Opinion
January 30, 1989
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Ferraro, J.).
Ordered that the order and judgment is reversed, on the law, with costs, and the proceeding is remitted to the Supreme Court, Westchester County, for a determination on the merits.
The Supreme Court erred in concluding that personal jurisdiction was lacking because the petitioner served the notice of petition and petition on a board member instead of on its chairman (CPLR 312). Although the Westchester County Board of Health is a "board * * * having a chairman", personal service upon the chairman was not mandatory. The second sentence of CPLR 312 was intended as an alternative, rather than an exclusive, method of service upon certain boards, as evidenced by the statute's permissive language. Proper service upon any one of the members of the board, in accordance with the general rule set forth in the last sentence of CPLR 312, is sufficient to confer personal jurisdiction over the board (see, Matter of Croissant v Zoning Bd. of Appeals, 83 A.D.2d 673, appeal dismissed 55 N.Y.2d 826; Matter of Harlem Riv. Consumers' Coop. v State Tax Commn., 44 A.D.2d 738, affd 37 N.Y.2d 877; Matter of Evans v Gardner, 71 Misc.2d 283; see also, 1 Weinstein-Korn-Miller, N Y Civ Prac ¶ 312.02). Mollen, P.J., Thompson, Rubin and Spatt, JJ., concur.