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REJECTED CITY CHARTER. The following is a copy of the draft of a bill agreed upon by a City Convention for amending the Charter of the city of NewYork. It contains a few good, and a multitude of bad provisions, and some so very bad as to make it as a whole altogether objectionable.

The draft of the bill was submitted in three separate parts for adoption or rejection by the People. All three were rejected.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK.

Adopted in City Convention, October 26th, 1846. Rejected by the People, Nov. 3d, 1846.

ARTICLE I.

Legislative Amendment.

1. The corporation or body corporate, now existing and known by the name of "the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city of New-York," shall remain and continue to be a body politic and corporate in fact and in name, by the name of "the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city of New-York," and by that name shall have perpetual succession, and be able to sue and be sued, to plead and to be impleaded, to answer and to be answered, to defend and to be defended in all courts and places, in all manner of actions, suits, complaints, pleas, causes, matters, and demands whatever, and of what nature and kind whatever, in as full and ample manner and form, as any citizen; and shall be capable to take, purchase, hold, receive and enjoy; and to sell, demise, mortgage, assign, dispose of, and convey in fee, for life or lives, or for years, or in any other manner, any property, real or personal, of what nature, kind, or quality whatsoever; and may and shall have and use a common seal, and may alter or change the same at their pleasure; and shall have and continue to exercise and enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers, privileges, and franchises heretofore and hitherto belonging to it; and shall have power to make all needful laws, by-laws, and regulations for the municipal government of said city, and for the laying, assessing, and collecting all taxes necessary for the payment of the expenses of the city government.

§ 2. The legislative power shall be hereafter vested in a board of aldermen and a board of assistant aldermen, who shall form the common council of the city. The board of aldermen shall consist of one alderman from each ward, who shall be elected by the people of the respective wards annually. The board of assistant aldermen shall consist of members elected annually in the respective wards, in separate single districts, in the proportion, as nearly as may be, of one member to each ten thonsand inhabitants; if the fraction in any ward shall amount to five thousand, such ward shall be entitled to a member for the same; if the fraction be less then five thousand, it shall not be entitled to a member; but each word shall have at least one representative in the board of assistant aldermen. An apportionment of members of the board of assistant aldermen shall be made by the common council, at least six weeks before the election to be held next after the adoption of this charter, and at its first session after the return of every enumeration provided for by the constitution of this state; and when made shall remain unaltered until another state enumeration shall have been taken. The common council may provide by law for the division of the city into common council election districts, each district containing, as near as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, which said law, after being so passed, shall be submitted to the electors, and if approved by a majority of the voters, the same shall become a law. Each district shall thenceforth be entitled to elect one alderman and one assistant alderman, and such other charter officers as may hereafter be provided for by law. No person shall be a member of either board except while he shall be a resident of the ward or district for which he is chosen.

3. The annual election for charter officers shall be held on the day of the general state election, when all charter officers elected by the people shall be chosen, and the officers elected shall be sworn into

office on the first Monday of January thereafter, and the laws of the State regulating elections shall apply to elections of charter officers, and the common council may by law extend the time for the canvass of the

votes.

4. The common council, during the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, may hold such sessions and as often as each board shall by resolution appoint; but thereafter the common council shall annually hold only three stated sessions, of not exceeding one month each, commencing on the first Monday of January, May, and September. The mayor shall convene the common council at any time between the sessions, if, in his judgement, any exigency shall have arisen to render such a proceeding necessary, or at the request, in writing, of a majority of the members elected to each board, specifying the purposes for which such meeting is called; in which case the action of the common council shall be confined to the matters in reference to which it shall have been so convened, or to such other matters as may be submitted by the mayor for its consideration during such session, and the respective boards may adjourn, from day to day, until such business shall be completed.

5. The boards shall sit in separate chambers, and the doors shall be kept open except when the public welfare shall require secrecy. A majority of each shall be a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members. Each board shall appoint a president from its own body, shall choose its clerk and other officers, determine the rules of its own proceedings, be the judge of the election, returns, and qualifications of its own members, keep a journal of its proceedings, have power to direct special elections to fill its own vacancies, to compel the attendance of members, to punish them for disorderly conduct, and to expel a member by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected, after five days notice and opportunity of being heard has been given to him; but such resolution of expulsion shall be of no effect, unless it contain a provision for a special election within two weeks thereafter, to supply such vacancy; provided, however, that such special election shall not be ordered unless there be at least twenty days of the term of the expelled member unexpired. The two boards shall have concurrent powers and a negative on each others proceedings, and shall, in all cases, act as separate bodies, and shall not appoint joint committees, except a committee on accounts. Each board may originate, amend, concur in, or reject any law, ordinance, or resolution; but no law, ordinance, or resolution shall pass either board, except by a majority of the members elected. Neither board shall adjourn for a longer period than three days, except by a resolution to be concurred in by the other body.

6. Every act, ordinance or resolution which shall have passed the two boards, shall, before it shall take effect, be presented, duly certified, to the mayor of the city. If he approve, he shall sign it; if not, he shall return it with his objections to the board in which it originated, within ten days thereafter; or if such board be not then in session, at its next stated meeting. The board to which it shall be returned, shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and cause the same to be published in one or more of the public newspapers of the city. The board to which such act, ordinance, or resolution shall have been so returned, shall, at a meeting not less than eight days thereafter, proceed to reconsider the saine. If after such reconsideration, two-thirds of all the members elected to such board shall agree to pass the same, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other board, by which it shall be likewise reconsidered; and if approved by two-thirds of all the members elected to such board, it shall take effect as an act or law of the common council. In all such cases the votes of both boards shall be determined by ayes and noes, and the names of the persons voting for and against the passage of the measures reconsidered, shall be entered on the journal of each board respectively.

§ 7. All laws, resolutions, or ordinances providing for any specific improvement, or involving the sale, disposition, or appropriation of public property, or the expenditure of public moneys, or the income therefrom, or laying any tax or assessment, shall, before the same shall be sent to the other board or to the mayor, and immediately after the adjournment of the board next after the passage thereof, be published, with the ayes

and noes, with the names of the persons voting for and against the same, by the clerk thereof, in at least two newspapers, to be directed by the common council; and no act, resolution, or ordinance which shall have passed one board, shall be acted upon by the other board on the same day, unless by unanimous consent, except in case of invasion, insurrection, or pestilence.

§ 8. If any ordinance or resolution, passed by both boards, shall not be returned by the mayor within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the close of the session of the common council shall prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law until the expiration of five days after the commencement of the next session of the common council.

9. Annual and occasional appropriations shall be made by the common council, by law, for every branch and object of city expenditure, and no money shall be drawn from the treasury except the same shall have been previously appropriated to the purpose for which it was drawn; nor unless the appropriations shall be based upon specific and detailed statements, furnished in writing by the several heads of departments. Every warrant drawn upon the city treasury shall specify the appropriation under which it is drawn, and the date of the ordinance making the same.

§ 10. No money shall be borrowed on the credit of the corporation unless the common council shall by law direct the same in anticipation of the revenue for the year in which the same shall be borrowed, and shall provide in the same law for repaying the same out of such revenue, but money may be raised by loan whenever the law providing for the same shall be passed in each board by a majority of all the members elected, and shall be approved by the electors at any charter election.

11. The common council shall have power, and it shall be their duty, annually to lay and raise by tax on the real and personal property in the city, whatever amount of money may be directed to be raised by the laws of the state, as a condition for the receipt of the portion of the state school fund apportioned to the city; and, also, such further amount as may be necessary for the support of common schools; and for the erection, purchase, or leasing of school houses, and the procuring sites therefor, and the fitting up thereof. The common council shall have power, and it shall be their duty, to pass all proper and necessary laws for the imposition, assessment, and collection of the city taxes on any property, real and personal, in the city for the regulation and collection of the city revenue, and all moneys due to the city; for the care, regulation, improvement, and sale of the city property, real and personal; for the laying out, making, opening, widening, regulating, and keeping in repair all streets, roads, bridges, ferries, public places, and grounds, wharves, docks, piers, slips, sewers, wells, and alleys, and for making the assessments therefor; for regulating and collecting wharfage, dockage, and cranage from and upon all water craft, and all goods landed; for the extending, keeping up, and repairing all the necessary means for supplying the city with water, and for collecting a revenue therefrom; for securing the protection, health, cleanliness, ornament, peace, and good order of the city; for the care and regulation of the prisons, markets, houses of correction, alms houses, and asylums; for the support and regulation of all vagrants and paupers; for the establishment and regulation of houses of industry, or workhouses for the employment of paupers, vagrants, and disorderly persons; for the prevention and extinction of fires; for the regulating firemen, watchmen, constables, marshals, and policemen; for licensing and regulating all such vehicles, trades, arts, occupations, professions, and employments as the public good may require, and for revoking such licenses; for regulating the arriving, landing, bonding, and commutation of passengers; for regulating emigrant boarding houses, passenger agents, runners, and all other persons engaged in the business of bringing, or keeping, or forwarding emigrants; for regulating common schools and providing for their support, and all such other laws for the management, good government, and general welfare of said city, as are or may not be prohibited by or inconsistent with the constitution of the United States, or the constitution of this state, or any law thereof; and to affix penalties to the violation of any city law, but such penalties shall in no instance

exceed imprisonment in the city prison for sixty days and a fine of two hundred and fifty dollars.

12. The common council shall have no power to emit bills of credit, or paper currency of any description, nor to loan the credit of the city, subscribe to the stock of any association or corporation whatever, or increase the funded debt of the city, unless the law for that purpose be first approved by the people of the city at a general election.

13. The board of assistant aldermen shall have the sole power of impeachment, and pending such inpeachment and until the final disposition thereof, the party impeached shall not exercise any of the functions of his office. The board of aldermen shall have the sole power to try all impeachments, and when sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected to said board. Judgment, in case of impeachment, shall not exceed further than removal from office and disqualification to hold any office under the city charter; but the party convicted shall be liable to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment according

to law.

14. No member of the common council shall, during the period for which he was elected, be appointed to or competent to hold any office, the emoluments of which are paid from the city or county treasury, or by fees directed to be paid by any act or ordinance of the common council, or be directly or indirectly interested in any contract, work, or business, or the sale of any article, the expense, price, or consideration of which is paid from the city or county treasury, or by any assessment levied by any act or ordinance of the common council; nor shall any member of the common council be directly or indirectly interested in the purchase of any real estate or other property belonging to the corporation, or which shall be sold for taxes or assessments.

15. Every law enacted by the common council shall embrace but one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.

16. No law shall be revised or amended by refer ence to its title; but in such case, the act revised or section amended shall be re-enacted and published at length.

17. The common council shall, immediately after the adoption of this charter, proceed to revise the corporation ordinances, agreeable to the provisions of sections fifteen and sixteen of this article, and they shall also revise the city laws every five years thereafter.

18. The aldermen shall each receive a salary of four hundred dollars a year, and the assistant aldermen shall each receive a salary of two hundred and fifty dollars a year.

19. All money now or hereafter to be received from the following sources, shall continue to constitute and form a fund, to be termed "the sinking fund of the city of New-York for the redemption of the city debt," until the whole of the stocks of the city of New-York shall be fully and finally redeemed, viz:

1. For commutation of quit rents on grants. 2. For quit rents arising from such grants as were issued prior to 1804.

3. The nett proceeds of all sales of real estate belonging to the city, when sold.

4. The nett proceeds of all bonds and mortgages payable to the city, when collected.

5. For pawnbrokers' licenses and dealers in the purchase or sale of second-hand furniture, metals, or clothes.

6. For hackney coach licenses and street vaults. 7. For exclusive occupation of private wharves, basins, and piers.

8. For market fees and market rents.

9. The proceeds of all bonds and mortgages which may have or shall become the property of the city.

10. Such portion of the annual taxes levied in the city of New-York, as may be collected for the redemption of the "floating debt stock and the fire indemnity stock of the city of New-York."

20. All money hereafter to be received from the following sources, shall continue to be applied to and constitute a fund, to be called "the sinking fund of the city of New-York," for the payment of the interest accruing and to accrue upon the stocks of the city of New-York, until the whole shall be fully and finally redeemed, viz:

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9. Such portions of the annual taxes levied in the water district in the city of New-York, as may be collected to supply the deficiency of interest accruing on the water stock of the city of New-York.

Nothing herein contained shall be construed to impair or affect any pledge heretofore made, and now existing of any property of the city or its proceeds, for the payment of any stock or debts.

21. The common council may, from time to time, provide by law that persons liable to secure the city of New-York against the support of alien passengers arriving at the port of said city, shall, instead of execu ting bonds as now required by law, pay to the said corporation a sum of money not less than one dollar and not to exceed five dollars, for each passenger, in commutation for said bonding. The common council may, also, by law, provide that in all cases where any alien passenger is aged, decrepid, crippled, or infirm, the bond given for such passenger shall be conditioned to indemnify the corporation against the support of such passenger, for five years after the execution of such bond. The corporation may sue in the corporate name for such commutation moneys, and on said bond, whenever and as often as the condition is broken, and prescribe penalties for the nou-observance or violation of the ordinances passed under the authority hereby conferred, not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars for each passenger, to whom such non-observance or violation may relate, and make such other provisions by ordinance as may be deemed necessary to carry into effect the authority aforesaid.

22. All such parts of the charter of the city of New-York, and the several acts of the legislature amending or in any manner affecting the same, as are inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed, but so much and such parts thereof as are not inconsistent with the provisions of this law, shall not be construed as repealed, altered, modified, or in any form affected thereby; but shall continue and remain in full force and virtue.

§ 23. Whenever any amendment to this charter shall have been passed by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each board, it may be submitted to the electors of the city, and if approved of by a majority of them at any general or charter election, it shall become a part of the city charter.

ARTICLE II. Executive Amendment.

1. The executive power of the corporation shall be vested in the mayor, the heads of departments, and such other executive officers as shall be, from time to time, created by law, and neither the common council, nor any committee, or member thereof,shall perform any executive business whatever, except such as is or shall be especially imposed on them by the laws of the state, and except that the board of aldermen may approve or reject the nominations of the mayor as herein provided.

§ 2. The mayor shall be annually elected by the people at the annual charter election.

It shall be his duty:

First-To communicate to the common council at the commencement of each stated session, and oftener, if he shall deem it expedient, a general statement of the situation and condition of the city, in relation to its government, finances and improvements, with such recommendations in relation to the same as he shall deem expedient.

Second-To be vigilant and active in causing the laws and ordinances of the government of the city to be duly executed and enforced, and to exercise a constant supervision and control over the conduct and acts of all subordinate officers, and receive and examine into all such complaints as may be preferred against any of them for violation or neglect of duty, and generally to perform all such duties as may be prescribed to him by the charter and city ordinances, and the laws of this state, and the United States.

3. Whenever there shall be a vacancy in the office of mayor, and whenever the mayor shall be absent from the city, or be prevented by sickness, or any other cause, from attending to the duties of his office, the president of the board of aldermen shall act as mayor and shall possess all the rights and powers of the mayor, during the continuance of such vacancy, absence, or disability, and shall be styled "the acting mayor."

§ 4. There shall be an executive department to be called the "municipal department," the chief officer of which shall be called the "city clerk." He shall have charge of the archives of the city, the ordinances, records, and papers of the common council, and of the papers and journals of the two boards which shall be deposited by the respective clerks thereof in this department at the end of each session of the common council, and of the records and papers filed in the mayor's office. He shall receive and pay over to the chamberlain all moneys or revenues which, by charter, law, ordinance, or usage are paid into the mayor's office, or which have been heretofore received by the clerk of the common council; and shall have the charge and custody of the common seal of the corporation, and use the same according to law and the ordinances of the common council; and shall have the charge and custody of the seal of mayoralty, and use the same under the direction of the mayor; and shall perform such other duties as shall be prescribed by the common council. There shall be a bureau in this department to be denominated the bureau of health, the chief officer of which shall be called the "city inspector."

5. There shall be an executive department known as the "police department," and the chief of police shall be the head thereof. The municipal department and the police department shall be subject to the supervision and direction of the mayor.

6. There shall be an executive department known as the "department of finance," which shall have the management of all the fiscal concerns of the corporation, and may prescribe the forms of rendering to it all city accounts whatsoever, and through which all claims, demands, and accounts in which the corporation is concerned, shall be settled. The chief officer of this department shall be called the " comptroller of the city of New-York." There shall be a bureau in this department, the chief officer whereof shall be called the "receiver of taxes." There shall be a bureau in this department, the chief officer of which shall be called the "collector of the city revenue." There shall, also, be a bureau in this department, the chief officer of which shall be the "chamberlain of the city."

§ 7. It shall be the duty of the city comptroller to report to the common council, at the commencement of each stated session thereof, a full and detailed statement of all the expenses and payments of the city government since his last report, and the amount of money expended and the amount unexpended on each appropriation made by the common council, and to publish the same in two of the public newspapers ordered by the common council; and he shall, also, at the expiration of the fiscal year, publish a full and detailed statement of the receipts and expenditures of the city government, during the year ending on the first day of January in each year, and in every such annual statement, the different sources of city revenue, and the amount received from each; the several appropriations made by the common council, the objects for which the same were made, and the amount of moneys expended under each; the moneys borrowed on the credit of the corporation, the authority under which each loan was made, and the terms on which the same was obtained, and a detailed statement of the indebtedness of the city, and how much, if any, remains unpaid, shall be clearly and particularly specified, with a detailed statement of the property owned by the city.

§8. There shall be elected annually immediately after the organization of each board of the common council, by ballot, in each board, a joint committee of accounts, to consist of three members from each board, whose duty it shall be to meet at least once a month and examine all the accounts of the finance department for the previous month, together with the accompanying vouchers, and report thereon in writing to both boards of the common council, at their next stated session.

§ 9. There shall be an executive department known

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as the "street department," which shall have cognizance of opening, widening, altering, regulating, grading, and paving streets, digging and building wells, building public sewers, and the construction of public roads, when done by assessments, the filling up of sunken lots, and of collecting the assessments connected with such expenditures, the chief officer whereof shall be called the "street commissioner." There shall be a bureau in this department, the chief officer whereof shall be called the "collector of assessments. There shall be a bureau in this department, the chief officer of which shall be the "city surveyor," and in which there shall be an assistant city surveyor. shall be the duty of said officers to make, for the use of the city, all maps and surveys necessary for assessments of every description, and to file away and preserve for the use of the city all maps and other property belonging to said department; and the city surveyor and assistant surveyor, together with the street commisssoner, or assistant street commissioner, shall be the commissioners for making all esttmates, and assessments for opening, widening, grading, and altering all avenues and streets, and shall perform such other duties as shall devolve upon them by virtue of said office or be required by the common council.There shall be a bureau in this department, the chief officer of which shall be called the "superintendent of cleaning streets and sewers.'

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10. There shall be an executive department known as the "department of repairs and supplies," which shall have cognizance of building wharves and piers, and of all repairs and supplies of and for wharves and piers, public pavements, repairs to public buildings, and to fire engines and apparatus of the fire department, and the chief officer thereof shall be called the "commissioner of repairs and supplies." There shall be six bureaus or branches in this department, and the chief officers thereof shall be respectively denominated the "superintendent of wharves and piers," "superintendent of repairs to public buildings," "superintendent of pavements," and "chief engineer of the fire department." There shall be an additional bureau in this department, the chief officer thereof shall be called the "superintendent of lamps and gas." which shall have cognizance of procuring the necessary supplies for and of lighting the public streets, and, also, places lighted at the expense of the corporation; and there shall be an additional bureau in this department, and the chief officer thereof shall be called the "superintendent of markets," which shall have the control and regulation of the public markets and the transferring of butchers' stalls in the same.

§ 11. There shall be an executive department known as the "Croton aqueduct department," which shall have charge of the Croton aqueduct, its reservoirs, and the other constructions connected therewith. It shall have cognizance of all repairs to the same, and of the laying of the water pipes in the streets of the city, and of the collection of the revenue arising from the sale and use of the water; the chief officer thereof shall be called the "commissioner of the Croton aqueduct." There shall be a bureau in this department, the chief officer of which shall be called the "water register." There shall be a bureau in this department, the chief officer of which shall be called the "water purveyor." But nothing contained herein shall be construed to prevent the water commissioners from completing the aqueduct according to law.

12. There shall be an executive department known as the "alms house department," which shall have cognizance of all matters relating to the alms house and prisons of the said city; the chief officer thereof shall be called the "commissioner of the alins house department." There shall be bureaus in this department, the chief officers of which shall be called the "superintendent of the alms house," "superintendent of the penitentiary," "superintendent of the city prison," and "superintendent of the nursery," and council and attorney to the alms house department," and the common council should provide by ordinance for the appointment of such physicians as they shall deem necessary.

13. There shall be an executive department known as the "law department," which shall have the charge of and conduct all the law business of the corporation, and of the departments thereof, and all other law business in which the city shall be interested, when so ordered by the corporation; and shall have the charge of and conduct the legal proceedings necessary in opening, widening, or altering streets, and

draw the leases, deeds, &c., connected with the fiuance department; and the chief officer thereof shall be called the "counsel to the corporation." The heads of the various other departments shall report to the "counsel to the corporation," as often as it may be necessary and at least once a month, and to the common council at the commencement of each stated session, all cases occurring within their departments requiring legal advice or action. There shall be a bureau in this department, the chief officer of which shall by called the "corporation attorney." There shall be a bureau in this department, the chief officer of which shall be called the “public administrator." § 14. All fees, costs, perquisites, or emoluments for any services performed by any of the city officers in any business in which the city shall be concerned, shall be monthly paid over by such officer into the city treasury, upon oath, and no officer shall be entitled to receive his salary till he shall file his affidavit with the comptroller that he has faithfully accounted for and paid over all moneys for which he is bound

to account.

§ 15. It shall be lawful for the common council of said city to establish such other departments and bureaus as they may deem the public interest to require, and to assign to them and those now created such duties as they may direct. But no expense shall be incurred by any of the departments or officers thereof, whether the object of expenditure shall have been ordered by the common council or not, unless an appropriation shall have been previously made covering such expense; and no head of a department, head of bureau, deputy thereof, or clerk therein, shall be directly or indirectly interested in any contract, work, or business, or sale of any article, the expense, price, or consideration of which is paid from the city or county treasury, or by any assessment levied by any act or ordinance of the common council, nor in the purchase of any real estate or other property belonging to the city, or which shall be sold for taxes or

assessments.

16. The heads of departments shall be elected every two years by the people. In case of vacancy of any of said heads of departments, by removal from office or otherwise, the mayor shall appoint a person to fill the same until the vacancy shall be filled by the electors, at the next charter election. The number of officers and clerks in the several departments may be prescribed by the common council.The heads of departments shall appoint the clerks in their immediate office. The heads of bureaus shall be nominated by the Mayor to and be approved by the board of aldermen, and the heads of bureaus shall appoint all clerks in their respective bureaus. All officers not herein provided for shall be elected or appointed in such manner as the common council shall by law prescribe, but in no case shall such appointment be made by the common council or any member thereof. Any officer of the city government, except the mayor and members of the common council, may be removed from office by concurrent resolutions of both branches of the common council; provided, that no removal shall take place until the party sought to be removed has had an opportunity to be heard in his defence, and unless three fourths of the whole number of both branches vote therefor; and provided, also, that the cause for such removal shall be entered at large upon the journals of both branches of the common council.

17. The several executive departments and the officers and clerks thereof, shall be subject to the legislative regulation and direction of the common council, and the duties thereof shall be performed in accordance with the charter, and laws, and ordinances of the city. The mayor and each board of the common council may at any time require the opinion, in writing, of the head of any department, upon any subject relating to his department, or any information possessed by him in relation thereto. And every

head of department shall report in writing to the common council, at the commencement of each stated session, the state of his department, with such sugges tions in relation to the improvement thereof, and to the public business connected therewith, as they may deem advisable.

18. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in the office of assessor, by death, removal from the ward, resignation, or otherwise, the board of assessors shall fill the same by the appointment of a citizen of the ward in which the vacancy shall occur, till the vacancy shall be

supplied by the electors of the ward at the next election.

§ 19. Ail valuations of real estate by the assessors of a ward, or by the board of assessors, shall be final and conclusive as to the amount thereof. And all assessments and awards shall be open to public inspection, at least twenty days, by public notice thereof, before being certified to the proper department. And the assessments made by the assessors for the city taxes, shall be made between the first day of January and the first day of May in each year.

20. No property, right, privilege, or franchise belonging to the city, shall be sold otherwise than at public auction, on public notice; and every right, privilege, or franchise granted or let by the corporation, shall be subject to the supervision, regulation, and control of the common council. The ferries of the city of New-York, or the right of ferriage, shall not be let and disposed of otherwise than at public auction, on public notice; and no ferry shall be let for a longer term than seven years.

21. Such of the docks, piers, and slips, or parts thereof belonging to the city, as it shall be determined by the common council shall be let, shall be divided into and let by districts at public auction, and the advertisement of the letting thereof shall clearly define the property to be leased.

22. All contracts to be made or let by authority of the common conncil, for work to be done, or supplies to be furnished, and all sales of property in the custody of the several departments, shall be made by the appropriate heads of departments, under such regulations as shall be established by ordinances of the common council.

23. In all contracts for making sewers, wharves, piers, bulkheads, and all other public works for the city, the parties contracting, shall give a bond to the corporation, with two sufficient sureties, to be approv ed by the comptroller, for the faithful performance of the contract, and shall allow twenty-five per cent. of the contract price of the work actually done to remain as security till the whole work be completed according to the contract; and subject to these conditions shall be entitled to receive monthly not exceeding in the aggregate seventy-five per cent. of the price of the work actually done according to the contract.

§ 24. In all cases where the public work or business is done by contract, provision shall be made in such contract that satisfactory evidence shall be given, in writing, to the comptroller, that all persons who have done work or furnished materials for such contract have been fully paid therefor according to their agreements with the contractors, before the last instalment due on such contract is finally paid; or that ample and sufficient security, to be approved by the comptroller. shall be given by the contractor to the comptroller that all such demands for work or materials shall be paid within one month after the settlement on such

contract.

25. It shall be the duty of the common council to provide by law for ascertaining whether any, and if any, how much, is due to any person upon any such contract, (provided the demand for the same is exhibited within one month after the completion of such contract,) and when such amount shall be ascertained, it shall be paid by the comptroller; provided the whole amount thereof shall not exceed the amount of such last instalment, and the amount so paid shall be retained out of said last instalment, or if such last instalment shall have been paid to the contractor, the bond given upon such payment shall be prosecuted for the recovery thereof, in the name of the corporation. In case such last instalment or the amount recovered on such bond is not sufficient to pay the whole amount due upon any such contract by the contractor, then the same shall be divided among the persons to whom such contractor is indebted to pro. rata.

26. Whenever private property shall be taken for public purposes, or by chartered companies, or otherwise, and the value at which the same shall be estimated by the commissioners of estimate and assessment shall not be satisfactory to the owner thereof, he may demand that said valne be found by a jury, and the same shall then be submitted to a jury in one of the courts in the city, in such manner as the common council shall by law direct, and the value so found by the jury, after the same shall be confirmed by the court, shall be the value which the said owner shail be bound to accept.

§ 27. All officers of the city government, executive,

administrative, or judicial, and all judges and clerks in the several courts of the city, shall receive a stated salary or a per diem allowance for their services, which shall be fixed by the common council, and shall not, after the first day of July, 1847, receive to their own use any fees or compensation for the same. And all fees or charges paid to them according to law for the performance of any duties appertaining to their offices, shall be paid by them monthly into the city treasury. But this section shall not apply to the fees of clerks of courts for searching for judgments before and including the year 1850, and nothing contained in this charter shall be construed to deprive any alderman or assistant alderman of any compensation to which he shall be entitled by virtue of his office. And every person elected or appointed to any office under the city government, shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation before the mayor or any judge or justice in the said city, faithfully to perform the duties of said office, which oath or affirmation shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the city and county.

§ 28. All officers, clerks, or other persons, to whom the receipts of the funds of the city shall be intrusted, shall, at least once in each month, or at such shorter period as the common council may direct, pay over all such moneys to the treasurer of the city, under oath or affirmation. All officers, or other persons, to whom the receipt or expenditure of the funds of the city, or fees or funds payable into the city treasury shall be intrusted, shall give sufficient security for the faithful performance of their duty, in such form and amount as the common conncil may by ordinance prescribe, which shall be annually renewed, but the security first taken shall remain in force until renewed.

29. When the affidavit of the mayor shall be filed in the office of the county clerk, setting forth that he verily believes that any person giving such security as mentioned in the last preceding section, is a defaulter, it shall be the duty of the comptroller forthwith to institute a suit for the recovery thereof, and such bond or security, from the time of filing such affidavit, shall become a lien upon the real estate of the principal and sureties therein for the amount which may be recovered in such suit; when the amount of such defalcation shall have been paid or settled by the principal or his sureties, or when it shall be finally determined that no such defalcation has taken place, it shall be the duty of the comptroller to file a certificate to that effect with the county clerk, and from and after the filing of such certificate, such lien shall cease.

30. Any officer of the city government, or person or persons employed in any department thereof, who shall wilfully violate any of the provisions of this charter, or commit any fraud, or convert any of the public property to his own use, or knowingly permit any other person so to convert it, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, in addition to the penalties imposed by law, shall forfeit his office, and be excluded forever after from receiving or holding any office under the city charter, and any person who shall wilfully swear falsely in any oath or affirmation required by this act, shall be guilty of perjury.

ARTICLE III.

Judicial Amendment.

§ 1. The assistant justices' courts of the city of New-York, now constituted by law, shall continue to exist, and the assistant justices and clerks thereof, who may be in office at the time of the passage of this act, shall continue in office until the expiration of their present term of office, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified. The said assistant justices and their clerks shall thereafter be elected by the people of the city in such manner as the common council shall by law prescribe, and they shall hold their offices for four years; but if any vacancy shall occur in either of the said offices before the expiration of the term thereof, the same shall be filled by the mayor, by and with the consent of the board of aldermen, and the person so appointed shall hold the office until his successor, elected at the next succeeding election, shall be qualified.

§ 2. The jurisdiction of the marine court and assistant justices' courts of the city of New-York in civil causes, shall, in addition to the jurisdiction now exercised by them, extend to actions brought for the recovery of the sum of one hundred dollars and under; such marine court and assistant justices shall also have jurisdiction of all actions of trespass, other than trespass upon real property where the title to such property

is involved; and, also, jurisdiction of all actions for false imprisonment, libel, slander, and assault and battery; provided, however, that such marine court and assistant justices shall not in any of the above enumerated cases render a judgment for damages to a greater extent then one hundred dollars; and provided the assistant justices shall have no jurisdiction for mariners' wages, or for a marine tort.

3. Each of the clerks of the assistant justices' courts and the clerk of the marine court shall demand and receive from the party for whom the services are rendered

First-In all cases where the damages claimed shall amount to twenty-five dollars, or under, the following fees, to wit,

For every summons, twenty-five cents, to be paid upon the issuing thereof.

For every trial fee, seventy-five cents, to be paid before the trial shall proceed.

For every execution, twenty-five cents, to be paid upon the issuing thereof.

Second-In all cases where the damages claimed shall amount to twenty-five, and not over fifty dollars, the following fees to wit:

For every summons, thirty-seven cents, to be paid upon the issuing thereof.

For every trial fee, one dollar, to be paid before the trial shall proceed.

For every execution, thirty-seven cents, to be paid upon the issuing thereof.

Third-In all cases where the damages claimed shall amount to over fifty dollars, the following fees, to wit:

For every summons, fifty cents, to be paid upon the issuing thereof.

For every trial fee, one dollar and fifty cents, to be paid before the trial shall proceed.

For every execution, fifty cents, to be paid upon the issuing thereof.

And in addition to the above, the said clerks shall also demand and receive, in all cases, the following fees, to wit:

When a jury shall be demanded, the party requiring the same shall pay a fee of one dollar before the order for such jury is entered.

For each adjournment, twenty-five cents, to be paid previous to the entry thereof.

For each transcript of a judgement, twenty-five cents, to be paid upon the giving thereof.

For each subpoena, twelve cents, to be paid upon the issuing thereof.

For each bond filed, twenty-five cents, to be paid upon the filing thereof.

For each written affidavit, twenty-five cents, to be paid upon executing the same; and in all actions for false imprisonment, libel, slander, and assault and battery, the said clerks shall demand and receive, in addition to the above, one dollar for trial fee, to be paid upon joining issue; and shall once in each month, or at such shorter periods as the common council shall direct, pay over all such fees to the chamberlain of the city, and at the same time furnish a statement in writing, under oath, together with a receipt from the chamberlain to the comptroller of the said city, and the said statement shall contain the title of each suit commenced and the amount of fees received thereon. All costs which are now allowable by law, in any suit in the marine court and in the assistant justices' courts of the city of New-York, in all civil cases, except the fees mentioned in this section, and excepting also the fees allowed to constables, witnesses, and jurors, are hereby abolished, from and after the first day of July, 1847.

4. The common couucil may provide for the appointment of one or more additional clerks in any one of the assistant justices' courts, marine court, or police courts, and for the election of additional assistant justices.

5. No justice of the marine court, or assistant justice, or clerks of said courts, shall be permitted to engage in the practice of the law, or be interested in any partnership for the transaction of law business; and the violation of this provision shall incur a forfeiture of such office.

6. Whenever a transcript of any judgment rendered by the marine court or by any one of the assistant justices' courts of the city of New-York, shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the said county, the same shall become a lien upon all the real property and chattels real of the party against whom the same was

rendered, to the same extent as though such judgment had been rendered in the court of common pleas of said county. The collection of such judgment may be enforced in the same manner as if rendered in the court of common pleas.

7. The common council shall, on or before the first day of July, 1847, establish by law the salaries of all judges, justices, clerks of courts and other officers whose salaries are by law to be paid out of the city or county treasury; and from and after the said first day of July, 1847, no such judge, justice, clerk, or other officer shall be entitled to take or receive for his own use, directly, or indirectly, any costs or fees for any service, of any description, which he may perform as such judge, justice, clerk, or other officer, or by virtue of his holding the office of judge, justice, clerk, or any other office; but this section shall not apply to the fees of clerks of courts for searching for judgments before and including the year 1850.

8. The several special justices for preserving the peace, and the justices of the marine court, and their clerks now in office, shall continue in office until the expiration of their present term of office, and until their successors in office shall be elected and qualified; and from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, there shall be such number of police justices and justices of the marine court as the common council shall by law prescribe, who shall possess all the powers of the special justices for preserving the peace in and for the city and county of New-York; and such number of clerks of police as the common council shall by law prescribe, who shall, in like manner, have all the powers and duties of the police clerks in the said city.

9. The said police justices, and the justices of the marine court and their clerks, shall be elected by the people in such manner as the common council shall by law prescribe, and shall hold their offices for four years; but if any vacancy shall occur in either of the said offices before the expiration of the term thereof, the same shall be filled by the mayor, by and with the consent of the board of aldermen, and the person so appointed shall hold the office until his successor, elected at the next succeeding election, shall be qualified.

10. On and after the first of January, 1848, there shall be held in each of the police offices of the said city, every day at 9 o'clock in the forenoon. (Sundays excepted) a court of special sessions, which shall be invested with all the powers and jurisdiction within such district, which are now conferred and shall be subject to all the duties now imposed by law upon the existing court of special sessions in and for the city and county of New-York. Such court shall be held by a police magistrate, together with two of the aldermen of said city, which aldermen shall receive in addition to the salary herein provided, one dollar for each day's attendance. One of the police clerks shall be the clerk of such court, and shall perform all the duties now imposed by law upon the existing court of special sessions of said city, and it shall be lawful for the common council to make such laws and regulations in reference to the duties of such police clerks and the return and collection of all fines imposed by such special sessions as they shall deem proper. The court of special sessions now existing shall be abolished from and after the first day of January, 1848.

11. Whenever the duties of any office named in this charter can be dispensed with, without injury to the public interests, the common council shall have power to abolish the same.

12. All the provisions of the foregoing amend ments, denominated: Article I.-Legislative Amendment; Article II.-Executive Amendment; Article III.-Judicial Amendment; except the second section of said Article I., shall go into effect on the first day of July, A.D. 1847: which said second section, together with this section, shall go into effect immediately after the passage of this act; and the common council then in office shall pass all necessary laws to ensure the election of members of the board of assistant aldermen in the respective wards in single election districts. Provided, however, that the charter officers in office on the first day of July, A.D. 1847, shall remain in office until the first Monday of January, A. D. 1848, at noon, and no longer; and the first charter election held under this act shall take place on the day of the general state election in the year 1847; and the officers then chosen shall enter upon the discharge of their duties on the said first Monday of January, A. D. 1848,

at noon.

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To the Electors of the City and County of New-York.

The delegates elected by you to form a new or revise and amend the present charter of the city of New-York, have discharged the duty imposed upon them, and herewith submit to you for your adoption or rejection the result of their deliberations.

The duty your delegates were called upon to perform was of no inconsiderable importance, and one encompassed with many and varying difficulties.

In determining the extent to which their work should be carried, they were deeply impressed with the importance of retaining the present chartered rights of the city, and came to the conclusion that they ought not to endanger those rights and the privileges now possessed by the city, by again submitting them to legislative ordeal!!!!!

The convention, therefore, determined to retain our present chartered rights, privileges, and franchises, and to revise and amend the present charter in such particulars as they deemed the public sentiment demanded a change.

The convention now submit to the people of the city thre separate articles for their consideration, and which, in compliance with the requirements of the law calling the convention, have to be submitted to the electors separately, and so be voted upon by them. It will, however, be obvious, that a rejection of any one of the amendments will greatly mar the harmony and usefulness of the others, and if either does not meet your approval, it would, doubtless, be better that all should be rejected.

We feel an abiding confidence, however, that a careful examination of the amendments now submitted, and a comparison of them with the existing provisions of the city charter, will secure for our labors your cordial approbation and support.

The convention propose

That the corporate name and franchises of the city be retained as they now exist, except as modified by the amendments they have adopted.

That the executive power of the city shall be vested in the mayor and the heads of the various departments. That the powers and duties of the mayor shall be the same as now existing. That there shall be eight departments for the transaction of the business of the city, with appropriate and necessary bureaus.

The Municipal Department, to have the general charge of the archives of the city, documents and papers of the common council, all laws passed by the same, and to have charge of the seal of the city and mayoralty, and to affix the same according to law.

The Police Department to have the charge of the police of the city, under the general supervision of the mayor.

The Department of Finance, to which appertains all the fiscal concerns of the city. The head of this department is the comptroller, who, in addition to his general supervision of the finances of the city, is to make full and detailed reports of the city expenditures.

The Street Department, having charge of the streets, sewers, &c., and all matters appertaining thereto.

The Department of Repairs and Supplies, to which is committed all matters of repair to public property, and the management and control thereof.

The Croton Aqueduct Department, having charge of the Croton Aqueduct, and matters relating thereto and connected therewith.

The Alms House Department, having charge of the Alms House and the city prisons.

The Law Department, to which is committed all the legal business of the city, or in which it may be interested.

The heads of these various departments are to be elected by the people for two years, and the heads of the bureaus in the several departments are to be appointed by the mayor, on nomination to and approval by the board of aldermen.

The heads of the various departments and the heads of bureaus are to appoint the clerks in their respective offices, and all other officers are to be appointed in such manner as the common council shall direct, except that no such appointment shall be made by the common council or any member thereof.

The legislstive power of the city is to be vested in a board of aldermen and assistant aldermen, to be elected annually. Each ward is to elect an alderman, and such number of assistant aldermen as it may be entitled to under the ratio established.

The common council are hereafter to hold three stated sessions in each year, and to pass all such laws for the management, good government, and general welfare of the city, as they may deem expedient, not inconsistent with or prohibited by the constitution of the United States, or the constitution or any law of this state. The usual powers of legislative bodies are conferred upon both boards, who, together, form the common council of the city, and are, in all cases, to act separate and distinct from each other, and have a negative on each other's proceedings.

We have imposed many restrictions on the powers of the common council, to which we invite your particular attention, and the operation of which will, we think, indace a rigid economy in public expenditure, a more careful protection of the rights and property of individual citizens, and the just preservation of personal liberty.

The annual charter election is to be held at the time of the general state election, thus relieving our citizens from the expense and vexation consequent upon our frequent elections. It is conceded on all hands, that the change of the time of our charter election from the time of the general election to the spring of the year, has entirely failed in the only object of that change-the separation of our city affairs from the influence of general politics.

We believe that better and more competent persons will be selected to fill our city offices, if they are chosen at the time of our general election, at which there will always be a full vote, and the attention of the public is then more generally attracted to the qualifications of their agents.

The provisions for paying off the city debt and preserving inviolate the faith of the city, cannot fail, we believe, to secure your cordial approbation. We believe that our efforts to secure the prompt and faithful accountability of all the public officers, the taking from them all fees and perquisites of office, and securing to all a fixed salary, adequate to the services rendered, are salutary reforms, and will be alike beneficial to the public and the individual officer.

We have inserted, in the amendments now laid before you, provisions in relation to work done by contract for the city, the effect of which, we think, will be eminently useful. It has long been a just cause of complaint that none but men of wealth or influence could obtain a contract from the city, and that in too many instances the day laborer, through chicanery and fraud, was deprived of the fruits of his toil. Believing that it is especially the duty of the government to legislate for the protection of the weak against the machinations and fraud of the strong, we have directed our attention to the remedies proper to correct these evils, and we confidently hope our efforts in this respect will not have been in vain.

The propositions in reference to the justices of the city, both police and civil, are the result of careful deliberation, and if adopted, cannot, in our judgment, fail to be valuable improvements.

The increase of the jurisdiction of the civil courts was called for by public sentiment, and the arrangement of fees, and their prompt payment into the city

treasury, will ensure a fund adequate, in our judgment, nearly sufficient for the support of these courts, and thus relieve the city from the hitherto great expense of maintaining them.

Our city treasury will also be relieved of a great expense, and prompt and efficient punishment follow the commission of crime, by the daily sitting of the police courtr, who will perform all the duties now devolving on the court of special sessions, which now meets only twice in each week, and cannot dispose of the criminals then ready for trial. They have consequently to be detained, at a large expense to the city, the guilty with the innocent; a system alike injurious to the interests of the city and the cause of morals and good government.

We have also inserted a provision for the future amendment of the city charter, rendering it feasible for the future to engraft upon it, at a small expense and little trouble, such improvements as time and the exigencies of the city may suggest.

We have thus, fellow-citizens, briefly called your attention to the most important of the changes which we have suggested for your consideration. The convention are well aware that their work falls far short of perfection, and of what their constituents may possibly have expected at their hands.

The delegates have applied themselves to the trust committed to them with all the assiduity in their power, and with a profound conviction of the importance and great responsibility of the duties imposed on them.

If the result of their labors shall meet the approving voice of their constituents, the convention indulges the confident hope, that, for the future, our municipal affairs will be so administered as to advance with rapid strides the glory and renown of our commercial metropolis, and secure to every citizen thereof the end and aim of all true governments-equal protection in the enjoyment of their inalienable rights, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." By order of the convention.

ABRAHAM V. WILLIAMS, President,
And Delegate from the Twelfth Ward.
D. T. VALENTINE,
Secretaries.
JOHN A. STEWART,

REMARKS.

Very many of the provisions of the draft of the proposed bill for amending the New-York City Charter, are repugnant to the provisions of the Constitution recently framed by the State Convention and since confirmed by the votes of the people of this State.

The act which provided for a City Convention was not applied for to the Legislature by petition of the citizens of the City of New-York, but was by bill introduced into the Legislature by Mr. Stevenson, member from the City. This bill was subsequently amended, but still retained an objectionable provision, which was in providing that a special election should be held for the purpose of electing members for the City Convention; and a special election was held within twenty-two days after the bill was passed into a law; and consequently, but very few per sons attended the polls. The members should have been voted for at the general election, and the citizens should have had full notice. The Convention completed their labors, as appears by the date of their draft of the bill here given, on the 26th of October; and the people had but seven days from that date to the election, to examine the draft of the bill, and vote upon it.

A bill to amend the Charter of the City of NewYork, should embrace all the provisions of law required for the administration of the City Government; and all laws in the premises theretofore enacted should be repealed by chapter and verse-in fact, it should be a whole and a new charter: and whatever powers it contained, should be plainly stated; and the exercise of any powers not granted, should be plainly and clearly prohibited: then there would be no danger of misconstruction. We may review it hereafter.

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