USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > Directory for the City of Buffalo: Containing the Names and Residence of the 1801-1832 > Part 3
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§ 40. That all those portions of the Big and Lit- tle Buffalo Creeks within the bounds of said city, be and are hereby declared to be public highways.
41. The common council shall have power to lay out, make and open streets, alleys, lanes, high- ways, wharves and slips, in said city, and to alter, widen, contract or discontinue the same; but no building exceeding the value of one thousand dol- lars shall be removed in whole or in part, without the consent of the owner. They shall cause all streets, alleys, lanes or highways, laid out by them, to be surveyed, described and recorded, in a book to be kept by the clerk, and the same when opened and made, shall be public highways. Whenever any street, alley, lane, highway, wharf or slip is laid out, altered or widened by virtue of this sec- tion, the common council shall give notice of their intention to take and appropriate the land necessa- ry for the same, to the owner thereof, his agent or legal representatives, if known or residing in this state, or if not known, and residing out of the state, then by publishing said notice for four weeks in one or more of the public papers in said city; and the mayor, or any two aldermen shall have power, by precept under their seals, to command any consta- ble of said city, to impannel and return a jury of twelve reputable freeholders of said city not in- terested nor of kin to any person interested in the premises, to appear before him or them, within ten days from the date of such precept, to ascertain and assess the damages and recompense due the owner or owners of such land, and at the same time to de- termine what persons will be benefitted by such im- provement, and to assess the expenses thereof, on the real estate of the persons benefitted, in propor- tion, as nearly as may be, to the benefit resulting to each; and also to summon the owner of such land,
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his agent or representatives, by written notice, served personally, or left at his or their usual place of abode, to appear before him or them, on the day specified in said precept. The jury shall be sworn by any justice of the peace in said city, faithfully and impartially to execute their duty, in making such assessments, according to the best of their ability. The jury shall view the premises, and in their discretion, receive any legal evidence, and may, if necessary, adjourn from day to day. Such jury shall determine and award to the owner or owners of such land, such damages as they shall judge such owner or owners to sustain in conse- quence of such street, lane, alley, highway, wharf or slip, after taking into consideration and making due allowance for any benefit which said owner or owners may derive from such improvement. The said jury shall also at the same time, assess and ap- portion the expenses of such improvement on the real estate benefitted thereby, as nearly as may be, in proportion to the benefits resulting therefrom; and shall describe the real estate on which any assessment is made under this section, in the same manner as is provided in the thirty-eighth section of this act, in relation to the assessment of taxes. If there be any building on any land taken for such improvement the owner thereof shall have ten days, or such time as the common council may allow, after the final assessment of the jury is returned to, and confirmed by the common council, to remove the same; and in case such owner removes such building, the value thereof to the owner to remove, shall be deducted from the amount of damages awarded to the owner thereof, and such value shall
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be at the time of the assessment, determined by the jury. The determination and assessment of the jury shall be returned in writing, signed by the jury, to the common council. The common coun- cil, after such deterinination and assessment of the jury is returned to them, as aforesaid, shall give two weeks notice, in the corporation newspaper printed in said city, that such determination and assessment of the jury will, on a day to be specified in said notice, be confirmed by the common council, unless objeetions by some person interested are made thereto. All objections to any such determi- nation and assessment as aforesaid, shall be briefly stated in writing, and filed with the clerk. If no objections are made as aforesaid, the said determi- nation and assessment of the jury shall be confirmed by the common council. If objections are made as aforesaid, any person interested may be heard be- fore the cominon council, touching the said deter- mination and assessment of the jury, on the day specified in the aforesaid notice, or on such other day or days as the common council shall for that purpose appoint; and the said common council, on consideration of the objections made, shall have power in their discretion, to confirm such determina- tion and assessment of the jury, or [ to annul *] the same, and direct a new jury to be summoned for the purposes, and in the manner herein provided; and the determination and assessment of such second jury, shall when completed, be returned to and con- firmed as of course, by the common council, and filed with the clerk, and shall be final and conclu-
*The words "to annul" were in the original draft, but were omitted in the bill when printed.
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sive on all persons interested. But the said com- mon council shall not have power to discontinue any street, road or highway in said city without the consent in writing of all persons owning land adjoining such street, road or highway.
§ 42. The common council shall have power to cause any street, alley, lane, road or highway, in said city, to be graded, levelled, paved, repaved, or gravelled, and to cause cross and side walks, drains, sewers, and aqueducts to be constructed and made in said city; and to cause any side walks or drains, sewers and aqueducts, to be re-laid, amended and repaired, and to cause the expenses of all improve- ments except side walks made or directed under this section to be assessed upon all the real estate in said city, in proportion to the benefits resulting thereto, as nearly as may be. The common coun- cil shall determine the amount to be assessed for all improvements made or directed under this sec- tion, except side walks, and shall appoint five repu- table freeholders of said city, to make such assess- ment. The assessors shall be sworn before a jus- tice of the peace in said city, faithfully and impar- tially to execute their duty as such assessors, ac- cording to the best of their ability. They shall assess the amount directed by the common council to be assessed for any such improvement, on the real estate deemed by them to be benefitted there- by, in proportion to the benefit resulting thereto, as nearly as may be: and the said assessors shall brief- ly describe in the assessment roll to be made by them, the real estate, on or in respect of which any assessment is made under this section. When the assessment is completed they shall give the like
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notice, and have the same power to make correc- tions as in the case of assessment of taxes. They shall deliver a corrected copy of the assessment roll to the clerk of the city, to be filed. Any person in- terested may appeal to the common council for the correction of the assessment. Such appeal shall be in writing, and shall be delivered to the clerk or presiding officer of the common council within twenty days after the corrected copy of the assess- ment roll is filed with the clerk. In case of appeal the common council shall appoint a time within ten days thereafter, for the hearing of those who are interested, and shall cause a notice to be posted for five days, in some convenient public place, des- gnating the time and place and object of hearing; and they may adjourn said hearing from time to time as may be necessary : and the common council shall, in case of appeal as aforesaid, have power, in their discretion, to confirm such assessment, or to annul the same and direct a new assessment, which shall be final and conclusive on all parties inter- ested, to be made in the manner herein before di- rected, by five other assessors, to be appointed as aforesaid by the said common council. If the first assessment in any case under this or the preceding section proves insufficient, the common council may cause another to be made, in the same man- ner, or if too large an amount shall at any time be raised, the excess shall be refunded ratably to those by whom it was paid.
§ 43. All assessments for improvements author- ized by the forty-first and forty-second sections of this act, shall be made upon the real estate, and be collected by or paid to the collector or collectors of
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said city, except as herein otherwise directed. A corrected copy of the assessment roll shall in all cases, authorized by the said forty-first and forty- second sections, be filed in the office of the clerk of the city; and the assessments shall be a lien on the premises assessed, for one year only, after the final corrected copy of the assessment roll is filed as aforesaid. In case of non-payment, the premises may be sold at any time within the year from the time of the filing of the said assessment roll. Before any such sale, an order shall be made by the com- mon council, which shall be entered at large in the records of the city, kept by the clerk, directing the attorney of the city to sell, and particularly describing the premises to be sold, and the assess- ment for which the sale is to be made: a copy of which order shall be delivered to the said attorney. The said attorney shall then advertise the premises to be sold, in the manner, and for the time required in case of sales of real estate on execution, and the sale shall be conducted in the same manner. The proceedings may be stopped at any time before sale, by any person, by paying to the said attorney the amount of the assessment, interest and expenses of advertising. All sales in such cases shall be made for the shortest period for which any person will take the premises and pay the assessment, interest and expenses. Certificates of the sale shall be made and subscribed by the said attorney, one of which shall be filed by him within ten days after the day of sale, in the office of the clerk of the city and in the office of the clerk of Erie county, and shall contain a description of the property, and the term for which it was sold, and state the amount
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of the assessment, interest and expenses for which the sale was made, and the time at which the right to redeem will expire. If the proceedings are stopped before a sale is made, the attorney may in- clude one dollar, and no more, in the expenses for his fees. If the premises are sold, the attorney may include two dollars in the amount of expenses for his fees, and no more. The right of redemption, in all cases, of such sales in the same manner and to the same extent, shall exist to the owner and his creditors, as is allowed by law in the case of sales of real estate by virtue of an execution. The mo- ney, in case of redemption, may be paid to the pur- chaser, or, for him, to the clerk of the city. In case of no redemption, or in case of redemption by the creditor or creditors, the common council shall make to the purchaser or his legal representatives, or the person entitled thereto, a declaration in wri- ting under the corporate seal, signed by the mayor and attested by the clerk, containing a description of the premises, the fact of assessment, advertise- ment and sale, and the period for which the premises were sold; which declaration shall be evidence of a right to the use and occupancy of the premises for the said period, to be computed from the expira- tion of fifteen months after the day of sale. All buildings put upon the premises in the exercise of such right of occupancy, during the period, may be removed, at or before the expiration thereof.
44. Any person interested may appeal from any order of the common council, for laying out, open- ing, making, altering or widening any street, alley, lane, highway, wharf or slip, to the court of com- mon pleas of the county of Erie, by notice in wri-
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ting delivered to the mayor, or clerk of the city, at any time before the expiration of twenty days after the passage of the ordinance therefor by the com- mon council. The only ground of appeal shall be the want of conformity, in the proceedings, to this act. The property or utility of the street, alley, lane, highway, wharf or slip, or other improve- ments, or the correctness of the assessment of damages, if made in conformity to this act, shall not constitute a ground of appeal. In case of ap- peal, the common council shall make return within twenty days after notice thereof; and the court of common pleas, shall, at the next term, after the return which shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county, proceed to hear and determine the appeal, and shall confirm or annul the proceedings of the common council.
§ 45. The land required to be taken for the ma- king, opening or widening of any street, alley, lane, highway, wharf or slip, in said city, shall not be so taken and appropriated, by the common council, until the damages therefor, assessed and awarded to any owner thereof, under this act, shall be paid or tendered to such owner or his agent, or legal rep- resentatives; or in case such owner or his agent, or legal representatives can not be found in said city, shall be deposited to his or their credit, or for his or their use, in one of the banks of said city, and then and in such cases, and not before, such land may be taken, and appropriated by the common council for the purposes required, in making such improve- ments, and such streets, alleys, lanes, highways, wharves or slips, may be made and opened.
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§ 46. Where any known owner residing in said city or elsewhere, shall be an infant, and proceed- ings shall be had under the forty-first section of this act, the court of common pleas of Erie county, or any judge thereof, at his chambers, may upon the application of the common council, or such infant, or his next friend, appoint a guardian for such in- fant, taking security from such guardian for the faithful execution of his trust; and all notices and summonses required by said section shall be served onsuch guardian. Itshall betheduty of said guardian to see that the rights of such infant are protected.
§ 47. All owners or occupants, in front of whose premises the common council shall direct side walks to be constructed or repaired, shall make or repair such side walks, at their own cost and charges, but if not done in the manner and of the materials, and within the time prescribed by the common council, the said council may cause them to be constructed, and assess the expenses thereof upon such lots re- spectively, and collect the same in the manner di- rected by the forty-third section of this act. And such assessments shall be a lien upon such lot, in like manner as assessments under the said forty- third section.
§ 48. No ordinance shall be passed by the com- mon council directing the laying out, making, widen- ing, contracting, discontinuingor altering any street, alley, road, highway, wharf or slip, or directing the paving or flagging of any street, alley, road or high- way, or the constructing or making of any sewer or aqueduct in said city, unless two weeks previous no- tice shall be given by the said common council, in the corporation newspaper printed in said city, that
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an application is pending before said council, for the laying out, making, widening, altering, contracting, discontinuing, paving or flagging such street, alley, road, highway, wharf or slip, sewer or aqueduct, which notice shall briefly describe the nature and object of the application, and specify at what time it will be finally acted upon by the common council.
§ 49. The common council shall have power to order the grading, paving, graveling, raising, clos- ing, fencing, amending, cleansing and protecting any public square or area, now or hereafter laid out in said city; and to improve the same by the con- struction of walks, and the rearing and protecting of ornamental trees therein; and to cause such part of the expenses thereof as they shall deem just, to be assessed and collected in the manner prescribed in the forty-second and forty-third sections of this act, for assessing and collecting expenses of im- provements, mentioned in those sections; and to cause the sale of any real estate, on which such expenses are assessed, to be sold as provided in said forty-second and forty-third sections. But nothing herein shall empower the said common council to divert or obstruct the interest of any individual, in or to any such square or area.
§ 50. The common council shall have power to establish and regulate a market or markets in said city, and to restrain and regulate the sale of fresh meat and vegetables in said city, to restrain andpun- ish the forestalling of poultry, fruits and eggs, and to license, under the hand and seal of the mayor, annually, such and so many butchers as they shall deem necessary and proper; and to revoke such li- censeforany infraction of theby-lawsandordinances
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common council, or other mal-conduct of tchers, in the course of their trade.
The common council for the purpose of g against the calamities of fire, shall have o prescribe limits in said city, within which buildings shall not be erected or placed, t the permission of said common council, direct that all or any buildings within the prescribed, shall be made or constructed of or brick, with partition walls, fire proof roofs, ick or stone cornices and eave troughs, under penalties as may be prescribed by the com- ouncil, not exceeding one hundred dollars for ne offence; and the farther sum of twenty-five 's for each and every week, any building so prohibited shall be continued.
§ 52. The common council shall have power to regulate the construction of chimneys, so as to ad- mit chimney sweeps, and to compel the sweeping and cleaning of chimneys; and to prevent chimney sweeps from sweeping unless licensed as they shall direct; to prevent the dangerous construction and condition of chimneys, fire-places, hearths, stoves, stove-pipes, ovens, boilers and apparatus usedin any building or manufactory, and to cause the same to be removed, or placed in a safe and secure condition when considered dangerous; to prevent the deposit of ashes in unsafe places, and to appoint one or more officers to enter into all buildings and enclosures to discover whether the same are in a dangerous state, and to cause such as may be dangerous to be put in safe condition. To require the inhabitants of said city to provide so many fire-buckets, and in such manner and time as they shall prescribe, and to regu- late the use of them in times of fire; and to regulate
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and prevent the carrying on of manufactories dan- gerous in causing or promoting fires, and to prevent the use of fire-works and fire-arms in the streets; to compel theowners and occupants of houses and other buildings to have scuttles in the roofs, and stairs and ladders leading to the same; to authorize the mayor, aldermen, fire-wardens, or other officers of said city, to keep away from the vicinity of any fire, all idle and suspicious persons and to compel all officers of said city, and other persons, to aid in the extinguish- ment of fires, and in the preservation of property ex- posed to danger thereat, and generally to establish such regulations for the prevention or extinguish- ment of fires as the common council may deem expedient.
§ 53. The common council shall procure fire en- gines, and other apparatus used for the extinguish- ment of fires, and have the charge and control of the same, and provide fit and secure engine houses, and other places for keeping and preserving the same; and shall have power to organize fire, hook, hose, bag, ladder, and axe companies; to appoint during their pleasure, a chief engineer, and two as- sistant engineers of the fire department, and a com- petent number of able and reputable inhabitants of said city, firemen, to take the care and manage- ment of the engines, and other apparatus, and im- plements used or provided for the extinguishment of fires; to prescribe the duties of firemen, and to make rules and regulations for their government, and to impose such reasonable fines and forfeitures upon said firemen, for a violation of the same, as the said council may deem proper. And for in- capacity, neglect of duty, or misconduct, to remove them and appoint others in their places.
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§ 54. The members of the common council shall be fire wardens, and shall have power to appoint such other fire wardens, as they may deem neces- sary.
§ 55. The firemen appointed, by virtue of this act, shall, during the term of their service as such, be exempt from serving on juries, in all courts, and in the militia, except in case of war, invasion, or insurrection. The name of each person appointed a fireman, shall be registered with the clerk of the city, and the evidence to entitle him to the exemp- tion, as provided in this section, shall be the certi- ficate of the clerk, made within a year in which the exemption is claimed.
§ 56. The present firemen of the village of Buf- falo, shall be firemen of the city of Buffalo, subject to be removed by the common council, in like man- ner as other firemen of said city.
§ 57. Every fireman, who shall have faithfully served as such, in said city or village of Buffalo, or both, for the term of ten years, shall be thereafter exempt from serving on juries, in all courts, or in the militia, except in case of war, invasion, or in- surrection, and the evidence to entitle such person to the exemption, as provided in this section, shall be a certificate, under the corporate seal, signed by the mayor and clerk.
§ 58. The common council may authorize the mayor, or any other proper officer of the corpora- tion, to grant licenses to tavern keepers, grocers, and keepers of ordinaries or victualling houses, to sell wine and liquor in the manner prescribed by the Revised Statutes of this state. And may direct the manner of issuing, countersigning and register-
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ing such licenses, and may fix the fee to be paid therefor, at any sum not less than five, nor more than fifty dollars; and the sum to be paid to the mayor or other officer for granting such license not exceeding one dollar. The bonds to be taken on granting such licenses, shall be the same as are pre- scribed by the 9th title of the 20th chapter of the first part of the Revised Statutes. They shall be filed, may be prosecuted, and the moneys collected shall be applied as directed in that title; and the persons receiving such licenses shall be in all re- spects subject to the provisions of the said title.
§ 59. The said common council shall have power to pass such ordinances as they shall judge proper for regulating or restraining keepers of ordinaries, victualling houses, and houses where any of the articles or commodities hereinafter mentioned shall be sold, and to enforce observance thereto in the manner prescribed by the thirty-third section of this act. The common council shall also have pow- er to grant licenses in their discretion to keepers of ordinaries, victualling houses, and houses where fruit, oysters, clams, meat, porter, ale, strong beer, cider, currant wine, cherry wine, soda water, meth- eglin, or any of them, shall be sold, and to deter- mine the sum to be paid for such license by each person applying under this section; which sum shall not be less than five dollars, nor more than fifty dollars; and to require of the applicant a bond to the city of Buffalo in the penal sum of one hun- dred and twenty-five dollars with such security or sureties as shall be approved by said council, con- ditioned that during the term for which his license shall be granted, he will not suffer his store, house,
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. grocery or shop, to become disorderly, and that he will not suffer any cockfighting, gaming, or playing with cards or dice, or keep any billiard table or other gaming table within the same, or in any out house, yard, or garden belonging thereto. All moneys received for licenses granted under this section shall be paid to the treasurer of the city of Buffalo for the use thereof, subject to the provisions of the last preceding section; and all moneys which shall be recovered as penalties or forfeitures for vio- lating any of the provisions of this section shall be paid to the treasurer of said city for the use thereof.
§ 60. That the said common council shall be, and are hereby authorized to appoint annually, three commissioners as a board of health for said city, and the mayor of the said city, or presiding officer of the common council, shall be president of said board; and the clerk of said city shall be clerk of said board, and shall keep minutes of the pro- ceedings thereof. The said common council shall also, at their pleasure, appoint a health physician annually, and as often as the office shall become vacant; and may remove him at pleasure, whose
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