Article 14-b
§ 240. Application of article. This article shall apply to all counties which shall adopt the same in the manner hereinafter prescribed, providing that the question of its adoption may not be submitted in counties included wholly in a city.
§ 241. Submission of article. If prior to the first day of October in any year one percentum of the registered electors of any county shall file with the appropriate officer a petition for the submission of the question of the adoption of this article, the said officer shall prepare the following question to be submitted at the general election held in that year, in the same manner as other questions are submitted: “Shall article fourteen-b of the county law, providing for government by a board of county supervisors and a county manager, apply to the county of (name of county)?”
§ 242. Election of county officers. If a majority of all votes cast on such proposition be affirmative, there shall be elected in the county at the next succeeding general election, in the same manner as are other county officers, five officers to be known as county supervisors. The said county supervisors shall hold office for a term of three years, commencing at noon on the first day of January next succeeding their election; provided, however, that of those elected at the first election under this article two shall hold office for one year, two for two years, and one for three years, the designation whereof shall be made on the election ballot.
§ 243. County supervisors; qualifications; vacancies and removals. County supervisors shall be electors of the county. When a vacancy shall occur, otherwise than by expiration of term, in the office of county supervisor, the same shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term at the next general election happening not less than three months after such vacancy occurs; and until such vacancy shall be filled the governor shall fill such vacancy by appointment. A county officer may be removed by the governor in the same manner as a sheriff.
§ 244. The board of supervisors; organization, powers, compensation of members. The county supervisors in each county adopting this article shall constitute the board of supervisors of such county and the powers and duties conferred and imposed upon the board of supervisors and the officers and committees thereof in any general or special law are hereby devolved upon the board so constituted, together with such other powers, duties and responsibilities as may be conferred upon them by law, to be exercised subject to the provisions of this article. When the county supervisors elected within such county shall have qualified the supervisors of the several towns and wards of cities within the county shall cease to convene as a board of supervisors or to exercise any of the powers and duties required to be exercised by the board of supervisors of the county. The board shall elect one of its number president, whose powers and duties shall be determined by said board, and shall adopt rules for the conduct of its business. Each member of the board shall receive an annual compensation not to exceed five hundred dollars, the amount of which shall be determined by the said board for attendance upon each of its meetings, provided, that the total amount shall not exceed five hundred dollars. Such compensation shall be a county charge and in addition to the actual necessary expenses incurred for transportation in going to and from the meetings of the board.
§ 245. Election officers. No person who shall hold or be elected to any elective county office at or before the election at which this article is adopted shall be removed therefrom under authority of this article before the expiration of the term for which he was elected or appointed to fill a vacancy.
§ 246. The county manager; appointment; qualifications; tenure; compensation. The board of supervisors shall appoint an officer who shall be a citizen of the United States but who, at the time of his appointment, need not be a resident of the county, to be known as the county manager. The said county manager shall execute to the county good and sufficient sureties, to be approved by the county judge, in a sum to be fixed by the board of supervisors, conditioned upon the faithful performance of his duties. He shall not be personally interested in any contract to which the county is a party; he shall hold office at the pleasure of the board of supervisors, and upon removal, the said board shall furnish him with a written statement of the reasons for such action, signed by at least two members thereof. The board of supervisors shall prescribe the salary of such county manager and the compensation of the assistants and subordinates to be appointed by him, which shall be a county charge and may be increased or diminished at any time. A member of the board of supervisors, during the term for which he is elected or appointed, shall not be eligible for the office of county manager.
§ 247. Duties and powers of the county manager. The county manager shall be the administrative agent of the board of supervisors. It shall be his duty
(a) To attend all meetings of the board of supervisors;
(b) To see that the resolutions and other orders of the board of supervisors and the laws of the state required to be enforced by such board, are faithfully carried out by the officers and employees of the county, including all officers chosen by the electors;
(c) To recommend to the board of supervisors such measures as he may deem necessary or expedient for the proper administration of the affairs of the county and its several offices;
(d) To appoint all county officers whose election by the electors is not required by the constitution, except county supervisors and the county auditor or comptroller, and for such terms of office as are provided by law.
Subject to resolutions of the board of supervisors he shall
(e) Purchase all supplies and materials required by every county officer, including the superintendents of the poor;
(f) Execute contracts on behalf of the board of supervisors when the consideration therein shall not exceed five hundred dollars;
(g) Obtain from the several county officers reports of their various activities, in such form and at such times as the board of supervisors may require;
(h) Obtain from the several county officers itemized estimates of the probable expense of conducting their offices for the ensuing year, and transmit the same to the board of supervisors with his approval or disapproval of each and all items therein, in the form of a tentative budget;
(i) Perform such other duties as the board of supervisors may require.
In the exercise of the foregoing duties, the county manager shall have the same powers to examine witnesses, to take testimony under oath and to investigate the affairs of every county officer which is conferred by this chapter upon the boards of supervisors and committees thereof.
§ 248. The administrative code. Within ninety days after the first day of operation under this article, the board of supervisors shall adopt, publish in pamphlet form and cause to be delivered to every officer of the county, and to such other persons as shall apply for the same, a code of administrative rules. Such code, subject to such regulations concerning the conduct of various county officers as may be made from time to time by the comptroller, shall contain the rules of the said board on the following subjects:
(a) The methods by which the county manager shall exercise the duties imposed upon him in sub-divisions (e) to (i), inclusive, of section two hundred and forty-seven of this article.
(b) The method by which, and the form in which, the several county officers and employees shall order supplies and materials,
(c) The form in which, and the times at which, the several county officers shall submit the estimates of the probable financial needs of their offices for the ensuing year,
(d) The manner in which the county treasurer shall disburse the funds of the county,
(e) Such other regulations as shall be necessary to secure the efficient conduct of the affairs of the county and its several offices.
§ 249. Application of certain laws. All general and special laws applicable to the county shall remain in full force and effect except in so far as they are in conflict with this article.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
APPENDIX E
THE CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER IN NEW YORK CITY
[An amendment of the New York City Charter (Chap. 284 Laws of 1915) abolished the elective coroners in the five boroughs and created the office of Chief Medical Examiner. This amendment was prepared by representatives of the principal medical, legal and civic societies in New York City working in conjunction with the Commissioner of Accounts and representatives of the District Attorney’s office. It is believed to embody important standards of organization and procedure in the prosecution of public medico-legal investigations. The provisions of the amendment will go into effect January 1, 1918.]
AN ACT
To amend the Greater New York charter, and repeal certain sections thereof and of chapter four hundred and ten of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-two, in relation to the abolition of the office of coroner and the establishment of the office of chief medical examiner.
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The office of coroner in the city of New York shall be abolished on January first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, and after this section takes effect, a vacancy occurring in such an office in any borough shall not be filled unless by reason of the occurrence thereof, there shall be no coroner in office in such borough, in which case the vacancy in such borough last occurring shall be filled for a term to expire on January first, nineteen hundred and eighteen. If, by reason of the provisions of this section, the number of coroners in a borough be reduced, the remaining coroner or coroners in such borough shall have the powers and perform the duties conferred or imposed by law on the board of coroners in such borough.
§ 2. Title four of chapter twenty-three, sections fifteen hundred and seventy and fifteen hundred and seventy-one of the Greater New York charter, as re-enacted by chapter four hundred and sixty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred and one, is hereby repealed, and in its place is inserted a new title to be numbered four and to read as follows: