 1-1995]
A.
No extension shall be made of water or sewer lines or service outside
of the corporate limits of the City unless said extension shall first
have been authorized by a majority of votes cast at a special election
at which all qualified voters of the City shall be entitled to vote.
The notice, officers, polling places, manner of conducting and other
details shall be determined by ordinance of the Council.
B.
This section is intended to apply only to agreements with individual
property owners or groups of owners for utility service but not to
major agreements with the adjoining towns for sharing of utility service
with all or a part of such town or towns.
