A

28 May 1889 art. 1, § 1. P. L. 277.

Notice.

Tickets.

Returns.

Ibid. § 2. When letters patent to issue.

Ibid. § 3.

the city.

Terms of office.

Pending suits, claims, &c.

or boroughs to receive tickets, either written or printed, from the electors thereof qualified to vote by the constitution of this state, labelled on the outside "City charter," and containing on the inside, "For city charter," or " Against city charter," and to deposit said tickets in a box to be provided for that purpose; and the tickets so received shall be counted and a return thereof made to the clerk of the court of quarter sessions of the proper county, and a duplicate return to the secretary of the commonwealth, each duly certified in the manner required by law; and in receiving, counting and making returns of the votes cast, the inspectors, judges and clerks of said election shall be governed by the laws of this commonwealth regulating general elections; and all the electors, inspectors, judges and clerks voting at and in attendance upon the elections to be held under the provisions of this act, shall be subject to the penalties imposed by the election laws of this commonwealth.

2. Whenever, by the returns of the election in any towns or boroughs aforesaid, it shall appear that there is a majority against a city charter, no further proceedings shall be had, and it shall not be lawful to hold another election upon that question in such towns or boroughs for three years thereafter. If it shall appear by the said returns that there is a majority in favor of a city charter, the governor shall issue letters-patent, under the great seal of the commonwealth, reciting the facts, defining the boundaries of the said city and constituting the same a body corporate and politic, by the name of the city of -; and the corporate authorities of any such towns or boroughs shall, within sixty days after such election, furnish to the secretary of the commonwealth the necessary information in regard to the boundaries of the said city.

3. All the property and estates whatsoever, real and personal, of the towns or Property to vest in boroughs which shall have thus become a city of the third class, are hereby severally and respectively vested in the corporation or body politic of said city, by the name, style and title given thereto as aforesaid, and for the use and benefit of the citizens thereof forever; and the charters of the said towns or boroughs shall continue in full force and operation, and all officers under the same shall hold their respective offices until the first Monday of April following the third Tuesday of February next succeeding the issuing of letters-patent to the said city, at which time the officers of said city chosen at the preceding municipal election shall enter upon their respective terms of service, and the city government shall be duly organized under this act. All suits, prosecutions, debts and claims whatsoever shall thereupon become transferred to the said city, which, in all suits pending, shall be substituted as a party therein and be under the management and control thereof, as fully and completely as if no alteration had been made in the said charter; and all claims and demands of whatsoever nature, whether payable presently or in the future, existing against the said towns or boroughs when the said charter shall go into operation, shall by force thereof be recoverable from or against the said city: Provided, That where two or more towns or boroughs shall, under the provisions of this act, be consolidated into a city, the debt or debts of each of said towns or boroughs contracted prior to such consolidation shall be paid by such towns or boroughs respectively, and for the liquidation of such debts the authorities of such city shall have power to adjust and provide for the same and to levy separate rates of taxation on all property subject to taxation within the boundaries of the said towns or boroughs respectively.

Existing debts.

Adjustment of indebtedness.

23 May 1889, art. 2, § 1. P. L. 277.

Division and creation of wards.

Proceeding in quarter sessions.

II. Creation and division of wards.

4. Wards in cities of the third class may be divided, or new wards created therein, by the court of quarter sessions of the proper county, on application thereto for that purpose by the petition of at least one hundred qualified electors thereof, or of the councils of such city, and upon such petition praying for the division of a ward, or for the erection of a new ward out of parts of two or more wards, the said court shall appoint five impartial men, residents of the city, but not of the wards to be affected thereby, as commissioners to inquire into the propriety of Duties of commis- granting the prayer thereof, and it shall be the duty of the commissioners so appointed, or any four of them, to examine the premises and to make a draft of the ward to be divided, showing the division thereof, or of the new ward proposed to be created, as the case may be, and they shall make report to the said court of quarter sessions at its next term, together with their opinion of the same; and at the term after that at which the report shall be made, the court shall take such order thereupon as to them shall appear just and reasonable.

sioners.

Ibid. § 2. Election to be ordered.

5. If the commissioners, or a majority of them, report favorably to such division or creation, the court shall order a vote of the qualified electors of the ward or wards to be affected thereby to be taken on the question of the division or creation thereof, and shall appoint an election to be held on the day of municipal or general election, when the election officers of the ward or wards proposed to be divided or affected thereby, shall hold such election at the places and in the manner provided by law for the regulation of municipal elections. It shall be the Notice of election. duty of the mayor of such city to give at least fifteen days' public notice, by

advertisement in at least three newspapers, if so many be printed in said city, or 28 May 1889, art. 2, The Tickets. by handbills, posted in the most public places in said ward or wards, that such $2. P. L. 277. an election will be held, and of the time and place of holding the same. New judges and inspectors of election of said ward or wards shall receive from the electors thereof written or printed tickets, having on the outside the words " ward," and on the inside the words "For new ward," or "Against new ward," and The officers of such deposit the same in a box to be provided for that purpose. election shall count the said tickets in the manner prescribed by law, and shall Return. forthwith make out a return showing the number of votes for and against such new ward, and shall deliver the same to the clerk of the court of quarter sessions of the proper county within three days, and the said clerk shall record said return If it shall appear that a majority of the and forthwith lay it before the court. votes so taken are for a new ward, the said court shall thereupon order and decree Decree. the creation of such new ward or wards, agreeably to the lines marked out and returned by the commissioners, and shall number the new wards, and cause a certified copy of the whole proceedings to be placed of record among the minutes of councils. If a majority of votes have been against a new ward no further action shall be had upon such proceedings, nor shall any new application for such new ward be heard for three years from the date of such election: Provided, That no ward shall contain less than three hundred taxable inhabitants according to the Wards to have not last preceding enumeration, and no city of the third class shall contain more than ables. twenty-one wards.

less than 300 tax

16 May 1891.
P. L. 64.

another.

6. On the petition of at least twenty-five electors, resident within the district to be stricken off, or attached, or of the councils of any city of the third class, to the court of quarter sessions of the proper county praying for the detaching Annexing part of from one ward a part thereof, and attaching the same to another ward, the said one ward to court shall appoint five impartial men, resident of the city but not of the ward to be affected thereby, as commissioners, to inquire into the propriety of granting the prayer thereof, and it shall be the duty of the commissioners thereof, or any four of them, to examine the premises and to make a draft of the wards affected, and showing the lines as the division will affect them, and shall make report to said court at the next term, together with their opinion of the necessity for the same, and at next term after that at which the report shall be made, the court shall take such action thereon as to them shall appear just and reasonable.

Ibid. § 2.

7. If the commissioners, or a majority of them, report in favor of the petition, the court shall order a vote of the qualified electors of the ward from which the territory is to be stricken off, to be taken on the question, and shall appoint an Vote to be taken. election to be held on the day of the municipal or general election, when the election officers of the ward shall hold such election at the place and in the manner provided by law for the regulation of municipal elections.

or "

It shall be the duty of the mayor of such city to give at least fifteen days' public notice by advertisement in at least three newspapers, if so many be printed in said city, or by handbills posted in the most public places in said ward, that such an election The judges and the will be held and of the time and place of holding the same. inspectors of the election in said ward, shall receive from the electors thereof written or printed tickets, having on the outside the word "Division," and on the Manner of voting. Against division," and deposit the same in inside the words "For division a box to be provided for that purpose. The officers of such election shall count the said tickets in the manner prescribed by law, and shall forthwith make out a return, showing the number of votes for and against such separation, and shall deliver the same to the clerk of the court of quarter sessions of the proper county within three days, and the said clerk shall record said return and forthwith lay it before the court. If it shall appear that a majority of the votes so taken are for the separation, the said court shall thereupon order and decree the separation Decree. from the one ward and the attachment to the other ward, agreeably to the lines marked out and returned by the commissioners, and shall cause a certified copy of the whole proceedings to be placed on record among the minutes of councils. If a majority of votes have been against such separation, no further action shall be had upon such proceedings, nor shall any new application for such separation and addition be heard for three years from the date of such election.

III. Annexation of territories.

Return.

8. Any borough or township, or part of a township, adjoining any city of 23 May 1889, art. 3, the third class, and being part of the county in which the same is situated, may $1. P. L. 277. be annexed to such adjoining city, in the following manner, namely: In the case Annexation of of a borough, the town council may pass an ordinance for such annexation when- boroughs or townever three-fifths of the taxable inhabitants of such borough shall present a petition ships. asking therefor; in the case of a township or part of a township, three-fifths of the taxable inhabitants of such township or part of a township, shall present a petition to the councils of said city asking for such annexation, which said petition, in case a part only of a township desires to be admitted, shall be accompanied by a plot of the same.

23 May 1889, art. 3, § 2. P. L. 277.

By ordinance.

Ibid. § 3.

Appeal to quarter sessions.

Ibid. § 4. Annexation of out-lots, &c.

sessions.

Viewers to be appointed.

9. Upon the presentation to the councils of such city of a certified copy of the ordinance in the case of a borough, or of the petition in the case of a township, or of the petition and plot in the case of a part of a township, said councils may by ordinance annex such borough, township or part of a township to said city.

10. The action of said city councils shall be final and conclusive, unless an appeal therefrom be taken within ten days to the court of quarter sessions of the county; upon such appeal, the clerks of said city councils and of said borough councils shall certify to said court all the papers and proceedings in the case, whereupon the court shall examine and inquire, and if the proceedings appear to have been in conformity with law, shall approve the same.

11. Upon the application by petition signed by a majority or more of the taxable citizens, owners of any out-lots or section of land containing not more than one hundred acres, lying adjacent to any city of the third class, and being part of Petition to quarter the county in which the same is situated, to the court of quarter sessions of the respective county, stating that they desire the same to be annexed to said city, the necessity therefor, and describing the lots of land to be annexed, with a map or draft of the same, which petition shall be sworn to by one or more of the petitioners and be accompanied by a joint resolution of the councils of said city approving of the annexation, the said court shall thereupon appoint five viewers to inquire into and investigate the allegations and facts stated in the said petition, and the said viewers, or a majority of them, shall make a report to said court at its next sessions after their appointment; if they report that they find the statements and facts of said petition to be true, and recommend the annexation as prayed for, the said court shall thereupon make an order or decree to carry the same into effect, and the said out-lots or section of land shall thereafter be a part of said city, as fully as if the same had been originally a part thereof. The costs of the proceedings in all cases shall be paid by the city. If the report of said viewers shall be adverse to the prayer of the petitioners the petition shall be dismissed.

Decree.

Costs.

Ibid. § 5.

To be included in adjacent wards.

be

12. Whenever any borough, township or part thereof, out-lots or section of land shall be annexed to an adjoining or adjacent city as hereinbefore provided, it shall be the duty of the court, upon petition and proof, to make such order or decree as will give to the people of the annexed territory representation in the different branches of government of said city, by including said territory within the limits of an adjacent ward or wards, or by creating a new ward thereof; and said court shall, in case of the creation of a new ward, appoint the election officers and place for holding the first election of ward officers, and for that purpose may order a special election, if said court shall deem the same necessary, to be conducted in the manner provided by law for conducting municipal elections. The officers elected Special election for at such special election shall hold their respective offices until their successors, who are hereby required to be elected at the municipal election, held on the third Tuesday of February next succeeding the same, shall be duly qualified.

New ward may .created.

ward officers. .

16 May 1891. P. L. 63.

Change of boundaries.

28 May 1889, art. 5. § 1. P. L. 277.

13. Whenever the boundary lines of any city of the third class are, in whole or in part, the centre of a stream or water-course, the councils of the city may, by ordinance, change the lines so as to embrace the whole bed or margin of the stream and water-course and any roadway on the bank of such stream or watercourse within the limits of the city, and shall cause a map or plot of the part of the line so changed, together with a copy of the ordinance, to be filed in the court of quarter sessions of the county wherein such city is located, and notice of the filing of the same shall be given by publication in two newspapers published in the county-if there be two-nearest the limits of the said city, at least three weeks previous to the filing of said map or plot, and if no exceptions are filed on the first day of the term to which the publication is made the same shall be conclusive; and if exceptions are filed the court shall, at the next succeeding term, hear the parties and determine whether or not the exceptions shall be sustained. If the court, upon hearing, sustains the exceptions, no further proceedings shall be had in reference to such change of boundaries, for one year, by the councils of such city; but if the exceptions are overruled the boundary or boundaries ascertained by the ordinance and map shall be as therein fixed.

IV. Corporate powers.

14. The corporate powers and the number, character, powers and duties of the officers of cities of the third class now in existence by virtue of the laws of and officers contin- this commonwealth shall be and remain as now provided by law, except where

Present powers

ued.

Ibid. § 2. Powers under this act.

otherwise provided by this act.

15. Every city of the third class within this commonwealth is hereby declared to be a body corporate and politic, and shall have perpetual succession and shall have power:

I. To sue and be sued.

II. To purchase and hold real and personal property for the use of the city. III. To lease and to sell and convey any real or personal property owned by the city, and to make such order respecting the same as may be conducive to the interests of the city.

IV. To make all contracts and do all other acts in relation to the property 23 May 1889, art. 5, and affairs of the city necessary to the exercise of its corporate or administrative § 2. P. L. 277.

powers.

V. To have and use a corporate seal and alter the same at pleasure; and every such seal shall have upon it the word "Pennsylvania," the name of the city and the year of its original incorporation.

The powers hereby granted shall be exercised by the mayor and councils of such Powers vested in cities in the manner herein provided.

mayor and councils.

For what pur

poses ordinances

16. Every city of the third class in its corporate capacity is authorized and Ibid. § 3 cl. 1. empowered to enact ordinances for the following purposes, in addition to the other powers granted by this act: To levy and collect taxes for general revenue purposes, not to exceed ten mills on the dollar in any one year, on all persons, may be enacted. real, personal and mixed property within the limits of said city, taxable accord- Taxation. ing to the laws of the state of Pennsylvania for county purposes; the valuation of such property to be assessed as hereinafter provided.

Valuation of

17. To provide for the assessment and collection of taxes, in addition to the Ibid. cl. 2. above, not exceeding one per centum on the dollar upon the assessed valuation in any one year, on all persons, real and personal property and all other matters property. and things within said city, taxable for county purposes, for the payment of interest on bonded indebtedness and for the payment of loans to support the government and to make the necessary improvements in said city.

18. To impose a poll-tax for general revenue purposes, not exceeding one dollar annually, on all male inhabitants above the age of twenty-one years.

19. To levy and collect, for general revenue purposes, a license tax not exceeding one hundred dollars each, annually, on all auctioneers, contractors, druggists, hawkers, peddlers, produce or merchandise venders, bankers, brokers, pawnbrokers, merchants of all kinds, persons selling or leasing goods upon instalments, grocers, confectioners, butchers, restaurants, bowling alleys, billiard tables and other gaming tables, drays, hacks, carriages, omnibuses, carts, wagons, street railway cars and other vehicles used in the city for hire or pay, lumber dealers, including commission men and all persons who make a business of buying lumber for sale at wholesale or retail, furniture dealers, saddle or harness dealers, stationers, jewelers, livery or boarding stable keepers, real estate agents, agents of fire, life or other insurance companies, market house companies, express companies or agencies, telegraph, telephone, steam heating, gas, natural gas, water, electric light or power companies or agencies, or individuals furnishing communication, light, heat or power by any of the means enumerated, and to regulate the collection of the same.

Ibid. cl. 8.

Poll tax.

Ibid. cl. 4.

License taxes.

Ibid. cl. 5.

ment thereof.

20. To borrow money on the credit of the city, and to pledge the credit and revenue thereof for the payment of the same, to an amount not exceeding two per To borrow money centum upon the assessed value of the taxable property in said city; and, with the and secure pay consent of the people of the said city, obtained at an election held under the provisions of the constitution and the general laws of this commonwealth, to increase Increase of inthe indebtedness of such city to an amount not exceeding in the aggregate seven per centum upon the assessed valuation of the taxable property therein.

debtedness.

Ibid. cl. 6.

Funding of in

21. To provide for the issuing of bonds, and for the application of bonds already issued by cities hereafter incorporated, for the purpose of funding any and all indebtedness now existing or hereafter created, of the city, now due or to become debtedness. due: Provided, That said bonds shall be payable in not less than five years and not Date of payment more than thirty years from the date of their issue, and that the same shall bear of bonds. interest at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum, with interest coupons attached, payable annually or semi-annually; and the said bonds shall not be sold Sale of bonds. or exchanged for less than their par value.

22. To make provision for a sinking fund to pay at maturity the bonded indebtedness of the city, and to levy and collect taxes on all the taxable property in the city, in addition to all other taxes, for the purpose of paying the same, under and subject to the limitations and requirements of this act and of the constitution and laws of this commonwealth.

Rate of interest.

Ibid. cl. 7.

Sinking fund.

Ibid. cl. 8.

Streets, alleys,

23. To lay out, open, widen, straighten, alter, extend or improve any street, avenue, alley or lane within the city limits, in accordance with the provisions of this act, and keep the same in good order and repair and in safe, passable condi- sidewalks, bridges, tion, or to vacate and discontinue the same whenever deemed expedient for the and culverts. public good, and to make sidewalks and construct and maintain bridges and

culverts.

24. To construct and reconstruct sewers, and to extend the same beyond the city limits, whenever deemed necessary, and for the purpose of such construction or extension, to take and occupy private lands and property, making compensation therefor to the owners thereof as required by law.

25. To cause to be graded,(z) paved or macadamized any public street, lane or

(2) The act 16 May 1891, P. L. 78, is a general law and is not inconsistent with this act. Hand v. Fellowes, 148 P. S. 456. McCall v. Coates, Ibid. 462. Macadamizing is an original paving under this act,

Ibid. cl. 9.

Sewers.

Ibid. cl. 10.

and is within the rule which relieves abutting owners from liability for the cost of a subsequent paving. Harrisburg v. Segelbaum, 151 P. S. 172.

28 May 1889, art. 5, alley, or part thereof, which is now or may hereafter be laid out and opened in § 8, cl. 10, P. L. 277. any of the said cities, and have the same set with curbstone, and to provide for Grading, paving, and curbing. Payment thereof.

Majority in interest must petition for improvements.

Unless councils order same by two-thirds vote.

the payment of the cost and expense of the same or any part thereof by the city, or by the owners of real estate bounding and abutting thereon, by an equal assessment on said property in proportion to the number of feet the same fronts on the street, lane or alley, or part thereof to be improved, or in case of grading only, to assess the cost thereof, when not paid by the city, upon the properties benefited according to benefits, (a) but councils shall not order any street, lane or alley, or part thereof, to be paved or macadamized at the cost of the owners whose lands front upon the street, lane or alley, or part thereof to be so improved, except upon the petition of a majority in number of such owners, or upon the petition of the persons owning a majority of the feet front on the street, lane or alley, or part thereof to be improved, unless the ordinance for such improvement shall have been passed by a vote of two-thirds of all the members of each branch of councils, in which case councils may direct the improvement to be made at the cost of the owners without petition: Provided, however, That before councils shall order any street or alley, or part thereof, to be paved without a petition therefor, a concurrent resolution shall be passed, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each branch of councils, and approved by the mayor, declaring the purpose of the city to order a certain street or alley, or part thereof, to be paved at the expense of the abutting property. After the passage of said resolution, the owners of property at whose expense said paving is to be done, shall have sixty days in which to agree in writing upon the kind of pavement to be laid. When a majority of said property owners shall agree upon the kind of pavement, the agreement shall be submitted to the mayor for approval. If he approves, notice thereof shall be sent to councils; councils may then order said pavement to be laid at the expense of the abutting property, by ordinance, which shall be passed by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each branch thereof. Failure of owners In case the property owners do not agree upon the kind of pavement within sixty days aforesaid, or the mayor shall not approve of the kind of pavement selected by the property owners, then councils may determine the kind of pavement and provide for the same in the ordinance directing the pavement to be laid, which ordinance shall be passed by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to each branch thereof.

Sixty days' time for property owners to agree on kind of pavement.

to agree.

Ibid. cl. 11.

To require owners to pave.

Payment.

Ibid. cl. 12.

9 June 1891. P. L. 255.

26. To require owners of property abutting on any public street, lane or alley, to construct, pave, repave and recurb the sidewalks, and keep the same in good repair along such property, with such materials and under such regulations as may be prescribed by ordinance, and upon failure of such owners to comply therewith, upon notice, to authorize the same to be done by the city, and the expense thereof to be levied and collected from such owners, with costs; which amount shall be a lien upon such premises from the time of the commencement of the work, which date shall be fixed by certificate of the city engineer, filed with the clerk, and may be collected by action at law, or such lien may be filed and proceeded in as herein provided in the case of municipal liens.

27. To provide for the payment of the debts and expenses of the city and to apAppropriations. propriate money therefor. 28. To create any office which they may deem necessary for the good government and interests of the city, and to regulate and prescribe the powers, duties and compensation of such officers, in accordance with this act; but no ordinance shall be passed increasing or diminishing the salary or compensation of any officer after his or their election or appointment: Provided, however, That in case of the creation of any board of officers, the members thereof shall be elected or chosen by the select and common councils, but no two persons from the same ward shall serve on any board at the same time. (b)

To create city officers and prescribe powers.

23 May 1889 3, cl. 14. P. L. 277. To require bonds.

Ibid. cl. 15. Removal of

officers.

Ibid. cl. 16.

29. To require from all officers and agents of the city, elected or appointed, lawful bonds and security for the faithful performance of their duties; and no officer or agent, required by law or ordinance to give bond as aforesaid, shall be sworn into office or enter upon the duties thereof until such bond shall have been duly approved by the proper authority.

30. To provide for the removal of officers of the city whose offices are established by ordinance and whose removal is not otherwise herein provided for.

31. To require the removal of all obstructions from the sidewalks, curbstones, gutters, streets and street crossings, at the expense of the owners or occupiers of Care of sidewalks, the ground fronting thereon, or at the expense of the person or persons placing the same there; and to regulate the planting and protection of shade trees in the streets, the building of cellar and basement ways and other excavations through or under the sidewalks in said city.

&c. Shade trees.

Basements and excavations.

(a) Where an ordinance authorizes grading to be done according to a certain plan, and the authorities proceed to grade according to another plan, the city cannot maintain a lien for such grading. Scranton v. Bush, 34 W. N. C. 169. Property in the built-up portion of a city of the third class may be made

liable for grading either according to benefits or under the foot front rule, but property in the rural portion can be made liable only according to benefits. Scranton v. Bush, 34 W. N. C. 169.

(b) This is an amendment of § 3, cl. 13, of the act 23 May 1889. P. L. 277.