INTRODUCTION

New Yorkers elect the Mayor, Borough Presidents, City Council members, Public Advocate, and Comptroller. These officials are collectively responsible for overseeing City government, either directly or through their appointees. The City Charter defines the authority of each official or body and the relationships among them.

THE MAYOR

The Mayor is the City's chief executive officer. He sets the agenda for the City and its finances: what services the City will provide and how they will be financed. He appoints Deputy Mayors and heads of agencies who carry out City policies. The Mayor has specific responsibilities in relation to Community Boards, including:

• Ensuring that City agencies cooperate with Community Boards in all matters affecting local services and the handling of citizen complaints.
  
  
• Proposing the level of financial support for the Community Boards.
  
  
• Considering Community Board priorities in the Expense and Capital Budgets.
  
  
• Ensuring that agencies provide representatives who can facilitate solutions to local problems and serve on the Boards' District Service Cabinets.
  
  
• Providing general assistance and mechanisms for answering Community Boards' questions and helping to solve their problems.

The Mayor issues several reports that Community Boards can use to evaluate and plan for the needs of their districts, such as:

• The Mayor's Management Report, published in preliminary form each January and in final form each September, which sets performance goals for City programs, reports on actual performance relative to these goals, and explains significant changes;
  
  
• The Strategic Policy Statement, summarizing the most pressing long-term issues facing the City and the strategies proposed to address them, issued every four years;
  
  
• The Annual Report on Social Indicators, an analysis of the social, economic, and environmental health of the City, issued sixty days before the Community Boards submit their budget priorities for the next fiscal year; and
  
  
• The Citywide Statement of Needs, identifying plans to open, close, expand, or reduce the size of City facilities over the next two fiscal years, issued each November.

The Community Affairs Unit (CAU) serves within the Office of the Mayor to aid the City's 59 Community Boards in carrying out their Charter mandated responsibilities, strengthening the lines of communication and dialogue between City government and communities. Further, CAU serves as the focal point for coordinating City policies that relate to Community Boards as well as assisting City agencies with activities that relate to communities.

CAU also provides other services to Community Boards including liaison with City oversight agencies, computer assistance, and street activity permit information. If your Board would like to avail itself of any of these services, the Chairperson or District Manager should call the CAU coordinator for your borough.

THE CITY COUNCIL

The City Council is the City's legislative body. There are 51 elected Council Members, one from each Council District. Besides enacting legislation, including tax and revenue measures, the City Council approves the City's budget, and has oversight powers over the activities of City agencies. The Council also has the power to review many land use actions of the City Planning Commission.

The Council Members are closely involved with the Community Boards in the districts they represent.

• Council Members are "ex-officio" non-voting members of the Community Boards whose districts they represent.
  
  
• Council Members are members of their Boards' District Service Cabinets.
  
  
• Council Members are members of the Borough Board.
  
  
• Council Members submit nominations for membership on the Community Boards to the Borough President, half of whose appointments must be made from such nominations. These appointments must be in proportion to the percentage of the district's population that each Council Member represents.
  
  
• The Council receives the advice of Community Boards on the Expense and Capital Budgets and helps determine the funding level for the Boards.

THE BOROUGH PRESIDENT

The Borough President must be consulted in the preparation of the Mayor's Executive Budget, may reallocate certain resources within the borough after budget adoption, prepares a strategic policy statement for the borough, monitors service delivery and complaint handling by City agencies, can have legislation introduced in the Council, proposes changes in the zoning resolution, reviews contracts and franchises, and appoints a member to the City Planning Commission. The Borough President is an important participant in land use review and in the "Fair Share" process for locating City facilities.

In relation to the Community Boards, the Borough President:

• Appoints the members of Community Boards for two year terms. At least half of these appointments must be nominees of the Council Members representing the Community District.
  
  
• Along with the Community Boards, reviews and makes recommendations on ULURP applications.
  
  
• Maintains planning and budget offices, administers training to Community Board members, and provides technical assistance to the Community Boards.
  
  
• Serves as Chairperson of the Borough Board and Borough Service Cabinet.

THE BOROUGH BOARD

The Borough Board consists of the Borough President, as chairperson, all the Council Members for the borough, and the chairpersons of all the Community Boards in the borough (who may vote only on matters directly affecting their Community Districts). Its responsibilities include:

• Shares with the affected Community Boards the opportunity to advise on zoning, variances, the City Map, franchises, City property transfers, and other land use matters which directly affect more than one Community District.
  
  
• Can initiate and review comprehensive or special purpose plans for the borough.
  
  
• Prepares a comprehensive statement of the expense and capital budget priorities and needs of the borough.
  
  
• Can evaluate the progress of capital developments and the quality and quantity of services in the borough.
  
  
• Cooperates with Community Boards and mediates any disputes and conflicts among them.

THE BOROUGH SERVICE CABINET

The Borough service Cabinet consists of the Borough President as chairperson, and includes borough officials appointed by the head of each City agency which delivers services in the borough. In most boroughs, District Managers are invited to attend. Its responsibilities include:

• Coordinates, at the borough level, service delivery functions and programs of agencies that provide services in the borough.
  
  
• Considers interagency problems and impediments to the effective and economic delivery of services in the borough.
  
  
• Plans and develops programs to address the needs and priorities of the borough and its residents.
  
  
• Consults with residents of the borough and representatives of the Community Boards about service problems and activities.

THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION

The City Planning Commission is responsible for planning for the orderly growth, improvement, and development of the City. Thirteen commissioners, seven appointed by the Mayor, one by the Council President, and one by each Borough President, sit on the City Planning Commission. The Chairperson of the Commission is appointed by the Mayor and serves at the Mayor's pleasure. The Commission Chairperson is Amanda Burden.

The Chairperson of the City Planning Commission is also the Director of the Department of City Planning, which serves as the Commission's administrative and professional staff, among other responsibilities.

Both the Commission and the Department work closely with the Community Boards:

• The Commission, in accordance with the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), receives and reviews the advice of Community Boards, Borough Presidents, and in some cases, Borough Boards on zoning, the City Map, site selection, Requests for Proposals related to franchises, City property dispositions and acquisitions, and other land use matters. It conducts public hearings, votes its recommendations, and forwards approvals to the City Council.
  
  
• The Commission establishes rules governing the land use and environmental review procedures, as well as criteria for the location of City facilities.
  
  
• The Commission receives and reviews the advice of Community Boards on area plans, whether initiated by a Community Board, a Borough Board, a Borough President, the Mayor, or the Department of City Planning, and forwards approved plans to the Council for final action. The Commission also sets standards for such plans.
  
  
• The Commission receives Community Board advice submitted to the Board of Standards and Appeals on variances and special permits, and may react to that advice in public hearings before the Board of Standards and Appeals.
  
  
• The Department provides professional assistance to Community Boards in planning for their communities.
  
  
• The Department receives all applications subject to the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure and related documents and refers them at the appropriate time to the affected Community Boards, Borough Boards, Borough Presidents, and the City Council for public hearing and advice.

THE COMPTROLLER

The Comptroller is the chief auditing and accounting officer for Community Boards, as for all City agencies. The Comptroller of the City of New York is William C. Thompson, Jr.

THE PUBLIC ADVOCATE

BOARD COMPOSITION AND MEMBERSHIP

The 1975 City Charter revisions allocated greater responsibility to Community Boards, especially in relation to municipal service delivery, the City budget, and land use, and the 1989 Charter revisions affirmed their role in those processes.  Below is an overview of the structure as defined in Chapter 70 of the revised Charter. 

Membership - There is one Community Board for each of the City's 59 Community Districts.  Each has up to 50 voting members who serve for staggered terms of two years; one half of the membership is appointed each year.  Members of the Community Boards serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for actual, necessary out of pocket expenses in connection with attendance at regularly scheduled meetings.

Eligibility - Members must be New York City residents who live in or have a business, professional or other significant interest in the district.  No more than 25 percent of the members may be City employees.

Appointments - The Borough President appoints the Community Board members.  At least one half of the members must be selected from the nominees of the district's Council Members, in proportion to the share of the district's population represented by those Council Members.  The Borough President must ensure adequate representation from different geographic neighborhoods in the district, and must consider whether all segments of the community are represented.  Community Boards and civic and other community groups may submit nominations to the Borough President or to the Council Members.

Ex-Officio Members - All City Council Members whose districts form part of the Community District are non-voting Board members.

Removal - Members may be removed for cause by the Borough President or by a majority vote of the Board in accordance with due process.  ("Cause" is not precisely defined in the Charter.  However, one example of cause specifically noted in the Charter is substantial non-attendance at Board or committee meetings over a period of six months).

Vacancies - The Borough President fills vacancies for the remainder of the unexpired term in the same way as regular appointments are made.