New York Laws
Title 6 - The New York City School Construction Authority Act
1728 - Powers and Duties of the Authority.

§ 1728. Powers and duties of the authority. The authority shall have
the following powers and duties:

1. To sue and be sued;

2. To have a seal or alter the same at pleasure;

3. To make and alter by-laws for the organization and the management
and regulation of its affairs;

4. To appoint officers and employees, fix their compensation and
require background investigations, including but not limited to the
criminal history of all applicants for employment to determine the
suitability of such applicants for employment. Such investigation shall
include but not be limited to the taking of fingerprints of such
officers and employees as a prerequisite for employment; provided,
however, that every set of fingerprints taken pursuant to this
subdivision shall be promptly submitted to the division of criminal
justice services where it shall be appropriately processed and forwarded
to the federal bureau of investigation, at a rate required by such
agencies for state and national criminal history record checks;

5. To design, construct, reconstruct, improve, rehabilitate, maintain,
furnish, repair, equip and otherwise provide for educational facilities,
as defined in section twenty-five hundred ninety-a of the education law,
for the city board pursuant to agreements with the city board;

6. To acquire real and personal property, or any interest therein, by
any method, including but not limited to purchase or condemnation, for
the purpose of constructing, reconstructing, improving, rehabilitating,
maintaining, repairing, furnishing, equipping or otherwise providing for
educational facilities for the city board; provided, however, that the
authority shall use such condemnation power only if the authority is
unable to purchase property by negotiation or bidding and provided
further that, except to the extent permitted by subdivision two of
section seventeen hundred twenty-nine of this title, the authority may
not condemn property dedicated to use, used or mapped as a city street
or any other property owned by, or subject to any interest therein, of
the city of New York;

7. To make and execute contracts and all other instruments necessary
or convenient for the exercise of its functions, powers and duties,
provided that the authority may not unless otherwise specifically
authorized by law issue negotiable bonds or notes;

8. To engage the services of private consultants on a contract basis
for rendering professional and technical assistance and advice;

9. To enter into agreements with the city board pursuant to which the
authority will be responsible for the acquisition, design, construction,
reconstruction, improvement, rehabilitation, maintaining, repairing,
furnishing, equipping of and otherwise providing for educational
facilities for the city board, provided, however, that (i) any agreement
under which the authority shall engage in maintenance shall be limited
to maintenance that is attendant to the authority's implementation of a
five-year educational facilities capital plan; (ii) nothing herein shall
be deemed to diminish the rights of school custodians and custodian
engineers as established in the existing collective bargaining agreement
with the city board or other custodian or maintenance employees as
established in their respective collective bargaining agreements; and
(iii) further provided that the authority is not empowered to engage in
custodial operations;

10. Notwithstanding the provisions of section two thousand five
hundred four of the insurance law or any other law, to procure insurance
on behalf of itself and others against any loss in connection with its
activities, properties and other assets, in such amounts and from such
insurers as it deems desirable; provided that the authority may enter

into agreements with the city, acting by the mayor alone, providing for
indemnification by the city of the authority against tort and contract
judgments and claims, which agreements may contain provisions requiring
legal representation of the authority by the corporation counsel of the
city and specifying any insurance to be carried by the authority, which
provisions shall supersede any agreements with the city board on such
subject;

11. Upon completion of the design, construction, reconstruction,
improvement, rehabilitation, maintaining, repairing, furnishing,
equipping of or otherwise providing for educational facilities, to
convey title to any such facilities to the city for use as educational
facilities by the city board. In the case of educational facilities
leased by the authority, the city board may occupy or sublet such
facilities from the authority without compensation and without further
approval and, upon transfer or assignment of the authority's interest in
these facilities to the city board, the city board shall assume all
rights and obligations of the authority under such lease;

12. To dispose of personal property and, with the consent of the city,
acting by the mayor and the council, to dispose of real property, or any
interest therein, held by the authority and not required for educational
purposes of the city board, by sale, lease, sublease or otherwise,
provided that such disposition is pursuant to the implementation of a
five-year educational facilities capital plan;

13. To enter into agreements with the city's department of city
planning to render any services the authority may request, including but
not limited to professional and technical assistance by planning
experts, engineers, architects and any other staff as may be necessary,
and the use of the premises, personnel, equipment, access to relevant
data and personal property of the department of city planning;

13-a. To enter into agreements with the city's department of health
and mental hygiene to render any services the authority may request,
including but not limited to access to data necessary to develop
reasonable student population projections citywide, for each community
school district and for each community board;

13-b. To enter into agreements with the city's department of buildings
to render any services the authority may request, including but not
limited to access to building permit and construction data, including
the number and size of units within buildings;

13-c. To enter into agreements with the city's department of housing
preservation and development to render any services the authority may
request, including but not limited to access to building permit and
construction data, including the number and size of units within
buildings;

13-d. To coordinate with the office of city planning, the department
of buildings, the department of housing preservation and development,
the department of health and mental hygiene and community boards to
create uniform, citywide student population projections, community
school district and community board, for a minimum of five years, based
on data produced by the office of city planning, the department of
buildings, the department of housing preservation and development and
the department of health and mental hygiene. Such projections shall be
used in the creation and implementation of the authority's five-year
educational facilities capital plan;

14. To enter into agreements with the city board to render services,
including but not limited to the use of the premises, personnel and
personal property of the city board, and to provide for reimbursement to
the city board from the authority for any expenses incurred by the city
board in carrying out the terms of these agreements;

15. To enter into agreements with the city board pursuant to which the
city board may make available to the authority the services of employees
of the city board who are contemplated to be transferred to the
authority pursuant to a plan for such transfers for the purpose of
rendering assistance in establishing the operations of the authority;
provided, however, that such employees shall no longer be available to
the authority pursuant to the terms of this subdivision beyond one year
following the effective date of this title;

16. To apply for or accept any gifts, grants or loans of funds or
property or financial or other aid in any form from the federal
government or any agency or instrumentality thereof, from the state or
any agency or instrumentality thereof, from the city or any agency or
instrumentality thereof or from any other source, for any or all of the
purposes specified in this title, and it may comply, subject to the
provisions of this title, with the terms and conditions thereof; and

17. To do any and all things necessary or convenient to carry out and
exercise the powers given and granted by this section.