§ 58. Choice between election and appointment of officials. 1. The
office of comptroller, in a county where the office would otherwise be
elective, or any elective county office that is being continued except
that of a supervisor or a judicial officer, may be made appointive by
provision therefor in the petition or resolution by which an alternative
form of county government or a change in such a form is initiated and by
vote of the people as provided in article fourteen. This option shall
apply to elective officers provided for in the constitution as well as
to others. By like action the office of county commissioner of public
welfare, in a county where the office would otherwise be appointive, or
any formerly elective office that has been made appointive pursuant to
this section, may be made elective. Whenever one of the options provided
for in this section is submitted to the people, it shall be submitted as
a separate question. Its adoption may, however, be made contingent on
the adoption of another question submitted at the same time if the
petition or resolution by which it is initiated so provides.

2. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this chapter, every
elective official of a county shall remain elective after the adoption
of an alternative form of government and shall continue to perform the
functions pertaining to his office.

3. When an office which could be made appointive remains or becomes
elective under an alternative form of county government, the term of
such office shall be four years from and including the first day of
January after each election to the office, except that the term of the
first official elected to such office after the alternative form takes
effect shall be three years if the term begins in an odd-numbered year.
Elections shall take place at the general elections in the last year of
each term. When an appointive office is made elective, the first
election to the office shall take place at the next general election.

4. When an elective office is made appointive, the appointment shall
be made as provided in section two hundred two for a term coterminous
with the term of the county executive or board of supervisors making the
appointment, except that it may be shortened as provided in subdivision
three if the office is made elective and that the person so appointed
shall continue to serve until his successor is chosen and has qualified.
If a vacancy occurs in such an office, it shall be filled similarly by
appointment for the balance of the term.