§ 44-0105 — Hudson river valley greenway communities council

§ 44-0105. Hudson river valley greenway communities council.\n 1. The governor's council on the Hudson river valley is hereby\nrecreated within the executive department to be the Hudson river valley\ngreenway communities council. The council shall consist of a total of\ntwenty-seven voting members. The governor shall appoint two members, one\nof whom shall be the chairperson. The legislative body of each town,\ncity or village other than the city of New York which is adjacent to the\nHudson river may forward the names of a recommended council appointee to\nthe chief elected official of the county in which it is incorporated.\nOne voting member shall be appointed from among the names forwarded by\nthe towns, cities and villages by the chief elected official of each of\nthe ten counties of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Columbia, Rensselaer,\nAlbany, Greene, Ulster, Orange and Rockland, and two voting members\nshall be appointed by the mayor of the city of New York after\nconsultation with the presidents of the boroughs of the Bronx and\nManhattan. Two voting members shall be appointed by the temporary\npresident of the senate, one of whom must reside in the countryside and\ntwo voting members shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly,\none of whom must reside in the countryside. One voting member shall be\nappointed by the minority leader of the senate and one voting member\nshall be appointed by the minority leader of the assembly. Such\nappointed legislative representatives may designate a duly authorized\nrepresentative to attend council meetings and to act in their place. The\nfollowing seven members shall be ex officio members: the commissioner,\nthe commissioner of parks, recreation and historic preservation, the\nsecretary of state and the commissioners of general services,\ntransportation, agriculture and markets and economic development or\ntheir designated representatives who, to the extent practicable, shall\nbe residents of the Hudson valley. All persons responsible for\nappointing members of the council shall be mindful of the importance of\nassuring adequate representation on the council of the interests of\nvarious municipal entities, conservationists, business owners and\noperators, persons engaged in agricultural pursuits, minorities and\neducators. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this\nsubdivision, in the event that there is no vacancy in the membership of\nthe council and there is no member of the council who is a member of an\norganized sporting association, club or society, the membership of the\ncouncil shall be increased to twenty-eight voting members. The\ntwenty-eighth voting member shall be a representative of the organized\nsporting community and shall be selected from the population of the\nHudson river valley by a vote of the council. In the event of a vacancy\noccurring in the office of any member, such vacancy shall be filled in\nthe same manner as the original appointment. The members of the council\nshall serve without compensation, except that members shall be allowed\ntheir necessary and actual expenses incurred in the performance of their\nduties under this article. Any person other than an ex officio member\nwho serves as a member of the council, shall not serve as a member of\nthe conservancy.\n 2. The council shall meet at least once every two months and shall\nencourage attendance at such meetings of representatives from local\ngovernments in the greenway and other interested parties. Copies of the\nminutes of each meeting with the date of the next scheduled meeting\nshall be made available to interested parties at their request.\n 3. Every state agency and public corporation having jurisdiction of\nland or water within the greenway or of programs relating to the\npurposes and goals of this article shall, to the fullest extent\npracticable, offer full cooperation and assistance to the council in\ncarrying out the provisions of this article.\n 4. Every local agency with programs relating to the greenway may offer\nassistance to the council in carrying out the provisions of this\narticle.\n