PASSED APRIL 14, 1857, THREE-FIFTHS BEING PRESENT.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SEC. 1. The Corporation now existing, and known by the name of "The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of New York," shall continue to be a body politic and corporate, in fact and in name, by the same name, and shall have perpetual succession, with all the grants, powers and privileges heretofore had by "the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of New York."

§ 2. The legislative power of the said Corporation shall be vested in a Board of Aldermen and a Board of Councilmen, who together shall form the Common Council of the city of New York.

§ 3. The Board of Aldermen shall consist of one Alderman to be elected from each district in the city and county of New York, as hereinafter provided for. The members of the Board of Aldermen first elected under this act shall be classified as follows: The Aldermen from districts having an odd numerical designation shall hold such office for the term of one year, and those from districts having an even numerical designation shall hold such office for the term of two years. At all subsequent elections for Aldermen, they shall be elected for the full term of two years.

§ 4. There shall be six Councilmen elected from each senatorial district in the city of New York, as the same now are or may hereafter be constituted, by general ticket, in each of said districts; and the persons

elected from each of said senatorial districts shall together form the Board of Councilmen for the said city. The Councilmen shall be chosen for one year.

§ 5. No person shall be eligible to the office of Alderman or Councilman, who shall not, at the time of his election, be a resident of the district from which he is chosen.

§ 6. Each Board of the Common Council shall have power to direct a special election to be held, to supply the place of any member whose seat shall become vacant by death, removal from the city, resignation, or otherwise, and in either case the person elected to supply the vacancy shall hold his seat only for the residue of the term of office of his immediate predecessor.

§ 7. The Boards shall meet in separate chambers, and a majority of either shall be a quorum to do business. Each Board shall appoint a President from its own body, and shall choose its clerk and other officers, determine the rules of its own proceedings, and be the judge of the election, returns and qualifications of its own members. Each Board shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and its doors shall be kept open, except when the public welfare shall require secrecy; and all resolutions and reports of committees, which shall recommend any specific improvement, involving the appropriation of public moneys, or the taxing or assessing the citizens of the city, shall be published immediately after the adjournment of the Board, under the authority of the Board, in all the newspapers employed by the Corporation, and shall not be passed or adopted until after such notice has been published at least two days; and whenever a vote is taken in relation thereto, the ayes and noes shall be called, and published in the same manner.

§ 8. Each Board shall have the authority to compel the attendance of absent members, to punish its members for disorderly behavior, and to expel a member with the concurrence of two-thirds of the members elected to the Board; and the member so expelled shall, by such expulsion, forfeit all his rights and powers as an Alderman or Councilman, and no Alderman or Councilman shall be questioned in any other place for any speech or vote in either Board.

§ 9. The stated and occasional meetings of each Board of the Common Council shall be regulated by its own ordinances; and both Boards may meet on the same or on different days, as they may severally judge expedient.

§ 10. Any person holding office under this charter, who shall, during his term of office, accept, hold, or retain any other civil office of honor, trust or emolument under the government of the United States, or under this charter, or who shall, during his said term of office, receive any fees or emoluments, directed to be paid by any ordinance of the Common Council, except as is hereinafter provided, shall be deemed thereby to have vacated his office.

§ 11. Every legislative act of the Common Council shall be by ordinance, act, or resolution, which shall have passed the two Boards of Common Council, before it shall take effect, shall be presented, duly certified, to the Mayor of the city for his approval. If he approve, he shall sign it; if not, he shall return it within ten days thereafter, with his objections, to the Board in which it originated, 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 daily newspapers of the city. But no ordinance, act, or resolution shall be valid, unless the same shall have received the assent of both Boards within the same year. § 12. The Board, to which such ordinance, act, or resolution, shall have been so returned, shall, after the expiration of not less than ten days thereafter, proceed to reconsider the same. If, after such reconsideration, at least two-thirds of all the members elected to the 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 at least two-thirds of all the members elected to such Board, it shall take effect as an act or law of the Corporation. In all such cases, the votes of both Boards shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the passage of the ordinance reconsidered shall be entered on the journal of each Board respectively. § 13. If the Mayor shall not return the ordinance so presented to him within the time above limited for that purpose, it shall take effect in the same manner as if he had approved of it.

§ 14. Any ordinance of the Common Council may originate in either Board, and, when it shall have passed one Board, may be rejected or amended by the other. But no ordinance shall be passed by either Board, except by the vote of a majority of all the members elected to such Board.

§ 15. Neither the Mayor nor Recorder of the city of New York shall be a member of the Common Council thereof.

§ 16. The executive power of the Corporation shall be vested in the Mayor and the Executive Departments.

§ 17. Whenever there shall be a vacancy in the office of Mayor, or 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, or shall be removed as hereinafter provided for, 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 until the next charter election, in the case of a vacancy or removal from office.

§ 18. It shall be the duty of the Mayor

1. To communicate to the Common Council, at least once a year, 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.

2. To recommend for the adoption of the Common Council all such measures connected with the police, security, health, cleanliness, and ornament of the city, and the improvement of its government and finances, as he shall deem expedient.

3. To be vigilant and active in causing the ordinances of the city to be duly executed and enforced.

4. To exercise a constant supervision over the conduct and acts of all subordinate officers, and to 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 for him by the charter and city ordinances, and the laws of this State or the United States.

5. To appoint such clerks as may be authorized by the Common Council, and as may be required in his office, to aid him in the discharge of his official duties.

§ 19. The Mayor, Comptroller, and Counsel to the Corporation, shall each be elected by the electors of the city; the Mayor for the term of two years, the Counsel to the Corporation for the term of three years, and the Comptroller for the term of four years. The Comptroller shall be voted for on a separate ballot. The other heads of departments shall be appointed by the Mayor, with the advice and consent of the Board of Aldermen. The Board of Aldermen shall have power to confirm or reject all nominations of officers made by the Mayor; and whenever any person nominated by the Mayor shall be rejected by the Board of Aldermen, the Mayor shall immediately nominate another person.

§ 20. The Mayor, Comptroller, and Counsel to the Corporation, may each be removed by the Governor, for cause, in the manner provided by law in the case of sheriffs. The vacancy occasioned by the removal of the Comptroller, or Counsel to the Corporation, shall be filled by the Mayor, with the advice and consent of the Board of Aldermen, until it shall be supplied at the next annual election of charter officers.

§ 21. The other heads of the Executive Departments, except the officers of the Croton Aqueduct Board, shall hold their office for two years, and until the appointment of their successors. The Mayor shall have power to suspend, for cause, during any recess of the Common Council, and by and with the consent of the Board of Aldermen, to remove any of the heads of departments, except the Comptroller and the Counsel to the Corporation, which suspension, and the cause thereof, shall be communicated to the Common Council, if in session; and if not, then at the first meeting thereof. The Board of Aldermen shall have power, without the consent of the Mayor, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected, to remove any of the heads of departments, for cause, other than the Comptroller and

Counsel to the Corporation. The heads of departmeats shall have power to appoint and remove the chiefs of bureaux and clerks in their respective. departments; except that the Chamberlain shall be appointed by the Mayor, with the consent of the Board of Aldermen, and may be removed in the same manner with heads of departments. The chiefs of bureaux and clerks of departments and bureaux shall hold office during the same term enjoyed by the heads of departments, unless sooner removed. The Chief Engineer of the Fire Department shall be elected in the same manner as is now, or may hereafter be, prescribed by law. The number of clerks to the departments shall be as fixed by the Common Council, who shall also fix the terms of all offices created by them under authority of law.

22. There shall be an executive department, which shall be denominated the "Department of Finance," which shall have control of all the fiscal concerns of the Corporation, and shall prescribe the forms of keeping and rendering all city accounts; and all accounts, rendered to or kept in the other departments of the city government, shall be subject to the inspection and revision of the officers of this department. It shall settle and adjust all claims in favor of or against the Corporation, and all accounts in which the Corporation is concerned, either as debtor or creditor. 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 for the collection of the revenue accruing from rents and interest of bonds and mortgages, and for the collection of all revenues arising from the use or sale of property belonging to or managed by the city, and for the performance of such other duties as may be directed by the Common Council; the chief officer of which shall be called the Collector of the City Revenue." There shall also be a bureau in this department for the collection of taxes; the chief officer thereof shall be called the "Receiver of Taxes," who shall have all the powers and perform all the duties now prescribed by law for the Receiver of Taxes, and the office of Receiver of Taxes, as heretofore constituted, and the provisions of law relating to him, are hereby modified so as to conform to the provisions of this act. There shall also be a bureau in this department for the collection of arrears of taxes, arrears of assessments, and arrears of water rents, the chief officer of which shall be called the " Clerk of Arrears." There shall also be a bureau in this department for the reception of all moneys paid into the treasury of the city, and for the payment of moneys on the warrant drawn by the Comptroller and countersigned by the Mayor and Clerk of the Common Council; and the chief officer thereof shall be called the "Chamberlain of the City of New York." The Chamberlain shall keep books, showing the amounts paid on account of the several appropriations; and no warrants shall be paid on account of any appropriations after the amount authorized to be raised by tax for that specific purpose shall have been expended. There shall