New York Laws
Article 10 - Fire Department
10-1012 - Chief and Assistant Chiefs.

§ 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.