Public Officers Law Section 36
Unhappy with their Town Supervisor, a number of residents of a town wrote to New York Governor David Paterson and asked him to remove the official from office.
According to a newspaper report,* Governor Paterson’s attorney, Peter J. Kiernan, Esq., advised the residents that “state law only provides the governor with power to remove some town officials, and town supervisors aren’t on the list.”
In any event, with respect to the removal of a town officer from his or her public office, §36 of the Public Officers Law, in pertinent part, provides as follows:
Any town… officer, except a justice of the peace, may be removed from office by the supreme court for any misconduct, maladministration, malfeasance or malversation in office. An application for such removal may be made by any citizen resident of such town … or by the district attorney of the county in which such town … is located, and shall be made to the appellate division of the supreme court held within the judicial department embracing such town …. Such application shall be made upon notice to such officer of not less than eight days, and a copy of the charges upon which the application will be made must be served with such notice.
* Schenectady Gazette, Saturday, September 4, 2010
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