In the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-four. AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE CITY OF FALL RIVER. 4. Election of city officers. In absence of warden, clerk to preside. Clerk pro tem. may be chosen. Duties of inspectors. Oaths, how administered. Warrants for meetings, how issued, etc. 5. Election of Mayor, etc. 6. Proceedings at elections. Certificates of elections. Proviso. Mayor to be notified. Proceedings in case of failure to elect. Vacancies, how filled. Oath of office. Organization of common council. Proceedings in absence of mayor. Mayor pro tem. Each board to keep record. 7. Duty of mayor. 8. Executive power of mayor and aldermen. Compensation. Bonds required of constables, etc. Powers of mayor, etc. Appointment of officers. Sittings to be public. Safe keeping of city property. 9. Mayor to nominate, etc. 10. Duty of city clerk. 11. Assessors to be sworn. Taxes. 12. Act repealed. Fire Department. Proviso. Duty of engineers. 13. List of jurors. Drawing of jurors. 14. May lay out streets, etc. 15. May dig drains, etc. Measurement of wood, etc. 16. Health officers. 17. Election of representatives. 18. County, state and federal officers. 19. List of voters. Provided, etc. 20. Meetings of the citizens. 21. By-Laws. Proviso. Provided also. 22. Fines, etc., how recovered. Right of appeal. Complaints, how set forth. Fines paid to the city treasurer. Refusal to pay fines, how punished. Applies to town by-laws. 23. First organization. First meeting how organized. Subsequent organizations. 24. Delivery of records, etc. 25. Town meetings suspended, etc. Proceedings in case this act is not accepted. 26. Inconsistent acts repealed. 28. Act void, unless, etc. Fall River to be a city. Government. City divided into wards. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows: SECTION 1. The inhabitants of the town of Fall River shall continue to be a body politic and corporate, under the name of the City of Fall River, and as such, shall have, exercise, and enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers, and privileges, and shall be subject to all the duties and obligations now incumbent upon, and appertaining to, the said town, as a municipal corporation. SECT. 2. The administration of all the fiscal, prudential, and municipal affairs of the said city, with the government thereof, shall be vested in one municipal officer to be styled the mayor; one council of six, to be called the board. of aldermen ; and one council of eighteen, to be called the common council; which boards in their joint capacity, shall be denominated the city council, and the members thereof shall be sworn to the faithful performance of their respective offices. A majority of each board shall constitute a quorum for doing business. SECT. 3. It shall be the duty of the selectmen of Fall River, as soon as may be after the passage of this act, and its acceptance by the inhabitants, as hereinafter provided, to divide the said town into six wards, to contain, as nearly as conveniently may be, an equal number of legal voters, which proceedings of the selectmen shall be subject to the revision of the city council, within one year after the passage of this act. And it shall be the duty of the city To revise wards council, once in five years, and not oftener, to revise, and if it be needful, to alter the said wards, and increase their number, in such manner as to preserve, as nearly as may be, an equal number of legal voters in each ward: provided, however, that in case the number of wards shall be in See ch. 142, acts of 1863, post. Proviso. creased, each ward shall continue to be entitled to elect one alderman and three members of the common council, anything in the second section of this charter to the contrary notwithstanding. warden clerk to SECT. 4. On the first Monday of March* annually, Election of city there shall be chosen by ballot, in each of the said wards, a officers. warden, clerk, and three inspectors of elections, residents of wards in which they are chosen, who shall hold their offices for one year, and until others shall have been chosen in their places, and qualified to act. It shall be the duty of such wardens to preside at all ward meetings, with the power of moderators of town meetings; and if, at any meeting the warden shall not be present, the clerk of such In absence of ward shall call the meeting to order, and preside until a preside. warden pro tempore shall be chosen by ballot; and if, at any meeting, the clerk shall not be present, a clerk pro tempore Clerk pro tem shall be chosen by ballot; and if both the warden and clerk may be chosen. shall be absent, either of the inspectors of said ward may call the meeting to order, and preside till a warden and REPEALED. clerk pro tempore shall be chosen as aforesaid. The clerk see ch. 76, acts shall record all the proceedings, and certify the votes of 1857; ch. 48, given, and deliver to his successor in office, all such records post. and journals, together with all other documents and papers held by him in the said capacity. And it shall be the duty of the inspectors of elections, to assist the warden Duties of inin receiving, assorting, and counting the votes. And the warden, clerk, and inspectors so chosen, shall respectively make oath or affirmation, faithfully and impar- Oaths, how adtially to discharge their several duties relative to all elections, which oath may be administered by the clerk of such ward to the warden, and by the warden to the clerk and inspectors, or by any justice of the peace for the county of Bristol; and the fact, or certificate that such oath *Now the first Tuesday after the first Monday in December by Stat. Law. acts of 1860, spectors. ministered. Warrants for issued, etc. has been taken, shall be entered on the record of the ward by the clerk thereof. All warrants for meetings of the meetings, how citizens, for municipal purposes, to be held either in wards or in general meetings, shall be issued by the mayor and aldermen, and shall be in such form, and shall be served, executed, and returned, in such manner, and at such times, as the city council may, by any by-law, direct. Election of mayor, etc. SECT. 5. The mayor shall be elected by the qualified voters of the city at large, voting in their respective wards, and one alderman and three common councilmen shall be elected from and by the voters of each ward, being residents in the wards where elected. All the said officers shall be chosen by ballot, and shall hold their See ch. 48, acts offices for one year from the first Monday in April,* and until others shall be elected and qualified. of 1860, post. Proceedings at elections. See ch. 144, acts of 1863, post. SECT. 6. On the first Monday of March,† annually, the qualified voters in each ward shall give in their votes for mayor, alderman and common councilmen, as provided in the preceding section; and all the votes so given shall be assorted, counted, declared, and registered, in open ward meeting, by causing the names of persons voted for, and the number of votes given for each, to be written in the ward records, in words at length. The clerk of the ward, within twenty-four hours after such election, shall deliver to the persons elected alderman and members of the common council, certificates of their Certificates of election, signed by the warden and clerk, and by amajority of the inspectors of elections, and shall deliver to the city clerk a copy of the records of such elections, certified in like manner: provided, that in all cases, the persons having the greatest number of votes for their respective offices shall be deemed and declared to be elect elections. Proviso. *Now 1st Monday in January. 1st Tuesday after first Monday in December, by Stat. Law. ed; and if the choice of alderman and common councilmen shall not be effected on that day, by reason of two or more persons having received an equal number of votes. for the same office, the meeting may be adjourned, from time to time, to complete such election. Mayor to be notified. The board of aldermen shall, as soon as conveniently may be, examine the copies of the records of the several wards, certified as aforesaid, and shall cause the person who shall have received the greatest number of votes for mayor, to be notified, in writing, of his election; but if it shall appear that no person has been elected, by reason of two or more having received an equal number of votes, or if the person so elected shall refuse to accept the office, the board shall issue their warrants for a new election, and the same proceedings shall be had as are herein before case of failure provided for the choice of a mayor, and repeated, from to elect. time to time, until a mayor shall be chosen. Proceedings in In case of the decease or resignation of the mayor, or of his inability to perform the duties of his office, the boards of aldermen and common council shall, respectively, by vote, declare that a vacancy exists, and the cause thereof; whereupon the two boards shall meet in convention, and Vacancies, how elect a mayor to fill such vacancy; and the mayor thus filled. elected, shall hold his office until the inability causing the vacancy shall be removed, or until a new election. The oath prescribed by this act shall be administered to the mayor by the city clerk, or any justice of the peace for the county of Bristol. of 1860, post. The aldermen and common councilmen elect, shall, on the first Monday in April,* at ten o'clock in the forenoon, oath of office meet in convention, when the oath required by this act See ch. 48, acts shall be administered to the members of the two boards' present, by the mayor, or by any justice of the peace for the county of Bristol; and a certificate of such oath having been taken, shall be entered on a journal of the mayor and *Now 1st Monday in January. |