10-1012 Chief and assistant chiefs. 1. The chief and the first and second assistant chiefs and such additional assistant chiefs, if any, as may be provided for in the by-laws of the fire department shall each be a member thereof and a resident of the state of New York. In addition, the board of trustees, or the board of fire commissioners subject to the approval of the board of trustees, may, by resolution, require that any or all of such fire department officers shall be residents of the village. The delegates elected to the general convention of the fire department shall meet at the council room thereof on the Thursday following the first Tuesday in April, except the elected delegates of the fire department of the village of Fishkill, Dutchess county, which shall meet on the first Tuesday in December, and nominate a person for each of such offices; but the fire commissioners of any village may adopt a rule requiring all such nominations to be made on the day of the meeting by a vote of the duly qualified members of the department, in which case the meeting of the delegates in general convention, as provided for in this section, shall be dispensed with. The person acting as secretary of such convention shall forthwith file in the office of the village clerk a certificate of such nominations. The board of fire commissioners at its next meeting shall consider the nominations and appoint such persons to the offices to which they are respectively nominated or, if a nomination is not approved the board shall reconvene the general convention, which shall submit a new nomination to take the place of any nomination not approved, which procedure shall continue until a full set of officers is approved. A person who has been convicted of arson in any degree shall not be eligible for nomination, election or appointment to the office of chief or assistant chief. Any fire chief or assistant chief who is convicted of arson in any degree during his term of office shall be disqualified from completing such term of office.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special or local law inconsistent herewith any such chief or assistant chief of a village fire department need not be a resident of the village in order to serve as a member of the council of the fire department of the village pursuant to section 10-1014 of this article unless the board of trustees, or the board of fire commissioners subject to the approval of the board of trustees, has, by resolution, as provided in this section, required that any or all of such fire department officers shall be residents of the village. Except as otherwise provided pursuant to this subdivision, a person shall not hold the office of village mayor or village trustee and the office of chief or assistant chief of a village fire department at the same time. A village trustee who does not, either as an individual or as a member of a board, appoint or approve the appointment of the chief or assistant chief of a village fire department, may hold the office of chief or assistant chief at the same time. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, a person who is the chief or an assistant chief of a village fire department, if he is otherwise qualified, may be elected to the office of village mayor or village trustee or may be appointed to the office of village mayor or village trustee to fill a vacancy and, if he is so elected or appointed, his office as chief or assistant chief, as the case may be, shall become vacant upon his taking his oath of office as village mayor or village trustee.
Last modified: February 3, 2019