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ARTICLE III, Executive Branch

Section:

3.01. County Executive.
3.02. County Executive; Powers and Duties.
3.03. Acting County Executive; How Designated; When to Act.
3.04. Removal of County Executive.
3.05. Vacancy in the Office of County Executive.
 

Section 3.01, County Executive.

There shall be a County Executive who shall be elected from the County at large for a term of four years beginning with the first day of January next following his election. At the time of his nomination and election and throughout his term of office, he shall be a qualified elector of the County. He shall hold no other public office except as otherwise provided, shall devote his whole time to the duties of his office, and shall receive therefore compensation to be fixed by the County Legislature, which shall not be decreased during his term of office.

 

Section 3.02., County Executive; Powers and Duties.

The County Executive shall be the chief executive officer of the County. Except as may otherwise be provided in this Charter or the Administrative Code, he shall have and exercise all the executive and administrative powers and duties now or hereafter conferred or imposed upon him by this Charter or the Administrative Code, or upon a county executive officer or the executive branch of the County by State law, together with all the powers and duties necessarily implied or incidental thereto.

Among such powers and duties, he shall:
  1. appoint, except as may otherwise be provided in this Charter or the Administrative Code, all department heads and appointive executive officers of the County government, subject to the approval of the County Legislature;
  2. be the Chief Budget Officer of the County and present to the County Legislature the Annual Budget in the manner and form hereinafter provided and, at the close of each fiscal year or as soon thereafter as practicable, a report of the financial and other transactions of the County including the reports of the several departments of the County government;
  3. determine and fix real property tax equalization rates among the various taxing districts of the County for County purposes and file the same with the County Legislature on or before the first day of November in each year;
  4. designate, subject to the approval of the County Legislature, one or more depositories located within the County for the deposit of all moneys received by the Commissioner of Finance;
  5. supervise, direct and control and administer all departments;
  6. appoint a member of the County Legislature to serve as Chairman thereof (1) for the remainder of a calendar year in case the County Legislature has failed to select a Chairman on or before February 1 of such calendar year, or (2) for the unexpired term of the previous Chairman in case the County Legislature has failed to select a Chairman within thirty days after a vacancy has occurred in the office of the Chairman;
  7. appoint such assistants, officers and employees of his office as may be authorized by the County Legislature;
  8. supervise and direct the internal structure and organization of every unit of the executive branch of the County government, including, except as may otherwise be provided in this Charter, the Administrative Code or applicable law, the appointment and dismissal of employees;
  9. appoint, supervise and terminate, subject to the provisions of Section 3.06 of the Administrative Code, and except as otherwise herein provided, all executive committees, commissions and boards to assist him in the exercise of his executive functions and in the planning, formulation and administration of executive policies and programs;
  10. approve or disapprove the sufficiency of amounts of sureties on official bonds and undertakings, as fixed by the County Legislature;
  11. approve or disapprove in writing every proposed local law and County budget subject, however, to the provisions of Sections 2.03 and 4.07 of this Charter;
  12. approve a uniform system for the procurement of goods and services by the County and all its units, oversee its implementation and the purchase and sale of all materials, supplies and equipment therefore, and contract for the rental and servicing of equipment for the County, all subject to the provisions of applicable law and authorized appropriations;
  13. make, sign and implement all other contracts on behalf of the County within authorized appropriations, except as may otherwise be provided in this Charter or the Administrative Code;
  14. supervise all central administrative services for the County government, tabulation, mail and messenger service, printing and reproduction, telephone and other related operational services;
  15. Authorize where appropriate the temporary transfer of employees between units of the executive branch of the County government;
  16. assign to officers and employees of the executive branch of the County government such other powers and duties not otherwise prescribed by this Charter, the Administrative Code, local law, ordinances, resolutions or other provisions of law;
  17. declare the existence of emergencies affecting the life, health or safety of inhabitants of the County and, except as otherwise provided by law, exercise all the powers and duties necessary for the protection thereof;
  18. make such recommendations to the County Legislature with respect to the affairs of the County and its government as he may deem appropriate;
  19. except as may otherwise be provided in this Charter or the Administrative Code, have all the powers and perform all the duties now or hereafter conferred or imposed upon him by local law;
  20. hire such employees upon such terms and conditions as he deems necessary to achieve any county purpose, subject, however, to the approval thereof by the Orange County Legislature at its next meeting. No such employment shall continue unless so approved by the Orange County Legislature;
  21. to establish a schedule of holidays upon which all county offices shall be closed for the transaction of business compatible, however, with the schedule of holidays in the collective bargaining agreement between the County and the employee bargaining unit containing the majority of county employees.
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Section 3.03. Acting County Executive; How Designated; When to Act.

The County Executive shall designate in writing one or more appointive department or executive division heads to perform administrative duties of the County Executive during his temporary inability to perform by reason of absence from the County or disability. Such written designation shall be filed with the County Clerk and the Clerk of the County Legislature and may be terminated and superseded at any time by the County Executive by written notice of such termination and supersession filed in the same manner as the original written designation. During the absence or disability of both the County Executive and the Acting County Executive so designated, or during the absence or disability of the County Executive while no Acting County Executive has been so designated, the Chairman of the County Legislature may designate the head of one of the County departments to perform such administrative duties. The Acting County Executive shall have and exercise all of the powers of the County Executive except the power of removal and the power of veto of acts of the County Legislature.

 
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Section 3.04. Removal of County Executive.

The County Executive may be removed from office in the manner provided in the Public Officers Law for the removal of other County officers.
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Sect. 3.05. Vacancy in the Office of County Executive.

In the event of a vacancy in the office of a County Executive as described in Section 30 of the Public Officers Law, such office shall be filled by appointment, by the County Legislature, of a qualified elector of the County. The person so appointed shall hold office by virtue of such appointment until the commencement of the calendar year next succeeding the first annual election after the happening of the vacancy at which a successor can be elected, at which election a County Executive shall be elected for the balance of the unexpired term, if any. The Acting County Executive designated in the manner prescribed in Section 3.02 hereof shall serve during any vacancy in the office of County Executive until such vacancy is filled.