§ 450. Directors of hospitals; qualifications and appointment. 1. There shall be a director of each state hospital in the department, who shall be in the competitive class of civil service, and who shall be appointed by the commissioner.

2. The director shall possess the qualifications prescribed by law, or, if no such qualifications be prescribed, such qualifications as may be prescribed in the sanitary code.

3. Before making the appointment of a director of a hospital, the commissioner shall give notice of his intended action to the members of the board of visitors, by registered mail, naming the person whom he proposes to appoint and his place of residence, and shall specify a day, not less than ten days from the mailing of the notice, before which the board of visitors may submit to the commissioner the objections of the board of visitors, if any, to such appointment; and the person named shall not be appointed before such day, except in the case of an express approval by the board of visitors.

4. Subject to removal in the manner provided by law, the director of each hospital in the department now in office is hereby continued in office.