The City Council may, by local law, amend any section of this
Charter subject to such restrictions as are imposed by the Municipal
Home Rule Law and may be authorized by any optional state statute
provided, however, that any local law that abolishes, transfers or
curtails any power of the Mayor shall be subject to mandatory referendum.
Any such local law shall be introduced at a regular meeting of the
Council and shall not be acted upon until it shall have been on the
desks of the Council members for at least seven days. A proposed local
law may be amended by the Council after introduction, but the proposed
local law thus amended shall not be acted upon until it has been,
in its amended form, on the desks of Council members for seven days.
In addition to any other requirements, a local law that amends
this Charter shall not be acted upon by the Council until it shall
have been the subject of at least three public hearings after introduction.
The Council may, by ordinance, provide for the government of
the City; the management of its business, and the protection of its
property; for the preservation of good order; for the protection of
the public health; for the safety and welfare of its inhabitants and
the protection of their property; for the construction of public and
local improvements, and for other such purposes as the interests of
the City and its inhabitants may require. No City ordinance shall
be adopted at the same meeting at which it is introduced or until
seven days have elapsed since its introduction except by the 2/3 vote
of the Council members present. The aforementioned period of seven
days shall commence when a proposed law or amended version thereof
is placed before the Council Finance Committee, which is a committee
of the whole.
Every local law or ordinance adopted by the City Council shall
within a reasonable time be recorded in a book provided for that purpose
by the City Clerk and maintained in the Clerk's office. Such record
shall contain the signature of the Mayor and the attestation of the
Clerk. Such record, or a certified copy, shall be presumptive evidence
of the passage of any local law or ordinance.
The City Council may provide in any penal ordinance that a violation
of such ordinance shall be punishable as a misdemeanor by a fine not
exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year or both,
or as a violation by a fine not exceeding $250 or by imprisonment
for a period not exceeding 15 days or both, as provided for in the
state Penal Law Section 80.05.
