Election of aldermen. 1884, 250. Election of 1876, 225, § 8. Proceedings in case there is no mon council men. 1875, 243. 1876, 242. 1880, 225, § 6. P.S. 28, § 19. sary, and the same proceedings shall be had and repeated until the election of a mayor and aldermen shall be completed, and all vacancies shall be filled in the said board; and in case neither a mayor nor any alderman shall be elected at the usual time for electing the same, and after the powers of the former mayor and aldermen shall have ceased, it shall be the duty of the president of the common council to issue his warrant in the same manner as the board of aldermen would have done, if elected, and the same proceedings shall be had and repeated until a mayor or one or more aldermen shall be elected. [SECT. 19. The qualified voters of said city shall, at the annual meeting, be called upon to give in their votes for twelve persons, being inhabitants of said city, to constitute the board of aldermen for the ensuing year, and all the votes so given, being sorted, counted and declared, by the warden and inspectors, shall be recorded at large by the clerk, in open ward meeting; and, in making such declaration and record, the whole number of votes or ballots given in shall be particularly stated, together with the name of every person voted for, and the number of votes given for each person; and a transcript of such record, certified by the warden and clerk, and a majority of the inspectors of each ward, shall forthwith be transmitted to the city clerk; whereupon the same proceedings shall be had, to ascertain and determine the persons chosen as aldermen, as are hereinbefore directed in regard to the choice of mayor, and for a new election, in case of the whole number required not being chosen at the first election. And each alderman so chosen shall be duly notified, in writing, of his election, by the mayor and aldermen for the time being.] [SECT. 20. The qualified voters of each ward shall, at the annual election, be called upon to give in their votes for four able and discreet men, being inhabitants of the ward, to be members of the common council for the ensuing year; and all the ballots so given in, in each ward, being sorted, counted and declared, a public declaration of the result shall be made by the warden in open ward meeting; and a record of such proceeding shall be kept by the clerk in his journal, stating particularly the whole number of ballots given in, the number necessary to make a choice, the number actually given for each person, the whole to be written in words at length.] [SECT. 21.3 In case four persons are not chosen at the first balchoice of com- loting in any ward, the meeting of such ward shall be adjourned by the presiding officer, for the purpose of filling such vacancies, to a period not less than twenty-four nor more than seventy-two hours distant from the hour when the polls were opened at the first balloting; the time of adjournment, within such limits, to be determined by the warden, with the consent of a majority of the inspectors who may be present when such adjournment is had; and such notice shall be given of the time of such adjournment, and the time the polls will be kept open, as the warden may direct; and at such adjourned meeting a balloting shall be opened for a number of common councilmen sufficient to complete the number of four, which shall be conducted and its results be declared and recorded, in the same manner as before prescribed for the first balloting.] [SECT. 22.3 In case there shall still be vacancies in the number of common councilmen in any ward, adjournments of the meetings of Same subject. 1880, 225, § 6. 1 By St. 1884, c. 250, the city was divided into twelve aldermanic districts, the qualified voters of each to elect at the annual municipal election one member of the board of aldermen. 2 St. 1875, c. 243, provided for the election of three members of the common council from each ward. St. 1876, c. 242, provided for the division of ward twenty-two into two wards, and for the election alternately of one and two members of the council from said wards. 3 Sections 21, 22, 23 and 23 were repealed by St. 1880, c. 225, § 6. The same act provided for filling vacancies. the citizens thereof, for the purpose of filling the same, shall continue to be had in the same manner, to periods not less than twenty-four nor more than seventy-two hours distant from each other, at all of which the balloting shall be conducted, and the result be declared and recorded, in the same manner as before prescribed, until the number of four shall be duly chosen. And at all such adjournments the polls shall be kept open the same number of hours as were required by the original warrant.] [SECT. 23. If at the close of the last legally adjourned meeting of Same subject. any ward as aforesaid, preceding the first Monday in January, there 1880, 225, § 6. shall still be vacancies in the number of common councilmen for any ward, no further adjournment shall be had; but a record of the fact, and of the number of such vacancies, shall be made by the clerk of the ward in his journal, signed therein by the warden, clerk, and a majority of the inspectors, an attested copy of which record shall forthwith be delivered by the clerk of the ward to the city clerk, who shall lay the same before the common conncil at their first meeting in January.] men, etc., to tions. SECT. 24. The board of aldermen, the common council, and the Board of alderschool committee, shall have authority to decide upon all questions judge of elec relative to the qualifications, elections and returns of their respective members. [SECT. 25.1 Whenever it shall appear to the board of aldermen Vacancies in city or that there is a vacancy, by removal from the city, or by death, resig- ward offices. nation or otherwise, in the board of aldermen, the common council, 1880, 225, §§ 5, 6. [the school committee,]" or in any of the city and ward offices, it shall be the duty of said board to issue their warrant, in due form, to fill all such vacancies in each and all of said boards and offices, at such time and place as they may deem advisable; and the same proceedings shall be had, and adjournments if necessary, within the same limits as are herein prescribed for the annual meeting for the election of common councilmen. But in case of vacancies in the common council and school committee' such warrant shall not be issued until the board of aldermen receive official information thereof.] city or ward their wards. SECT. 26. All city and ward officers shall be held to discharge the Removal of duties of the offices to which they have been respectively elected, officers from notwithstanding their removal after their election out of their P.S. 27,5 89. respective wards into any other wards of the city; but they shall not P.S. 28, § 2. be so held after they take up their permanent residence out of the city. of city council. SECT. 27. The mayor, aldermen, and common councilmen, on the Organization first Monday of January, or before entering on the duties of their offices, shall respectively be sworn by taking the oath of allegiance and oath of office prescribed in the constitution of this commonwealth, and an oath to support the constitution of the United States. And such oaths may be administered to the mayor elect by any one of the justices of the supreme judicial court, or any judge of any court of record commissioned to hold any such court within the said city, or by any justice of the peace for the county of Suffolk. And such oaths Oath of office. shall be administered to the aldermen and members of the common council by the mayor, being himself first sworn as aforesaid, or by either of the persons authorized to administer said oath to the mayor; and a certificate of such oaths having been taken shall be entered in the journal of the mayor and aldermen and of the common council, respectively, by their respective clerks. 1 See ante, page 4, note 3. 2 By P. S., c. 44, § 22, vacancies in the school committee are filled by the school committee and board of aldermen in convention. Absence of mayor elect. Aldermen to choose a permanent chairman. City Clerk. P.S. 28, § 10. Vacancy in office of city clerk. Absence of city clerk. SECT. 28. In case of the unavoidable absence on account of sickness, or otherwise, of the mayor elect, on the first Monday in January, the city government shall organize itself in the mode hereinbefore provided in cases wherein no person shall have been elected mayor at the meeting last preceding the first Monday in January, and may proceed to business in the same manner as if the mayor were present. SECT. 29. After the organization of the city government and the qualification of a mayor, and when a quorum of the board of aldermen shall be present, said board, the mayor presiding, shall proceed to choose a permanent chairman, who shall preside at all meetings of the board and at conventions of the two branches in the absence of the mayor; and in case of any vacancy in the office of mayor, for any cause, he shall exercise all the powers and perform all the duties of the office as long as such vacancy shall continue. But he shall continue to have a vote in the board, and shall not have the veto power. SECT. 30. The mayor, aldermen and common council, in convention, in the month of January, shall choose a clerk for the term of one year, and until another person is duly chosen and qualified in his stead, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of the duties of his office, and shall be removable at the pleasure of the board of aldermen, the mayor thereto consenting. He shall be denominated the city clerk, and it shall be his duty to keep a journal of the acts and proceedings of the board of aldermen, to sign all warrants issued by them, and to do such other acts in his said capacity as may lawfully and reasonably be required of him; and to deliver over all journals, books, papers and documents, intrusted to him as such clerk, to his successor in office, immediately upon such successor being chosen and qualified as aforesaid, or whenever he may be thereunto required by the aldermen. The city clerk thus chosen and qualified shall continue to have all the powers and perform all the duties now by law belonging to him. SECT. 31. In case of a vacancy in the office of city clerk, from any cause, the same shall be filled in the manner provided in the preceding section. SECT. 32. [In case of the temporary absence of the city clerk, R.O. c. 8, §§ 2, 3. the mayor, by and with the advice and consent of the board of aldermen, may appoint a city clerk pro tempore.] Powers and duties of mayor and aldermen. P.S. 22, § 30. P.S. 49, § 84. 1870, 337. 1882, 164. 3 4 SECT. 33. [The administration of police] together with the executive powers of the said corporation generally, and all the powers formerly vested in the selectmen of the town of Boston, either by the general laws of this commonwealth, by particular laws relative to the powers and duties of said selectmen, or by the usages, votes or bylaws of said town, and all the powers subsequently vested in the mayor and aldermen of said city, as county commissioners or otherwise, shall be and hereby are vested in the board of aldermen as hereby constituted, as fully and amply as if the same were herein specially enumerated. A majority of the members of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Their meetings shall be public, and the mayor, if present, shall preside, but without a vote. 1 See P. S., c. 28, § 10, for authority to establish the office of assistant city clerk. 2 Transferred to the board of police commissioners by St. 1878, c. 244. "In all laws relating to cities, the words mayor and aldermen shall, unless provision is or shall be otherwise made, be construed to mean board of aldermen, anything in the charter of any city or in any act in amendment thereof to the contrary notwithstanding: provided, however, that all appointments which are directed to be made by the mayor and aldermen shall be made in accordance with existing provisions of law." St. 1882, c. 161. By St. 1870, c. 337, the powers formerly exercised by the board of aldermen, relative to laying out, widening, and discontinuing streets, and the abatement of taxes vested in the board of street commissioners. cil a separate SECT. 34. The persons so chosen and qualified as members of the Common councommon council of the said city shall sit and act together as a sepa- body. rate body, distinct from that of the board of aldermen, except in those cases in which the two bodies are to meet in convention; and the said council shall have power, from time to time, to choose one of President. their own members to preside over their deliberations, and to preserve order therein, and also to choose a clerk, who shall be under oath Clerk. faithfully to discharge the duties of his office, who shall hold such office during the pleasure of said council, and whose duty it shall be to attend said council when the same is in session, to keep a journal of its acts, votes and proceedings, and to perform such other services, in said capacity as said council may require. All sittings of the Sittings to be common council shall be public; and [twenty-five members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business']. public. Quorum. 6 Pick. 187. SECT. 35. All other powers heretofore by law vested in the town Powers of city council. of Boston, or in the inhabitants thereof, as a municipal corporation, 121, 110, § 16. or in the city council of the city of Boston, shall be and hereby are 122 Mass. 344. continued to be vested in the mayor, aldermen and common council By-laws. of the said city, to be exercised by concurrent vote, each board as 27, 28. hereby constituted having a negative upon the proceedings of the 3 Pick. 482. other, and the mayor having a veto power as hereinafter provided. 11 Pick. 168. More especially they shall have power to make all such needful and 16 Pick. 501. salutary by-laws or ordinances, not inconsistent with the laws of this 9 Met. 253. commonwealth, as towns by the laws of this commonwealth have 12 Gray 161. power to make and establish, and to annex penalties not exceeding 117 Mass. 114. fifty dollars for the breach thereof, which by-laws and ordinances 126 Mass. 431. shall take effect, and be in force from and after the time therein 128 Mass. 213, respectively limited," without the sanction or confirmation of any 133 Mass. 372. court or other authority whatsoever. 2 Cush. 562. 115 Mass. 217. 121 Mass. 356. 330. taxes. Pick. 101. 23 Pick. 71. SECT. 36. The city council shall also have power, from time to Assessment of time, to lay and assess taxes for all purposes for which towns are by P.S. 11, 27, 29. law required or authorized to assess and grant money, and also for 13 Mass. 272. all purposes for which county taxes may be levied and assessed, so 12 Pick. 227. long as other towns in the county shall not be liable to taxation for 4 Gray 502. county purposes. But in the assessment and apportionment of all 1 Allen 103. such taxes upon the polls and estates of all persons liable to contribute 112 Mass. 127, thereto, the same rules and regulations shall be observed as are now established by the laws of this commonwealth, or may be hereafter enacted, relative to the assessment and apportionment of town taxes. 108 Mass. 408. 275. taxes. Assessors to be chosen. SECT. 37. The said city council shall also have power to provide Collection of for the assessment and collection of such taxes, and to make appropriations of all public moneys, and provide for the disbursement thereof, and take suitable measures to insure a just and prompt account thereof; and, for these purposes, may either elect such assessors and assistant assessors as may be needful, or provide for the 1884, 123. appointment or election of the same, or any of them, by the mayor and aldermen, or by the citizens, as in their judgment may be most conducive to the public good; and may also require of all persons Bonds, etc., intrusted with the collection, custody, or disbursement of public quired. moneys, such bonds, with such conditions and such sureties, as the R. c. 5,12, §1; case may in their judgment require. R.O. c. 20. may be re 13, § 1; 24, § 9. may provide SECT. 38. The city council may provide for the appointment, or City council election of all necessary officers, for the good government of said for the ap city, not otherwise provided for, and may prescribe their duties, and pointment of city officers. 1 By St. 1872, c. 15, a majority of all the members of the common council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. 2 If no time is limited, and there is nothing to show that it was not intended to take effect immediately, an ordinance takes effect from its passage. 109 Mass. 355. Register of deeds. Care and custody of city property. R.O. c. 32. fix their compensation, and may choose a register of deeds whenever the city shall be one county. SECT. 39. The city council shall have the care and superintendence of the public buildings, and the care, custody, and management of all the property of the city, with power to lease or sell the same, except the Common and Faneuil Hall. And the said city council shall have power to purchase property, real or personal, in the name chase property. and for the use of the city, whenever its interests or convenience may in their judgment require it. Power to pur Board of health. P.S. 80. 12 Pick. 184. 98 Mass. 431. R.O. c. 22. SECT. 40. All the power and authority now by law vested in the city council, or in the board of mayor and aldermen, relative to the public health, and the quarantine of vessels, shall continue to be 116 Mass. 254. vested in the city council, to be carried into execution by the appointment of one or more health commissioners; or in such other manner as the health, cleanliness, comfort, and order of the city may, in their judgment, require, subject to such alterations as the legislature may from time to time adopt. The powers and duties above named may be exercised and carried into effect by the city council in any manner which they may prescribe, or through the agency of any persons to whom they may delegate the same, notwithstanding a personal exercise of the same, collectively or individually, is prescribed by previous legislation; and the city council may constitute either branch, or any committee of their number, whether joint or separate, the board of health for all or for particular purposes. Surveyors of highways. SECT. 41. The board of aldermen shall be surveyors of highways 135 Mass. 197. for said city. City treasurer. Members of city council ineligible to other offices. 1884, 115. Representa tives to general court. Compensation of the mayor. 98 Mass., 39. 108 Mass. 208. 112 Mass. 512. [SECT. 42. The city council shall, in the month of May, meet together in convention, and elect a suitable person to be the treasurer of said city, who shall also be county treasurer, and who shall hold his office until his successor is chosen and qualified in his stead.] SECT. 43. No person shall be eligible to any office, the salary of which is payable out of the city treasury, who, at the time of his appointment, shall be a member of either the board of aldermen or the common council; and neither the mayor, nor any alderman, or member of the common council, shall, at the same time, hold any office of emolument under the city government. [SECT. 44. In the month of October in each year the city government shall meet in convention, and determine the number of representatives which it may be expedient for the corporation to send to the general court in the ensuing year, within its constitutional limits, and to publish such determination, which shall be conclusive; and the number thus determined shall be specified in the warrant calling a meeting for the election of representatives.] SECT. 45. The mayor of the city, chosen and qualified as hereinbefore provided, shall be taken and deemed to be the chief executive officer of said corporation; and he shall be compensated for his services by a salary, to be fixed by the board of aldermen and common council in convention assembled, payable at stated periods, which salary shall not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars annually; and he shall receive no other compensation or emoluments whatever; and no regulations enlarging or diminishing such compensation shall be made, to take effect until the expiration of the year 1 St. 1875, c. 176, provides that the treasurer shall be elected annually in the month of May or June by concurrent vote of both branches of the city council. It also provides (§ 2) for the elec tion of a collector, and defines his powers. "In the county of Suffolk the treasurer of the city of Boston shall be the county treasurer." P.S. 23, § 3. 2 St. 1884, c. 115, provides that no member of the city council shall be eligible to any such office during the term for which he was chosen. See amendments of constitution, Art. XXI. 4 Salary fixed at $5,000 in convention, Nov. 21, 1864. |