AMENDMENTS TO CHARTER
CITY OF BROOKLYN,
RELATIVE TO APPOINTMENTS OF HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS
OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT,
CHAPTER 377,
An ACT in relation to the government of the city of Brooklyn.
Passed May 25, 1880; three-fifths being present.
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly
do enact as follows :
4.... . . ~~~~~~~~~
$
SECTION 1. Within thirty days after the passage of this Act, the
Mayor and Comptroller shall meet at the Mayor's office and shall agree
upon and appoint eight Assessors to hold office as hereinafter pro-
vided, two for each term ; and they shall also agree upon and appoint
a proper person to be the head of the Department of Police and Ex-
cise, and designated the Commissioner of Police and Excise ; and
the said Mayor and Comptroller shall also agree upon and appoint
a proper person who shall be the head of the Department of City Works,
and designated the Commissioner of said Department ; also, two proper
persons to be Commissioners of Excise ; also, a proper person who
shall be the head of the Fire Department, and designated as the Com-
missioner of said Department ; also, a proper person who shall be the
head of the Department of Buildings, and to be designated the Com-
missioner thereof ; also, a proper person who shall be the head of the
Department of Health, and designated as the Commissioner of said
Department; and the President of the Department of Police and
|Excise and the President of the Board of Aldermen, shall thereupon
cease to be members of the Board of Health of the said city ; the said
Mayor and Comptroller shall also agree upon and appoint a proper
person to be President of the Department of Assessment, who, to-
gether with the eight Assessors appointed, as hereinbefore provided,
shall constitute the Department of Assessment ; and in case they shall
fail to agree upon one or more of said appointments, for a period of
thirty days after the passage of this Act, then and in that case no further
action shall be taken thereon by the said Mayor and Comptroller; but
such appointments as shall not have been agreed upon and made,
shall be made by the Mayor alone, on the first Monday of January,
WS
G, 34-
, A22,
\º 3, C
... . . . . ...,’ & ‘’’ -
i;.
- - - **** * *-*... . . - . *
_-----~~~~--~~~~~~~ *- : *s-, ... x+..., , , , • . *, *
* * * * > . ~ : , ~...~ºrt & - * : * * * * * * * * * ~ *
eighteen hundred and eighty-two. Each of the persons so appointed ;
by the Mayor and Comptroller shall take the oath of office and file the i
j same with the City Clerk, together with his official bond, as now pre-.
;
t
º
thereupon the persons so appointed shall respectively take and hold i
the office, to which each shall have been so appointed, until the first ;
day of February, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, except that the #
Assessors shall hold office as hereinafter provided ; and the persons so :
appointed by the Mayor alone shall in like manner take the oath of :
office and file their bonds, and hold office for a term as provided in
section six of this Act: and upon the making of the appointments :
respectively provided for in this section, the term of office of the
present Presidents and other heads of said Departments respectively, :
and of the present Assessors, shall cesse and determine, and thereafter ;
all the powers, duties, obligations, rights and privileges of the heads
of the said several Departments, as now prescribed by law, shall
devolve upon the heads of such Departments respectively appointed
under this Act. . . . . .............. ... … . . . . . . . ~~~~ - -
# scribed by law, to be approved by the Mayor and Comptroller; and º
\
-** "Tº $2. The said two Commissioners of Excise shall act on all matters
relating to excise with the Commissioner of Police and Excise, to be
appointed pursuant to this Act, and in respect to all matters of excise,
but not of police, shall each possess the same power as the said Com-
missioner of Police and Excise, who, nevertheless, shall be President
of the Commissioners of Excise and the head thereof. Their succes-
sors shall be appointed in the manner and for the term prescribed in
section six of this Act. As to the present Department of Fire and
Buildings, all the powers, duties, obligations, rights and privileges of
said Department, relating to the extinguishing of fires, or in anywise
appertaining thereto, shall, upon the appointment and qualification of
the said Fire Commissioner, be vested in the head of the Fire Depart—
ment ; and all the powers, duties, obligations, rights and privileges of
said Department of Fire and Buildings relating to the erection, altera-
tion and repair of buildings, or in anywise appertaining thereto, shall
be vested exclusively in the Commissioner of Buildings, to be ap-
pointed as provided by section one of this Act, and who shall organize
and constitute a Department of Buildings ; and the appointment of
either the Fire Commissioner or the Commissioner of Buildings shall
become valid only upon the appointment and qualification of both
said Commissioners ; and the appointment of the Commissioners of
Police and Excise and the two Commissioners of Excise shall become
valid only upon the appointment and qualification of the said three
Commissioners respectively; and the appointment of the said eight
Assessors shall become valid only upon the appointment and qualifica-
tion of all said Assessors. r - .
- § 3. Two of the said Assessors to be appointed by the Mayor and
Comptroller shall be appointed to hold office until the first day of Sep-

£
:
§
§
|
~~~~~~~$5. "Any
'ć
|
s
#
&
|
3 :
tember, eighteen hundred and eighty-two ; two until the first day of
September, eighteen hundred and eighty-three ; two until the first
day of September, eighteen hundred and eighty-four; and two until
the first day of September, eighteen hundred and eighty-five. The
Salary of the President of the Board of Assessors shall be at the rate of
four thousand dollars per year ; and, after the year 1880, the salary of
the President of the Board of Aldermen shall be at the rate of one
thousand dollars per year.
The Salary of the said two Commissioners of Excise shall be at the
rate of twenty-five hundred dollars per annum. The salary of the said
Commissioner of Buildings shall be at the rate of three thousand
dollars per annum. The salary of the Commissioners of Police and
Excise and of City Works, respectively, to be appointed as by this
Act provided, shall be the same as that of the present Presidents of the
said Departments respectively. The salary of the Fire Commissioner
and the Health Commissioner shall be the same as that of the President
of the 4)epartment of Fire and Buildings and the present President of
the Department of Health, respectively. To meet any necessary ex-
penses of the said Department of Buildings for the remainder of the -
year eighteen hundred and eighty, it shall be the duty of the Comp-
troller to transfer from the funds raised for the Department of Fire and
Buildings, to the credit of an account to be opened for the said De-
partment of Buildings, such moneys as have been raised and appro-
priated for the purpose of overseeing the construction, alteration and
repair of buildings.
§ 4. No person shall be appointed as herein provided unless he is
an elector of said city at the time of his appointment. The head of
each of said Departments (except the Department of Assessment) shall
have power to designate and appoint, and at pleasure remove a person
in his Department as his deputy or first assistant ; and the person
So designated as deputy or first assistant shall, during the absence or
inability of the head of the Department by whom he was appointed,
have power to perform all the ordinary duties of such head of Depart-
ment, except the power to make appointments ; Subject, however, to
such restrictions or regulations as may be provided by the head of the
Department so appointing him. All official business of the said several
Departments shall be transacted at the offices of the said Departments,
and a continuous record or minute shall be kept at the said offices,
respectively, of such business....…..
the BGard of Education which shall occur prior to January first, eight-
seen hundred and eighty-one, by expiration of the term of office or
otherwise, shall be filled by the Mayor and Comptroller, and all va-
cancies occurring during the year eighteen hundred and eighty-one,
through death, resignation or removal from office prior to the expira-
-tion of the term for which an officer shall have been appointed, shall
-,-,-,-,-------~ ******* •: -
vacancy in any office in the city of Brooklyn, incliding:-----.
|
f
j
* *-i- - --....... .. • . . . . . . . . ." . . ... •",
* - x - ".
J. : * : , }
>, < * : ***, *-* * • ' - - x: {
| be filled by the Mayor alone; and all power now conferred by law npon
i the Mayor with consent of the Common Council to appoint any person
| in said city is hereby abolished. All vacancies occurring during the
term for which an officer shall have been appointed shall be filled only
for the unexpired term of such officer. . . . . . . . ..........…. . . . . .
~$6. After the first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-
two, the Mayor of the city of Brooklyn shall have sole and exclusive
power to appoint the successor of any Commissioner or other head of
Department (except the Department of Finance and the Department of
Audit), or of any Assessor or member of the Board of Education of
said city, when the terms of such officers shall respectively expire, or
as by law may then or thereafter be required to be appointed ; and the
term of office of such appointees, and their successors, except Asses-
sors, whose term shall be for four years, shall be for two years ; pro-
vided, however, that if the Mayor shall refuse or neglect, for a period
of thirty days after the expiration of the term of any officer, to make
an appointment to office authorized to be made pursuant to this sec-
tion, then and in that case such refusal or neglect shall be adjudged
and deemed to be in all respects equivalent to and taken as an ex-
pess appointment of the Commissioner or other. officer who may at
the time be holding such office.
§ 7. The officer or officers at the head of any Department may
appoint and remove his or their clerks and assistants and other subor-
dinates, and fix their salaries; provided, however, that on and after
the expiration of thirty days, from the time when a new officer or
officers shall have been appointed as such head of Department, he or
they may remove clerks or assistants only upon filing in writing the
reasons for any removal with the City Clerk, which reasons shall not be
questioned in any other place, except that foremen, inspectors and
laborers, temporarily employed under the Department of City Works,
may be removed at any time at the pleasure of the head of such De-
partment. - .
No person employed on the police force, or on the force for extin–
guishing fires, shall be removed without cause, and then only after
public trial by the head of his Department, and after having been
found guilty of misconduct or neglect of duty, or having been adjudged
incapable of performing his duty ; the evidence on such trial shall be
taken in full and kept as a public record.
§ 8. Any officer who, by the express terms of this Act, shall be
deprived of his office, shall be entitled to receive his salary in the same
manner as if this Act had not been passed up to the expiration of his
present term of office ; but if such officer shall accept any other office,
he shall receive no additional compensation, unless the salary attached
to such other office shall be larger than that of the office which he shall
hold at the time of the passage of this Act, in which case he shall
receive the salary only which is affixed to such other office. The
5
Mayor may suspend any officer appointed under the provisions of
this Act, provided he shall forthwith serve in writing upon the person
suspended the charges and specifications upon which such suspension
has been made, and on a notice of not less than five nor more than ten
days served upon the Mayor by the person so suspended ; the Special
Term of the Supreme Court shall forthwith hear the proofs and argu-
ments on such charges and specifications, and determine thereon if
such suspended officer should be removed, and the judgment of such
Special Term that such officer be removed, affirmed by the General
Term of the Supreme Court, shall remove the person so suspended
from office from the date of his suspension ; but if the judgment of
the Special Term, or of the General Term of the Supreme Court, shall
be against such removal, such suspension shall thereupon cease; pro-
vided that the Mayor may appeal from a judgment of the Special
Term favorable to the accused to the General Term, and the General
Term may reverse the judgment of the Special Term, and find judg-
ment of removal against the accused officer, if in its judgment justice
so requires. The Mayor may, if the interests of the city require it,
make a temporary appointment during such suspension.
§9. All Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are hereby
repealed.
§ 10. This Act shall take effect immediately.
CHAPTER. 457.
An Act to amend chapter three hundred and seventy-seven of the
laws of eighteen hundred and eighty, entitled “An Act in relation
to the government of the city of Brooklyn.” -
Passed June 4, 1881, three-fifths being present.
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly,
do enact as follows ;
SECTION 1. Section eight of chapter three hundred and seventy-
seven, of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty, entitled “An Act
in relation to the government of the city of Brooklyn,” is hereby
amended so as to read as follows :
Ś 8. Subdivision one. Any officer who, by the express terms of this
Act, shall be deprived of his office, shall be entitled to receive his sal-
ary in the same manner as if this Act had not been passed, up to the
expiration of his present term of office ; but if such officer shall ac-
cept any other office he shall receive no additional compensation,
unless the salary attached to such other office shall be larger than that
of the office which he shall hold at the time of the passage of this Act,
in which case he shall receive the Salary only which is affixed to such
other office. The Mayor may suspend any officer appointed by the
Mayor, provided he shall forthwith serve in writing upon the person
6.
suspended the charges and specifications upon which such suspension
has been made, and on a notice of not less than five nor more than
ten days served upon the Mayor by the person so suspended, thc
Special Term of the Supreme Court shall forthwith hear the proofs
and arguments on such charges and specifications, and determine
thereon if such suspended officer shall be removed and the judgment
of such Special Term that such officer be removed, affirmed by the
General Term of the Supreme Court, shall remove the person so sus-
pended from office from the date of his suspension ; but if the judg-
ment of the Special Term or of the General Term of the Supreme
Court shall be against such removal, such suspension shall thereupon
cease ; provided that the Mayor may appeal from a judgment of the
Special Term favorable to the accused to the General Term, and the
General Term may reverse the judgment of the Special Term and find
judgment of removal against the accused officer, it in its judment jus-
tice so requires. The Mayor may, if the interests of the city require
it, make a temporary appointment during such suspension. Heads of
departments and officers of said city shall not be liable to third parties
for the misfeasance or nonfeasance of any person appointed by or sub-
Ordinate to them. -
2. The Commissioner of Police and Excise shall have power in his
discretion, on conviction of a member of the force, for any criminal
offense, or neglect of duty, or violation of rules, or neglect or disobe-
dience of Orders, or incapacity or absence without leave, or any con-
duct injurious to the publig peace or Welfare, or immoral conduct, or
conduct unbecoming an officer, or other breach of discipline, to punish
the offending party by reprimand, forfeiture and withholding pay for
a specified time, or dismissal from the force, or, if he be a detective,
or officer, other than doorman or patrolman, by reducing him to any
grade below that in which he was acting, after which his pay shall be
the same allowed to officers of the grade to which he is reduced. In
case of punishment by forfeiture and withholding pay, no more than
ten days pay shall be forfeited and withheld for any offense.
3. A writ of certiorari to reverse a determination by the Commis-
sioner of Police and Excise, or thc Commissioner of the Fire Depart—
ment Óf the city of Brooklyn, to remove a person employed on the
police or fire department forces of said city, for cause, must be granted.
and served within thirty days after notice to him of such removal.
4. Whenever any fuel, furniture, books, stationery or other sup-
plies, or any repairs have been duly ordered by the Common Council,
or other competent authority, for any department, Justice's Court, or
any branch of the Municipal Government, the expense of which will
not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars, the Commissioner of City
Works shall cause such articles to be purchased, and such repairs to be
made ; and no bills for supplies or repairs shall be audited and paid
except on certificate of the Commissioner of City Works. . . . . . . . . .
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
7
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER, 532.
An ACT to create a Board of Estimate for the county of Kings and the
city of Brooklyn, and to prescribe the manner in which appropri-
ations shall be made for the support of the government of said
county and said city, and the appointment of court officers.
Passed May 31, 1880; three-fifths being present.
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly
do enact as follows: - -
SECTION 1. The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of the city of
Brooklyn, together with the Supervisor at Large and the Treasurer of
the county of Kings, shall be a Board of Estimate, who shall, in each
year, estimate the amount required to be raised by law, for all city and
county purposes, including the moneys raised for the Board of Educa-
tion and the Commissioners of Charities for the fiscal year next suc- .
ceeding ; they shall state separately what will be required for city and
county purposes respectively. The amount so raised in said city for
city and county purposes shall not exceed two cents per dollar upon
- an amount equal to the aggregate of the assessed value of the property
in said city for the previous year, and no greater amount shall be raised
in said city by tax for such purposes ; but nothing herein contained
shall prevent the raising by tax of any further moneys which shall be
required to pay the principal and interest of the city and county debt
, hereafter to become due. The city and county Departments and officers,
including the Park Commissioners and the Commissioners of Charities
and the Board of Supervisors of Kings county, shall, on or before the
fifteenth day of May in each year, transmit to the said Board of Esti-
mate a statement in detail of the several amounts which, in their
judgment will be required for the use of the said Board of Supervisors,
the said Departments, officers and Commissioners, respectively. The
said Board of Estimate shall revise such statements and fix a certain
amount to be raised for the use of the said Board of Supervisors; and
each of the said several Departments, officers and the said Commis-
sioners respectively for the year next ensuing.
§ 2. The said Board of Estimate shall, annually, on or before the
first Monday in July, present to the Common Council of the city of
Brooklyn their estimate of the amount to be raised for city purposes,
and the said Common Council shall thereupon determine what sums
shall be necessary for the year commencing the first day of January
thereafter ; they may, by a majority vote of all the members elected,
reduce the said several amounts fixed by the said Board of Estimate
for the said several city Departments, officers and Commissioners,
including the Board of Education, but they shall not increase the
said amounts; and there shall be no further action taken on the said
estimates by the Common Council after the first Tuesday in October;
the City Clerk shall thereupon substitute in each case where a reduc-
8
tion has been made by the Common Council the amonnt as reduced in
place of that fixed by the Board of Estimate, and shall, on or before
the second Monday in October, certify to the Board of Supervisors of
Kings county the said several amounts as they then stand, giving also
the aggregate amount thereof, and the said aggregate amount shall be
raised for city purposes in the annual tax levy next following.
§ 3. The said Board of Estimate may reduce but shall not increase
the several amounts as estimated by the Board of Supervisors and
other authorities and officers supported by the county of Kings, and
shall certify to the Board of Supervisors of Kings county, on or before
the first day of July in each year, the said several amounts, and the
aggregate amount thereof, as determined by the said Board of Esti-
mate, and the said aggregate amount shall be raised in the annual tax
levy next following for county purposes for the fiscal year next snc-
ceeding, The said Board of Supervisors of Kings county shall, dur-
ing the month of July in each year, fix and regulate all salaries paid
by the county of Kings, including those of court officers, which court
officers shall hereafter hold their offices subject to the orders of the
Court respectively ; but excepting such as are fixed by the Constitu-
tion of the State, and those of the employees of the Commissioners of
Charities, so as not to exceed in the aggregate the amount fixed and
determined by the Board of Estimate for the purpose, but the salaries
of officers or employees of the county elected or appointed for a term
fixed by the Legislature shall not be reduced or increased after such
officers or employees have been elected or appointed, and the said
Board of Supervisors may, subject to the said estimates, authorize the
head of each office to fix the salaries of his assistants, clerks and other
subordinates respectively.
§ 4. All Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are hereby
repealed. 3.
§ 5. This Act shall take effect immediately.