2006 New York Code - Special Provisions With Respect To The New York City Housing Authority.

 
    §  402.  Special  provisions with respect to the New York City Housing
  Authority.   1. It  is  hereby  found  and  declared,  as  a  result  of
  investigation  and  study,  that enactment of the provisions hereinafter
  set forth is necessary for reorganization of the authority to enable  it
  to  (a)  institute  improved management procedures; (b) bring about more
  efficient methods of maintenance and supervision of projects; (c) foster
  prompt and sound solution of problems relating to occupancy of projects;
  (d) undertake administration of personnel in consonance  with  the  size
  and scope of the authority's functions. It is further found and declared
  that  private  enterprise  should  be  encouraged to the greatest extent
  possible to enter the field  of  housing  in  which  the  authority  now
  operates so that the authority may be able to concentrate its activities
  at the earliest possible moment on providing housing exclusively for the
  lower income families.
    2.  Notwithstanding  any  provisions to the contrary contained in this
  chapter, or any general, special or local law, the  provisions  of  this
  section  shall  govern the number, appointment, removal and compensation
  of the members of the New York City Housing Authority.
    3. On and after May first, nineteen hundred fifty-eight, the authority
  shall consist of three members appointed by the mayor, one of whom shall
  be designated by the mayor as chairman removable at his pleasure.    The
  members  other than the chairman first appointed for terms commencing on
  May first, nineteen hundred fifty-eight, shall be appointed for terms of
  three and five years, respectively. Thereafter the  term  of  office  of
  each  member  other  than  the  chairman shall be five years.  The mayor
  shall file with the commissioner of housing a certificate of appointment
  of the chairman and of each member. Any member other than  the  chairman
  may  be removed by the mayor for cause after a public hearing.  Not more
  than two members of the authority shall belong  to  the  same  political
  party.  A  vacancy  in  the  office  of a member other than the chairman
  occurring otherwise than by expiration of term shall be filled  for  the
  unexpired term.
    4.  The  chairman  and  the  other members of the authority shall give
  their whole time to their duties and  shall  not  engage  in  any  other
  occupation,  profession  or  employment. They shall receive a salary the
  amount of which shall be fixed by the board of estimate.
    5. Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary  contained  in  this
  chapter, or any general, special or local law, the New York city housing
  authority shall have the power in its discretion to provide and maintain
  a  housing  police department and a uniformed housing police force. Such
  department and force shall have the power and it shall be their duty, in
  and about housing facilities, to  preserve  the  public  peace,  prevent
  crime,   detect   and   arrest   offenders,  suppress  riots,  mobs  and
  insurrections,  disperse   unlawful   or   dangerous   assemblages   and
  assemblages  which  obstruct free passage; protect the rights of persons
  and property; guard the public health; remove all nuisances; enforce and
  prevent violation of all laws and ordinances; and for these purposes  to
  arrest  all  persons  guilty of violating any law or ordinance and shall
  provide  for  the  performance,  without  unnecessary  delay,   of   all
  recording,  fingerprinting,  photographing  and other preliminary police
  duties. Appointments to such housing  police  force  shall  be  made  in
  accordance  with applicable provisions of the civil service law and only
  persons who have never been convicted of a felony, and who are  citizens
  of the United States shall be appointed housing patrolmen on the housing
  police  force.    Each member of such force shall be a police officer as
  defined by paragraph (e) of subdivision thirty-four of section  1.20  of
  the  criminal  procedure  law  and, while on duty, shall possess all the
  powers of a policeman of a city in the execution  of  criminal  process;
  and  criminal process issued by any court or magistrate of a city may be
  directed to and executed by a member of such force.
    The  authority  may  appoint a chief and a deputy chief of the housing
  police department who, in  the  discretion  of  the  authority,  may  be
  selected  from  the ranks of the housing police force, and assign powers
  and duties to them and fix their compensation. The chief  shall  be  the
  head  of such department. During the absence or disability of the chief,
  the deputy chief shall possess all the powers and perform all the duties
  of the chief. The  housing  police  force  shall  consist  of  captains,
  lieutenants,  sergeants  and  patrolmen.  The authority shall maintain a
  division for detective purposes to be known as  the  detective  division
  and  may,  from time to time, detail to service in said division as many
  members of the force as it may deem  necessary,  and  may  at  any  time
  within  three  years  of  appointment  revoke  any such detail or a part
  thereof.  If the authority, in its  discretion,  dissolves  the  housing
  authority  police department and the housing authority police force, the
  division for detective purposes shall also be dissolved. Any  member  of
  the  force  while so detailed may be granted an increase in salary above
  the grade established for his rank in the  uniformed  force,  but  shall
  retain  his  rank  in  the force and shall be eligible for promotion the
  same as if serving in the uniformed force, and the time during which  he
  serves in such division shall count for all purposes as if served in his
  rank or grade in the uniformed force.
    5-a.  Receipt  of  line  of duty pay. a. A member of the New York city
  housing authority police force in the rank of police officer, other than
  an officer who is detailed or designated as a detective or who holds the
  position of sergeant or any position of higher rank in such force, shall
  be entitled pursuant to this section to the full amount of  his  or  her
  regular salary for the period of any incapacity due to illness or injury
  incurred  in  the performance and discharge of duty as a police officer,
  as determined by the authority.
    b. A member of the New York city housing authority police force who is
  detailed or designated as a detective  or  who  holds  the  position  of
  sergeant  or any position of higher rank in such force shall be entitled
  pursuant to this section to the full amount of his or her regular salary
  for the period of any incapacity due to illness or  injury  incurred  in
  the  performance  and  discharge  of  duty  as a member of the force, as
  determined by the  authority,  only  in  the  event  that  a  collective
  bargaining  agreement granting such entitlement pursuant to this section
  has been entered into  by  the  authority  and  the  certified  employee
  organization representing such member. The first entitlement of any such
  member  of  the New York city housing authority police force to the full
  amount of regular salary under this section shall commence on  the  date
  of  execution  of the collective bargaining agreement providing for such
  entitlement with respect to such member.
    c. Nothing in this section shall be construed to  affect  the  rights,
  powers  and  duties  of the authority pursuant to any other provision of
  law, including, but not limited to, the right  to  discipline  a  police
  officer  by  termination,  reduction of salary, or any other appropriate
  measure; the power to terminate an appointee who has not  completed  his
  or  her  probationary  term;  and  the  power  to  apply for ordinary or
  accident disability retirement for a police officer.
    d. Nothing in this section shall be construed to  require  payment  of
  salary  to  a member of the New York city housing authority police force
  who has been terminated, retired, suspended or otherwise separated  from
  service by reason of death, retirement or any other cause.
    e.  A decision as to eligibility for benefits pursuant to this section
  shall not be binding on the medical board or the board  of  trustees  of
  any  pension  fund  in  the determination of eligibility for an accident
  disability or accidental death benefit.
    f.  As  used  in  this  section  the  term "incapacity" shall mean the
  inability to perform full, limited, or restricted duty.
    6. In addition to all other powers granted by this  chapter,  the  New
  York  city  housing  authority shall have the power to act as and be and
  become a "developer", as that term is defined  in  subdivision  nine  of
  section  four  hundred  fifty-two  of  the  education law, of a combined
  occupancy structure, as defined in  subdivision  five  of  section  four
  hundred  fifty-two  of such law, which consists of a project, as defined
  in this chapter, as well as of school accommodations or other facilities
  of the board of education of the city of New York, and to be and  become
  an  "owner", as that term is defined in subdivision fifteen-a of section
  four hundred fifty-two of the education law, of the non-school  portion,
  consisting  of  a  project  as defined in this chapter, of such combined
  occupancy structure; and to do all things  necessary  or  convenient  to
  carry  out  such  powers,  including  (a)  construction of such combined
  occupancy structure as a developer pursuant to the  provisions  of  this
  chapter and article ten of the education law, and conveyance or lease of
  the  school  portion  thereof,  and (b) as an owner, making and entering
  into contracts for acquisition, lease, sublease or other agreements  for
  or  with  respect  to the non-school portion, consisting of a project as
  defined in this chapter, pursuant to the provisions of  article  ten  of
  the  education  law, and acquiring the same by transfer or conveyance to
  it of the fee title, or of possession  under  such  lease,  sublease  or
  other agreement.
    7.  The  authority shall have the power, which shall be in addition to
  its other powers under this chapter,  to  adopt  rules  and  regulations
  relating  to the parking, stopping or standing of a motor vehicle within
  the interior paths, roads, or grounds of its public housing projects.  A
  violation  of  such  rules  and  regulations shall constitute a "traffic
  infraction" as  defined  in  the  vehicle  and  traffic  law,  and  such
  violation  shall  be  heard  and  tried by the parking violations bureau
  established and created under and pursuant to title A of  chapter  forty
  of  the administrative code of the city of New York, as added by chapter
  one thousand seventy-five of the laws of  nineteen  hundred  sixty-nine.
  Such  rules  and  regulations  shall  not  be  effective  until filed as
  required by section fifty-four of this chapter and, in  addition,  until
  filed  with  the clerk of the municipality in which the principal office
  of the authority is located. The authority shall post appropriate  signs
  in  specific  locations within a project as to the rules and regulations
  governing the parking, stopping or standing of motor  vehicles  at  such
  locations.
    8.  All  provisions  of  this  chapter applicable to the New York City
  Housing Authority and not  inconsistent  with  the  provisions  of  this
  section shall continue to apply to such authority.
    9.  The  chairman  shall ensure that at every meeting of the authority
  the public shall be allotted a period of  time,  not  less  than  thirty
  minutes, to speak on any topic on the agenda.