CHAPTER VI. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL. tutes the council. Quorum. SECTION 1. The legislative control and authority of the where legiscity shall be vested in the common council, consisting of the lative control mayor and two aldermen from each ward. The recorder shall Who constibe clerk of the council but shall have no vote therein. All common meetings and sessions of the common council shall be public. Sessions to A majority of the members of the common council entitled be public. to a vote shall make a quorum for the transaction of business. A less number may adjourn from time to time and may compel the attendance of absent members and other city officers in the manner prescribed by ordinance, but no office shall be when created or abolished or any tax or assessment be imposed, necessary. real estate or any interest therein sold or disposed of, or private property be taken for public use unless by a concurring vote of two-thirds of all the members of the common council elect entitled to vote, nor shall any vote of the common council be reconsidered or rescinded at a special meeting, unless there be present as many aldermen as were present when such vote was taken. No money shall be appropriated Appropriaexcept by ordinance or resolution of the council. two-thirds tions. SEC. 2. The council shall prescribe the rules of its own Rules, etc. proceedings and keep a record or journal thereof. All votes How votes shall be taken by "yeas" and "nays" when by the provisions shall be taken. of this act a two-thirds vote is required, and also when called for by any member of the council, and be so entered upon the journal as to show the names of those voting in the affirmative and those in the negative: Provided however, That in Proviso. all cases of appointment of officers and fixing salaries, the votes shall be by ballot. The common council shall have the Attendance power to compel the attendance of its members and other may be compelled. officers of the city at its meetings in such manner as it may prescribe by ordinance; and it may by ordinance prescribe the punishment for any misbehavior, contemptuous or disorderly conduct by any member or any person present at any session of the council. The council may prescribe by or- Council may dinance or resolution for the appointment of standing com- prescribe mittees of its members who shall perform such duties, in- committees. vestigate, have charge of, and report upon such matters as may be properly referred to them. Such committees shall be appointed by the mayor. standing SEC. 3. The city council shall hold stated meetings as When stated and special often as once in each month, and may hold special meetings meetings as often as necessary. The time for holding stated meetings are held. shall be fixed by said council and if any stated meeting shall fall on a legal holiday, such meeting, by reason thereof, and without further action by said council, shall stand adjourned until the next succeeding day upon which the same can be proceedings When council legally held. Within one week after the meeting of the city council all the proceedings transacted thereat shall be published in at least one newspaper in said city. shall be published. President of council. President pro tem. Records, etc., where kept. Penalty for injury, etc. Civil engineer, who to appoint, etc. Power to appoint officers, etc. To investigate SEC. 4. The council shall at its first regular meeting after any election, elect one of its members to be president of the council, such president shall, in the absence of the mayor, or in case of his inability to act, perform all the duties of the office; and in case of the absence of the mayor and president of the council, or the inability of both of them to act, for any reason, said council shall have power to select from its own number, a president pro tem., who shall have all the power and perform all the duties of the mayor for the time being. SEC. 5. The council shall cause all the records of the corporation, all proceedings of the council, all books, documents, reports, contracts, receipts, vouchers and papers relating to the finances and affairs of the city, and to the official acts of any officer of the corporation (unless required by law to be kept elsewhere) to be deposited and kept in the office of the recorder, and to be so arranged and filed as to be convenient of access and inspection, and all records, books and papers, shall be subject to the inspection of any inhabitant of the city or other person interested therein, except such records or papers, or parts thereof, as in the opinion of the council it may be necessary for the furtherance of justice to withhold for the time being. Any person who shall secrete, injure, deface, alter or destroy any such books, records, documents or papers, or expose the same to loss or destruction, with the intent to prevent the contents, meaning or import thereof, being known, shall on conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment in the State prison not longer than one year, or by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. SEC. 6. The city council shall have power to appoint and compensate a civil engineer who shall have such powers, and perform such duties relating to his office as the council may prescribe. Said city council is also vested with full power to appoint all city officers provided in this act to be appointed by said council, and to compensate the same from the funds of said city and prescribe their powers and duties not specially defined in this act. SEC. 7. The city council shall have power to investigate charges against any officer of the city, and such other municipal matters as they may deem proper to investigate. To enable said council so to do, any justice of the peace of the city of Ishpeming is authorized, at the request of the council or any investigating committee, to issue subpoenas or process by warrant to compel the attendance of persons and the production of documents, books and papers before said council or committee; and the mayor of the city shall have like power to issue such subpoenas and process. attendance SEC. 8. Whenever the city council or any committee of the May compel members thereof, are authorized to compel the attendance of witnesses. of witnesses for the investigation of matters which may come before such council or committee, the presiding officer of the council or chairman of such committee, for the time being, shall have power to administer the necessary oaths, and such council or committee shall have the same power to compel witnesses to testify as is conferred on justice courts. And false testimony given by any witness upon a material matter of any inquiry or subject of investigation, shall be punishable as perjury. claims against SEC. 9. Said city council shall have authority to adjust To settle and settle all accounts and claims against said city, and no city. suit or action shall be maintained against said city on any account or claim until the same shall have been itemized, specified and described, and the statement thereof, sworn to and presented to said council, and said council shall have an opportunity to pass upon the same. Any failure to comply with these requirements shall constitute a perfect defense to such action. buildings. SEC. 10. The city council may acquire, purchase, improve, Public repair, erect or lease all such public buildings as may be required for the use of the corporation, and may purchase, acquire, appropriate and own such real estate and property, either within or without the limits of the city, as may be necessary for public grounds, parks, commons, markets, public buildings, cemeteries, and other purposes necessary or convenient for the public good, and the execution of the powers by this act conferred, such buildings or grounds or any part thereof may be sold either at private sale or public auction, or leased as the occasion may require by the city council: Provided, That no money shall be taken or appropriated from Proviso. the funds of said city for the purpose of purchasing any building site, erecting any public building or establishing any park, common, public ground or market, without the concurring vote of two-thirds of all the members of the city council. SEC. 11. The city council shall have the authority to lay Parks. out, establish, enlarge, vacate and discontinue within the corporate limits of the city, parks and public grounds, and to improve, light and ornament the same; to regulate the care thereof, and to protect the same and all the appurtenances thereto from obstructions, encroachments, injury and all nuisances. SEC. 12. The city council shall have full power and au- Streets. thority to lay out, establish, open, alter, vacate, discontinue, widen, light and cause the board of public works to grade, macadamize, pave, plank, gravel or otherwise improve all highways, avenues, streets, gutters, lanes, alleys, drains, water-courses, culverts and bridges in said city whenever the council shall deem the same a public convenience, improvement or necessity, and may regulate the use thereof, and pro May take private property. Grades of streets, etc. Survey of streets, etc. May vacate streets. To regulate the construction of sidewalks. tect the same from destruction, encroachment or injury. If in laying out, establishing, altering or opening, widening, repairing or improving any highway, street, lane, avenue, alley, drain, water-course, culvert or bridge, it shall be necessary to use any private property, the same may be appropriated in the manner provided in this act for taking property for public use; the cost and expense of such improvement may be paid by the corporation, or the same, or any part thereof as the council may determine, may be assessed on the property adjacent thereto and benefited thereby, but no pavements shall be laid in any street at the cost of the general fund unless the improvement is a benefit to the city at large, such assessments may be levied and collected as by this act provided, for levying and collecting special assessments. The terms paved and macadamized shall be deemed to include gutters, curbing, crosswalks and ballasting. SEC. 13. The city council shall have power to determine and establish the grade of all streets, avenues, alleys and public grounds, within the said city, and may change or alter such grades, or any part thereof, whenever, in their opinion, the public convenience shall be promoted thereby. Whenever a grade shall be established or altered a record thereof shall be made in a book provided by the council for that purpose. SEC. 14. The city council may cause all public streets, alleys and public grounds to be surveyed, and may determine and establish the boundaries thereof, and cause the surveys and descriptions thereof, to be recorded in a book kept for that purpose in the office of the city clerk, and to be designated "book of street records." Such record shall be prima facie evidence of the existence of such streets, alleys or public grounds and the boundaries of the same. SEC. 15. When the council shall deem it advisable to vacate, discontinue or abolish, any street, alley or public ground or any part thereof, they shall by resolution so declare, and in the same resolution shall appoint a time not less than four weeks thereafter, when they shall meet and hear objections thereto. Notice of such meeting, with a copy of such resolution, shall be published for not less than four weeks before the time appointed for such meeting, in one of the newspapers of said city. Objections to such proposed action of the council may be filed with the recorder in writing, and if any such objections shall be filed, the street, alley or public ground, or any part thereof, shall not be vacated or discontinued, except by a concuring vote of two-thirds of the aldermen elect. SEC. 16. The city council shall have power to regulate the construction of all crosswalks and sidewalks in the public streets and alleys of said city, and may prescribe the grade thereof, and change the same when deemed necessary. Said council shall have the power to order the construction and maintenance of crosswalks and sidewalks thereof in the public streets and alleys of the city, and charge the cost and expenses of sidewalks upon lots and premises abutting upon such walks. owners to become a fail to con SEC. 17. The city council shall have power to require the May require owners and occupants of all lots and premises to construct, build. repair and maintain sidewalks in the public streets and alleys of said city whenever said council shall deem the construction, repair or maintenance of the same a public necessity; and said council shall have power to require all sidewalks to be constructed and laid upon such lines and grades, and of such width and materials, and manner of construction, and within such time as said council may order or by resolution or ordinance prescribe. The council shall also have full and complete power to provide by ordinance for the building or repair of sidewalks by the owners or occupants of premises, and for assessing the cost and expense of the construction or repair thereof, to owners or occupants who shall neglect or refuse to build or repair the same when ordered by the council and they may, by ordinance, provide Expense to that such expense shall become a lien upon the land, when lien. assessed as a tax, or that it may be collected by suit, or both. SEC. 18. If the owners or occupants of any lot or premises When owners shall fail to construct, repair or maintain any particular side- struct, etc. walk as mentioned in the last section above, after due notice of not less than one week of the order of the council so to do, the city council may cause the same to be done at the expense of such owner or occupant. Such expense may be assessed upon the premises adjacent thereto, as provided in this act, and be collected with the annual taxes therein, or the same, together with costs of suit, may be recovered in an action of assumpsit, and in all such actions it shall be sufficient as a declaration to declare on the common counts in assumpsit for labor and materials furnished, and a statement of the materials furnished and labor expended in constructing any such sidewalk with the value of such material and labor verified by the officer under whose charge such walk may have been constructed, shall be prima facie evidence of the right of the city to recover the same. In case it is desired to make the cost and expense of construction of any particu lar sidewalk or crosswalk a lien upon premises benefited, to be collected by tax as aforesaid, the board of assessors shall assess the amount thereof to the abutting property owners, the proportions determined by front foot, and their authority so to do shall be based entirely upon the sworn statement of the officer constructing such sidewalk, showing the cost and expense thereof, and all preliminary proceedings of the council required in the chapter upon special assessments prior to the levy to an assessment shall be unnecessary: Provided Proviso. however, That to make such summary assessment valid the officer constructing the same shall, previous to his construc |