N.Y. Village Law § 17-1708: Trustees as town board

§ 17-1708 Trustees as town board. 1. In any village which has been or

may hereafter be incorporated to embrace the entire territory of a town

the town board of such town may, upon its own motion, and shall on a

petition signed and acknowledged by not less than fifty taxpayers of the

said town submit at any biennial town meeting or at any special town

meeting called for the purpose, a proposition substantially in the

following form: "Shall the board of trustees of the village of

..............constitute the town board of the town of ............ for

all purposes?" In case the said proposition be adopted by a majority

vote of the electors of the said town voting thereon, the board of

trustees of the said village, as the same shall be constituted from time

to time, shall, from and after the first day of January next following

the date of the said election, constitute the town board of the said

town for all purposes, and shall have all the rights, powers and duties

thereof and neither the supervisor nor the town clerk, nor the justices

of the peace of the said town, shall, by virtue of their offices, be

members of the said town board. The town board of the said town as so

organized shall keep a separate journal of its proceedings and the town

clerk shall be the clerk thereof.

2. If in the village of Scarsdale in Westchester county, a proposition

has been adopted as set forth in subdivision one of this section, and

the supervisor is not, by virtue of his office, representative of the

town or the county board or other county legislative body, such town

board of the town may by local law or ordinance abolish the position of

supervisor and thereupon shall assign his duties to such official or

officials as it may determine.

3. In any village which has been or may hereafter be incorporated to

embrace the entire territory of a town, the proposition proposed and

submitted as provided in subdivision one of this section, may be in

substantially the following form: "Shall the offices of town supervisor

and town council member, as presently constituted, be deemed vacant and

the mayor and board of trustees of the village of

_______________hereafter constitute the supervisor and town board,

respectively, of the town of _________________for all purposes?" In case

the said proposition be adopted by a majority of the electors of the

said town voting thereon, the mayor of the said village, as the office

shall be held from time to time, and the board of trustees of the said

village, as the same shall be constituted from time to time, shall, from

and after the first day of January next succeeding the date of said

election, constitute the supervisor and town board of the said town for

all purposes, and shall have all the rights, powers and duties thereof

and neither the town clerk, nor the town justices of the said town,

shall by virtue of their offices be members of the said town board. The

town board of the said town as so organized shall keep a separate

journal of its proceedings and the town clerk shall be the clerk

thereof.

4. In any village where a proposition has been adopted as provided in

subdivisions one or three of this section, the incumbent and successor

holders of any village offices which thereby are constituted as town

offices shall, by virtue of their village offices, also hold such town

offices; and, from and after the date of adoption of such proposition,

no separate election for such town offices shall be conducted.

5. Notwithstanding the provisions of article seventeen of the election

law, elections held in incorporated villages which are incorporated as

coterminous village pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be

conducted in the same manner as election for town offices.