N.Y. Transportation Law § 32: Niagara thruway toll removal fund

§ 32. Niagara thruway toll removal fund. 1. There is hereby created

within the department of transportation the "Niagara thruway toll

removal fund". The fund shall be a corporate governmental agency

constituting a public benefit corporation. It shall be administered by

three trustees, two of whom shall be appointed by the governor with the

advice and consent of the senate and the third shall be the commissioner

of transportation.

2. The two trustees of the fund first appointed by the governor shall

serve their terms ending December thirty-first, in nineteen hundred

sixty-eight and nineteen hundred seventy, respectively. Persons

appointed for full terms as their successors shall serve for six years

each commencing as of the January first next following the year in which

the term of his predecessor expired. In the event of a vacancy occurring

in the office of a trustee by death, resignation or otherwise, the

governor shall appoint a successor in the same manner as an original

appointment to serve for the balance of the unexpired term.

3. The trustees of the fund shall serve without salary, but each

trustee shall be entitled to reimbursement for his actual and necessary

expenses incurred in the performance of his official duties.

4. The trustees of the fund may engage in private employment, or in a

profession or business, subject to the limitations contained in sections

seventy-three and seventy-four of the public officers law. The fund

shall, for the purposes of such sections, be a "state agency", and the

trustees thereof shall be "officers" of the agency for the purposes of

said sections.

5. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of law, general,

special or local, no officer or employee of the state, or of any civil

division thereof, shall be deemed to have forfeited or shall forfeit his

office or employment by reason of accepting appointment as a trustee of

the fund.

6. The governor may remove any trustee for inefficiency, neglect of

duty or misconduct in office after giving him a copy of the charges

against him, and an opportunity to be heard, in person or by counsel, in

his defense, upon not less than ten days' notice. If any trustee shall

be removed, the governor shall file with the secretary of state a

complete statement of charges made against the trustee, and his findings

thereon, together with a complete record of the proceedings.

7. The chairman of the fund shall be designated by the governor, shall

preside over all its meetings and shall have such other duties as the

trustees may direct. A vice-chairman who shall preside over all meetings

of the fund in the absence of the chairman and shall have such other

duties as the trustees may direct may be designated from time to time by

the trustees from among the other trustees.

8. The powers of the fund shall be vested in and exercised by no less

than two of the trustees then in office. The fund may delegate to one or

more of its trustees, or officers, agents and employees, such powers and

duties as it may deem proper, provided, however, that all contracts

involving an estimated expense of ten thousand dollars or more and all

lease agreements to be entered into pursuant to section thirty-four of

this chapter shall be approved prior to execution by no less than two

trustees of the fund.

9. Officers and employees of other state agencies may be transferred

to the fund and officers and employees of the fund may be transferred to

other state agencies without examination and without loss of any civil

service status or rights. No such transfer, however, may be made except

with the approval of the head of the other state agency involved, the

director of the budget and the chairman of the fund, and in compliance

with the rules and regulations of the state civil service commission.