Section 550.
§ 550. Definitions. When used in this chapter: the term "mentally
disabled" shall mean those with mental illness, mental retardation,
alcoholism, substance dependence or chemical dependence as these terms
are defined in section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law; or any other
mental illness or mental condition placed under the jurisdiction of the
department by the mayor; the term "provider of services" shall mean an
individual, association, corporation or public or private agency which
provides for the mentally disabled; and the term "services for the
mentally disabled" shall mean examination, diagnosis, care, treatment,
rehabilitation, training, education, research, preventive services,
referral, residential services or domiciliary care of or for the
mentally disabled, not specifically limited by any other law.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, planning and programs for persons with
substance dependence or chemical dependence shall be conducted by the
department, and the department may act as a "local agency" to conduct
substance abuse programs and seek reimbursement therefore pursuant to
provisions of the mental hygiene law relating to funding for substance
abuse services, as deemed appropriate by the commissioner in recognition
of the programs currently administered by the New York state office of
alcoholism and substance abuse services or its successor agency under
article nineteen of the mental hygiene law.
Section 551.
§ 551. Department; commissioner. a. There shall be a department of
health and mental hygiene, the head of which shall be the commissioner
of health and mental hygiene who shall be appointed by the mayor. The
department shall have and exercise all powers of a local health
department set forth in law. Notwithstanding any other provision of this
charter to the contrary, the department shall be a social services
district for purposes of the administration of health-related public
assistance programs to the extent agreed upon by the department, the
department of social services and the department of homeless services.
Appropriations to the department for mental health, mental retardation
and alcoholism services shall be set forth in the expense budget in
separate and distinct units of appropriation. In determining the annual
amount of city funds to be appropriated by the city for mental health,
mental retardation and alcoholism services, the following provision
shall apply: in the event that the executive budget proposes a decrease
in city funds measured against the budget for the current fiscal year,
as modified in accordance with section one hundred seven, for the units
of appropriation for mental health, mental retardation and alcoholism
services, the executive budget shall not propose a greater percentage
decrease in city funds measured against the budget for the current
fiscal year, as modified in accordance with section one hundred seven,
for the units of appropriation for mental health, mental retardation and
alcoholism services than has been proposed for the units of
appropriation for public health services. If, however, in his or her
discretion, the mayor determines that it is in the city's best interest
to submit an executive budget at variance with the requirements of this
provision, the mayor shall include an explanation of the basis for this
variation as part of the budget message.
b. The commissioner shall be a doctor of medicine and:
(1) hold a degree of master of public health or a degree of master of
business administration with concentration in the health field or a
degree of master of public administration with concentration in the
health field or the equivalent of any one of the specified foregoing
degrees received from a college or university and have had at least five
years' experience in college or university public health teaching, or
(2) have had at least five years' experience in public health
administration.
Section 552.
§ 552. Deputy commissioners. The commissioner may appoint deputy
commissioners, one of whom shall have the same qualifications as the
commissioner. There shall be at least two executive deputy
commissioners, one of whom shall have the qualifications established
pursuant to the mental hygiene law for a director of community services
of a local governmental unit, and shall be the director within the
department of the division of mental hygiene services. Such division
shall be and shall exercise the powers of a local governmental unit for
purposes of the mental hygiene law, and the executive deputy
commissioner heading such division shall have the powers of a director
of community services of a local governmental unit as set forth in or
pursuant to such law, and shall report directly to the commissioner. In
the exercise of such powers, such executive deputy commissioner shall
coordinate the fiscal and programmatic administration of contracts
awarded by the department for mental health, mental retardation, and
alcoholism services.
Section 553.
§ 553. Board of health. a. There shall be in the department a board
of health, the chairperson of which shall be the commissioner. In
addition to the chairperson, the board shall consist of ten members,
five of whom shall be doctors of medicine who shall each have had not
less than ten years experience in any or all of the following: clinical
medicine, neurology or psychiatry, public health administration or
college or university public health teaching. The other five members
need not be physicians. However, non-physician members shall hold at
least a masters degree in environmental, biological, veterinary,
physical, or behavioral health or science, or rehabilitative science or
in a related field, and shall have at least ten years experience in the
field in which they hold such degree. One member of the board shall be
the chairperson of the mental hygiene advisory board, as set forth in
section 568 of the charter, provided that such chairperson shall meet
the requirements for board membership of either a physician or
non-physician member.
b. The nine members other than the chairperson and the member who
shall be the chairperson of the mental hygiene advisory board shall
serve without compensation and shall be appointed by the mayor, each for
a term of six years, commencing at the expiration of the terms of the
present incumbents. In case of a vacancy the mayor shall appoint a
member to serve for the unexpired term.
c. The commissioner shall designate employees of the department as may
be necessary to the service of the board including an employee
designated by him to serve as the secretary of the board.
Section 554.
§ 554. Removal of board members. A member of the board of health
other than the chairman may be removed by the mayor on proof of official
misconduct or of negligence in official duties or of conduct in any
manner connected with his official duties which tends to discredit his
office, or of mental or physical inability to perform his duties;
provided that prior to removal he shall receive a copy of the charges
and shall be entitled to a hearing before the mayor and to the
assistance of counsel at such hearing.
Section 555.
§ 555. Powers and duties of the commissioner. a. The commissioner
shall have all the powers and duties vested in him or in the department
by this chapter or otherwise, except those vested by law in the board of
health and the chief medical examiner. In the performance of his
functions, the commissioner shall have, in addition to such others as
may be conferred upon him from time to time, the power and duty to:
(1) Prepare and submit to appropriate governmental authorities short
term, intermediate and long range plans and programs designed to meet
the said needs of the city, including the needs for construction and
operation of medical and health care facilities, and establish
priorities among them, except that the commissioner may not construct or
operate a new medical or health care facility until the health systems
agency having jurisdiction over the institution, as recognized by the
state health planning council, has received, in the case of private
institutions, a copy of the application filed with the commissioner, or
in the case of institutions of the city of New York, information in such
form and detail as the health systems agency shall require, and it shall
have given the commissioner a written decision expressing its approval
or disapproval. The commissioner shall not be bound by this decision but
he shall not approve any construction, addition or modification contrary
to the health systems agency without first holding a public hearing. In
reaching decisions pursuant to this paragraph, the commissioner and the
health systems agency shall consider:
(a) The public need for the existence of the new institution or the
construction, addition or modification of an existing institution at the
time and place and under the circumstances proposed;
(b) The character, competence and standing in the community of the
owners and licensees, in the case of private institutions;
(c) The financial resources of the institution and its sources of
future revenues;
(d) The fitness and adequacy of the premises, and equipment, personnel
and standards of care to be used in the operation of the proposed
institution;
(e) Any decision of the local community board, on the institution in
the community; and
(f) Such other matters as each of them considers pertinent.
(2) At the conclusion of the second year following the establishment
of the department pursuant to this section, and again at the conclusion
of the fourth year following such establishment, the mayor's office of
operations shall conduct a review and submit a report to the mayor
comparing such periods with the period preceding such establishment with
regard to the department's delivery of mental health, mental retardation
and alcoholism and substance abuse services, the access of consumers and
their families to such services, and the administration and oversight of
contracts for the delivery of such services.
b. In the exercise of the commissioner's functions, powers and duties
the commissioner may:
(1) Compel the attendance of witnesses, administer oaths and compel
the production of books, papers and documents in any matter or
proceeding before the commissioner.
(2) Except as otherwise provided by law, assess any penalty prescribed
for a violation of or a failure to comply with any provision of this
chapter or any lawful notice, order or regulation pursuant thereto, not
exceeding one thousand dollars, which penalty may be assessed after a
hearing or an opportunity to be heard.
Section 556.
§ 556. Functions, powers and duties of the department. Except as
otherwise provided by law, the department shall have jurisdiction to
regulate all matters affecting health in the city of New York and to
perform all those functions and operations performed by the city that
relate to the health of the people of the city, including but not
limited to the mental health, mental retardation, alcoholism and
substance abuse-related needs of the people of the city. The
jurisdiction of the department shall include but not be limited to the
following:
a. General functions. (1) Enforce all provisions of law applicable in
the area under the jurisdiction of the department for the preservation
of human life, for the care, promotion and protection of health and
relative to the necessary health supervision of the purity and
wholesomeness of the water supply and the sources thereof;
(2) maintain an office in each borough and maintain, furnish and
operate in each borough office health centers and health stations or
other facilities which may be required from time to time for the
preservation of health or the care of the sick;
(3) exercise its functions, powers and duties in the area extending
over the city, and over the waters adjacent thereto, within the
jurisdiction of the city and within the quarantine limits as established
by law;
(4) receive and expend funds made available for public health purposes
pursuant to law; and
(5) arrange, with the approval of the mayor, for the rendition of
services and operation of facilities by other agencies of the city;
b. Review of public health services and general public health
planning. (1) Develop and submit to the mayor and council a program for
the delivery of services for the mentally disabled, including
construction and operation of facilities;
(2) determine the needs of the mentally disabled in the city, which
determination shall include the review and evaluation of all mental
hygiene services and facilities within the department's jurisdiction;
(3) engage in short-range, intermediate-range and long-range mental
hygiene planning that reflects the entire array of city needs in the
areas of mental health, mental retardation and developmental
disabilities and alcoholism and substance abuse services within the
department's jurisdiction;
(4) implement and administer an inclusive citywide planning process
for the delivery of services for people with mental disabilities; and
design and incorporate within that planning process, consistent with
applicable law, standards and procedures for community participation and
communication with the commissioner at the borough and local community
level;
(5) establish coordination and cooperation among all providers of
services for the mentally disabled, coordinate the department's program
with the program of the state department of mental hygiene so that there
is a continuity of care among all providers of services, and seek to
cooperate by mutual agreement with the state department of mental
hygiene and its representatives and with institutions in such department
and their representatives in pre-admission screening and in
post-hospital care of persons suffering from mental disability;
(6) receive and expend funds made available for the purposes of
providing mental health, mental retardation and developmental disability
and alcoholism and substance abuse related services;
(7) administer, within the division of mental hygiene, the unit
responsible for early intervention services pursuant to the public
health law; and
(8) in accordance with section five hundred fifty-five of this
chapter, determine the public health needs of the city and prepare plans
and programs addressing such needs.
c. Supervision of matters affecting public health. (1) Supervise and
control the registration of births, fetal deaths and deaths;
(2) supervise the reporting and control of communicable and chronic
diseases and conditions hazardous to life and health; exercise control
over and supervise the abatement of nuisances affecting or likely to
affect the public health;
(3) make policy and plan for, monitor, evaluate and exercise general
supervision over all services and facilities for the mentally disabled
within the department's jurisdiction; and exercise general supervisory
authority, through the promulgation of appropriate standards consistent
with accepted professional practices for the care and treatment of
patients within such services and facilities for the mentally disabled
within the department's jurisdiction;
(4) except as otherwise provided by law, analyze and monitor
hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and homes for the aged, and analyze,
evaluate, supervise and regulate clinical laboratories, blood banks, and
related facilities providing medical and health services and services
ancillary thereto;
(5) to the extent necessary to carry out the provisions of this
chapter, the mental hygiene law and other applicable laws and when not
inconsistent with any other law, arrange for the visitation, inspection
and investigation of all providers of services for the mentally
disabled, by the department or otherwise;
(6) conduct such inquiries into services and facilities for the
mentally disabled as may be useful in performing the functions of the
department, including investigations into individual patient care, and
for such purpose the department may exercise the powers set forth in
section five hundred fifty-five of this chapter and shall, consistent
with the provisions of the mental hygiene law, have access to otherwise
confidential patient records, provided such information is requested
pursuant to the functions, powers and duties conferred upon the
department by law;
(7) supervise and regulate the public health aspects of water supply
and sewage disposal and water pollution;
(8) supervise and regulate the public health aspects of the
production, processing and distribution of milk, cream and milk
products, except for such inspection, regulation and supervision of the
sanitary quality of milk and cream distributed, consumed or sold within
the city as performed by the New York department of agriculture and
markets pursuant to section seventy-one-l of the agriculture and
markets;
(9) supervise and regulate the food and drug supply of the city and
other businesses and activities affecting public health in the city, and
ensure that such businesses and activities are conducted in a manner
consistent with the public interest and by persons with good character,
honesty and integrity;
(10) supervise and regulate the removal, transportation and disposal
of human remains;
(11) supervise and regulate the public health aspects of ionizing
radiation, the handling and disposal of radioactive wastes, and the
activities within the city affecting radioactive materials, excluding
special nuclear materials in quantities sufficient to form a critical
mass; and
(12) in furtherance of the purposes of this chapter and the mental
hygiene law, make rules and regulations covering the provision of
services by providers of services for the mentally disabled.
d. Promotion or provision of public health services. (1) Maintain and
operate public health centers and clinics as shall be established in the
department;
(2) engage in or promote health research for the purpose of improving
the quality of medical and health care; in conducting such research, the
department shall have the authority to conduct medical audits, to
receive reports on forms prepared or prescribed by the department; such
information when received by the department shall be kept confidential
and used solely for the purpose of medical or scientific research or the
improvement of the quality of medical care;
(3) produce, standardize and distribute certain diagnostic, preventive
and therapeutic products and conduct laboratory examinations for the
diagnosis, prevention and control of disease;
(4) promote or provide for public education on mental disability and
the prevention and control of disease;
(5) promote or provide for programs for the prevention and control of
disease and for the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment, social and
vocational rehabilitation, special education and training of the
mentally disabled;
(6) promote or provide diagnostic and therapeutic services for
maternity and child health, family planning, communicable disease,
medical rehabilitation and other diseases and conditions affecting
public health;
(7) promote or provide medical and health services for school children
and the ambulant sick and needy persons of the city;
(8) promote or provide medical and health services for the inmates of
prisons maintained and operated by the city;
(9) within the amounts appropriated therefor, enter into contracts for
the rendition or operation of services and facilities for the mentally
disabled on a per capita basis or otherwise, including contracts
executed pursuant to subdivision e of section 41.19 of the mental
hygiene law;
(10) within the amounts appropriated therefor, execute such programs
and maintain such facilities for the mentally disabled as may be
authorized under such appropriations; and
(11) use the services and facilities of public or private voluntary
institutions whenever practical, and encourage all providers of services
to cooperate with or participate in the program of services for the
mentally disabled, whether by contract or otherwise.
e. Other functions. (1) Prior to the sale, closing, abandonment of a
city hospital or transfer of a city hospital to any other hospital or
facility, hold a public hearing with reference to such proposed sale,
closing, abandonment or transfer; publish notice of such public hearing
in the City Record and in such daily newspaper or newspapers published
in the city of New York as shall be selected by the commissioner, such
publication to take place not less than ten days nor more than thirty
days prior to the date fixed for the hearing; and adjourn such hearing
from time to time, if necessary, in order to allow persons interested to
attend or express their views;
(2) submit all materials required by the mental hygiene law for
purposes of state reimbursement;
(3) provide for membership on such state or federally authorized
committees as may be appropriate to the discharge of the department's
functions, powers and duties; and
(4) perform such other acts as may be necessary and proper to carry
out the provisions of this chapter and the purposes of the mental
hygiene law.
Section 557.
§ 557. Chief medical examiner. (a) There shall be in the department an
independent office of chief medical examiner, the head of which shall be
the chief medical examiner, who shall be appointed by the mayor from the
classified civil service and be a doctor of medicine and a skilled
pathologist and microscopist. The mayor may remove the chief medical
examiner upon filing in the office of the commissioner of citywide
administrative services and serving upon the chief medical examiner his
or her reasons therefor and allowing such officer an opportunity of
making a public explanation.
(b) The commissioner with respect to the office of chief medical
examiner shall exercise the powers and duties set forth in paragraph one
of subdivision a of section five hundred fifty-five of this chapter, but
shall not interfere with the performance by the chief medical examiner
or his or her office of the powers and duties prescribed by the
provisions of this section or any other law.
(c) The chief medical examiner may appoint and remove such deputy
chief medical examiners, medical examiners, medical investigators, lay
medical investigators, scientific experts and other officers and
employees as may be provided for in the budget. The deputy chief medical
examiners and medical examiners shall possess the same basic
qualifications as the chief medical examiner. The medical investigators
shall be physicians duly licensed to practice medicine in the state of
New York and shall possess such additional qualifications as may be
required by the department of citywide administrative services.
(d) The office shall be kept open every day in the year, including
Sundays and legal holidays, with a clerk in attendance at all times
during the day and night.
(e) The chief medical examiner or his or her designee shall have power
to require the attendance and take testimony under oath of such persons
as he or she may deem necessary and to require the production of books,
accounts, papers and other evidence relative to any matter within the
jurisdiction of the office.
(f) (1) The chief medical examiner shall have such powers and duties
as may be provided by law in respect to bodies of person dying from
criminal violence, by accident, by suicide, suddenly when in apparent
health, when unattended by a physician, in a correctional facility or in
any suspicious or unusual manner or where an application is made
pursuant to law for a permit to cremate a body of a person.
(2) The chief medical examiner shall perform the functions of the city
mortuary and related functions, including the removal, transportation
and disposal of unclaimed or unidentified human remains and the remains
of those individuals who have died outside of a medical institution.
(3) The chief medical examiner may, to the extent permitted by law,
provide forensic and related testing and analysis, and ancillary
services, in furtherance of investigations concerning persons both alive
and deceased, including but not limited to: performing autopsies;
performing deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing and other forms of
genetic testing and analysis; obtaining samples and exemplars;
performing pathology, histology and toxicology testing and analysis; and
determining the cause or manner of injuries and/or death.
(4) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of this section and in
addition to any other powers and duties, the chief medical examiner may
engage in health research in conjunction with the department consistent
with paragraph two of subdivision d of section five hundred fifty six of
this chapter.
(g) The chief medical examiner shall keep full and complete records in
such form as may be provided by law. The chief medical examiner shall
promptly deliver to the appropriate district attorney copies of all
records relating to every death as to which there is, in the judgment of
the medical examiner in charge, any indication of criminality. Such
records shall not be open to public inspection.
Section 558.
§ 558. Health code. (a) The health code which is in force in the city
on the date on which this chapter takes effect and all existing
provisions of law fixing penalties for violations of the code and all
regulations of the board of health on file with the city clerk on the
date when this chapter takes effect shall continue to be binding and in
force except as amended or repealed from time to time. Such code shall
have the force and effect of law.
(b) The board of health from time to time may add to and alter, amend
or repeal any part of the health code, and may therein publish
additional provisions for security of life and health in the city and
confer additional powers on the department not inconsistent with the
constitution, laws of this state or this charter, and may provide for
the enforcement of the health code or any orders made by the
commissioner or the board of health, by such fines, penalties,
forfeitures and imprisonment as may be prescribed therein or otherwise
by law.
(c) The board of health may embrace in the health code all matters and
subjects to which the power and authority of the department extends. The
board of health shall prescribe in the health code the persons who shall
be required to keep a registry of birth, fetal deaths, and deaths
occurring in the city and file certifications thereof with the
department and the form and manner in which such registry shall be kept
and certificates filed, and, it shall provide for the recording of
births which have not been recorded in accordance with law, for the
change or alteration of any birth, fetal death or death certificate upon
proof satisfactory, to the commissioner, for the examination and
issuance of transcripts of such certificates and for fees to be charged
therefor.
(d) The board of health shall prescribe in the health code that the
parent with legal custody or legal guardian of any child receiving day
care services as authorized in such code shall have unlimited and on
demand access to such child or ward. The department of health and mental
hygiene shall make unannounced visits of such day care services if such
board receives a complaint that, if true, would indicate that children
in such services are not receiving adequate or appropriate care. Such
board shall also prescribe in such code that during the period for which
day care services are authorized upon any premises, the department shall
whenever possible make at least one unannounced visit of every such
premises annually.
(e) Any violation of the health code shall be treated and punished as
a misdemeanor. The board of health or an administrative tribunal
established by the board of health to enforce the provisions of the
health code shall have the power to enforce its final decisions and
orders imposing pecuniary penalties as if they were money judgments,
without court proceedings, in the manner described herein. After four
months from the issuance of such a final decision and order by such
board or tribunal a copy of such decision and order shall be filed in
the office of the clerk of any county within the city. In the event that
the decision and order were issued as a result of the respondent being
in default, a notice of default shall be mailed to such respondent at
least seven days before such filing, and a copy of such notice and a
receipt of mailing thereof shall be filed with the copy of such decision
and order. Upon such filing, such county clerk shall enter and docket
such decision and order, in the same manner and with the same effect as
a money judgment. Upon such entry and docketing, such decision and order
may be enforced as provided in article fifty-two of the civil practice
law and rules. Such board or tribunal shall not enter any final decision
or order pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision unless the
notice of violation shall have been served in the same manner as is
prescribed for service of process by article three of the civil practice
law and rules or article three of the business corporation law. Such
board or tribunal may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction for
enforcement of any other decision, order or subpoena issued by such
board or tribunal. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to limit
or abridge the board's or the department's right to pursue any other
remedy prescribed by law. Pecuniary penalties for violations of the
health code may be recovered in a civil action before any court in the
city having jurisdiction of civil actions.
(f) No amendment or addition to the health code or repeal of any
provision thereof adopted by the board of health subsequent to the
effective date of this chapter shall become valid and effective until a
copy of such amendment, addition or repeal is duly certified by the
person serving as secretary of the board.
(g) The board of health may add, amend and repeal regulations in
regard to any matter contained in the health code, and such regulations
shall have the same force and effect as a provision of the health code.
(h) No action shall abate, or right of action already accrued be
abolished, by reason of the expiration, repeal or amendment of any
provision of the health code or regulations in regard thereto.
Section 559.
§ 559. Seal. The commissioner, with the concurrence of the board of
health, may adopt a seal which may be used for the authentication of the
orders and proceedings of the board and of the department and in
commissioning the officers and agents of the department and otherwise as
may be provided for by the commissioner or in the health code.
Section 560.
§ 560. Temporary hospitals during epidemic or imminent peril. The
board of health, during the prevalence of an epidemic or in the presence
of great and imminent peril to the public health and when in the board's
judgment it is necessary to do so, may take possession of any buildings
in the city for temporary hospitals and shall pay a just compensation
for any private property so taken. Such temporary hospitals shall be
under the control of the commissioner.
Section 561.
* § 561. Permits. The board of health in its discretion may grant,
suspend or revoke permits for businesses or other matters in respect to
any subject dealt with in the health code and regulated by the
department and may prescribe reasonable fees for the issuance of said
permits. Whenever the board of health in the health code authorizes the
issuance, suspension or revocation of a permit by the commissioner, his
action shall be subject to review by the board of health upon an appeal
by the party aggrieved under such rules as the board may provide. Such
rules may provide in what cases an appeal may stay the action of the
commissioner until final determination by the board of health, but
notwithstanding any such rule the board of health shall have power to
grant or refuse a stay in any particular case.
* NB Effective until April 16, 2014
* § 561. Permits. a. The board of health in its discretion may grant,
suspend or revoke permits for businesses or other matters in respect to
any subject dealt with in the health code and regulated by the
department and may prescribe reasonable fees for the issuance of said
permits. Whenever the board of health in the health code authorizes the
issuance, suspension or revocation of a permit by the commissioner, his
action shall be subject to review by the board of health upon an appeal
by the party aggrieved under such rules as the board may provide. Such
rules may provide in what cases an appeal may stay the action of the
commissioner until final determination by the board of health, but
notwithstanding any such rule the board of health shall have power to
grant or refuse a stay in any particular case.
b. Every application for a permit or a renewal of an existing permit
issued by the commissioner pursuant to this section shall provide an
opportunity for the applicant to indicate the language in which such
applicant would prefer that inspections in connection with such permit
be conducted or alternatively for which language interpretation services
be provide. Nothing in this subdivision nor any failure to comply with
such preference shall be construed so as to create a cause of action or
constitute a defense in any legal, administrative, or other proceeding.
* NB Effective April 16, 2014
Section 562.
§ 562. Failure to observe order; penalty. Except in cases where it
is otherwise provided by law, every violation, neglect or refusal by any
person to comply with any order of the commissioner or the board of
health shall be triable by a judge of the New York city criminal court
and shall be treated and punished as a misdemeanor.
Section 563.
§ 563. Declaration of imminent peril. In the presence of great and
imminent peril to the public health, the board of health, having first
taken and filed among its records what it regards as sufficient proof to
authorize a declaration of such peril, shall take such measures, and
order the department to do such acts beyond those duly provided for the
preservation of the public health, including the power to take
possession of and occupy as a hospital any building or buildings in the
city, as the board, in good faith may declare the public safety and
health to demand, and the mayor shall in writing approve. No
expenditure shall be incurred in the exercise of such extraordinary
power, however, unless provision is made therefor in the budget or
unless such expenditures are financed pursuant to sections one hundred
seven or section 29.00 of the local finance law. Such peril shall exist
when and for such period of time as the board of health and mayor
declare.
Section 564.
§ 564. Suits and service of papers. The department may sue and be sued
in and by the proper name of "Department of Health and mental hygiene of
the City of New York," and service of all process in suits and
proceedings against or affecting the department, or other papers, may be
made upon the commissioner or official designated by him, and not
otherwise; except that, according to usual practice in other suits,
papers in suits to which the department is a party may be served on the
corporation counsel or such assistant as may be assigned by him to the
department.
Section 566.
§ 566. Right of entry of officers of department. The commissioner
and such officers or employees of the department as are designated by
him may, at reasonable times, and pursuant to a search warrant when
required by law, without fee or hindrance enter, examine and inspect all
vessels, premises, grounds, structures, buildings and every part thereof
and all underground passages of every sort in the city for compliance
with the provisions of law enforced by the department and its rules and
regulations and may make plans, drawings and descriptions thereof,
according to the regulations of the department. The owner or his agent
or representative and the lessee or occupant of any such premises,
grounds, structures, buildings and every part thereof and all
underground passages of every sort in the city and every part thereof
and every person having the care and management thereof, shall at all
reasonable times, when required by any such officers or employees, give
them free access thereto, and refusal so to do shall be triable by a
judge of the New York city criminal court and shall be treated and
punished as a misdemeanor.
Section 567.
§ 567. Acceptance of private funds. No grant, gift, devise, legacy
or bequest made to the city or to the department for work to be done
within the jurisdiction of the department shall be accepted, and no work
or research paid for from private sources shall be carried on under the
jurisdiction of the department except with the approval of the
commissioner.
Section 568.
§ 568. Mental hygiene advisory board. a. (1) There shall be a mental
hygiene advisory board which shall be advisory to the commissioner and
the deputy commissioner for mental hygiene services in the development
of community mental health, mental retardation, alcoholism and substance
abuse facilities and services and programs related thereto. The board
shall have separate subcommittees for mental health, for mental
retardation and developmental disabilities, and for alcoholism and
substance abuse. The board and its subcommittees shall be constituted
and their appointive members appointed and removed in the manner
prescribed for a community services board by the provisions of the
mental hygiene law. Pursuant to the provisions of such law, such members
may be reappointed without limitation on the number of consecutive terms
which they may serve.
(2) Members of the mental hygiene advisory board and its subcommittees
shall serve thereon without compensation except that each member shall
be allowed actual and necessary expenses to be audited in the same
manner as other city charges.
(3) No person shall be ineligible for membership on the board or its
subcommittees because such person holds any other public office,
employment or trust, nor shall any person be made ineligible to or
forfeit such person's right to any public office, employment or trust by
reason of such appointment.
b. (1) Contracts for services and facilities under this chapter may be
made with a public or private voluntary hospital, clinic, laboratory,
health, welfare or mental hygiene agency or other similar institution,
notwithstanding that any member of the board or its subcommittees is an
officer or employee of such institution or agency or is a member of the
medical or consultant staff thereof.
(2) If any matter arises before the board or any of its subcommittees
directly involving a public or private voluntary hospital, clinic,
laboratory, health, welfare or mental hygiene agency or other similar
institution of which any member of the board or such subcommittee is an
officer, employee or on the medical or consultant staff thereof, that
member shall participate in the deliberations of the board or of such
subcommittee on the matter only insofar as to provide any information
requested of such person by the other members of the board or
subcommittee, and that member shall not participate further in the
deliberations of the board or subcommittee on the matter after having
provided the required information.
Section 569.
§ 569. Construction clause. The provisions of this chapter relating to
services for the mentally disabled shall be carried out subject to and
in conjunction with the provisions of the mental hygiene law.
To the extent possible under law, Friends of Devin Balkind for Public Advocate has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to New York City Administrative Code. This work is published from: United States.
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