NY Town L § 189-A (2021)
2021 New York Laws TWN - Town Article 11-A - Joint Fire Districts in Towns and Villages 189-A - Procedure.

§  189-a. Procedure. 1. The town board of a town or the town boards of more than one town, and the board of trustees of an incorporated village or the boards of trustees of more  than  one  incorporated  village,  as defined  in  the  village  law, located in said town or towns are hereby authorized to establish in such town or towns and village or villages  a joint  fire  district  for  the  purposes  hereinafter stated and in the manner hereinafter provided, provided all of the territory in such joint fire district shall be contiguous.   2. (a) Whenever it shall appear to the participating municipalities to be in the public interest, the town board of such town and the board  of trustees  of  such  village  shall  hold a joint meeting at one location within the proposed joint district for the purpose of jointly  proposing the establishment of a joint fire district.  (b)  If  at  such joint meeting it is determined by a majority vote of each board to make such proposal, each such board shall,  within  thirty days  thereafter, hold a joint public hearing at one location within the proposed joint district upon such proposal and  shall  cause  notice  of such  public  hearing  to  be  published  in  a newspaper having general circulation in such town and village, at least once, and posted in  five public  conspicuous  places in the town outside such village and in five public conspicuous places in the village, not less than ten days  before the  date  of  the  hearing.  In the event that the district maintains a website, one of the posting requirements may  be  fulfilled  by  posting such  information  on  the website. Notice of such hearing also shall be served by such clerk upon the members of the town board and the  members of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the village, by mail addressed to such members at their last known post office addresses,  at  least  ten  days before  the  date  of  the  hearing.  Such  notice shall contain a brief description of the boundaries of the proposed joint fire district and of the objects and purposes for which it is proposed that a new district be created, and shall specify the single time when  and  place  where  such town  and  village boards will jointly meet to consider the proposal and to hear all persons interested in the establishment of the district. If, upon the establishment of a joint fire district, the joint fire district would become the sponsor of a service award program pursuant to  section two  hundred  sixteen-b  of  the  general  municipal  law, the notice of hearing shall so specify and contain a statement of the estimated annual cost of the service award program to the joint fire district;  provided, however,  that  if, upon the establishment of a joint fire district, the joint fire district would become the sponsor of a service award  program pursuant  to section two hundred sixteen-b of the general municipal law, the  resolutions  establishing  the  district  shall  be  submitted   to referendum  in  each  such  town  and  village in the manner provided by article seven of this chapter  or  article  nine  of  the  village  law, respectively.  (c)  After  such  hearing,  and upon evidence given thereat, and after considering the objections, if any, the town board of such town and  the board  of  trustees  of such village shall determine whether it is or is not in the public interest to establish such joint fire  district,  and, if  it is determined to be in the public interest, subject to permissive referendum, such town board and board of trustees shall, by  resolution, duly  adopted  by  a  majority  of each board, establish such joint fire district; provided, however, that if, upon the establishment of a  joint fire  district,  the  joint  fire district would become the sponsor of a service award program pursuant to section two hundred sixteen-b  of  the general  municipal  law, the resolutions establishing the district shall be submitted to referendum in each such town and village in  the  manner  provided by article seven of this chapter or article nine of the village law, respectively.  (d)  In all respects the provisions of article eleven of this chapter, not inconsistent herewith, shall apply to the  establishment,  operation and management of any joint fire district provided for by this section.  (e)  In  all respects the provisions of this article, not inconsistent herewith, shall apply to the operation and management of any joint  fire district heretofore established pursuant to the unconsolidated laws.   3.  If,  subsequent  to  the  joint meeting for the establishment of a joint fire district as provided in subdivision two of this  section  and before  the  establishment of such district, it is desired to include in such proposed district any portion of  the  territory  of  an  adjoining town, the procedure shall be as follows:  (a)  The  town  board  of the town or towns and the board or boards of trustees of the villages which held such  joint  meeting  and  the  town board of each adjoining town may hold a joint meeting for the purpose of jointly  proposing the inclusion of the territory of such adjoining town in the proposed joint fire district.  (b) If at such meeting it is determined by a  majority  vote  of  each board  to  make such proposal, each such board shall, within thirty days thereafter, hold a joint public hearing upon  such  proposal  and  shall cause  notice  of  such  public  hearing  to be published in a newspaper having general circulation in each such town and village, at least once, and posted in five public conspicuous places in each such  town  outside each  such  village  and  in five public conspicuous places in each such village, not less than ten days before the date of the  hearing.  Notice of  such  hearing also shall be served by such clerk upon the members of the town board or boards and the members of the board of trustees of the village or villages, by mail addressed to such  members  at  their  last known  post  office  addresses, at least ten days before the date of the hearing. Such notice shall contain a brief description of the boundaries of the proposed joint fire district and of the objects and purposes  for which  it  is proposed that a new district be created, and shall specify the time when and place where such town and village boards will meet  to consider  the  proposal  and  to  hear  all  persons  interested  in the establishment of the district.  (c) After such hearing, and upon evidence  given  thereat,  and  after considering the objections, if any, the town boards of such town and the board of trustees of such villages, shall determine whether it is in the public  interest  to  establish  such  joint  fire district and if it is determined  to  be  in  the  public  interest,  subject  to   permissive referendum, such town boards and boards of trustees shall by resolution, duly  adopted  by  a  majority  of each board, establish such joint fire district.  (d) In all respects the provisions of article eleven of this  chapter, not  inconsistent  herewith,  shall  apply  to the establishment and the operation and management of any joint fire district provided for by this section.   4. Any joint fire district formed pursuant to the provisions  of  this article  may  be  extended  from  time  to  time  to  include contiguous territory except contiguous territory  in  a  city.  The  procedure  for extending the district shall be as follows:  (a)  The  town  board  of  each town and the board of trustees of each village in which any portion of the district as proposed to be  extended is located shall hold a joint meeting at one location for the purpose of jointly proposing the extension of the district.  (b)  If  at  such  meeting it is determined by a majority vote of each board to make such proposal, each such board shall, within  thirty  days  thereafter,  hold  a  joint  public  hearing  at  one location upon such proposal and shall cause notice of such public hearing to  be  published in  a  newspaper  having  general  circulation in each affected town and village,  at least once, and posted in five public conspicuous places in each affected town outside any  affected  village  and  in  five  public conspicuous  places  in  each  affected  village, not less than ten days before the date of the hearing. Notice of such  hearing  also  shall  be served by such clerk upon the members of each town board and the members of  each village board of trustees, by mail addressed to such members at their last known post office addresses, at least  ten  days  before  the date  of  the  hearing. Such notice shall contain a brief description of the boundaries of the proposed extension of the joint fire district  and of  the  objects and purposes for which it is proposed that the district be extended and shall specify the single time when and place where  such town  and  village boards will jointly meet to consider the proposal and to hear all persons interested in the extension  of  the  district.  If, upon  the  extension  of  a joint fire district, the joint fire district would become the sponsor of a service award program pursuant to  section two  hundred  sixteen-b  of  the  general  municipal  law, the notice of hearing shall so specify and contain a statement of the estimated annual cost of the service award program to the joint fire district;  provided, however, that if, upon the extension of a joint fire district, the joint fire  district  would  become  the  sponsor  of  a service award program pursuant to section two hundred sixteen-b of the general municipal  law, the  resolutions  establishing  the districts shall be submitted in each such town and village in the manner provided by article  seven  of  this chapter or article nine of the village law, respectively.  (c)  After  such  hearing,  and upon evidence given thereat, and after considering the objections, if any, the town board of each such affected town and the board of trustees  of  each  such  affected  village  shall determine  whether it is or is not in the public interest to extend such joint fire district, and, if it  is  determined  to  be  in  the  public interest, subject to permissive referendum, such town board and board of trustees shall, by resolution, duly adopted by a majority of each board, extend  such  joint  fire district; provided, however, that if, upon the extension of a joint fire district, the joint fire district would become the sponsor of a service award program pursuant to section  two  hundred sixteen-b of the general municipal law, the resolutions establishing the districts shall be submitted in each such town and village in the manner provided by article seven of this chapter or article nine of the village law, respectively.  (d)  A  signed  or  certified  copy of the determination extending the district shall be recorded in the office of the county clerk  and,  when so  recorded,  shall  be  presumptive  evidence  of  the  regularity and validity of the extension of the district and of the acts  of  the  town board  or  boards  and  village  board  or  boards  of trustees relating thereto. A review of  such  determination  may  be  had  in  the  manner provided  in  section  one hundred seventy-three of this chapter, except that the undertaking for costs and expenses shall run to  such  town  or towns  and  village  or  villages and apply to the costs and expenses of each.  (e) In all respects the provisions of article eleven of this  chapter, not  inconsistent  herewith, shall apply to the extension, operation and management of any joint fire district provided for by this section.