L. 1916, ch. 5. General powers of board of supervisors. §§ 4, 12. COUNTY LAW. (L. 1909, ch. 16.) § 4. Actions and contracts in corporate name. Action by contractor; refusal of sewer commission to audit bill.-Where a county sewer commission refuses to audit the bills of a contractor having sole authority to do so, the county is bound by their action, and the contractor is under no obligation to compel the audit by mandamus, but may bring an action at law under his contract. American Pipe and Construction Co. v. Westchester County. (1915) 225 Fed. 947. § 12. General powers of board of supervisors.-Subds. 32 and 33 as added by L. 1915, ch. 679, amended by L. 1916, ch. 5, in effect Feb. 17, 1916, as follows: 32. The board of supervisors of any county containing a population of less than two hundred thousand and adjoining a city of the first class may authorize the establishment of a plan for the grades of streets, avenues and boulevards; the alteration of such plan of grades, or of any plan thereof, which shall have been established by law; the laying out, opening, grading, construction, closing and change of line, or of the width of any one or more of such streets, avenues and boulevards or any other streets, avenues and boulevards, within said county, or any part or parts thereof, and of the courtyards, sidewalks and roadways; to provide for the estimation and award of the damages to be sustained, and for the assessment on property intended to be benefited thereby, and fixing assessment districts therefor, the levying, collection and payment of such damages, and of all other charges and expenses to be incurred, or which may be necessary in carrying out the provisions of this subdivision; the laying out of new or additional streets, avenues or boulevards according to a general scheme or plan for the improvement of highways in said town, the acceptance by town officers of conveyances of land for public highways, naming and changing of names of streets and avenues within the said county, the opening, laying out, grading, construction, closing and change of line of any street, avenue or boulevard within the county, provided, however, that nothing shall be done hereunder in respect to or concerning any street, avenue or boulevard situated within an incorporated village, without the consent of the board of trustees of such incorporated village. The provisions, however, for the defraying of the expenses thereof by assessment as herein provided, shall only be exercised on the petition of the property owners who own more than one-half of the frontage on any such street, avenue or boulevard, or on the certificate of the supervisor, justices of the peace, and town clerk of the town in which said street, avenue or boulevard is located, or two-thirds of such officers, that the same is in their judgment $12. General powers of board of supervisors. L. 1916, ch. 5. proper and necessary for the public interest; or in case the said street, avenue, or boulevard, in respect to which such action is proposed to be taken, shall lie in two or more towns, on a like certificate of such town officers of each of said towns, or two-thirds of all of them; provided, however, that before proceeding to make any such certificate, the said officers, or such number of them as aforesaid, shall give ten days' notice by publication in one of the weekly papers of said county and by posting in six public places in said town, or in each of said towns, of the time and place at which they will meet for the purpose of considering the same, at which meeting the public and all persons interested may appear and be heard in relation thereto; and provided that no such street or avenue shall be laid out, opened or constructed upon or across any lands heretofore acquired by the right of eminent domain, and held in fee for depot purposes by any railroad. (Added by L. 1915, ch. 679, and amended by L. 1916, ch. 5, in effect Feb. 17, 1916.) 33. Should the board of supervisors of any county containing a population of less than two hundred thousand and adjoining a city of the first class at any time deem it for the public interest to acquire title to lands and premises required for any streets, highway or boulevard heretofore or hereafter laid out, widened, altered, extended or otherwise improved, it may acquire the same by dedication, or by condemnation under the condemnation law, provided, however, that no land shall be acquired for any street, highway or boulevard in an incorporated village without the consent of the board of trustees of such incorporated village. Such board may direct, by a two-thirds vote, where no buildings are upon the lands, that the title to any piece or parcel of land lying within the lines of any such street, highway, or boulevard shall be vested in the county upon the date of recovery of such dedication or upon the date of the filing of the oath of the condemnation commissioners as provided in the condemnation law, or upon a specified date thereafter and where there are buildings upon such lands, upon a date not less than six months from the date of the filing of said oath. Thereafter, when the condemnation commissioners shall have taken and filed said oath, upon the date of such filing or upon such subsequent date as may be specified, where no buildings are upon such lands and where there are buildings upon such lands upon the date specified by said board of supervisors either before or after the filing of such oath, the same being not less than six months from the date of said filing, the county shall become and be seized in fee of said lands, tenements, and hereditaments in the said resolution mentioned, that shall or may be so required as aforesaid, the same to be held, appropriated, converted and used to and for such purpose accordingly, in like manner as are other public streets in said county. In such cases interest at the legal rate upon the sum or sums to which the owners, lessees, parties or persons are justly entitled upon the date of the vesting of title in the county as aforesaid, from said date to the date of the report of the commsisioners shall be allowed L. 1916, ch. 606. Proceedings of board. $ 19. by the commissioners as a part of the compensation to which such owner, lessees, parties or persons are entitled. In the other cases, title, as afore said, shall vest in the county upon the confirmation by the court of the report of the condemnation commissioners. Upon the vesting of title as herein provided, the county or any person or persons acting under its authority, may immediately, or at any time thereafter take possession of the same, or any part or parts thereof, without any suit or proceeding at law for that purpose. The title acquired by the county, to lands and premises required for a street, shall be in trust, and such lands and premises appropriated and kept open for, or as part of a public street or highway, forever, in like manner as the other streets in the county. (Added by L. 1915, ch. 679, and amended by L. 1916, ch. 5, in effect Feb. 17, 1916.) Powers in general.-The board of supervisors of a county is vested with such powers of local legislation and administration as are conferred upon it by the legislature. Its power is co-extensive with the power expressly granted to it or which is necessarily or reasonably implied from the powers so expressly conferred. Wadsworth v. Board of Supervisors (1916), 217 N. Y. 484. Power to contract with county clerk for reindexing of record.-Wadsworth v. Board of Supervisors (1916), 217 N. Y. 484. Superintendent of the poor, personal expenses.-The County Law does not make the personal expenses of a superintendent of the poor a county charge and they are not a proper charge unless the board of supervisors has expressly so provided in fixing the compensation of the superintendent. Strong v. Williams (1915), 167 App. Div. 714, 153 N. Y. Supp. 175. § 19. Printing and distribution of proceedings of board.-Each board of supervisors shall cause as many copies of the proceedings of its sessions as it may deem necessary, certified by its chairman and clerk, to be printed as a county charge, in a pamphlet volume, as soon as may be after each session, for exchange with other boards, for the members of the board and other town and county officers, and for public distribution. At least three copies of such printed volume shall be forwarded to and filed in each town clerk's office and in the county clerk's office. In counties containing cities of the first class, and in counties containing three cities of the third class, the publication of the proceedings of the board of supervisors may be ordered to be made in a daily newspaper, the work to be done by contract, let to the lowest bidder, after an opportunity to bid therefor has been given to the proprietors of all the daily newspapers printed in the English language in said county; such bid may include the printing and binding in pamphlet volumes of such number of copies of the proceedings of such board as may be required, and also the printing of pamphlet copies thereof for the use of the members of said board at its sessions. Such printed proceedings shall contain a summary statement of all bills against the county, presented to the board and audited and allowed or disallowed, indicating the amount allowed or disallowed. The board of supervisors may as often as it shall be deemed necessary, cause to be printed and distributed in like manner, in the same volume or otherwise, its county laws, § 20. Designation of newspapers. L. 1916, ch. 606. combined with suitable forms and instructions thereunder, and reports of committees and county officers filed with it. Whenever the proceedings of the board of supervisors of any county are printed in .a. volume by authority of the board of supervisors, the volume so printed, and duly certified by the chairman and clerk of the said board of supervisors to be a true record of such proceedings, shall be and constitute the book of records of the said board. (Amended by L. 1913, ch. 256, and L. 1916, ch. 606, in effect May 20, 1916.) § 20. Designation of newspapers for publication of session laws. Right of newspaper to publication of session laws.-The fact that a newspaper has for a long series of years advocated the principles and policies of a political party, gives it no right to the publication of the session laws, etc., unless it is at the time of the designation fulfilling that rôle. It seems, that a board of supervisors acting in good faith may designate a newspaper to publish the session laws, etc., on behalf of a political party, although such paper has not always been a party organ, in the place of the paper which had always fulfilled this rôle, but which, upon a particular occasion and in the year just then closing, had concededly varied its policy and refrained from the support of some of the party candidates. People ex rel. Elmira Advertiser Association v. Gorman (1915), 169 App. Div. 891, 155 N. Y. Supp. 722. Designation of newspaper.—The statute relating to the designation of a newspaper to publish session laws and concurrent resolutions does not require the designation of the paper having the largest circulation in the county but leaves a very large discretion to the board of supervisors, and their acts in this respect are purely administrative and not reviewable. People ex rel. Utica Sunday Tribune Co. v. Hugo (1916), 93 Misc. 586, 158 N. Y. Supp. 485. Revocation of designation.-Although this section provides that the “designation of a paper or papers made contrary to the provisions of this section shall be void," a mere suggestion that a designation made does not comply with the provisions of the statute, even though supported by affidavits, is not sufficient to require the action of the board of supervisors to be set aside. People ex rel. Elmira Advertiser Association v. Gorman (1915), 169 App. Div. 891, 155 N. Y. Supp. 722. The designation of a paper having been duly filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors, pursuant to this section, cannot be revoked by the supervisors signing the same, and another paper designated. Atty. Genl. Opin. 6 State Dep. Rep. 443 (1915). Mandamus to compel designation.-Where a newspaper in a petition for a writ of mandamus against a board of supervisors in terms asks for an alternative writ, but contends that it is the only newspaper in the county which meets the requirements of the statute, and that it is the duty of the court to direct the board of supervisors to designate such paper, the question must be dealt with upon the theory that the petitioner asks for a peremptory writ, and where the board has made a designation in good faith the petition-should be dismissed. People ex rel. Elmira Advertiser Association v. Gorman (1915), 169 App. Div. 891, 155 N. Y. Supp. 722. Certiorari; mandamus, peremptory unit.-A board of supervisors in designating a newspaper under sections 20 and 22 of the County Law, to publish the session laws, etc., does not act judicially but rather in an administrative capacity. Its action is not open to review by certiorari, nor can its decision as to whether a newspaper represents the principles of a political party be set aside by a peremptory writ of mandamus. People ex rel. Elmira Advertiser Association v. Gorman (1915), 169 App. Div. 891, 155 N. Y. Supp. 722. L. 1916, ch. 426. Compensation of supervisors. § 23. § 23. Compensation of supervisors. For services of supervisors, except in the counties of Albany, Columbia, Dutchess, Orange, Erie, Hamilton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Rensselaer, Rockland, Saratoga, Schenectady, Steuben, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester, each supervisor shall receive from the county compensation at the rate of four dollars per day, and in Broome county at the rate of five dollars per day, for each calendar day's actual attendance at the sessions of their respective boards, and mileage at the rate of eight cents per mile for once going and returning from his residence to the place where the sessions of the board shall be held, by the most usual route, for each regular and special session. In the county of Allegany each supervisor shall receive from the county compensation at the rate of five dollars per day for each calendar day's actual attendance at the sessions of the board of supervisors and mileage at the rate of eight cents per mile for once going and returning every week during any regular or special session of such board. from his place of residence to the place where any such sessions of the board is held. In the counties of Hamilton, Herkimer, Niagara, Rockland, Saratoga, Schenectady and Steuben each supervisor shall receive an annual salary, in the county of Herkimer of two hundred and twenty dollars and the mileage hereinabove prescribed, in the county of Hamilton of one hundred and twenty dollars and his reasonable traveling expenses actually and necessarily incurred in once going and returning from his residence to the place where the sessions of the board shall be held, by the most usual route, for each regular and special session, in the county of Niagara of four hundred dollars, in the county of Rockland of four hundred dollars, in the county of Saratoga of three hundred dollars, in the county of Schenectady of five hundred dollars and in the county of Steuben of one hundred and fifty dollars, in lieu of any per diem compensation. In the counties of Dutchess and Orange each supervisor shall receive an annual salary from the county of one hundred and fifty dollars and also mileage at the rate of ten cents per mile for going and returning, once in each week during the annual session of the board of supervisors and when the board is sitting as a board of county canvassers, by the most usually traveled route, from his residence to the place where the sessions of the board shall be held, and in addition thereto compensation at the rate of four dollars per day and mileage as hereinabove provided for each special session of the board which he attends; such compensation and mileage to be paid by the county treasurer on the last day of the annual session in each year. In the county of Suffolk each supervisor shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars for all services to the county for board meetings and committee work, in lieu of any per diem compensation. He shall be reimbursed by the county for actual expenses to and from board and committee meetings. In the county of Ulster each supervisor shall receive an annual salary from the county of three hundred and fifty dollars, and also mileage at the rate of eight cents per mile for going and returning once |