Officers, how elected.

Election, how conducted.

Proviso.

to the same duties and restrictions, unless where otherwise provided by this act.

SEC. 4. At such annual town meetings, the citizens of said town qualified to vote as aforesaid, shall elect, by ballot, the following officers, all of whom shall be residents in said town, to wit: one mayor, who shall be a freeholder in the town, six common councilmen, who shall have the same qualifications as are required for members of a township committee, and two inspectors of elections, all of whom shall hold their respective offices for one year, and until others are chosen and legally qualified in their stead; one clerk, one assessor, one collector, one judge of elections, two chosen freeholders, two surveyors of the highways, one or more constables, as many overseers of the highways and pound-keepers as the inhabitants of the town shall deem necessary or convenient, and as many justices of the peace as the inhabitants of the town may at the time be entitled to elect; all of whom shall possess the same qualifications, take the same oath or affirmation, give the same securities for the performance of their respective duties, hold office for the same times, and in all respects have the same powers, privileges, rights, and jurisdiction, perform the same duties, and be subject to the same restrictions, liabilities, and penalties, as the like officers elected by any township in this state, unless where otherwise directed or provided by this act; but in all cases where the word "township" occurs in the form of any oath or affirmation, bond or obligation, or in any other form prescribed by law, the word "town" shall be substituted.

SEC. 5. The first election of town officers shall be held by the person chosen, by the voters present, to preside at or superintend the town meeting and two inspectors of election, who, together with a clerk of the meeting, shall be chosen in the same manner, and all subsequent elections, by the judge of elections and inspectors of elections of said town, a majority of whom shall determine all questions respecting the right of voting at such election; and the name of each person voting shall be recorded by the town clerk, in a poll list kept for that purpose; each voter shall give a single ballot, designating the names of the persons for whom he votes for each office respectively; each ballot may contain the names of one person for mayor, of three for common councilmen, of one for clerk, of one for assessor, of one for collector, of one for judge of elections, of one for inspectors of elections, of one for chosen freeholders, of one for surveyor of the highways, of one for constable, of one for overseer of the highways, of one for pound-keeper, and of one for justice of the peace, when justices are to be elected, and no more; provided, that when more

than two are to be elected to the office of constable, overseer of the highways, pound-keeper, justice of the peace, or to any town office, if the number to be elected is an even one, the ballot may contain half the number of names for such office, and if an odd one, then one more than half that number, and no more; the polls shall be kept open at least four hours, and not more than eight hours; and when the polls are closed, the votes shall be counted, and the number received by each person for each office, certified by the judge and inspectors, or a majority of them, and the clerk, and the several persons having a plurality of votes for each office respectively, to the number to be elected for each, shall be declared to be elected; and in case any of the officers, whose duty it is to hold or assist at such election, shall be absent, or a vacancy occur from any cause, the place of such officer or officers may be supplied in the same manner as vacancies in such offices are supplied at elections for state and county offices; provided, that the said judge and inspectors, or any person or persons acting as such, shall severally, before they proceed to receive any votes, take an oath or affirmation faithfully and impartially to execute the duties and services required of him by law in said election, and not to receive, or assent to receive, the vote of any person who is not duly qualified to vote, agreeably to the restrictions and provisions prescribed by law; and the clerk, or person acting as such, shall, in like manner, take an oath or affirmation faithfully and impartially to serve as clerk of such election, and execute the duties and services required of him by law; which oaths or affirmations the said judge, inspectors, and clerk are hereby authorized and required to administer to each other in a public manner.

Inspectors, &c., to take oath.

SEC. 6. If the inhabitants of said town fail or neglect, at Vacancies, bow their annual town meeting, to choose any of the officers reto be supplied. quired to be chosen, or if any of the officers chosen shall die, remove out of the town, refuse to serve, or become incapable of serving, the vacancies may be supplied by elections held in the manner directed in the preceding section at town meetings, to be called for the purpose, in the same manner as in the townships; and in case of the neglect of the electors for fifteen days after such failure or omission to choose, or after the death, removal, refusal, or inability of any such officers, justices of the peace excepted, the common council shall, by writing under their hands and seals, appoint suitable persons to fill such vacancies; and the persons so elected or chosen to fill vacancies shall, during the remainder of the term of said offices, possess the same powers and privileges, and be subject to the same laws, rules, and regulations as such officers elected at the annual town meeting.

Common coun

tuted.

SEC. 7. The mayor and common councilmen shall constitute the common council of said town; and the said common cil, how consti- council shall meet at such times and places as the inhabitants of the town, at their annual town meetings, may designate, or the said common council may by their by-laws appoint; and special meetings of the common council may be called by the mayor, or by any three members, by giving such notice as the by-laws may require; at the meetings of the common council the mayor shall preside, but in his absence the other members may appoint any one of their number chairman pro tempore; four members shall constitute a quorum to do business, and each member present shall be entitled to a vote; the said common council and its members, collectively and individually, shall possess the powers and perform the duties which by law belong to, or are imposed upon the township committees, the commissioners of appeal in cases of taxation, and the school committees of the townships, and the members of each, collectively and individually; and when performing the duties which belong to the said township committees, commissioners of appeal in cases of taxation, or school committees, shall receive the compensation allowed by law for the performance of such duties, but shall not be allowed compensation in more than one character for any day's service; and they shall be entitled to no pay or compensation for their services as members of the common council, except for their actual and necessary expenses in discharge of their duties.

Powers and du

council.

SEC. 8. It shall and may be lawful for the said common council, by not less than four concurring votes, to pass and ties of common enforce all such by-laws and ordinances as they shall judge proper for regulating, cleaning, and keeping in repair the streets, side-walks, highways, and public alleys in said town, preventing and removing all obstructions and encroachments in and upon the same, preventing immoderate riding or driv ing through the streets, and riding or driving on the sidewalks; for regulating and preventing the running at large of cattle, horses, sheep, goats, swine, and geese, and imposing a reasonable tax on the owners or possessors of dogs; for preventing, abating, and removing nuisances; for lighting the streets; for preventing and restraining riots, routs, disturbances, disorderly assemblages, noisy, disorderly, or indecent conduct, and drunkenness; for suppressing disorderly or gambling houses and groggeries, and for suppressing vice and immorality; for gravelling and paving streets and side-walks; for protecting shade and ornamental trees on the streets, highways, and public grounds; for protecting public property and property belonging to the corporation; for providing a supply of water, and preventing and suppressing fires; for regulating

and prescribing the duties of fire engineers and firemen, which engineers and firemen shall be exempt from serving as jurors in the courts for the trial of small causes, and in the militia in time of peace, and after serving ten years, successively, as firemen, shall be exempt from duty as such, and also remain exempt from serving as jurors in said courts, and in the militia in time of peace; for compelling the cleaning of chimneys; for regulating or preventing the carrying on of dangerous or noxious manufactures; for appointing watchmen, and prescribing their powers and duties, and regulating the police of the town; for establishing and regulating public pounds; for restraining vagrants, mendicants, and street beggars; for establishing and regulating public markets; and such other by-laws and ordinances for the peace and good order of said town, as they may deem expedient, not repugnant to the constitution or laws of this state or of the United States; and to enforce the observance of all such by-laws and ordinances, by enacting penalties for the violation thereof, either by imprisonment, not exceeding seven days, or by fine, not exceeding fifty dollars, recoverable, with costs, in an action of debt, in the name of the treasurer of the town of Belvidere, for the use of the inhabitants of the town of Belvidere, without specifying the individual name of the treasurer for the time being, before any justice of the peace residing in said town or in the township of Oxford, in which action it shall be lawful to declare generally in debt for such penalty, and give the special matter in evidence; and further, the said mayor and the justices of the peace in said. town, are hereby constituted and declared to be conservators of the peace for the same, and each of them is authorized and empowered to enforce the penalty of imprisonment for violations of the laws and ordinances, passed as aforesaid, by warrant, under his hand and seal, directed to the keeper of the Warren county jail, who is hereby authorized and required to receive and safely keep the persons so committed, but the costs and expenses of committing and keeping such persons shall be paid by said corporation; and every person thinking himself aggrieved by the decision of such mayor or justice of the peace, may immediately appeal to the common council, who are hereby required to hear the cause of complaint, and do therein what to them shall appear just and reasonable; provided always, that each and every by-law and ordinance Proviso. so passed as aforesaid, shall be published for the space of twenty days, in at least one newspaper published and circulating in said town, before such by-law or ordinance shall go into effect; and provided also, that no such ordinance or by-law shall be enacted or passed, unless the same shall have been introduced before the common council at a previous meeting.

K

ing, embankments, &c., to be assessed.

SEC. 9. Whenever a majority in number of the persons Expense of pav. Owning property in any district of the town subject to injury from overflow of water, who are also owners of the greater part in value of said district, shall deem it necessary to protect the same by embankments or other fixtures, or a majority in number of the persons owning any block or side of a square, who are also owners of the greater part in extent and value of said block or side of a square, shall desire to have the side-walk in front of the same paved, flagged, or gravelled, or the majority in number who shall also be owners of more than one half in value of any particular district or locality shall desire to have any improvement, which the common council are authorized to make for the benefit of such particular district or locality, and shall make application in writing, under their hands, to the common council, the said common council may appoint three competent and disinterested citizens of the town to examine the property to be protected or benefited by such embankment, side-walk, or other improvement, and assess the proportion of the expense to be borne by each owner thereof, in proportion to the benefit to each, respectively; and if after such assessment made, a majority in number of the owners of said property, who are - also assessed for more than half the expense, shall declare to the common council by writing, under their hands, that they desire such embankment, side-walk, or other improvement to be made, the said common council, or a majority of them, may cause the same to be made, and the expense thereof, together with all necessary charges, to be assessed upon the owners of the property benefited thereby, in the proportion aforesaid; and the amount so assessed on each, shall be a legal lien and encumbrance upon his property so benefited until paid, and may be recovered, with costs, against such person, in any court of record having jurisdiction thereof, by action of debt, in the manner directed in the eighth section of this act; or the said common council, after giving at least one month's notice in writing to such person, or if the owner be unknown or cannot be found, then, after giving at least one month's notice by advertisement in one of the newspapers published in the town, may sell the use of said property for a term of years, not exceeding ten, to pay such assessment, together with the necessary costs, charges, and expenses.

Inhabitants of township to be nesses, &c.

SEC. 10. Upon the trial of any issue, or upon the judicial competent wit investigation of any fact in which the said corporation is a party, or in which it is interested in any way, no person shall be deemed an incompetent witness or juror by reason of his being an inhabitant or freeholder of said town; and if any person shall be sued or impleaded by reason of anything done by virtue of this act, it shall be lawful for such person to plead