The Mayor of the City of Albany shall appoint
three (3) persons who shall be Commissioners for the purposes hereinafter
specified. The persons to be appointed shall be public officers and
shall constitute a board or commission to be known as the "Board of
Water Supply of the City of Albany." Every member shall during his
term of office be a resident of the City of Albany. Each Commissioner
shall be entitled to receive a salary of five thousand dollars ($5,000.)
per year and shall hold no other municipal office. The Board shall
have power to appoint a President from among its own members and to
adopt a seal and bylaws regulating the transaction of its business.
The Board shall also have power to appoint a Secretary, and such engineers,
surveyors, draughtsmen, stenographers, clerks and employees as may
be necessary whose compensation shall be fixed by the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment of the City of Albany. The Board of Water Supply
shall report to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment such appointments
with the request that the salaries or compensation of such appointees
be fixed. The Board of Water Supply shall have such further powers
as may be requisite to the efficient performance of the duties imposed
upon it by this article in addition to the powers herein specifically
conferred. The members of the Board of Water Supply shall hold office
for a period of five (5) years from the date of their appointment;
provided, however, that thereafter the Mayor may appoint successors
for one (1) or more successive terms of two (2) years each, and the
life of such Board and the operation of this article are hereby extended
to the time of the expiration of any such successive terms of such
successors. All contracts and other papers to be executed pursuant
to resolution adopted by the Board may be executed in the name of
the Board, and under its seal and attested by the signature of its
President or Secretary or any member of the Board duly authorized
by resolution so to do. Every contract shall be approved by the Board
of Estimate and Apportionment before the same shall become a valid
and binding obligation of the City of Albany. Two (2) members shall
constitute a quorum of said Board for the transaction of all business
by the Board. The Corporation Counsel of the City of Albany shall
be the attorney at law for, and legal adviser of, the Board, and shall,
upon its request, either personally or through such of his assistants
or other counsel as he may designate, furnish it with advice and aid,
in a similar manner as he is required by law to do in the case of
departments, boards and officers of the City of Albany. No member
of said Board shall be removed except for incompetency or misconduct
shown after a hearing upon due notice, upon stated charges.
It shall be the duty of the Board of Water Supply
to proceed with reasonable speed to ascertain what sources are most
available, desirable and best for an additional supply of pure and
wholesome water for the City of Albany. The Board shall cause to be
made such surveys, maps, plans, specifications, estimates and investigations
as it may deem proper in order to ascertain the facts as to said sources,
and shall report to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment with recommendations
as to what action should in its opinion be taken with reference thereto.
It shall not be necessary that the project contemplated by this article
shall be acted on by or under one (1) report or at one (1) time but
it shall be lawful for said Board to report upon and consider the
project in parts or sections from time to time as said Board may deem
fit so that the City may be able to obtain a supply of water from
one (1) or more sources before the whole supply contemplated may be
obtained. After the acquisition of such water supply and the completion
of any of the work contemplated by this article, the Board of Water
Supply shall have such control, care and management of the public
lands, reservoirs, filter plants, aqueducts, rights-of-way, watercourses
and drainage areas tributary thereto as may be conferred upon said
Board by the Common Council of the City of Albany. After January 1,
1934, the expenses of the Board for salaries, personal service, maintenance
and operation shall be paid out of the annual receipts for water rates
collected by the City of Albany.
The Board of Estimate and Apportionment upon
receipt of said report or reports of the Board of Water Supply may
adopt, modify or reject the whole or any part of the same and may
require from said Board of Water Supply such further information as
it shall deem expedient to enable it to act intelligently in the premises.
In case of the modification or rejection of the recommendations in
said report or reports or any part thereof by the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment, the Board of Water Supply in like manner as aforesaid
shall prepare and submit to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment
a further report or reports, surveys, maps, plans, specifications,
estimates or investigations and make such changes or modifications
as shall seem proper to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, and
shall continue so to do under the direction of said Board of Estimate
and Apportionment until a map, plan or plans covering the entire work
contemplated by this article shall be approved and adopted by said
Board of Estimate and Apportionment. Said map, plan or plans may be
made and adopted in parts or sections from time to time and may be
changed or modified either before or after adoption as the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment may deem necessary for the more efficient
carrying out of the provisions of this article. The Board of Water
Supply prior to the presentation to and adoption by the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment of such map, plan or plans or to a modification
therein shall afford to all persons interested a reasonable opportunity
to be heard respecting the same and shall give reasonable public notice
of such hearing whereat testimony may be produced by the parties appearing
in such manner as the Board of Water Supply may determine and each
member of said Board is hereby authorized to administer oaths and
to issue subpoenas in any proceeding pending before such Board under
this article. Notice of such hearing shall be given in addition to
the above provisions by mailing to the Chairman and Clerk of the Board
of Supervisors of the county where the real estate to be acquired
is situated a notice of such hearing at least eight (8) days before
the time named in said notice. A final map, plan or plans or any part
or section thereof approved and adopted by the Board of Estimate and
Apportionment shall be executed in quadruplicate by the Secretary
thereof, one (1) of which shall remain on file in the office of the
Secretary of the Board of Water Supply, one (1) or a certified copy
thereof shall be filed in the County Clerk's office or Register's
office of each county in which any of the land affected thereby is
situated, and one (1) copy or a certified copy thereof shall be filed
with the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
The Board of Water Supply, its agents, engineers,
surveyors and such other persons as may be necessary to enable it
to perform its duties under this article are hereby authorized to
enter upon any land or water for the purpose of making surveys, examinations
or investigations and preparing the maps, plans and reports contemplated
by this article and for the purpose of posting any notices that may
be required to be published in like manner.
After the approval, adoption and filing of a final map, plan or plans or of any part or section thereof described in § 371-16 of this article, the Board of Water Supply shall cause to be prepared and submitted to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment four (4) similar maps or plans of the proposed sites of the proposed dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, sluices, culverts, canals, pumping works, bridges, tunnels, blowoffs, ventilating shafts, filters and conduits and other works of construction and the appurtenances thereof. Upon these maps there shall be laid out and numbered the various parcels of real estate on, over or through which the same are to be constructed and maintained or which may be necessary for the prosecution of the work authorized by this article. On said maps the natural and artificial division lines existing on the surface of the soil at the time of the survey shall be delineated and there shall be plainly indicated thereon of which parcels the fee and over or through which parcels the right to use and occupy the same in perpetuity is to be required. The Board of Estimate and Apportionment may adopt, modify or reject said maps in whole or in part and require others to be made instead thereof. Said maps may be made and filed in sections. One (1) or more sections may be determined before the maps of the whole construction are completed. Said sections shall be determined and decided upon previous to the appointment of the Commissioners of Appraisal as hereinafter provided for and shall be so determined that one (1) set of Commissioners of Appraisal shall not be appointed upon a section covering more property than can reasonably be passed upon and awards made by said Commissioners of Appraisal within the limits of six (6) months from the time of the filing of the oaths, as hereinafter provided. The proceedings hereinafter authorized may in like manner be taken separately in reference to one (1) or more of such sections before the maps of the whole are filed. The work upon one (1) or more of such sections may be begun before the maps of the remaining sections are filed. In case of such rejection the Board of Water Supply shall in like manner aforesaid prepare and submit others until maps shall be approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment covering the entire area required for the construction, maintenance and operation of such aqueducts, dams, reservoirs, culverts, sluices, canals, bridges, tunnels, pumping works, blowoffs, shafts, filters, conduits and appurtenances according to the maps, plan or plans, theretofore by said Board of Estimate and Apportionment approved. The maps when adopted by said Board of Estimate and Apportionment shall be transmitted to the Corporation Counsel with the approval written thereon, signed by the Secretary of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
The Corporation Counsel of the City of Albany
shall cause one (1) of said maps described in a previous section or
a certified copy thereof to be filed in the office of the Clerk of
each county in which any real estate laid out on said map shall be
located, except that in any county in which there is a Register's
office said map shall be filed therein instead of in the office of
the County Clerk.
After said map shall have been filed as provided
for in the preceding section the Corporation Counsel for and on behalf
of the City of Albany shall upon first giving the notice required
in the next section of this article, apply to the Supreme Court at
any special term thereof to be held in the judicial district in which
the lands or some part thereof shown on said maps, and the title to
which it is proposed to acquire in the proceeding thus instituted,
is situated, for the appointment of Commissioners of Appraisal. Upon
such application he shall present to the Court a petition signed and
verified by the Chairman or by the Secretary of the Board of Water
Supply, setting forth the action theretofore taken by the Board of
Water Supply and by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment and the
filing of such maps, and paying for the appointment of Commissioners
of Appraisal. Such petition shall contain a general description of
all the real estate to, in or over which any title, interest, right
or easement is sought to be acquired for said City for the purpose
of this article, each parcel being more particularly described by
a reference to the number of said parcel as given on said map or maps
and title, interest or easement sought to be acquired to, in or over
such parcel, whether a fee or otherwise shall be stated in the petition.
Nothing herein contained shall require that such application be made,
or if said proceeding has been commenced that it be continued, where
the Board of Water Supply has acquired title for said City to all
the real estate as shown on said map required for any particular part
or section of the work.
The Corporation Counsel shall give notice in
the two (2) official newspapers of the City of Albany and in one (1)
newspaper published in each county other than the County of Albany
in which any real estate laid out on said maps may be located and
which it is proposed to acquire in the proceeding, of his intention
to make application to said Court for the appointment of Commissioners
of Appraisal, which notice shall specify the time and place of such
application, shall briefly state the objects of the application and
shall describe the real estate sought to be taken or affected. A statement
of the boundaries of the dams, reservoirs, sluices, culverts, canals,
pumping works, bridges, tunnels, blowoffs, filters and ventilating
shafts and of the route of the tunnels, aqueducts and conduits by
courses and distances and of the greatest and least width of its tract
with separate enumerations of numbers of the parcels to be taken in
fee and of the numbers of the parcels in which easement is to be acquired
with reference to the dates and places of filing said maps shall be
sufficient description of the real estate sought to be so taken or
affected. Such notice shall be so published in each of said newspapers
once in each week for three (3) weeks immediately previous to the
presentation of such petition.
At the time and place mentioned in said notice,
unless the Court shall adjourn such application to a subsequent date,
and in that event, at the time to which the same may be adjourned,
the Court upon due proof to its satisfaction of the publication aforesaid
and upon the filing of said petition shall make an order for the appointment
of three (3) disinterested and competent freeholders, at least one
(1) of whom shall reside in the County of Albany, and at least one
(1) of whom shall reside in the county or one (1) of the counties
in which said real estate shall be situated, as Commissioners of Appraisal
to ascertain and appraise the compensation to be made to the owners
and all persons interested in the real estate laid down on said maps
as proposed to be taken or affected for the purposes indicated in
this article. Such order shall fix the time and place for the first
meeting of said Commissioners.
Said Commissioners shall take and subscribe
the constitutional oath of office and shall forthwith file the same
in the office of the Clerk of Albany County and a certified copy or
copies thereof in the office of the Clerk of the county in which the
land or any part thereof is situated, and in the Register's office
in any county in which there is a Register's office and in which is
situated any of the real estate sought to be taken or affected by
the proceeding.
On filing the oath in the manner provided in
the previous section the City of Albany shall be and become seized
in fee of all those parcels of real estate which are on the maps in
fifth section[1] referred to described as parcels of which it has been
determined that a fee should be acquired and may immediately at any
time or times thereafter take possession of the same or any part thereof,
without any suit or proceeding at law for that purpose; provided,
however, that before the City of Albany takes possession of the same
it shall pay to the respective owner or owners of each parcel of real
estate a sum of money equal to one-half (1/2) the assessed valuation
of said property as the same appears upon the last assessment roll
of the town or city in which the same is situated filed prior to the
taking effect of this article. Deposit of the money to the credit
of or payable to the order of the owner pursuant to the direction
of the Court shall be deemed a payment within the provisions of this
section, and thereupon the Board of Water Supply of the City of Albany,
or any person or persons acting under its authority may enter upon
and use and occupy in perpetuity all the parcels of real estate described
in said map for the purpose of constructing and maintaining on, in,
under or over the same, said aqueducts, dams and reservoirs with said
blowoffs, sluices, culverts, bridges, tunnels, ventilating shafts,
filters, conduits and other appurtenances; provided, however, that
no building or improvement shall be removed or disturbed within four
(4) months from the date of the filing of the oaths of the Commissioners
unless notice is given to the owner of ten (10) days or to his attorney
of the intention to make such removal and offering him an opportunity
to examine the property with the Commissioners and such witnesses
as he may desire. If the owner of the property cannot be found with
due diligence and there is no attorney representing said property
or parcel, before removing, disturbing or destroying any of the buildings
or the improvements the representative of the Board of Water Supply
or the Corporation Counsel shall cause measurements to be made of
the building and photographs of the exterior views thereof which measurements
and photographs shall be at the disposition of the claimants or their
attorneys in case such claimants or attorneys should appear and demand
the same before the case is tried.
Any one of said Commissioners of Appraisal may
issue subpoenas and administer oaths to witnesses and they or any
of them in the absence of the others may adjourn the proceedings from
time to time in their discretion or they shall continue to meet from
time to time as may be necessary to hear, consider, and determine
upon all claims which may be presented to them under the provisions
of this article. In case of the death, resignation, refusal or neglect
to serve of any Commissioner of Appraisal the remaining Commissioner
or Commissioners shall upon ten (10) days' notice to be given by advertisement
in the newspapers designated as herein before provided apply to the
Supreme Court at a special term thereof to be held in the judicial
district in which the land or any part thereof, the title to which
is to be acquired in the proceeding is situated for the appointment
of one (1) or more Commissioners to fill the vacancy or vacancies
so occasioned. In case of death, resignation or refusal to serve of
all the Commissioners of Appraisal the Corporation Counsel shall on
giving the notice required in this section apply to said Court for
the appointment of other Commissioners of Appraisal. The Corporation
Counsel shall furnish the Commissioners of Appraisal a copy of the
maps hereinbefore provided for. The Commissioners of Appraisal shall
view the real estate laid down on said maps and shall hear the proofs
and allegations of any owner, lessee or other person or corporation
in any way entitled to or interested in said real estate or any part
or parcel thereof, and also such proofs and allegations as may be
offered on behalf of the City of Albany. They shall reduce the testimony,
if any taken, to writing, and after the testimony is closed they or
a majority of them all having considered the same shall without unnecessary
delay ascertain and determine the just and equitable compensation
which ought justly to be paid by the City of Albany to the owners
or the persons or corporations interested in the real estate sought
to be acquired or affected by said proceedings, including just and
equitable compensation to the owner of any leasehold taken or affected
in the proceeding. Said Commissioners of Appraisal shall make reports
of their proceedings to the Supreme Court as hereinafter provided
with minutes of testimony taken by them, if any, and they shall be
entitled to the payment hereinafter provided for their services and
expenses to be paid from the fund hereinafter provided.
Said Commissioners shall prepare a report and
such copies thereof as may be required to which shall be respectively
annexed a copy of the map or maps referred to in the previous sections
of this article. Said reports shall contain a brief description of
the parcels of real estate taken or affected with reference to the
map or maps as shown, the location and boundaries of each parcel;
a statement of the sum estimated and determined upon by them as just
and equitable compensation to be made by the City to the owners or
persons entitled to or interested in each parcel so taken or as to
which any right, title, interest, privilege or easement is taken,
acquired or extinguished; and a statement of the respective owners
or persons or corporations entitled thereto or interested therein,
but in all and each and every case and cases where the owners and
parties interested or their respective estates and interests are unknown
or not fully known to the Commissioners it shall be sufficient for
them to set forth and state in general terms the respective sums to
be allowed and paid to the owners or parties interested therein generally
without specifying the name of estates or interests of such owners
or parties interested or any or either of them. The Commissioners
of Appraisal may also recommend such sums if any as shall seem to
them proper to be allowed to parties appearing in the proceedings
as expenses and disbursements, including reasonable compensation for
witnesses. The Commissioners of Appraisal may also determine and recommend
what sums, if any, ought to be paid to the general or special guardian
of an infant, idiot, or person of unsound mind or to an attorney appointed
by the Court to attend to the interest of any known owner or party
in interest who has not appeared in the proceeding for expenses or
counsel fees.
Said report signed by said Commissioners or
a majority of them shall be filed not more than six (6) months after
the date of the filing of the oaths of the Commissioners in the office
of a Clerk of a county in which the real estate sought to be acquired
may be situated and in case a part of the real estate is in another
county a duplicate report or certified copy thereof shall be filed
in the office of the Clerk of such other county; provided, however,
that the Supreme Court upon application and immediate cause shown
therefor may extend the time for filing of said report beyond six
(6) months and for an additional period not exceeding six (6) months.
The Commissioners of Appraisal shall notify the Corporation Counsel
immediately upon the filing of a report.
The Corporation Counsel within thirty (30) days
after receiving notice of such filing shall give notice that said
report will be presented for confirmation to the Supreme Court at
a special term thereof to be held in the judicial district in which
the land or a part thereof is situated at the time and place to be
specified in said notice. Said notice shall contain a statement of
the time and place of the filing of the report and of the copy or
copies thereof and shall be published in each of the newspapers referred
to previously in this article at least once in each week for three
(3) weeks immediately prior to the presentation of such report for
confirmation.
The application for the confirmation of the
report shall be made to the Supreme Court at a special term thereof
held in the judicial district in which the land or some part thereof
is situated. Upon the hearing of the application for the confirmation
thereof said Court may confirm such report or may in its discretion
order that a report or any portion thereof affecting one (1) or more
parcels be referred to the same Commission or a new commission for
a new hearing and make an order containing a recital of the substance
of the proceedings in the matter of the appraisal with a general description
of the real estate appraised and for which compensation is to be made;
and shall also direct to whom the money is to be paid or in what bank
or trust company and in what manner it shall be deposited by the Comptroller
of the City of Albany. Such report when so confirmed shall (except
in case of an appeal, as provided in this article) be final and conclusive
as well upon the City of Albany as upon owners and all persons interested
in or entitled to said real estate; and also upon all other persons
whomsoever.
The City of Albany shall within three (3) calendar
months after the confirmation of the report of the Commissioners of
Appraisal pay to the respective owners and bodies politic or corporate
mentioned or referred to in said report in whose favor any sum or
sums of money shall be estimated and reported by said Commissioners
of Appraisal the respective sum or sums so estimated and reported
in their favor respectively with lawful interest thereon from the
date of filing the oath and certified copies thereof as by this article
required, deducting therefrom all sums of money paid on account thereof
as provided in section eleven[1] of this article. And in case of neglect or default in
the payment of the same and within the time aforesaid the respective
person or persons or bodies politic or corporate in whose favor the
same shall be so reported and after application is made to the Comptroller
of the City of Albany for payment thereof may sue for and recover
the same with lawful interest as aforesaid in any court having cognizance
thereof.
Whenever the owner or owners, person or persons
interested in any real estate taken or affected in such proceeding
or in whose favor any such sum or sums or compensation shall be so
reported shall be under the age of twenty-one (21) years, of unsound
mind or absent from the State of New York, and also in all cases where
the name or names of the owner or owners, person or persons interested
in any such real estate shall not be set forth or mentioned in said
report or where said owner or owners, person or persons being named
therein cannot upon diligent inquiry be found or where there are divers
or conflicting claims to the moneys awarded as compensation it shall
be lawful for the City of Albany to pay the sum or sums mentioned
in said report payable to such owner or owners, person or persons
respectively with interest aforesaid into such bank or trust company
as the Court may in order of confirmation direct to the credit of
such owner or owners, person or persons, and such payments shall be
as valid and effectual in all respects as if made to said owner or
owners, person or persons interested therein respectively, themselves,
according to their just rights.
Every owner or person in any way interested
in any real estate taken or entered upon and used and occupied for
the purposes contemplated by this article and any owner or person
interested in real estate contiguous thereto and which may be affected
by the construction and maintenance of said aqueducts, dams, reservoirs,
sluices, canals, culverts, pumping works, bridges, tunnels, blowoffs,
ventilating shafts, conduits and appurtenances whether such contiguous
real estate is shown on the maps or not, if he intends to make a claim
for compensation for such taking, entering upon, using or occupying,
shall within one (1) year after the appointment of the Commissioners
of Appraisal exhibit to said Commissioners a statement of his claim
and shall thereupon be entitled to offer testimony and to be heard
before them touching such claim and the compensation proper to be
made to him and to have a determination made by such Commissioners
of Appraisal as to the amount of such compensation. Every person neglecting
or refusing to present such claim within said time shall be deemed
to have surrendered his title or interest in such real estate or his
claim for damages thereto except as far as he may be entitled as such
owner or person interested to the whole or a part of the sum of money
awarded by the Commissioners of Appraisal as a just and equitable
compensation for taking, using and occupying or as damages for affecting
the real estate owned by said person or in which said person is interested.
Payment of the compensation awarded by said
Commissioners of Appraisal to the persons named in their report (if
not infants or persons of unsound minds) shall, in the absence of
notice to the City of Albany or other claimants to such award, protect
the City of Albany.
Within twenty (20) days after notice of the
confirmation of the report of the Commissioners of Appraisal as heretofore
provided, either party may appeal by notice in writing to the other
party to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. Such appeal
shall be heard on due notice thereof being given according to the
rules and practice of said Court. On the hearing of such appeal the
Court may direct a new appraisal and determination of any question
passed upon by the same or new Commissioners of Appraisal, and from
any determination of the Appellate Division either party may take
an appeal to the Court of Appeals. In case of a new appraisal the
second report shall be final and conclusive on all parties and persons
interested. If the amount of compensation to be paid by the City is
increased by the second report, the difference shall be paid by the
Comptroller of the City of Albany to the parties entitled to the same,
or shall be deposited as the Court may direct; and if the amount is
diminished, the difference shall be refunded to the City of Albany
by the party to whom the same may have been paid; the judgment therefor
may be rendered by the Court on the filing of the second report against
the party liable to pay the same. But the taking of an appeal by any
person or persons or body politic or corporate shall not operate to
stay the proceedings under this article except as to the compensation
paid for the particular parcel of real estate with which said appeal
is concerned. Such an appeal shall be heard upon the evidence taken
before the Commissioners and any affidavits as to irregularities,
and such appeals may be taken without security thereon.
The Supreme Court of the judicial district in
which the real estate or any part thereof is situated shall have power
at any time to amend any defect or informality in any of the special
proceedings authorized by this article as may be necessary, or to
cause other property to be included therein, and to direct such further
notice to be given to any party in interest as it deems proper; and
also to appoint other Commissioners in place of any one who shall
die or refuse or neglect to serve or be incapable of serving or be
removed. If in any particular it shall at any time be found necessary
to amend any pleading, proceeding, or to supply any defect therein
arising in the course of any special proceeding authorized by this
article the same may be amended or supplied in such manner as may
be directed by the Supreme Court, which is hereby authorized to make
such amendment or correction.
The Board of Water Supply with the aid of the
Corporation Counsel, subject to the approval of the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment, of the City of Albany, may agree with the owners
and persons interested in any real estate laid down on said maps as
to the amount of compensation to be paid to such owners or persons
interested for the taking or using and occupying such real estate.
In case any such real estate shall be owned, occupied or enjoyed by
the people or this state or by any county, town, village, or school
district within this state such rights, titles, interests or properties
may be paid for upon agreement respectively with the Commissioners
of the Land Office or other duly constituted board or body acting
for the people of the State of New York, with a Chairman and a majority
in number of the Board of Supervisors of any county acting for such
county and with the Supervisor and Commissioner of Highways of any
town acting for such town, with the Mayor and a majority in number
of the Trustees of any village acting for such village, and with the
Trustees of any school district acting for such district. The Commissioner
of the Land Office or other board or officer constituted to act shall
have power to grant to said City any real estate belonging to the
people of this state which may be required for the purposes contemplated
by this article on such terms as may be agreed between them and the
City of Albany; and if any real estate of any county, town, village
or school district is required by the City of Albany for the purposes
of this article the majority of the Board of Supervisors acting for
such county or the Supervisors of any such town with the Commissioners
of Highways therein acting for such town or the majority of the Trustees
of such village acting for such village or the Trustees of any school
district acting for such district may grant or surrender such real
estate for such compensation as may be agreed upon between such officers,
respectively, and the City of Albany.
The term "real estate" as used in this article
shall be construed to signify and embrace all uplands, land under
water, the water of any lake, pond or stream, all water rights or
privileges and any and all easements and every estate, interest, and
right, legal and equitable, in land or water, including terms for
years and liens thereon by way of judgments, mortgages or otherwise,
and also all claims for damages to said real estate. It shall also
be construed to include all real estate (as the term is heretofore
defined) heretofore or hereafter acquired or used for railroad, highway
or other public purposes, provided that the persons or corporations
owning said real estate or claiming interest therein shall be allowed
the perpetual use for such purposes of the same or such other real
estate to be acquired for the purposes of this article as will afford
a practical route or location for such railroad, highway or other
public purpose, and in the case of a railroad, commensurate with and
adapted to its needs; and provided also that such persons or corporations
shall not directly or indirectly be subject to expenses, loss or damage
by reason of changing such route or location but that such expense,
loss or damage shall be borne by the City of Albany. In case any real
estate so acquired or used for public purposes is sought to be taken
or affected for the purposes contemplated by this article, there shall
be designated upon the maps heretofore referred to and there shall
be described in the petition hereinbefore mentioned such portion of
the other real estate shown on said maps and described in said petition
as it is proposed to substitute in the place of the real estate then
used for such railroad, highway or other public purpose. The Commissioners
of Appraisal in determining the compensation to be made to the persons
or corporations owning said real estate or claiming interest therein
shall include in the amount of such compensation such sums as shall
be sufficient to defray the expense of making such change of route
and location and of building such railroad or highway. Said Commissioners
of Appraisal shall suggest in their report and the Court in its order
confirming such report shall determine, subject to a review by the
Appellate Division, what reasonable time after payment of the awards
to said persons or corporations shall be sufficient within which to
complete the work of making such change and neither the City of Albany
nor the Board of Water Supply shall be entitled to take possession
or interfere with the use for the aforesaid purposes of such real
estate before the expiration of such time. This time may be subsequently
extended by the Court (subject to a review as aforesaid) upon a sufficient
cause shown.
The Board of Water Supply shall from time to
time as it may determine prepare and submit to the Corporation Counsel
forms of contract and specifications for the doing of the work and
the furnishing of the material required to be done and furnished or
for the doing of such parts of said work and the furnishing of such
parts of said materials as it may from time to time determine. The
form of contract, specifications and bonds for the faithful performance
shall be subject to the approval as to form by the Corporation Counsel.
When the form of any contract with the specifications
and the form of bond for the performance thereof shall have been approved
as provided in the last section the Board of Water Supply shall advertise
for sealed bids or for proposals for the doing of work or the furnishing
of the materials called for in such approved form of contract; said
advertisement shall be published in the two (2) official newspapers
of the City of Albany for at least five (5) days consecutively before
the date on which bids shall be received.
All bids or proposals shall be enclosed in a
sealed envelope and delivered to the Secretary of the Board of Water
Supply and each such bid or proposal shall be accompanied by a certified
check upon a solvent bank or trust company to the order of the Treasurer
of the City of Albany for an amount not less than five per centum
(5%) of the amount of said bid. Such amount, however, need not in
any case exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.).
After the expiration of the time limited in
the advertisement said bids or proposals shall be publicly opened
by the Board of Water Supply and it may subject to the approval of
the Board of Estimate and Apportionment select the bid or proposal,
the acceptance of which will, in its judgment, best secure the efficient
performance of the work. The Board may reject any or all of such bids.
In case of rejection of all of said bids the Board of Water Supply
shall readvertise said contract and shall receive and dispose of the
bids tendered under such advertisement in the manner hereinbefore
provided for.
Within three (3) days after the decision as
to who shall receive the contract the Treasurer shall return all the
deposits made to the persons making the same except the deposit made
by the bidder to whom the contract shall be awarded; and if the bidder
to whom the contract is awarded shall refuse or neglect, within ten
(10) days after due notice that the contract has been awarded, to
execute the same and furnish the security required the amount of deposit
made by him shall be forfeited to and be retained by said City as
liquidated damages for such neglect or refusal and shall be paid into
the general fund of the City, but if said bidder to whom the contract
is awarded shall execute the contract and furnish said security within
the time aforesaid the amount of his deposit shall be returned to
him.
The contracts when so awarded shall be executed
in triplicate by the contractor or contractors on the one part and
the Board of Water Supply, acting for the City of Albany, and with
the approval of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, on the other
part. One (1) of said originals shall be delivered to the contractor,
one (1) shall be filed in the office of the Comptroller of the City
of Albany, and one (1) shall be filed in the office of the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment. The work and materials called for by said
contract shall be done and furnished under the direction and supervision
and subject to the inspection of the Board of Water Supply, its engineers,
supervisors and inspectors.
The Commissioners of Appraisal appointed in
pursuance to this article shall receive as compensation such fees
and expenses as may be taxed by the Court upon notice to the Corporation
Counsel who shall also furnish them with the necessary clerks, stenographers,
surveyors and other employees. The fees of the Commissioners and salaries
and compensation of their assistants or employees and their necessary
traveling expenses and all other necessary expenses in and about the
special proceeding provided in this article shall be paid by the Comptroller
of the City of Albany out of the funds hereinafter provided. Such
fees and expenses shall not be paid until after they have been taxed
before a Justice of the Supreme Court in the judicial district in
which the lands or some part thereof are situated upon eight (8) days'
notice to the Corporation Counsel of the City of Albany. The salaries
and compensation of the persons employed as provided for in this article
to prepare the necessary surveys, plans and estimates and for other
purposes, and to direct, supervise and inspect the work required to
be done by the provisions of this article and such other expenses
in and about the same as are not herein required to be under contracts
let after competitive bidding, shall be paid by the Comptroller of
the City of Albany on certification of the Board of Water Supply or
such person or persons as it may designate. The compensation and expenses
of such of his assistants or other counsel as the Corporation Counsel
may designate to represent and aid him in the performance of his duties
under this article shall also be paid out of funds hereinafter provided
and upon the certificate of the Corporation Counsel who shall have
power to appoint such assistants or other counsel and to fix their
compensation. The various sums of money growing due from time to time
under the terms of the several contracts made for the doing of the
work and furnishing the material required by this article shall be
paid by the Comptroller of the City of Albany on the certification
of the Board of Water Supply and the approval of the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment.
It shall be lawful for the Common Council of
the City of Albany with the approval of the Board of Estimate and
Apportionment of said City to provide for the necessary expenses contemplated
by this article, including such sums of money as shall be sufficient
for the payment of the salaries of the Board of Water Supply, their
subordinates, engineers and employees and for any real estate or for
the extinguishment of any right, title or interest therein acquired
and all damages appraised to persons interested therein together with
all expenses necessarily incurred in surveying, locating and acquiring
title to said real estate or in extinguishing claims for damages thereto,
and also to pay for all construction work that may be contracted for
and accomplished under this article and for all other expenses of
any kind or nature whatever that may be legally incurred under the
provisions of this article. For the purpose of providing funds to
pay for the costs and expenses contemplated by this article the City
of Albany is hereby authorized and empowered to issue bonds to an
amount not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of twelve million dollars
($12,000,000.). Such bonds may be issued in series and at such times
and in such denominations and shall draw interest at such rate not
exceeding the legal rate of interest, and shall be payable at such
times and at such places as the Common Council shall by ordinance
determine; provided, however, that the time for the payment of such
bonds shall not exceed forty (40) years, and provided further that
the principal of said bonds of each series shall mature in equal annual
installments commencing not more than ten (10) years from the date
of issue thereof. The last installment of any of said bonds shall
mature not more than forty (40) years from the date of issue thereof.
The Common Council may by ordinance provide that such bonds be made
payable out of water rents or water rates received by the City. If
at the time of the issue of any bonds authorized by this article the
indebtedness of said City of Albany, exclusive of certificates of
indebtedness or revenue bonds issued in anticipation of the collection
of taxes for amounts actually contained or to be contained in the
taxes for the year when such certificates or revenue bonds were issued
and payable out of such taxes shall exceed ten per centum (10%) of
the assessed valuation of the real estate of said City subject to
taxation as shall appear by the assessment rolls of said City on the
last assessment for state or county taxes prior to such issue, then
the term of such bonds so to be issued shall not exceed twenty (20)
years and a sinking fund shall be created on the issuing of said bonds
for their redemption by raising annually a sum which will produce
an amount equal to the sum of the principal and interest of said bonds
at their maturity.
All work hereby authorized to be done and all
materials hereby authorized to be furnished involving an expenditure
of one thousand dollars ($1,000.) shall be procured by contract made
in the manner required by and pursuant to the provisions of this article.
The Board of Water Supply, however, with the approval of the Board
of Estimate and Apportionment, may without contract cause such surveys
to be made and such maps, plans and estimates to be prepared as shall
in its opinion be necessary to carry out the provisions of this article
and may appoint engineers and other persons to supervise and inspect
all work hereby authorized to be done whose salaries and compensation
shall be fixed by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. The Board
of Water Supply, with approval of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment,
may procure any work to be done without contract not involving an
expenditure of over five thousand dollars ($5,000.), if such Board
shall certify in its opinion it is for the public interest that such
work shall be done and in such certificate shall state its reason
therefor.
The City of Albany is hereby required to build
and construct such highways and bridges as may be made necessary by
the construction of any reservoir under this article and to maintain
such additional highway bridges. It shall be the duty of the City
of Albany to provide proper police protection to the inhabitants of
the localities in which any work may be constructed under the authority
of this article and during such period of construction against the
acts or omissions of persons employed on such works and to that end
the Board of Water Supply is hereby authorized to appoint a sufficient
number of persons to adequately police said localities for said period.
Said Board of Water Supply shall have power to remove such persons
and to fix or change their compensation in its discretion; such compensation
shall be paid upon certificate of the Board of Water Supply as part
of the expenses authorized to be incurred by this article. The Board
of Water Supply shall give to each person so appointed a certificate
of appointment and a certified copy of such certificate of appointment
shall be filed in the office of the Sheriff of each county in which
any work shall be in process of construction under this article and
in which said person shall be authorized to perform his duties. Each
of said persons so appointed shall be and have all the powers of a
peace officer in the county where any work is being constructed under
the authority of this article, and he shall at all times when on duty
wear upon his clothing or have in his possession a suitable badge
of authority which he shall at once exhibit to any person asking therefor.
It shall be the special duty of the person so appointed to prevent
breach of peace and unlawful depredation and to arrest and bring before
the proper magistrates the persons employed on said work or found
in the vicinity thereof who are guilty of offenses against the law
or persons whom they may have reasonable cause to believe to be guilty
of any such offenses.
The Board of Water Supply shall in every calendar
month file in the office of the Comptroller of the City of Albany
an account of any expenses made by it or under its authority and of
all liabilities incurred by it during the preceding month.
The City of Albany or its representatives shall
not enter upon any lands not taken in pursuance of this article for
the purpose of preserving streams or watercourses from pollution or
contamination or of moving or causing to be moved any buildings on
the ground that the same may contaminate the water supply without
making provision for just compensation therefor.
Real estate acquired under the provisions of
this article shall be taxable in the counties and taxation districts
in which said real estate is situated.
[Amended 8-5-1996 by Ord. No. 17.71.96]
Upon the acquisition of such water supply and
the completion of the work contemplated by this article, the Board
is hereby authorized to furnish to any municipality a supply of water
for the use and purposes of such municipality, in such quantities
and at such rates as determined by the Board. Any municipal corporation
desiring to take and receive water under the provisions of this section
shall make written application to the Board showing the place and
manner in which it is proposed to make the necessary connections for
the furnishing of such water; provided, however, that no greater quantity
of water shall be taken by said municipal corporations than the proportionate
quantity that is used by the City of Albany, the proportion being
calculated according to the number of inhabitants respectively of
said City and said municipal corporations as shown by the last preceding
census of the United States. The Board may also contract with any
corporation or individual outside the City to make connections with
its aqueducts, conduits or pipe lines for the purpose of using water
therefrom and fix the price and conditions therefor but shall not
permit such use of water if thereby the supply of water for the City
or its inhabitants shall be insufficient.
The owner of any real estate not taken by virtue
of this article or the owner of any business established prior to
the time that any land affecting the value of said business is acquired
by the City of Albany for the water supply contemplated by this article
and situated in any county in which any of the aqueducts, dams, reservoirs,
sluices, canals, culverts, pumping works, bridges, tunnels, blowoffs,
ventilating shafts, conduits and appurtenances shall have been constructed,
directly or indirectly decreased in value by reason of the acquiring
of land by the City of Albany for the water supply contemplated by
this article or by reason of the execution of any of the plans for
said water supply under these provisions shall have a right to damages
for such decrease in value. The Board of Water Supply with the approval
of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment of the City of Albany may
agree with such person as to the amount of such damages and if such
agreement cannot be made, such damages, if any, shall be determined
in the manner herein provided for the ascertaining and determining
the value of real estate taken under the provisions of this article.
The amount of such damages so agreed upon or so determined as aforesaid
shall be payable and collectible in the same manner as herein provided
in the case of awards made through the confirmation of the report
of the Commissioners of Appraisal. Any claim made pursuant to this
section must be made within one (1) year after such claims have accrued.
Nothing in this article contained shall be deemed
to limit the powers and jurisdiction of the Water Power and Control
Commission of the State of New York.
