Submission Date:
Question:
Our trustee petitions to run for board seats are due 30 days before our election. That date happens to fall on a Sunday. What is the best practice for dates that fall on a Sunday? What is the best practice for dates that fall on a Saturday? Our petitions are due at the school, the school is closed on Saturday and Sunday.
What if the petitions were due at the library, and we were open?
Answer:
WARNING! This answer applies only to school district public libraries.[1]
In addition: Caveat…[2] this answer will apply differently to different school district public libraries.
As fans of library law know,[3] school district public libraries have their own special subsections of New York State Education Law Section 260 regarding election of trustees and occasionally have to follow the practices of their sponsoring district.
The subsection relevant to this question is (8), which provides:
Candidates for the office of trustee of a public library established and supported by a school district shall be nominated by petition which shall meet the requirements of subdivision a of section two thousand eighteen of this chapter, except that such candidates shall be elected in the manner specified in subdivision b of such section except that the nominating petition filed pursuant to subdivision a or b of such section shall be signed by a least twenty-five qualified voters of the library district, or two percent of the voters who voted in the last previous annual election of members of the library board of trustees, whichever is greater. The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to a charter granted prior to April thirtieth, nineteen hundred seventy-one that provides for a different procedure. [emphasis added]
Because of the clause in bold, when I get a question like the one above, I first ask if the Library was chartered before April 14, 1971. If it was, I check to see if the charter says something else about the method of electing trustees.[4] If it does, we follow what the charter says.
Presuming a library’s charter doesn’t pre-date President Nixon’s ending of the blockade of China[5] and provide for another process, I then look to the relevant law, which is “subdivision a of section two thousand eighteen of this chapter.” This section requires:
Each petition shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the district between the hours of nine a.m. and five p.m., not later than the thirtieth day preceding the school meeting or election at which the candidates nominated are to be elected. No person shall be nominated by petition for more than one separate office.
Which brings us to the member’s question: what if the “thirtieth day” falls on a Sunday?
Although there is no statute or case law on this point regarding a school district public library, the New York State Education Commissioner wrote in Decision No. 17238 that the state’s “General Construction Law” provides:[6]
§ 25-a. Public holiday, Saturday or Sunday in statutes; extension of time where performance of act is due on Saturday, Sunday or public holiday
1. When any period of time, computed from a certain day, within which or after which or before which an act is authorized or required to be done, ends on a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday, such act may be done on the next succeeding business day and if the period ends at a specified hour, such act may be done at or before the same hour of such next succeeding business day…
So, there you have it! The due date will be the next business day (which could be a Tuesday, if the Monday after the Sunday is also a holiday).
That said, even if this all checks out for you, it is wise to confirm this with the school district—especially if the district is conducting your library’s elections.
If you would like to memorize a summary of this answer to dazzle people at board meetings, here it is:
Barring a charter provision providing otherwise, if the deadline for nominating petitions for school district public library candidates falls on a Sunday, petitions are due the next business day, as provided by General Construction Law Section 25-a.
Thank you for a great question!
[1] You won’t melt if you are reading it at a special district library, but it might feel like you’re wearing a sweater that is too tight.
[2] Ah, the “caveat,” which is the low-key way to say “WARNING!”
[3] To join the fan club, write to [email protected]. Put “Law Library Fan Club” in the RE line.
[4] I have only seen once instance of this so far.
[5] Which happened in 4/14/1971… thanks, ESNL’s Historic Newspapers Timeline for 1971! https://www.historic-newspapers.com/blogs/article/1971-timeline?srsltid=AfmBOor7RaknAKUYQfjvoN93M_t_19tlz9cOhLRQI2wR2R_lkHoiZLay
[6] Found at https://www.counsel.nysed.gov/Decisions/volume57/d17238. This case has nothing to do with a library but does show how the Education Commissioner—who has authority over school district public library elections—regards the application of this law to matters under NYSED jurisdiction.
Tag:
Elections, Board of Trustees, School Districts, Public Libraries
