Page images
PDF
EPUB

to their support; also to institute and prosecute any and all actions and proceedings authorized by law to compel any and all persons liable for the care, maintenance, education or support of any such destitute or dependent persons to contribute thereto, and to indemnify the city and public against any expenditures on account thereof. He shall also prosecute any and all bonds, undertakings or recognizances given for any of the purposes herein mentioned or in any manner relating thereto. Any and all moneys recovered in any such suit, action or proceeding or otherwise paid to or received by the said commissioner on account of the care, maintenance, relief, education or support of any such persons shall be deposited by the commissioner with the chamberlain as a trust fund, and the same shall be applied and expended by the said commissioner for the purpose on account of which the same were paid. Any surplus remaining in said fund at the close of the fiscal year shall be treated as an unexpended balance of money appropriated for such department. The commissioner shall furnish to and file with the city clerk a monthly statement in detail of all receipts and expenditures, including the aid and relief granted by him, with the names and addresses of all recipients.

§ 147. Powers and duties of commissioner. The commissioner shall possess all the power and authority of overseers of the poor in the several towns of the county of Albany and be subject to the same duties, obligations and liabilities. The commissioner and his assistants shall have the power to examine under oath any person applying for relief.

§ 148. City owner of supplies. The city shall continue to be the owner of supplies furnished to any poor person or applicant for relief until the same are consumed. If any person to whom the same shall be furnished shall sell or exchange the same for money or intoxicating liquors or in any way dispose of the same other than in the manner directed, such conduct shall be deemed

a misdemeanor.

§ 149. Liability of city. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be deemed to make the city liable for the support or relief of any poor person when it is not otherwise so liable.

White Plains, Westchester County

(Note.-Commissioner of public safety appointed by the com mon council to hold office at its will and pleasure. Salary, $2,500.)

Chapter 356, Laws of 1915.

ARTICLE VIII.

Department of Public Safety.

Section 219. Control of police, fire, and charities and correction

*

departments.

220. Powers and duties of commissioner of public safety.

[blocks in formation]

227. Temporary employment.
228. Audit of claims.

229. City owner of supplies.

*

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

§ 219. Commissioner of public safety. The commissioner of public safety shall have charge and supervision of the fire, police, sanitary, health, charity and correction departments of the said city and shall provide in all ways possible for the safety, health, care, comfort and protection of the inhabitants of the city and of their property; he shall be the inspector of building and plumbing, sealer of weights and measures, and the health officer shall be under his authority; he shall have such further powers and duties as may be provided by ordinance of the com

mon council.

$ 220. Powers and duties of the commissioner of public safety. * * * He shall also have the general care, management, administration and supervision of the charities, almshouses, house of correction, orphan asylums and all other similar institutions, the control or government of which belongs or is intrusted to the city. He shall, with the approval of the common council and commissioner of finance, make regulations for the expenditure of moneys appropriated

for the support or relief of the poor and for the general supervision of such expenditures. He shall investigate fully the circumstances of all persons alleged to be destitute or without proper means of support, or without proper guardianship, or who are in danger of becoming or are a public burden upon said city; and also the circumstances of their relatives or other persons whose duty it is to relieve or maintain them or contribute to their support; also to institute and prosecute any and all actions and proceedings authorized by law to compel any and all persons liable for the care, maintenance, education or support of any such destitute or dependent persons to contribute thereto, and to indemnify the city and public against any expenditures on account thereof. He shall also prosecute any and all bonds, undertakings or recognizances given for any of the purposes herein mentioned or in any manner relating thereto. Any and all moneys recovered in any such suit, action or proceeding or otherwise paid to be received by the said commissioner on account of the care, maintenance, relief, education or support of any such persons, shall be deposited by the commissioner with the commissioner of finance as a trust fund, and the same shall be applied and expended by the said commissioner for the purpose on account of which the same was paid. Any surplus remaining in said fund at the close of the fiscal year shall be treated as an unexpended balance of money appropriated for such department. The commissioner shall furnish to and file with the commissioner of finance a monthly statement in detail of all receipts and expenditures, including the aid and relief granted by him, with the name and address of all recipients. He shall possess all the power and authority of overseers of the poor in the several towns of the county of Westchester, and be subject to the same duties, obligations and liabilities. He shall have the power to examine, under oath, any person applying for relief. He shall perform all the duties required by law to be performed by sealers of weights and measures in counties.

[blocks in formation]

$226. Orders for relief of poor to be in writing. All orders for relief of a poor person, issued by the commissioner, shall be in writing, and any order for such relief, any part of

which is paid, directly or indirectly, in spirituous or fermented liquors, shall be void and uncollectible.

§ 227. Temporary employment. The commissioner may with the approval of the common council, when practicable, furnish temporary employment to indigent persons applying for relief, who are chargeable to the city of White Plains, and agree with such person on the compensation to be paid therefor, and the same shall be paid in money.

§ 228. Audit of claims. All claims against the city, on account of any poor relief, authorized by the commissioner of public safety, shall be presented to the commissioner of finance, accompanied by the written order of the commissioner of public safety, and shall be audited and paid in the same manner as other claims are audited and paid, under the provisions of this act.

§ 229. City owner of supplies. The city shall continue to be the owner of all articles or supplies furnished to any poor person or applicant until the same are consumed. If any person to whom the same shall be furnished shall sell or exchange them for money or intoxicating liquor, or in any way dispose thereof, other than in the manner directed, he shall be guilty of a misde

meanor.

Yonkers, Westchester County.

(Note. Commissioner of charities appointed by the mayor for a term of two years. Salary fixed by board of estimate and apportionment.)

Yonkers is a city of the second class and comes within the provisions of chapter 53 of the Consolidated Laws, for which see p. 261 with reference to city of Albany.

[ocr errors]

CARE OF THE POOR IN CERTAIN COUNTIES OF NEW YORK STATE, AS PER SPECIAL STATUTES.

Albany County.

AN ACT to provide for the care, transportation and commitment, and the payment therefor, of lunatics, idiots, persons of unsound mind, deaf-mutes, orphans and paupers, the expense of whose maintenance and transportation is a charge upon the county of Albany, and to define the duties of the superintendent of the almshouse in the city of Albany.

Chapter 354, Laws of 1884.

Section 1. It shall be the duty of the overseers of the poor of the several towns in the county of Albany, of the village of West Troy, and of the city of Cohoes and of the city of Albany, whenever any lunatic, idiot, person of unsound mind, deaf-mute, or pauper within the jurisdiction of such officers respectively shall be or become by law chargeable to the county of Albany and shall be lawfully committed to the almshouse or any asylum or other place provided for the safe keeping of such persons, to transport such persons (subject, in case of their sickness, lameness or other disability, to the provisions of section forty-two of title one of chapter twenty of part one of the Revised Statutes of this state) to the city of Albany, and deliver him or her to the superintendent of the almshouse in the said city, as hereinafter provided for. Whenever notified by any such overseer that any such person has or is about to arrive by any public conveyance at any place in the city of Albany, and whenever notified by the overseer of the poor of the city of Albany that any such person is within the said city it shall be the duty of the said superintendent to send for and cause such person to be transported to the almshouse in said city, or to the asylum or other place where he is lawfully committed, in a proper conveyance to be kept at such almshouse for that purpose.

« PreviousContinue »