Int. No. 565
By Council Members De La Rosa, Gutiérrez, Louis, Hanif, Marte, Joseph and Nurse (by request of the Manhattan Borough President)
A Local Law in relation to the creation of a COVID-19 memorial task force
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Definitions. For purposes of this local law, the following terms have the following meanings:
City. The term “city” means the city of New York.
COVID-19. The term “COVID-19” means the 2019 novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV.
Task force. The term “task force” means the COVID-19 memorial task force established by this local law.
§ 2. Task force established. There is hereby established a task force to be known as the COVID-19 memorial task force.
§ 3. Duties. The task force shall consider the various factors involved in creating a memorial on Hart Island dedicated to those who died as a direct result of COVID-19, including potential sites on Hart Island for the memorial, resources necessary to create such memorial and the level of coordination among appropriate stakeholders that would be necessary for the creation of such memorial. The task force shall make recommendations in furtherance of creating such memorial and such recommendations shall take into account potential effects on the health and welfare of persons in the city, the projected costs of implementing such recommendations, anticipated effects on stakeholders and any other considerations the task force deems relevant.
§ 4. Membership. a. The task force shall be composed of the following members:
1. The commissioner of cultural affairs or such commissioner’s designee, who shall serve as chair;
2. The commissioner of parks and recreation or such commissioner’s designee;
3. Two members appointed by the mayor, provided that at least 1 such member is a family member of a person who died as a direct result of COVID-19 and is buried on Hart Island; and
4. Two members appointed by the speaker of the council, provided that at least 1 such member is a family member of a person who died as a direct result of COVID-19 and is buried on Hart Island.
b. The mayor may invite officers and representatives of relevant federal, state and local agencies and authorities to participate in the work of the task force.
c. All appointments required by this section shall be made no later than 90 days after the effective date of this local law.
d. Each member of the task force shall serve at the pleasure of the officer who appointed the member. In the event of a vacancy on the task force, a successor shall be appointed in the same manner as the original appointment for the remainder of the unexpired term. All members of the task force shall serve without compensation.
§ 5. Meetings. a. The chair shall convene the first meeting of the task force no later than 30 days after the last member has been appointed, except that where not all members of the task force have been appointed within the time specified in section four, the chair shall convene the first meeting of the task force within 10 days of the appointment of a quorum.
b. The task force may invite experts and stakeholders to attend its meetings and to provide testimony and information relevant to its duties.
c. The task force shall meet no less than once each quarter to carry out the duties described in section three.
d. The meeting requirement of subdivision c shall be suspended when the task force submits its report as required by section six.
§ 6. Report. a. No later than 270 days after the effective date of this local law, the task force shall submit a report to the mayor and to the speaker of the council setting forth its recommendations for a memorial on Hart Island dedicated to those who died as a direct result of COVID-19. The report shall include a summary of information the task force considered in formulating its recommendations.
b. The commissioner of cultural affairs shall publish the task force’s report electronically on the website for the department of cultural affairs no later than 10 days after submitting such report to the mayor and to the speaker of the council.
§ 7. Agency support. Each agency affected by this local law shall provide appropriate staff and resources to support the work of such agency related to the task force.
§ 8. Termination. The task force shall terminate 180 days after the date on which it submits its report, as required by section six.
§ 9. Effective date. This local law takes effect immediately.
Session 12
KS
LS #4510/8973
4/28/22 1:30 PM
Session 11
AM
LS #14765
Int #2004-2020