ARTICLE III - BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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ARTICLE III, Board of Trustee

C-9. Meetings.

The Board of Trustees shall meet annually on the first Tuesday after the annual village election at 8:00 p.m., and it shall meet at such other times as it shall by resolution direct. Special meetings may be called by the Mayor or by the Clerk on the written request of two (2) Trustees, at such time as a written notice to be served on the Mayor and Trustees shall direct. This notice shall be served personally at least one (1) hour before the time of meeting. All meetings of the Trustees shall be public and shall be held at the Trustee's rooms in said village.

C-10. Election.

At the annual election of officers to be held in the month of March 1967 and at every alternate annual election of officers to be held thereafter, there shall be elected a Mayor, who shall hold his office for two (2) years, and, at said annual election of officers to be held in the year 1967 and at every annual election thereafter, there shall be elected two (2) Trustees, who shall hold their offices for two (2) years respectively. The terms of office of the Mayor and Trustees shall be from and after the time of their election.

C-11. Compensation.

The annual salary of the Mayor shall be five thousand dollars ($5,000.); and the annual salary of each Trustee shall be three thousand dollars ($3,000.). Such compensation shall be payable monthly or otherwise, as the Board of Trustees shall direct, and shall be in full for all services rendered to the village. These increases shall take effect the first day of June 1990.

C-12. Presiding officer.

The Mayor, when present, shall preside at all meetings of the Board and shall have a vote on all questions; in the absence of the Mayor and Acting Mayor, any Trustee may be appointed Mayor for the time being.

C-13. Quorum.

A majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

C-14. Powers and duties.

The Board of Trustees, except as herein otherwise provided, shall have the care, management and control of the finances and property and the custody of the records and papers and the Seal belonging to the corporation and may keep all buildings and other property of the corporation in repair and ensure against damage or loss by fire. Said Board shall have the power as to acts and matters within the corporate bounds and it shall be its duty:

A. To appoint the several officers whose offices are held by appointment as herein provided and to fill vacancies in office as herein provided.

B. To appoint a suitable person to keep a poll list at any meeting of the electors of said village where such poll list shall be required to be kept and the Clerk shall not attend.

C. To call special meetings of the electors of the village whenever the same shall be deemed necessary by the Board.

D. Except as herein otherwise provided, to examine and audit all accounts and claims against the village and to draw warrants on the Treasurer for the payment of the same.

E. To fix the amount of bonds required by this act to be given by the several officers herein named and to decide upon the form thereof and the sufficiency of the surety or sureties; to fix the compensation of the officers of the village as herein provided.

F. To give notice in the manner prescribed by law of the annual and special meeting of the electors, which notice shall specify the officers to be chosen thereat, and to preside at such meetings.

G. To present to every annual meeting a detailed statement, signed by it, showing when and from what sources all moneys paid into the treasury of said village during the preceding year have been derived and when, to whom and for what purposes all moneys paid from such treasury during the same period have been paid and how much remains on hand; the names of all persons from whom any sums are due on account of taxes, assessments, expenses of building sidewalks or other purpose and the amounts due from them respectively, which statement shall be filed with the Clerk.

H. To present to every annual meeting any matter that the Board of Trustees deems appropriate or advisable.

I. To adopt a budget after the holding of a public hearing as provided in the Village Law.

J. To issue warrants for the collection of taxes and assessments assessed in said village and for the collection of the expenses of opening, altering or widening streets or making or repairing sidewalks of the owners of lots on which such expenses shall be a lien, which said warrants shall be returnable in sixty (60) days from the time of the issuing of the same; and in its discretion, to renew such warrants once only and for the period of not more than thirty (30) days.

K. To execute leases of real estate leased by it to satisfy such taxes, interest or expense charged thereon and not collected by virtue of such warrants.

L. To enter or to authorize others to enter in the daytime, when, in its judgment, the interests of said village shall require it, any building in such village in which there shall be a fireplace, stove or stovepipe for the purpose of examining the same and to make such regulations in respect thereto as a proper security against fire shall, in its judgment, require.

M. To audit and allow the necessary expenses of procuring said village to be incorporated or its Charter to be amended and to employ and compensate counsel for legal advice or for professional services in conducting suits in behalf of said village.

N. To perform all duties imposed on it by this act or by any other law of this state.

O. To declare and define the duties and manner of discharging the same of all officers of the corporation whose duties are not specially prescribed by this act and to add to the duties of those officers whose duties are thus prescribed, if the Board of Trustees deems necessary.

P. To establish and maintain a police force, to prescribe its powers and duties and to erect and maintain a lockup or designate a place for the detention of persons arrested under this act or under any bylaw, rule, ordinance or local law of said village and to confine said persons therein.

Q. To establish and maintain a public pound and keeper thereof and to regulate his compensation and fees.

R. To provide for the lighting of the streets, alleys and public places in said village.

S. To erect and maintain fire engine houses, hook and ladder and hose houses.

T. To provide for the purchasing and repairing of fire engines, hooks and ladders, hose and all other necessary apparatus for the same.

U. To protect property, both real and personal, at times from fire and to appoint guards for the protection of the same and to prescribe their powers, duties and compensation.

C-15. Promulgation of regulations and local laws.

The Trustees of said village shall also have the power and it shall be their duty to make, publish, amend and repeal regulations, ordinances and local laws and bylaws not inconsistent with the laws of this state or of the United States; to carry into effect the provisions of this act and of other laws applicable to such village and the powers vested in any officer thereof; and to prescribe penalties for each violation of such regulation, ordinance, local law or bylaw and, among others, for the following purposes:

A. To prevent vice and immorality, to preserve peace and good order, to prevent and quell riots and disorderly assemblies and to regulate the police of said village.

B. To restrain, suppress and prohibit disorderly drinking, tippling and gaming houses and to suppress and prohibit all gaming and fraudulent devices within said village.

C. To prohibit, restrain and regulate all exhibitions of any natural or artificial curiosities, caravans of animals, theatrical and other shows and exhibitions, circuses or other performances for money or hire and to grant licenses and authorize the same on such terms as the Trustees may deem expedient.

D. To suppress and restrain disorderly houses, houses of illfame, gaming tables, bowling alleys, pistol galleries, the playing of cards or games of chance, pool-playing by minors, horse racing and immoderate driving on the streets or public places of said village and to provide for the destruction of all instruments and devices employed in gaming.

E. To compel the owner or occupant of any grocery, tallow chandler's shop, soap factory, tanning mill, privy, sewer or any other unwholesome, offensive or nauseous house, place or thing to cleanse, remove or abate the same, from time to time, as often as, in the opinion of the Board of Trustees, it may be necessary for the health, comfort or convenience of the inhabitants of said village.

F. To regulate or prohibit the erection, keeping or using of slaughterhouses or pigsties or the keeping of swine in said village; to regulate the location of markets and houses or places for storing gunpowder or other explosive material or volatile and flammable substance; and to regulate the conveying and keeping of gunpowder and other explosive or dangerous materials and the use of candles or lights of any kind or fires in barns and stables and other places liable to take fire.

G. To prevent the flying of kites, rolling of hoops, playing ball, sliding downhill on sleds, the riding of bicycles or other wheeled vehicles on the sidewalks or any other practice or amusement having a tendency to injure or annoy persons passing on the streets or sidewalks or to frighten teams of horses in said village.

H. To prevent the encumbering of the streets, squares, sidewalks, crosswalks, lanes and alleys or other public places with teams, carriages, lumber or any other material whatsoever.

I. To compel persons to remove snow, ice, dirt or other substances from the sidewalks opposite to and on the same side of the road with lots owned or occupied by them.

J. To compel persons to remove dead animals and stagnant water from their premises and to require the removal from the village of all persons not resident thereof having infectious or pestilential diseases and to authorize any officer of said village to remove such person.

K. To determine what are nuisances and to provide for their abatement and to regulate the construction of chimneys and to prevent the setting up or to require the removal of pipes, chimneys, boilers and ovens deemed dangerous and to prohibit and regulate the deposit of ashes or garbage.

L. To restrain, regulate or prohibit cattle, horses, sheep, swine, geese or other animals from running at large in said village and to provide for the distraining, impounding and sale of such animals so running at large, in violation of any regulation of said Board of Trustees, for the penalty, expenses and proceedings.

M. To provide by ordinance, local law or resolution when, how and in what manner any gas, water, electric-light, electric-power, telephone or telegraph or street railway company, either electric or otherwise, or any of their officers or employees may disturb, dig up or in any manner interfere with the streets, lanes, alleys, parks or public grounds of said village or any portion of the materials or soil thereof and when, how and in what manner and on what conditions they may lay pipes and drains, erect poles or place or maintain any other thing or material in, upon, under or over the surface of any of said streets, lanes, alleys, parks or public grounds of said village; to prohibit any interference with said streets or other public places in said village or the laying of any pipes or drains or the erecting of poles or the placing or maintaining of any other material or thing in, upon, under or over the surface of said streets or other places in said village; and to prescribe and enforce a penalty for the violation of any such ordinance, local law or resolution.

N. To regulate or prohibit the exhibition of fireworks, the explosion of gunpowder or other explosive materials, the discharge of firearms and the making of bonfires within said village.

O. To provide for the setting out and preservation of shade and ornamental trees in and upon the streets, public grounds and cemeteries of said village and to prevent injury to the same.

P. To provide for the construction and preservation of fences around the public grounds and cemeteries in said village and to prevent injury to said fences or any injury or defacement of any tomb, monument, tree or plant in said cemetery.

Q. To make regulations for the licensing, prohibition or government of public places and resorts and to punish drunkenness or any disorderly conduct in the streets of said village and to restrain and punish vagrants, beggars, prostitutes and disorderly persons; to prohibit the gathering or assembling of persons upon the public streets or other public places of said village, the congregating upon the corners thereof or at the entrance to public places therein or the disturbing of any legally organized assemblage in said village and to authorize the police of said village to disperse all such gatherings or assemblages of persons, and, upon the refusal of persons so congregated or assembled to disperse when commanded so to do by any police officer or to desist from the disturbance of any such assemblages, under regulations prescribed by the Board of Trustees of said village, such police officers may make summary arrest of any person or persons so refusing and may bring them before the Village Justice of said village to be dealt with according to law.

R. To regulate the numbering of houses, buildings and lots of the streets, avenues and alleys and public places in the village and the naming of the streets, avenues and alleys, lanes, courts and public places therein.

S. To regulate the use of streets and sidewalks for signs, signposts, awnings, awning posts, hitching posts, horse troughs and public fountains.

T. To regulate, license and restrain hawking and peddling in the streets of said village and to regulate and restrain the exhibition and circulation of advertisements and handbills.

U. To regulate or prohibit swimming or bathing in the waters in or surrounding the village and to establish and regulate public baths and bathing places.

V. To regulate, prohibit or prevent the ringing of bells (other than church bells for divine service), the blowing of horns and the making of any improper and disturbing noises in said village.

W. To require the owner or lessee of any public hall or public house, before being let for public use, to obtain from the Board of Trustees a written annual permit, which shall be granted, provided that such hall or public house has suitable and safe means of ingress and egress in case of panic or fire, but not otherwise; provided, however, that in such case no liability shall be incurred by said village by reason of such license or permit.

X. To require persons driving horses with sleighs or cutters to carry ringing bells either upon the horse, sleighs or cutters.

Y. To make regulations for taxing and confining dogs and preventing the same from running at large and for destroying such as may be found running at large contrary to any ordinance or local law.

C-16. Enforcement; penalties for offenses.

The Board of Trustees shall have the power to enforce all the provisions of this act and all ordinances, local laws, bylaws and regulations enacted by it in pursuance of this act, by imposing penalties to be incurred for every violation of the same, not exceeding two hundred fifty dollars ($250.) for any offense. The Board of Trustees may enforce obedience to its ordinances and local laws by injunction. No person shall be deemed incompetent, either as justice, juror or witness, by reason of his being an inhabitant of said village, upon any trial pursuant to this section.

C-17. Fire limits.

The Board of Trustees shall have the power to guard against calamities by fire and for such purpose to prescribe by ordinances, local laws, regulations or bylaws the limits in said village within which wooden buildings shall not be constructed, reconstructed, enlarged or placed without the written consent of the Board of Trustees and to direct that all or any buildings within the limits prescribed shall be constructed, reconstructed or enlarged of and with stone, brick or metal, with partition walls, fireproof roofs and brick, stone or metallic cornices and eaves troughs and to prescribe penalties not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000.) for each violation of such regulations, ordinances, local laws and bylaws.

C-18. Publication and proof of legislation.

Publication and proof of village ordinances and local laws shall be as provided in the Village Law.

C-19. Enforcement of penalties.

All actions or proceedings to recover or enforce any penalty, fine or forfeiture incurred under this act or the ordinances, local laws, bylaws, rules, regulations or resolutions made in pursuance thereof may be had and taken before the Village Justice of said village or the officer performing the duties of his office as hereinafter provided or before any court of civil jurisdiction, in accordance with the rules thereof within this state; and said Village Justice or court shall have jurisdiction to hear, try and determine the same and enter judgment therein. And in any such action or proceeding brought before the Village Justice of said village, the first process may be by summons or by warrant, and execution may be issued immediately upon the rendition of judgment. If the defendant in any such action or proceeding has no goods or chattels, lands or tenements whereof the judgment can be collected, the execution shall require the defendant to be imprisoned in the jail of Herkimer County for a term to be fixed by said Village Justice, officer or court not exceeding one (1) day for each dollar of such judgment. All such actions and proceedings shall be brought in the corporate name of said village, and it shall be sufficient to declare or complain generally for such penalty of forfeiture, stating the section of this act or the bylaw, rule, regulation, ordinance, local law or resolution under which the penalty or forfeiture is claimed and to give the special matter in evidence. The defendant may plead or answer, denying generally the allegation declared or complained of, and give the special matter in evidence also.