Vacancy in the office of mayor. the govern ment. resignation of the mayor, or of his inability to perform the duties of his office, the board of aldermen and the common council shall respectively, by vote, declare that a vacancy exists, and the cause thereof; whereupon the two boards shall meet in convention and elect a mayor to fill such vacancy; and the mayor thus elected shall hold the office until the inability aforesaid is removed, or until a new election, which may be ordered by the board of aldermen. The oath of office shall be administered to the mayor by the city clerk or any justice of the Organization of peace. The aldermen and common councilmen elect shall, on the first Monday of January in each year at ten o'clock in the forenoon, meet in convention, when the oath shall be administered to them by the mayor or city clerk, a certificate whereof shall be entered on the journals of said boards by their respective clerks. The boards shall then separate and the common council shall be organized by the choice of one of their number as president, and also of a clerk, not one of their number, both of whom shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their duties. In case of the absence of the mayor elect on the first Monday of January, or if the mayor shall not then have been chosen, the city government shall be organized in the manner herein before provided, and may proceed to business in the same manner as if the mayor was present; and the oath of office, at any time thereafter in convention of the two branches, may be administered to the mayor and any member of the city council who may have been absent at the Chairman of the Organization. The board of aldermen shall elect one of their number board of alder- to preside at all meetings of the board when the mayor does not preside, who shall be called the chairman of the board of aldermen, and who shall hold office during the municipal year for which he is elected. In the absence of both the mayor and chairman of the board of aldermen, the aldermen shall elect one of their members as chairman for the time being. In the absence of the mayor, the chairman of the board of aldermen shall preside at all conventions of the city council. Each board shall keep a record of its own proceedings, and judge of the election of its own members; but in case of the failure of an election, or in case of any vacancy declared by either board, the mayor and aldermen shall order a new election. men to be elected. Each board to keep record of its own proceedings. Mayor to be officer. SECT. 7. The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the city; chief executive he shall be vigilant in causing the laws and regulations of the city to be enforced; he shall exercise a general supervision over the conduct of all subordinate officers, and shall cause their neglect of duty to be punished. He may call special meetings of the boards of aldermen and common council, or either of them, when he deems it necessary, by causing written notices thereof to be left at the places of residence of the several members. He shall from time to time communicate such information and recommend such measures as in his opinion the interests of the city may require. He shall preside in the board of aldermen, and in convention of the two boards. Mayor to nomi confirmation by aldermen. SECT. 8. In all cases in which appointments are directed to be nate, subject to made by the mayor and aldermen, the mayor shall have exclusive power of nomination, being subject however to confirmation or rejection by the board of aldermen; but if a person so nominated shall fail of confirmation it shall be the duty of the mayor to make another nomination within one month from the time of such rejection or failure to confirm. Executive mayor and aldermen. SECT. 9. The executive power of said city generally, and the power vested in administration of the police, with all the powers formerly vested in the selectmen of the town of Taunton, and heretofore vested in the mayor and aldermen of the city of Taunton, shall continue to be vested in and exercised by the mayor and aldermen of said city, as fully as if the same were herein specially enumerated. The mayor and aldermen rer, etc. The removals. shall have full exclusive power to appoint constables, and a city marshal or chief of police and assistants, with the powers and duties of constables, and all other police officers, and to remove the same when cause exists therefor. All other powers now vested in the inhabitants of said city, and all powers granted to them by this act, shall be vested in the mayor and aldermen and common council, except so far as different provisions are herein made, to be exercised by concurrent vote, each board to have a negative upon the other. The city council shall annually, as soon as may be after organiza- Election of city tion elect by joint ballot a city treasurer, collector of taxes, city clerk, treasuclerk, city solicitor, superintendent of streets, and city physician for the ensuing year, who shall hold their respective offices until others are elected and qualified in their stead, and the city council shall, in such manner as may be determined by ordinance, appoint or elect all other subordinate officers not herein otherwise provided for, define their duties and fix the compensation of all officers and subordinate officers, so far as the same are not determined by the laws of the Commonwealth. The city council may fill a vacancy existing in Vacancies and any such office, and may remove any of said officers for cause. sessions of the boards aforesaid shall be public when they are not engaged in executive business. The city council shall see that no money is paid from the city treasury unless granted or appropriated; they shall secure a just and prompt accountability by requiring bonds, with sufficient penalties and sureties, from all persons intrusted with the receipt, custody, or disbursement of money, and from such other officers as they may think necessary; they shall have the care and superintendence of the city buildings, and the control and management of all city property, with power to let or sell what may be legally let or sold and to purchase property, real and personal, in the name and for the use of the city, whenever in the judgment of the city council it may be deemed expedient. The city council shall publish Annual stateannually a particular account of the receipts and expenditures of the ment of receipts city, and a schedule of the property and debts of the same. The city tures to be pubcouncil shall also fix the annual salary of the mayor. SECT. 10. No alderman or common councilman shall be or elected by the city council, or either branch thereof, to the salary of which is paid by the city. and expendi lished. appointed Members of city any office council not to SECT. 11. The city clerk before entering upon the duties of his office shall be sworn to the faithful performance thereof. He shall be clerk of the board of aldermen, shall attend said board when the same is in session, keep a journal of the acts and proceedings of said board, sign all warrants issued by them, and do such other acts in his capacity as may lawfully and reasonably be required of him; he shall deliver all journals, records, papers, and documents, and other things intrusted to him as city clerk, to his successor in office immediately upon such successor being chosen and qualified as aforesaid, or whenever he may be thereto required by the board of aldermen. He shall also be clerk of the city council when in convention. He shall perform all the duties and exercise all the powers by law incumbent upon or vested in clerks of towns in this Commonwealth, or by law belonging to the city clerk of the city of Taunton, as fully as if the same were particularly enumerated. In case of the temporary absence or sickness of the city clerk, or in case of his death, the mayor and aldermen may appoint a city clerk pro tempore, with all the powers, duties, and obligations of the city clerk, until the city clerk resumes his duties, or his successor is elected; and said officer shall be sworn in the manner provided in the case of the city clerk. hold salaried office. City clerk shall be clerk of the board of alder men, and clerk of the city couneil when in convention. SECT. 12. The persons heretofore elected by the city council as Assessors and members of the board of assessors shall continue in office according assistant Overseers of the poor. Board of health. to the terms heretofore established, and as soon after the first Monday in January annually hereafter as conveniently may be, the city council shall by concurrent vote elect one person, a resident of said city, to serve as a member of said board for three years from said first Monday, and until his successor is chosen and qualified. The city council may in like manner fill any vacancy in said board; may elect such assistants and provide such clerical aid as it deems necessary, and define the duties and fix the compensation of all of said officers. The assessors chosen as aforesaid shall exercise the same powers and be subject to the same duties and liabilities as town assessors under the laws of the Commonwealth. They shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their duties. All taxes shall be apportioned and collected in the manner prescribed by the laws of this Commonwealth : provided, however, that the city council may establish further or additional provisions for the collection thereof. SECT. 13. As soon after the acceptance of this Act as may be convenient, the city council shall by concurrent vote choose three persons to be overseers of the poor, one for three years, one for two years, and one for one year, from the first Monday of January preceding said election, and until others shall be elected in their stead; and thereafter in the month of January annually said city council shall in like manner choose one person who shall hold his office for the term of three years next ensuing, and until another shall be chosen and qualified in his stead. The city council may, for cause, remove any member of said board, and shall fill any vacancy therein for the unexpired term, by election in the manner herein before provided, as soon as may be after the occurrence of such vacancy. Annually in the month of January said board shall organize by the choice from their own number of a chairman and a secretary, who shall also act as agent of said board. The city council shall fix the compensation of said overseers of the poor. SECT. 14. There shall be a board of health consisting of the city physician and two other persons, who shall be forthwith appointed in Pub. Sts. ch. 80, the manner provided in sections eight and fifteen of chapter eighty of $$ 8, 15. the Public Statutes; and said board shall have all the powers and privileges and be subject to all the duties and provisions relating to boards of health so appointed, set forth in said chapter, and all the power and authority now vested in the board of health of said city shall be transferred to and be vested in the board of health appointed as above provided. Fire department. SECT. 15. The city council shall establish a fire department for said city, and shall by ordinance determine of what officers and members said department shall consist, prescribe the time and mode of their appointment and removal, define their powers, duties, and periods of service, fix their compensation and make such other regulations regarding their conduct and government as they deem expedient. The engineers or other officers of the department, appointed as aforesaid, shall have all the powers and authority conferred upon fire wards by the Public Statutes. The city council of said city may by ordinance make regulations concerning the management of fires, the conduct of all persons present at the same, the removal and protection of property, the examination of any building or place where combustible materials or substances are supposed to be kept or deposited, the removal of such materials and substances, and the adoption of other suitable safeguards against fires and the loss or destruction of property by reason of the same. Said city may procure and hold such land, buildings, furniture, engines, and other apparatus as may be necessary for the purposes of the fire department; and the city council may by ordinance make regulations regarding the use, control, and preservation manner pre city council. thereof. The powers and duties mentioned in the preceding sections, Powers may or any of them, may be exercised and carried into effect by the said be exercised in city council in any manner in which it may prescribe, and through the scribed by the agency of any persons or any board or boards to whom it may delegate the same. Suitable penalties may be affixed to the violation of the regulations made under the authority of this Act, not exceeding twenty dollars for any breach thereof. Said city is authorized to expend a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars annually, under the direction of the city council, for the relief of such firemen as are disabled in the service of said city, and for the relief of the families of such firemen as are killed in the performance of their duties. concurrence of SECT. 16. The mayor and aldermen, with the concurrent vote of Mayor and the common council, may lay out, alter, or discontinue streets and aldermen, with town ways, fix the grades thereof and estimate the damages sustained common counby parties thereby; but all parties aggrieved by such action shall sil, may lay out have the same right of application and complaint to the county commissioners that they now have when dissatisfied with the action of selectmen of towns. streets. SECT. 17. The mayor and aldermen, with the concurrence of the Drains and common council, may lay drains and common sewers through streets common sewers. or private lands, paying the owners such damages as they sustain thereby. They may require any person opening a drain into such common drain or sewer to pay a reasonable sum for that privilege. the General national, state officers. and county SECT. 18. The mayor and aldermen shall in each year issue their Election of repwarrants for calling meetings for the election of the whole number of resentatives to representatives to the General Court, to which the said city is by law Court. entitled, such number to be specified in such warrants. SECT. 19. All elections of county, state, and United States officers, Election of who are chosen by the people, shall be held at meetings of citizens qualified to vote in such elections in their respective wards at the times prescribed by law; the votes given for such officers shall be received, assorted, counted, declared, and registered in open ward meetings, as is herein provided in reference to city oflicers. The ward clerks shall forthwith deliver to the city clerk certified copies of the records so made; and all ballots and check lists shall be sealed and transmitted to the city clerk in the manner provided by the laws of the Commonwealth. The city clerk shall forthwith record such returns ; and the mayor and aldermen shall, within the time provided by law, after every such election, examine and compare all such returns, and make out a certificate of the result of such election, to be signed by the mayor and a majority of the aldermen, and also by the city clerk, which certificate shall be transmitted, delivered, and returned as by law required. If the whole number of representatives to the General Court are not elected, the mayor and aldermen shall issue their warrants for a new election, conformably to the Constitution and laws. SECT. 20. Lists of voters in each ward shall be prepared by the Lists of voters. mayor and aldermen in the manner provided by the laws of the Commonwealth, and for that purpose they shall have access to the assessors' books and lists, and be entitled to the assistance of all the city officers; and said lists, so prepared, they shall deliver to the clerks of the wards, to be used at such elections, and shall cause copies thereof to be posted in three public places in each ward the length of time required by law prior to such elections; and no person shall be entitled to vote in a ward whose name is not borne on such a list: provided, that any person whose name shall not be borne on the list of the ward in which he is entitled to vote when it shall be placed in the hands of the clerk of said ward shall have the right to have his name entered thereon at such time thereafter as is provided in like cases by the laws of this Commonwealth. General meet SECT. 21. General meetings of the citizens qualified to vote may ings of citizens. be held according to the right secured to the people by the Constitution of the Commonwealth. Such meetings shall be called by the mayor and aldermen on the petition of fifty qualified voters. Inspection of lumber, bark, etc. Fines and for feitures may be before the First prosecuted for, District Court of Bristol. Void, unless accepted within three months. SECT. 22. The city council shall make by-laws or ordinances, with suitable penalties, for the inspection, survey, measurement, weighing, and sale of lumber, wood, coal, and bark brought into or exposed in the city for sale, and all such other by-laws as towns may make and establish; but no penalty for a breach thereof shall exceed twenty dollars. Such by-laws shall be presented to the mayor for his approval; if he approve, he shall sign them; if not, he shall return them to either branch of the city council, with his objections; if they are again passed by two-thirds of the members of each board present and voting thereon, the same shall become a law, otherwise not. All fines and forfeitures for the breach of any by-law or ordinance shall be paid into the city treasury. SECT. 23. All fines, forfeitures, and penalties accruing for the breach of any by-law of said city, or of the ordinances of the city council, or of any of the orders of the mayor and aldermen, may be prosecuted for and recovered before the First District Court of Bristol in the manner in which fines, forfeitures and penalties have heretofore been by law prosecuted for and recovered; reserving however to the party prosecuted the right of appeal to the Superior Court. If any person refuses to pay such a fine imposed upon him, or refuses to recognize with sureties to prosecute his appeal, the same proceedings shall be had as in any criminal prosecution. SECT. 24. This Act shall be void unless accepted by the city council of Taunton within three months from its passage. May 11, 1882. Experiment station established. Management of control. CHAPTER 212. AN ACT TO ESTABLISH AN AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. SECTION 1. An agricultural experiment station shall be established and maintained at the Massachusetts agricultural college in the town of Amherst. SECT. 2. The management of said station shall be vested in a vested in board board of control of seven persons of which board the governor shall be president ex officio, and of which two members shall be elected from the State board of agriculture, by said board of agriculture; two from the trustees of the Massachusetts agricultural college, by said trustees; one from the Massachusetts society for promoting agriculture, by said society; and the remaining member shall be the president of the Massachusetts agricultural college. The said board shall choose a secretary and treasurer. Board shall make report to the Legislature. St. 1883, ch. 105. Two members of board to retire each year. SECT. 3. The said board of control shall hold an annual meeting in the month of January, at which time it shall make to the Legislature a detailed report of all moneys expended by its order, and of the results of the experiments and investigations conducted at said station, with the name of each experimenter attached to the report of his own work, which detailed report shall be printed in the annual report of the secretary of the state board of agriculture. SECT. 4. The said board of control shall at its first meeting arrange for the retiring of two members each year, and the successors of such retiring members shall be elected by the bodies respectively which |