N.Y. Village Law § 10-1012: Chief and assistant chiefs

§ 10-1012 Chief and assistant chiefs. 1. The chief and the first and

second assistant chiefs and such additional assistant chiefs, if any, as

may be provided for in the by-laws of the fire department shall each be

a member thereof and a resident of the state of New York; provided,

however, that fire department officers of the fire department of the

village of Hancock, Delaware county, need not be residents of the state

of New York. In addition, the board of trustees, or the board of fire

commissioners subject to the approval of the board of trustees, may, by

resolution, require that any or all of such fire department officers

shall be residents of the village. The delegates elected to the general

convention of the fire department shall meet at the council room thereof

on the Thursday following the first Tuesday in April, except the elected

delegates of the fire department of the village of Fishkill, Dutchess

county, which shall meet on the first Tuesday in December, and nominate

a person for each of such offices and except the elected delegates of

the fire department of the village of Croton-on-Hudson, Westchester

county, which shall meet on the Thursday following the first Tuesday in

December; but the fire commissioners of any village may adopt a rule

requiring all such nominations to be made on the day of the meeting by a

vote of the duly qualified members of the department, in which case the

meeting of the delegates in general convention, as provided for in this

section, shall be dispensed with. The person acting as secretary of such

convention shall forthwith file in the office of the village clerk a

certificate of such nominations. The board of fire commissioners at its

next meeting shall consider the nominations and appoint such persons to

the offices to which they are respectively nominated or, if a nomination

is not approved the board shall reconvene the general convention, which

shall submit a new nomination to take the place of any nomination not

approved, which procedure shall continue until a full set of officers is

approved. A person who has been convicted of arson in any degree shall

not be eligible for nomination, election or appointment to the office of

chief or assistant chief. Any fire chief or assistant chief who is

convicted of arson in any degree during their term of office shall be

disqualified from completing such term of office.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special or local law

inconsistent herewith any such chief or assistant chief of a village

fire department need not be a resident of the village in order to serve

as a member of the council of the fire department of the village

pursuant to section 10-1014 of this article unless the board of

trustees, or the board of fire commissioners subject to the approval of

the board of trustees, has, by resolution, as provided in this section,

required that any or all of such fire department officers shall be

residents of the village. Except as otherwise provided pursuant to this

subdivision, a person shall not hold the office of village mayor or

village trustee and the office of chief or assistant chief of a village

fire department at the same time. A village trustee who does not, either

as an individual or as a member of a board, appoint or approve the

appointment of the chief or assistant chief of a village fire

department, may hold the office of chief or assistant chief at the same

time. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, a person who is

the chief or an assistant chief of a village fire department, if he is

otherwise qualified, may be elected to the office of village mayor or

village trustee or may be appointed to the office of village mayor or

village trustee to fill a vacancy and, if he is so elected or appointed,

his office as chief or assistant chief, as the case may be, shall become

vacant upon his taking his oath of office as village mayor or village

trustee.