to widen, to regulate, to grade, to curb, to gutter, to flag, and to pave streets, to lay crosswalks, and to construct lateral sewers within its district, and generally for such other improvements in and about. such streets within its district as the public wants and convenience of the district shall require.

Id.; to transmit resolution; further procedure; expenses to be a lien.

§ 402. If the local board shall by resolution decide to recommend that proceedings be initiated for a local improvement within its jurisdiction, it shall thereupon, forthwith, transmit a copy of such resolution to the board of public improvements. Said board shall promptly consider such resolution, and if, in its opinion, the work proposed ought to be proceeded with, it shall take such steps in regard thereto as are in this act provided in the cases where public works are proposed and initiated by said board of public improvements. The expense of all such improvements shall be assessed and be a lien on the property benefited thereby in proportion to the amount of said benefit, and in no case shall extend beyond the limits of said district.

Local boards; power to flag sidewalks, etc.

§ 403. A local board shall have the power to cause the flagging or reflagging of sidewalks, laying or relaying of crosswalks, fencing vacant lots, digging down lots or filling in sunken lots within its district, by resolution approved by the board of public improveWhen such public work or improvement shall have been duly authorized, the board of public improvements shall direct the proper department to proceed forthwith in the execution thereof, as in cases where public works are proposed and initiated by said. board of public improvements.

ments.

Construction of this title.

§ 404. Nothing in this title contained shall be construed to in any way limit the power of the board of public improvements or of the municipal assembly, or of the board of public improvements and the municipal assembly conjointly, in authorizing any public improvement, nor shall anything herein contained be construed to authorize any local board to incur any expenditures other than as authorized by the board of estimate and apportionment.

CHAPTER X.

THE BOARD OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.

TITLE I. BOARD OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.

2. MAP OR PLAN OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK; MAP OF

SEWER SYSTEM AND SEWER DISTRICTS.

3. GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO DEPARTMENTS.

4. DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY.

5. DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS.

6. DEPARTMENT OF STREET CLEANING.

7. DEPARTMENT of sewers.

8. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC

SUPPLIES.

9. DEPARTMENT OF BRIDGES.

BUILDINGS, LIGHTING AND

TITLE 1.

BOARD OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.

SEC. 410. Board of public improvements; how constituted.

411. Id.; president; salary; powers.

412. Id.; secretary; office; meetings; quorum, etc.

413. Authorizing public improvements.

414. Municipal assembly; restriction on powers of.

415. Board of public improvements; power with respect to certain

subjects.

416. Id.; to prepare ordinances, etc.

417. Public improvement; further procedure.

418. Board of public improvements; power to prescribe rules, etc.

419. Contracts for work or supplies.

420. Proposals to be advertised; deposit to accompany bid.

421. Certificate of completion to be filed.

422. Power to assess for local improvements.

423. Comptroller to pay contractors.

424. Municipal assembly; further restrictions.

425. Board of public improvements; further powers.

426. Board of public improvements; general powers.

Board of public improvements; how constituted.

$410. There shall be in The City of New York a board of public improvements, to consist of the president of said board, the mayor,

the corporation counsel, the comptroller, the commissioner of water supply, the commissioner of highways, the commissioner of street cleaning, the commissioner of sewers, the commissioner of public buildings, lighting and supplies, the commissioner of bridges, and the presidents of the several boroughs, by virtue of their respective offices. The mayor, the corporation counsel, the comptroller, and the presidents of the several boroughs shall not be counted as members of the board for the purpose of ascertaining if a quorum be No president of a borough shall have a vote in said board. except upon matters relating exclusively to the borough of which he is president.

Id.; president; salary; powers.

§ 411. The president of the board of public improvements shall be appointed by the mayor and hold his office, as provided in chapter four of this act. His salary shall be eight thousand dollars a year. He shall be a member of the board of revision of assessinents. The said president shall have power to designate one of the members of said board as vice-president. The president, or in his absence, the vice-president, shall preside at all meetings of said board, shall certify all proceedings thereof, except as otherwise provided, and shall cause all reports required by said board to be made from the departments without delay. The president shall have power, in all cases of difference in the said board concerning the disposition of any public work, to assign such work to one or more of the departments for execution; and in case there shall arise any disagreement between the different departments represented on said board, other than the department of finance and the law department, or between contractors respectively undertaking work pursuant to contracts let by the different departments, the president shall decide such matter and his decision shall be final until and unless such decision shall be reversed by the board of public improvements. In case of the inability of the president to decide any of such matters by reason of sickness, or absence from the city, for a period not less than three days, the mayor shall have power to decide the same. The president shall have the power to vote, but his approval shall not be necessary for the validity of any resolution of the said board.

Id. secretary; office; meetings; quorum, etc.

$412. The president of said board shall have power to appoint and remove a secretary of the board and such other clerks as may be necessary. The secretary shall attend its meetings, keep and

preserve a record of its proceedings, and perform such other clerical duties as the board or the president may from time to time direct. The salary of the secretary and of all clerks, within the proper appropriation, shall be fixed and regulated by said board. The municipal assembly shall make provision for an office and a meeting-room, in the borough of Manhattan, for said board of public improvements. The said board shall meet, once a week at least, for the consideration of public business, and the president of the board may call meetings of the said board whenever he may deem it necessary. A majority of the members of the board who, as heretofore provided, are to be counted for the purpose of ascertaining if a quorum be present, shall form a quorum for the transaction of business, but final action shall not be had in any matter specially concerning the department of any commissioner not in attendance, unless such matter has theretofore been made a special order of the day. The said board shall from time to time furnish to the municipal assembly such information and data as may be required of it, or as it may deem proper or necessary to impart, and shall make an annual report to the mayor.

Authorizing public improvements.

§ 413. Except as herein otherwise provided, any public work or improvement within the cognizance and control of any one or more of the departments of the commissioners who constitute the board of public improvements, that may be the subject of a contract, must first be duly authorized and approved by a resolution of the board of public improvements and an ordinance or resolution of the municipal assembly. But no public work or improvement, involving an assessment for benefit, shall be so authorized until there has been presented to the board of public improvments an estimate in writing, in such detail as the board may direct, of the cost of the proposed work or improvement, and a statement of the assessed value, according to the last preceding tax-roll, of the real estate included within the probable area of assessment. Any ordinance or resolution of the municipal assembly approving any public work or improvement shall be subject to the power of the mayor over resolutions or ordinances of the municipal assembly, which ordinance or resolution, together with a statement of the final disposition thereof, duly certified by the city clerk, shall be transmitted to the board of public improvements. When a public work or improvement shall have been duly authorized, as aforesaid, then, but not until then, it shall be lawful for the proper department to proceed in the execution thereof, in accordance with the provisions

and subject to the limitations of this act. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as conferring on the board of public improvements any of the exclusive powers vested by law in any of the said commissioners in his department concerning the details of any work or improvement.

Municipal assembly; restriction on powers of.

§ 414. It shall not be lawful for the municipal assembly to enter directly into contract for any public work or improvement whatsoever. When proposals to enter upon public work of any character falling within the jurisdiction of the various departments represented in the board of public improvements originate in the municipal assembly, before an ordinance or resolution authorizing the same or providing money therefor shall be adopted, a report must be had from the board of public improvements as to the desirability thereof. Said board shall report in as much detail as possible, and shall submit an approximate, and, whenever practicable, a detailed estimate of cost. If the report of the board of public improvements be favorable to the project, an ordinance or resolution authorizing the same may be passed in the usual manner; but, if the report of the board of public improvements be unfavorable, an ordinance or resolution authorizing the project shall be passed only by a vote of five-sixths of both houses of the municipal assembly, and be approved by the mayor.

Board of public improvements; power with respect to certain subjects. $415. The board of public improvements shall have power over the following subjects:

1. The adoption of a map or plan for any part of The City of New York for which no final map or plan has been adopted.

2. Acquiring title for the use of the public to land required for parks, streets, approaches to bridges and tunnels, sites or lands. above or under water for bridges or tunnels.

3. Acquiring title for the use of the public to lands or easements therein, required for sewers, as provided in title seven of this chapter.

4. The approval of plans for the sewerage and drainage of The City of New York, devised and prepared by the president of said board and the commissioner of sewers.

5. The construction, repairing and cleansing of sewers and underground drains.

6. Repairs and renewal of pavements and readjusting the grade of streets in connection therewith.