[Added 11-13-1990 by Ord. No. 30-90; amended 4-27-1992 by Ord. No.
5-92; 9-12-2005 by Ord. No. 6-2005]
When used in this article and unless otherwise expressly stated
or unless the content otherwise requires, the following terms shall
have the meanings indicated:
Any public benefit corporation, not-for-profit corporation
or public authority whose members are appointed by the City Manager
or by the Council of the City of Newburgh or which by law have elected
officials of the City of Newburgh as members of their governing boards.
All elected officials, all members of appointed boards or
commissions, the City Manager, all department heads and their deputies
of the City of Newburgh or of any agency of the City of Newburgh and
all City staff whose positions or titles are listed by the City Council
in the form of a resolution or local law as required to file an annual
letter of disclosure; except the term "local officer or employee"
shall not mean a judge, justice, officer or employee of the unified
court system.
The husband or wife, or domestic partner, as this term is
defined hereinabove, of the reporting individual unless living separate
and apart from the reporting individual with the intention of terminating
marriage or unless permanently separated pursuant to a judicial order,
decree or judgment or a legally binding separation agreement.
Any son, daughter, stepson, or stepdaughter by marriage or
adoption of the reporting individual and/or of the spouse or domestic
partner of the reporting individual who is under age 18, unmarried
and living in the household of the reporting individual and who is
not financially and otherwise self-sufficient or independent or legally
emancipated from the reporting individual.
A.
All local officers and employees required to do so by this chapter
and all candidates for local elected office shall file an annual letter
of disclosure containing the information and in the form set forth
herein on or before the 15th day of May with respect to the proceeding
calendar year, except that:
(1)
A person who is required to file an annual letter of disclosure statement
or equivalent with the Temporary State Commission on Local Government
Ethics and who is granted an additional period of time within which
to file such statement shall have a similar automatic extension of
time to file the statement herein.
(2)
The Board of Ethics may grant to anyone herein required to file an
annual letter of disclosure an extension of time to file such letter
for good cause shown.
(3)
Candidates for local elected office or others who become subject
to these filing requirements after May 15 in any calendar year, including
newly hired employees of the City subject to the requirements of this
chapter, shall file the letter required herein within 30 days after
the filing by them of nominating petitions or of their designation
as a candidate, or within 30 days of becoming so subject.
(4)
A person subject to the filing requirements of Article 18 of the
General Municipal Law or Article 4 of the Public Officers Law may
file a copy of the statement required thereunder in lieu of the letter
required herein, unless for some reason the content of same would
differ from the content of the letter required to be filed hereunder.
B.
The letters of disclosure required herein shall be filed with the
Board of Ethics of the City of Newburgh. The Clerk of the City of
Newburgh is hereby appointed Clerk of the Board of Ethics for the
purpose of accepting letters of disclosure for filing. The Clerk shall
transmit all filed statements of financial disclosure to the Board
of Ethics within 30 days of their filing, or upon request of the Board
of Ethics.
C.
The annual letter of disclosure shall contain the information and
shall be in the form set forth below.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The annual letter of disclosure form is included at the end of this chapter.
D.
Upon the effective date of this article and annually thereafter on
or about the first business day of the month of January, the City
Manager shall notify all local officers and employees and all candidates
for elected office required to file an annual letter of disclosure
pursuant to this article. He shall also immediately notify all persons
thereafter appointed or otherwise becoming obligated under the provisions
of this article to file a disclosure statement of their obligation
to so. Failure of the City Manager to so notify shall not release
any person from his duty to file an annual letter of disclosure pursuant
to this article.
Any person required to file an annual letter of disclosure who
knowingly and willfully fails to file such annual letter or who knowingly
and willfully, with intent to deceive, makes a false statement or
gives false information which such individual knows to be false with
respect to any statement or form filed pursuant to this article shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor.
The statements and forms filed pursuant to this article shall
be made available to the public, except that any information contained
therein which is of a sensitive personal nature and which is protected
and/or exempt from disclosure under any other provision of law, including
but not limited to the Freedom of Information Law, Personal Privacy
Protection Law or other such federal or state law, rule or regulation,
such as for example Social Security numbers, information relating
to personal health status, or information relating to the welfare,
safety or security of any person or entity which would be impaired
if such were publicly disclosed, may be deleted therefrom prior to
making such statements and forms publicly available.
This article shall take effect on January 1, 1993.
If any provision of this article is held by a court of competent
jurisdiction to be invalid, that decision shall not affect the validity
and effectiveness of the remaining provisions of this article, as
long as the meaning, sense and purpose thereof is preserved.