ARTICLE XI - LIBRARY

Text relating to Ilion Laws has been copied from the pdf provided by the Village and pasted here. This was done to make the text searchable.

ARTICLE XI, Library

C-73. Establishment.

The Board of Trustees of said village may establish and maintain a free public library in said village for the use of the inhabitants thereof and may provide suitable rooms therefor; and said village may receive, hold and manage any devise, bequest or donation for the establishment, increase or maintenance of such free public library within said village.

C-74. Library Trustees.

A. Said free public library shall be under the charge, management, supervision and control of a Board of Trustees, which shall be known as the "Board of Trustees of the Ilion Free Public Library," which Board shall consist of five (5) members, who shall be known as "Library Trustees," and who shall be appointed by the Board of Trustees of the village, and they shall hold office for five (5) years and until their successors are appointed; and they shall be residents of said village and of full age; and women shall be eligible for appointment as such Trustees; and they shall serve without pay or compensation.

B. Said Board of Trustees of the Free Public Library may purchase from time to time, as it shall deem proper, books for such library; may appoint a librarian, one (1) or more assistants and a janitor and may fix the compensation of such librarian, assistants and janitor; may provide for the heating, lighting and cleaning of said library, the insurance of the same against loss and damage by fire, the repairs and maintenance of the rooms or building in which said library shall be located and the repairing of books; and it shall make regulations for the government of said library, from time to time, and do all such other matters and things as shall be necessary and proper for the efficient maintenance and conduct of said library.

C. The present Library Committee, as appointed under the provisions of Chapter 363 of the Laws of 1892, shall constitute the Board of Trustees of said public library and shall hold their offices as such Trustees until the termination of the terms for which they have been appointed, and hereafter and annually the Board of Trustees of the village shall appoint a person to fill the vacancy caused by the expiration of the term of office of the outgoing member of said Board of Trustees of the Ilion Free Public Library. Vacancies in said Board of Trustees of the Free Public Library caused by death, resignation, removal or otherwise shall be filled by the Board of Trustees of the village, the appointee to hold office for and during the unexpired term of the vacancy which he or she shall have been appointed to fill.

D. Said Board of Trustees of the Ilion Free Public Library shall, at its first meeting after the annual appointment of a member of said Board, elect from its number a President, a Secretary and a Treasurer, who shall hold office for one (1) year or until their successors shall have been elected. The Treasurer of said Board shall give a bond to the village, with two (2) sureties, conditioned for the faithful performance of his or her duties, which shall be approved by the Board of Trustees of the village as to its form, amount and the sufficiency of the sureties, which bond shall be filed with the Clerk of the village.

C-75. Gifts and bequests.

Said Board of Trustees of the Village of Ilion Free Public Library shall have the charge, control and management of all devises, gifts and bequests, the corpus or principal of which is, by the terms of the devise, gift, grant or bequest, to be in the nature of an endowment and the rents, profit and income of which only are to be used for the increase or maintenance of such Ilion Free Public Library, and said Board shall manage said devise, gift or bequest, investing the principal thereof, if personal property, from time to time, in mortgages on improved real estate in this state, for not exceeding one-half (1/2) of the value thereof, as the same shall be appraised by the Board of Trustees of said free public library and secured also by the personal bond of the mortgagor; or in United States stocks or bonds or stocks or bonds of the State of New York or in bonds of any municipal corporation in the State of New York; and, if realty, managing and leasing the same, or in case that the devisor so contemplated and provided, in selling the same and converting it into money and investing and reinvesting as aforesaid; and shall collect and receive the rents, issues and profits of said realty or personality, or both, and shall pay over the same immediately on its receipt to the Treasurer of the village, who shall place it to the credit of the Library Fund. Said investments shall be made in the corporate name of the Village of Ilion by the Board of Trustees of the Free Public Library of Ilion, and said Board shall have the power and it is hereby authorized to make, execute and deliver under the corporate name of said village leases of such real estate, to execute and acknowledge deeds and conveyance of the same, to receipt for all moneys received by it from the sources aforesaid and to give releases, acquaintances and discharges of mortgages and bonds and generally to do each and every act and thing in the name of said village necessary or proper to the carrying out of the powers hereby vested in it. All devises, gifts or bequests to said free public library, the principal of which, by the terms thereof, is to be expanded in improving, altering, repairing or enlarging said public library building, shall be expended, and such improving, altering, repairing or enlarging shall be prosecuted by and under the management and direction of the Board of Trustees of said free public library. All other gifts, grants and bequests shall be paid unto the Treasurer of said village.

C-76. Budget; tax levy.

Said Board of Trustees of the Ilion Free Public Library shall and it is hereby authorized to present a tentative annual budget to the Board of Trustees of said village. The tentative budget shall include both estimated receipts and expenses. When a final budget has been accepted by the Village Board of Trustees, said Village Board shall thereupon raise by taxation upon the taxable property of said village in the same manner as other village taxes are authorized and required to be raised and shall appropriate and pay over to the Treasurer of said village all such sums of money as may have been included in the annual tax levy for the use of the Board of Trustees of the Ilion Free Public Library. The money so raised by the tax levy, with all gifts and bequests (the corpus of which is to be expended for the establishment, maintenance and increase of said public library), together with the rents, issues and profits of any and all gifts, devises and bequests (in the nature of endowments) as shall have been or shall be paid to said Treasurer shall constitute the Library Fund of said village; and the Treasurer shall keep the moneys which shall be paid over to him and which he shall receive as aforesaid, known as the "Library Fund," separate and apart from all other moneys; and he shall pay them over upon the order of the Board of Trustees of the Ilion Free Public Library, from time to time, upon such orders or requisitions as it shall make upon him, in writing, signed by the Secretary and countersigned by the Treasurer thereof and in no other way or manner nor for any other purposes. And said Board of Trustees of the Ilion Free Public Library shall audit all charges and accounts against said Ilion Free Public Library or for the purposes thereof as hereinbefore provided.

C-77. Annual accounting.

The Board of Trustees of the Ilion Free Public Library shall make and render to the Board of Trustees of the village, on or before the 15th day of February in each and every year, a full and detailed statement and account of its receipts and disbursements and of all moneys drawn from the treasury, which statements and accounts shall be signed by the President and countersigned by the Treasurer and shall be filed with the Treasurer of the village.

C-78. Use of library insurance.

In case the building, fixtures, furniture, books, manuscripts or other property belonging or pertaining to said Ilion Free Public Library shall at any time be injured or destroyed by fire and shall be, in whole or in part, insured against the same, the money received from any and all insurance companies for such loss or damage shall be paid into the treasury of said village and shall be credited to the Library Fund and shall be used by said village under the direction, management and supervision and upon the order of the Board of Trustees of the Ilion Free Public Library in rebuilding, restoring or repairing whatever property shall have been destroyed or damaged by fire, so far as the same will go, and for no other purpose or purposes whatsoever.

C-79. Honorary Trustees.

Inasmuch as Clarence W. Seamans and Mrs. Ida G. Seamans, of the City of Brooklyn, New York, have generously contributed towards the establishment of the present free public library of said village, the Board of Trustees of said village is hereby authorized and empowered to appoint them Honorary Trustees of the Ilion Free Public Library for life. And it shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees of the Ilion Free Public Library to consult with them from time to time, with reference to any measures of importance which said Board shall contemplate adopting and with reference to matters of policy in the conducting of said library; but it shall not be necessary to notify said honorary life members of any regular or special meetings of the Board of Trustees, nor shall their presence be necessary to constitute a quorum; it being contemplated hereby to give them an advisory position with reference to the management and conduct of said Ilion Free Public Library.