(a) a local health  officer  shall  be  eligible  for  appointment  as
registrar of vital statistics; and,
  (b)  no  licensed  and  registered  funeral  director,  undertaker  or
embalmer engaged or employed in the  business  or  practice  of  funeral
directing,  undertaking  or  embalming,  and  no other person engaged or
employed in the business of funeral directing, undertaking or  embalming
shall  be  eligible  for appointment as a registrar, deputy registrar or
sub-registrar of vital statistics.
  3. (a) In towns and villages the  registrar  or  registrars  of  vital
statistics shall be appointed by the town board and by the village board
of  trustees  respectively;  a  local  town  clerk shall be eligible for
appointment as registrar of his town and of any  village  wholly  within
said  town  in  which  he  has  an  office, and a village clerk shall be
eligible for appointment as a registrar of his village and of  any  town
in which he resides.
  (b) In the cities, unless otherwise provided by charter, the registrar
or registrars of vital statistics shall be appointed by the mayor.
  (c)  In  each  primary  registration  district  consisting  of a state
hospital, charitable or penal institution, the registrar  shall  be  the
director  or  person  in  charge of such institution, provided, however,
that he shall receive no additional  remuneration  for  acting  as  such
registrar.
  (d)  In  an  area  designated  as a county or part-county registration
district, the county commissioner of health or  public  health  director
shall  be  appointed  by  the  board of supervisors as registrar of such
county or part-county registration  district.  If  there  be  no  county
commissioner  of  health  or  public  health director, then the board of
supervisors, with the approval of the commissioner, shall designate  the
registrar.  When  such  appointment  is  made,  the  terms  of office of
registrars theretofore  appointed  within  such  county  or  part-county
registration   district   shall  thereupon  terminate,  and  the  county
commissioner of  health  or  public  health  director  or  registrar  so
designated  shall  be  the  registrar of the entire area embraced within
such county or part-county registration district.
  4. When a district is divided into two or  more  primary  registration
districts,  the appointment of a registrar for each shall be made by the
same appointing authority  which  had  jurisdiction  over  the  original
district.
  5.  (a)  When two or more primary registration districts are combined,
the registrar for such combined district shall be appointed by the board
or city council of those former primary  registration  districts  having
had  an  aggregate of one hundred or more births, deaths or fetal deaths
in each of the two preceding calendar years, and which theretofore  made
the appointment of registrars of the original districts, except that;
  (b)  in  a  county  registration  district, the county commissioner of
health or public health director, or if there be no county  commissioner
of  health  or  public  health  director,  the  designee of the board of
supervisors of such county shall be appointed as registrar for the  area
of his jurisdiction as provided in paragraph (d) of subdivision three of
this section;
  (c)  where  the  combined  primary  registration  districts  have each
registered less than an aggregate of one hundred births, deaths or fetal
deaths in each of the two preceding calendar years the registrar of  the
combined   districts,   or   of  the  districts  forming  a  part-county
registration district shall be appointed by the board of supervisors  of
such county.
Structure New York Laws
Title 2 - Registration Districts: Registrars, Physicians, Midwives and Funeral Directors
4120 - Vital Statistics; Registration Districts; Establishment.
4121 - Vital Statistics; Registrar; Qualifications and Appointment.
4122 - Vital Statistics; Deputy Registrars and Subregistrars; Appointment.
4123 - Vital Statistics; Registrars; Term of Office; Oath; Removal.
4124 - Vital Statistics; Registrars and Subregistrars; Compensation and Expenses.