§ 32. Niagara thruway toll removal fund. 1. There is hereby created
within the department of transportation the "Niagara thruway toll
removal fund". The fund shall be a corporate governmental agency
constituting a public benefit corporation. It shall be administered by
three trustees, two of whom shall be appointed by the governor with the
advice and consent of the senate and the third shall be the commissioner
of transportation.

2. The two trustees of the fund first appointed by the governor shall
serve their terms ending December thirty-first, in nineteen hundred
sixty-eight and nineteen hundred seventy, respectively. Persons
appointed for full terms as their successors shall serve for six years
each commencing as of the January first next following the year in which
the term of his predecessor expired. In the event of a vacancy occurring
in the office of a trustee by death, resignation or otherwise, the
governor shall appoint a successor in the same manner as an original
appointment to serve for the balance of the unexpired term.

3. The trustees of the fund shall serve without salary, but each
trustee shall be entitled to reimbursement for his actual and necessary
expenses incurred in the performance of his official duties.

4. The trustees of the fund may engage in private employment, or in a
profession or business, subject to the limitations contained in sections
seventy-three and seventy-four of the public officers law. The fund
shall, for the purposes of such sections, be a "state agency", and the
trustees thereof shall be "officers" of the agency for the purposes of
said sections.

5. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of law, general,
special or local, no officer or employee of the state, or of any civil
division thereof, shall be deemed to have forfeited or shall forfeit his
office or employment by reason of accepting appointment as a trustee of
the fund.

6. The governor may remove any trustee for inefficiency, neglect of
duty or misconduct in office after giving him a copy of the charges
against him, and an opportunity to be heard, in person or by counsel, in
his defense, upon not less than ten days' notice. If any trustee shall
be removed, the governor shall file with the secretary of state a
complete statement of charges made against the trustee, and his findings
thereon, together with a complete record of the proceedings.

7. The chairman of the fund shall be designated by the governor, shall
preside over all its meetings and shall have such other duties as the
trustees may direct. A vice-chairman who shall preside over all meetings
of the fund in the absence of the chairman and shall have such other
duties as the trustees may direct may be designated from time to time by
the trustees from among the other trustees.

8. The powers of the fund shall be vested in and exercised by no less
than two of the trustees then in office. The fund may delegate to one or
more of its trustees, or officers, agents and employees, such powers and
duties as it may deem proper, provided, however, that all contracts
involving an estimated expense of ten thousand dollars or more and all
lease agreements to be entered into pursuant to section thirty-four of
this chapter shall be approved prior to execution by no less than two
trustees of the fund.

9. Officers and employees of other state agencies may be transferred
to the fund and officers and employees of the fund may be transferred to
other state agencies without examination and without loss of any civil
service status or rights. No such transfer, however, may be made except
with the approval of the head of the other state agency involved, the
director of the budget and the chairman of the fund, and in compliance
with the rules and regulations of the state civil service commission.