§ 1728 — Powers and duties of the authority

§ 1728. Powers and duties of the authority. The authority shall have\nthe following powers and duties:\n 1. To sue and be sued;\n 2. To have a seal or alter the same at pleasure;\n 3. To make and alter by-laws for the organization and the management\nand regulation of its affairs;\n 4. To appoint officers and employees, fix their compensation and\nrequire background investigations, including but not limited to the\ncriminal history of all applicants for employment to determine the\nsuitability of such applicants for employment. Such investigation shall\ninclude but not be limited to the taking of fingerprints of such\nofficers and employees as a prerequisite for employment; provided,\nhowever, that every set of fingerprints taken pursuant to this\nsubdivision shall be promptly submitted to the division of criminal\njustice services where it shall be appropriately processed and forwarded\nto the federal bureau of investigation, at a rate required by such\nagencies for state and national criminal history record checks;\n 5. To design, construct, reconstruct, improve, rehabilitate, maintain,\nfurnish, repair, equip and otherwise provide for educational facilities,\nas defined in section twenty-five hundred ninety-a of the education law,\nfor the city board pursuant to agreements with the city board;\n 6. To acquire real and personal property, or any interest therein, by\nany method, including but not limited to purchase or condemnation, for\nthe purpose of constructing, reconstructing, improving, rehabilitating,\nmaintaining, repairing, furnishing, equipping or otherwise providing for\neducational facilities for the city board; provided, however, that the\nauthority shall use such condemnation power only if the authority is\nunable to purchase property by negotiation or bidding and provided\nfurther that, except to the extent permitted by subdivision two of\nsection seventeen hundred twenty-nine of this title, the authority may\nnot condemn property dedicated to use, used or mapped as a city street\nor any other property owned by, or subject to any interest therein, of\nthe city of New York;\n 7. To make and execute contracts and all other instruments necessary\nor convenient for the exercise of its functions, powers and duties,\nprovided that the authority may not unless otherwise specifically\nauthorized by law issue negotiable bonds or notes;\n 8. To engage the services of private consultants on a contract basis\nfor rendering professional and technical assistance and advice;\n 9. To enter into agreements with the city board pursuant to which the\nauthority will be responsible for the acquisition, design, construction,\nreconstruction, improvement, rehabilitation, maintaining, repairing,\nfurnishing, equipping of and otherwise providing for educational\nfacilities for the city board, provided, however, that (i) any agreement\nunder which the authority shall engage in maintenance shall be limited\nto maintenance that is attendant to the authority's implementation of a\nfive-year educational facilities capital plan; (ii) nothing herein shall\nbe deemed to diminish the rights of school custodians and custodian\nengineers as established in the existing collective bargaining agreement\nwith the city board or other custodian or maintenance employees as\nestablished in their respective collective bargaining agreements; and\n(iii) further provided that the authority is not empowered to engage in\ncustodial operations;\n 10. Notwithstanding the provisions of section two thousand five\nhundred four of the insurance law or any other law, to procure insurance\non behalf of itself and others against any loss in connection with its\nactivities, properties and other assets, in such amounts and from such\ninsurers as it deems desirable; provided that the authority may enter\ninto agreements with the city, acting by the mayor alone, providing for\nindemnification by the city of the authority against tort and contract\njudgments and claims, which agreements may contain provisions requiring\nlegal representation of the authority by the corporation counsel of the\ncity and specifying any insurance to be carried by the authority, which\nprovisions shall supersede any agreements with the city board on such\nsubject;\n 11. Upon completion of the design, construction, reconstruction,\nimprovement, rehabilitation, maintaining, repairing, furnishing,\nequipping of or otherwise providing for educational facilities, to\nconvey title to any such facilities to the city for use as educational\nfacilities by the city board. In the case of educational facilities\nleased by the authority, the city board may occupy or sublet such\nfacilities from the authority without compensation and without further\napproval and, upon transfer or assignment of the authority's interest in\nthese facilities to the city board, the city board shall assume all\nrights and obligations of the authority under such lease;\n 12. To dispose of personal property and, with the consent of the city,\nacting by the mayor and the council, to dispose of real property, or any\ninterest therein, held by the authority and not required for educational\npurposes of the city board, by sale, lease, sublease or otherwise,\nprovided that such disposition is pursuant to the implementation of a\nfive-year educational facilities capital plan;\n 13. To enter into agreements with the city's department of city\nplanning to render any services the authority may request, including but\nnot limited to professional and technical assistance by planning\nexperts, engineers, architects and any other staff as may be necessary,\nand the use of the premises, personnel, equipment, access to relevant\ndata and personal property of the department of city planning;\n 13-a. To enter into agreements with the city's department of health\nand mental hygiene to render any services the authority may request,\nincluding but not limited to access to data necessary to develop\nreasonable student population projections citywide, for each community\nschool district and for each community board;\n 13-b. To enter into agreements with the city's department of buildings\nto render any services the authority may request, including but not\nlimited to access to building permit and construction data, including\nthe number and size of units within buildings;\n 13-c. To enter into agreements with the city's department of housing\npreservation and development to render any services the authority may\nrequest, including but not limited to access to building permit and\nconstruction data, including the number and size of units within\nbuildings;\n 13-d. To coordinate with the office of city planning, the department\nof buildings, the department of housing preservation and development,\nthe department of health and mental hygiene and community boards to\ncreate uniform, citywide student population projections, community\nschool district and community board, for a minimum of five years, based\non data produced by the office of city planning, the department of\nbuildings, the department of housing preservation and development and\nthe department of health and mental hygiene. Such projections shall be\nused in the creation and implementation of the authority's five-year\neducational facilities capital plan;\n 14. To enter into agreements with the city board to render services,\nincluding but not limited to the use of the premises, personnel and\npersonal property of the city board, and to provide for reimbursement to\nthe city board from the authority for any expenses incurred by the city\nboard in carrying out the terms of these agreements;\n 15. To enter into agreements with the city board pursuant to which the\ncity board may make available to the authority the services of employees\nof the city board who are contemplated to be transferred to the\nauthority pursuant to a plan for such transfers for the purpose of\nrendering assistance in establishing the operations of the authority;\nprovided, however, that such employees shall no longer be available to\nthe authority pursuant to the terms of this subdivision beyond one year\nfollowing the effective date of this title;\n * 15-a. To establish employment goals in accordance with the program\nestablished pursuant to section thirty-five hundred two of the New York\ncity charter, including but not limited to employment goals established\npursuant to paragraph seven of subdivision a and the corresponding best\nefforts provisions set forth in subdivision d of such section; provided,\nhowever, that where a provision of such section requires action by the\ndirector of the office of community hiring and workforce development,\nsuch action shall not be taken by the director of the office of\ncommunity hiring and workforce development but shall be taken by the\npresident of the authority or his or her designee;\n * NB Effective May 15, 2024\n * NB Repealed May 15, 2029\n 16. To apply for or accept any gifts, grants or loans of funds or\nproperty or financial or other aid in any form from the federal\ngovernment or any agency or instrumentality thereof, from the state or\nany agency or instrumentality thereof, from the city or any agency or\ninstrumentality thereof or from any other source, for any or all of the\npurposes specified in this title, and it may comply, subject to the\nprovisions of this title, with the terms and conditions thereof; and\n 17. To do any and all things necessary or convenient to carry out and\nexercise the powers given and granted by this section.\n