N.Y. Public Authorities Law § 2563: General powers of the corporation

§ 2563. General powers of the corporation. In the exercise of the

powers conferred and the performance of the duties imposed upon it by

section twenty-five hundred sixty-four of this title, and subject to the

limitations contained in other sections of this title, the corporation

shall have the following general powers:

1. To sue and be sued;

2. To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;

3. To make by-laws for the management and regulation of its affairs;

4. To make and execute contracts and all other instruments including

leases and subleases necessary or convenient to accomplish its corporate

purposes, including, without limitation, the operation and maintenance

of the convention center;

5. To purchase, receive, take by gift, grant, devise, bequest or

otherwise, lease or otherwise acquire, own, hold, improve, employ, use

and otherwise deal in and with, real or personal property, or any

interest therein, including air and subsurface rights and lands under

water at the site of the convention center or in the general vicinity

thereof;

6. To accept grants, loans, contributions, subsidies or other forms of

financial assistance from the United States, the state and the city, or

any agency or instrumentality thereof, and from any other source,

including gifts or transfers by bequest or otherwise, and to use same or

expend the proceeds thereof for its corporate purposes;

7. To invest any funds held in reserve or any moneys not required for

immediate use or disbursement, at the discretion of the corporation, in

obligations of the state or the United States government or obligations

the principal and interest of which are guaranteed by the state or the

United States government, or in accordance with the provisions of

section ninety-eight-a of the state finance law;

8. Subject to the approval of the director of the budget in such form

as he shall specify, to appoint such officers, agents and employees as

it may require for the performance of its duties, and to fix and

determine their qualifications, duties and compensation and to retain or

employ other agents, including but not limited to architects, counsel,

auditors, engineers and private consultants on a contract basis or

otherwise for rendering professional or technical services and advice;

9. With the consent of the state, to use the agents, employees and

facilities of the state, paying to the state its agreed proportion of

the compensation or costs;

10. To fix and collect rents, rates, fees and other charges for the

use of the convention center;

11. To enter into agreements with the city and the state and the

United States, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, individuals,

firms or corporations for any lawful purposes necessary or desirable to

effectuate the purposes of this title; and

12. To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes

and provisions of this title.

13. (a) Notwithstanding paragraph three of subdivision b of section

six hundred of the retirement and social security law and subdivision

four of section two hundred one of the civil service law, or any other

general, special or local law, the corporation may provide to persons in

its employ any retirement benefits provided or required pursuant to any

agreement with a labor union of which its employees are members, and the

corporation is hereby authorized retroactively or in the future to make

such contributions as may be necessary to provide such benefits, and any

and all payments heretofore made by the corporation in compliance with

any such agreement shall be and hereby are ratified and confirmed.

(b) Notwithstanding paragraph three of subdivision b of section six

hundred of the retirement and social security law, persons in the employ

of the corporation on whose behalf the corporation has made or shall

make payments pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall

neither be required nor permitted to become members of the New York

state and local employees' retirement system for so long as such

payments continue; provided, however, that nothing in this paragraph

shall be deemed to affect the rights and privileges of persons in the

employ of the corporation who are enrolled members of the New York state

and local employees' retirement system on the effective date of this

subdivision, and further, that this paragraph shall not affect the

membership of persons in the employ of the corporation who are enrolled

members of the New York state and local employees' retirement system on

the effective date of this subdivision.