City government, how organized in absence of mayor.

In such case, proceeding of aldermen.

Record to be kept by each board.

Duties of mayor specified.

organized by the choice of a president and clerk, who shall be sworn to the faithful performance of their duties.

In case of the absence of the mayor elect, on the first Monday of January, the city government shall organize itself in the manner herein before provided, and may proceed to business in the same manner as if the mayor were present; and the oath of office may be administered to the mayor, at any time thereafter, in a convention of the two branches.

In the absence of the mayor, the board of aldermen may choose a chairman pro tempore, who shall preside at joint meetings of the two boards.

Each board shall keep a record of its own proceedings, and judge of the election of its own members; and in case of failure of an election, or in case of any vacancy declared by either board, the mayor and aldermen shall order a new election.

SECTION 7. The mayor thus chosen and qualified shall be the chief executive officer of the said city; it shall be his duty to be vigilant in causing the laws and regulations of the city to be enforced, and to exercise a general supervision over the conduct of all subordinate officers, and to 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 necessary in his opinion, by causing notices to be left at the places of residence of the several members; he shall communicate from time to time, to both of them, 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, but shall have a casting vote only. And the mayor shall receive no compensation for his services. SECTION 8. The executive power of the said city generally, and the administration of the police, with all the mayor and alder- powers heretofore vested in the selectmen of Newburyport, shall be vested in and may be exercised by the mayor and aldermen as fully as if the same were herein specially enumerated.

Power and duty of selectmen transferred to

men.

Appointing pow

er of mayor and aldermen.

May require bonds of marshals and constables.

The mayor and aldermen shall have full and exclusive power to appoint a constable and assistants, or a city marshal and assistants, with the powers and duties of constables and all other police officers, and the same to remove at pleasure. And the mayor and aldermen may require any person, who may be appointed marshal or constable of the city, to give bonds for the faithful discharge of the duties of the office, with such security and to such amount as they may deem reasonable and proper; upon which bonds the like proceedings and remedies may be had as are by law

provided in the case of constables' bonds taken by the select

men of towns.

duties of the

The mayor and aldermen shall perform the duty imposed Shall perform upon the selectmen of the town of Newburyport by the fifth selectmen section of an act to annex a part of the town of Newbury to Newburyport, enacted the seventeenth day of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and shall be liable to the forfeiture therein prescribed if they neglect so to do.

The custody and visitation of all trust funds, now vested Trust funds. in the selectmen of Newburyport, shall be transferred to and vested in the mayor and aldermen.

tants of the town

urer, collector,

All other powers now vested in the inhabitants of the said Powers of inhabitown, and all powers granted by this act, shall be vested in vested in the city the mayor and aldermen and common council of the said council. city, to be exercised by concurrent vote, each board to have a negative upon the other; but the city council shall, Election of treasannually, as soon after their organization as may be con- assessors, clerk, venient, elect by joint ballot, in convention, a city treas- &c. urer, collector of taxes, three assessors and three assistantassessors, and a city clerk, and shall, in such manner as the said city council may determine by any by-law made for the purpose, appoint or elect all subordinate officers, not herein otherwise directed, for the ensuing year, define their duties Their duties and and fix their compensations, in cases where such duties and compensations shall not be defined and fixed by the laws of the commonwealth.

compensation.

council to be

All sittings of the mayor and aldermen, of the common Sittings of city council, and of the city council, shall be public, when they public. are not engaged in executive business.

The city council shall take care that money shall not be Management of paid from the treasury unless granted or appropriated; public property. shall secure a just and prompt accountability, by requiring bonds, with sufficient penalty and sureties, from all persons intrusted with the receipt, custody, or disbursement of money; shall have the care and superintendence of city buildings, and the custody and management of all city property, with power to let or sell what may be legally let or sold; and to purchase property, real or personal, in the name and for the use of the city, whenever its interest or convenience may, in their judgment, require it.

ceipts, expendi

property to be

ally.

And the city council shall, as often as once a year, cause Schedule of reto be published, for the use of the inhabitants, a particular tures and city account of receipts and expenditures, and a schedule of city published annuproperty. SECTION 9. In all cases in which appointments are directed Nominations by to be made by the mayor and aldermen, the mayor shall have the exclusive power of nomination, being subject, how

mayor

aldermen.

Confirmations by ever, to confirmation or rejection by the board of aldermen ; and no person shall be eligible to any office of emolument, Ineligibility of the salary of which is payable out of the city treasury, who, at the time of such appointment, shall be a member of the board of aldermen or of the common council.

aldermen.

City clerk.

Duties.

Overseers of poor, how elected.

Amended, 1858, 160.

Duties of.

School committee, how chosen.

SECTION 10. The city clerk shall also be clerk of the board of aldermen, and shall be sworn to the faithful performance of his duties. He shall perform such duties as shall be prescribed by the board of aldermen; and he shall perform all the duties and exercise all the powers by law incumbent upon or vested in the town clerk of the town of Newburyport.

SECTION 11. The qualified voters of each ward, at their respective annual ward meetings, shall elect by ballot one person in each ward, who shall be a resident of the ward, to be an overseer of the poor; and the persons thus chosen shall constitute the board of overseers of the poor, and shall have all the powers, and be subject to all the duties, now by law appertaining to the overseers of the poor for the town of Newburyport.

And the qualified voters shall, at the same time and in like manner, elect two persons in each ward, who shall be residents of the ward, to be members of the school committee; and the persons so chosen shall constitute the school Amended, 1855, committee, and have the care and superintendence of the public schools.

Duties of.

164; 1858, 160.

Assessors-pow

ties, oath.

The assessors to be chosen, as herein before provided, ers, duties, liabil- shall constitute the board of assessors, and shall exercise the same powers, and be subject to the same duties and liabilities, that the assessors in the several towns in the commonwealth may exercise or be subject to under existing laws, and shall be sworn, as shall also the assistant-assessors, to the faithful performance of their duty.

Taxes, how assessed.

All taxes shall be assessed, apportioned and collected in the manner prescribed by the laws of the commonwealth: provided, however, that the city council may establish further or additional provisions for the collection thereof. When election of In case it should be found inconvenient to complete the school committee election, in any ward, of the overseers of the poor and the school committee, on the day of the annual ward meeting, said meeting shall be adjourned, from time to time, until the elections shall be completed.

Overseers or

is incomplete.

Fire department.

SECTION 12. An act establishing the fire department in the town of Newburyport, passed March fifth, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty, shall continue in force, and all the power and authority now vested in the selectmen of Newburyport, in relation to the fire depart

ment in that town, shall be transferred to and vested in the mayor and aldermen.

how prepared.

SECTION 13. The list of jurors shall be prepared by the List of jurors, mayor and aldermen, in the same manner as is required in the ninety-fifth chapter of the Revised Statutes to be done by the selectmen within and for their respective towns; and the lists, when made out by the mayor and aldermen, shall be submitted to the common council for concurrent revision or amendment.

The mayor and aldermen and the city clerk shall severally Jurors. have and exercise all the powers and duties, with regard to the drawing of jurors in the city, and all other matters relating to jurors therein, which are, in the ninety-fifth chapter of the Revised Statutes, required to be performed

mayor and alder

by the selectmen and town clerks in their respective towns: Venires served an and all venires for jurors to be returned from Newburyport me shall be served on the said mayor and aldermen.

SECTION 14. The mayor and aldermen, with the concur- Streets and townrent vote of the common council, shall have exclusive ways laid out, &o. power to lay out, alter, or discontinue, any street or town

way, and to estimate the damages any individual may sustain Damages, &c. thereby.

with estimated

ceedings in such

And any person dissatisfied with the decision of the city Dissatisfaction council, in the estimate of damages, may make complaint damages-proto the county commissioners of the county of Essex, at any case. meeting held within one year after such decision, whereupon the same proceedings shall be had as are now by law provided in cases where persons are aggrieved by the assessment of damages by the selectmen, in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Revised Statutes.

mon sewers.

SECTION 15. The mayor and aldermen, with the concur- Drains and comrent vote of the common council, shall have the power to cause drains and common sewers to be laid down through any streets or private lands, paying the owners such damage as they may sustain thereby, and to require all persons to pay a reasonable sum for the privilege of opening any drain into such public drain or common sewer. And the city council may make by-laws, with suitable Lumber, wood, penalties, for the inspection, survey, measurement, and sale, of lumber, wood, coal, and bark, brought into the city for sale.

coal, and bark.

powers of, trans

SECTION 16. All power and authority now vested by law Board of health, in the board of health for the town of Newburyport, or in ferred to the city the selectmen thereof, shall be transferred to and vested in council. the city council, to be by them exercised in such manner as they may deem expedient.

SECTION 17. The mayor and aldermen shall, in each year, Annual election issue their warrant for calling meetings for the election of to general court.

of representatives

All elections for county, state and U. S. officersregulations and proceedings.

List of voters in each ward to be prepared by

mayor and alder

men.

General meetings

for public good,

the whole number of representatives to the general court to which the said city is by law entitled, and the number shall be specified in the warrant.

SECTION 18. All elections for county, state and United States officers, who are voted for by the people, shall be held at meetings of the citizens qualified to vote in such elections, in their respective wards, at the time fixed by law for these elections respectively; and, at such meetings, all the votes given for such officers, respectively, shall be assorted, counted, declared, and registered, in open ward meeting, by causing the names of all persons voted for, and the number of votes given for each, to be written in the ward record in words at length. The ward clerk shall forthwith deliver to the city clerk a certified copy of the record of such elections. The city clerk shall forthwith record such returns, and the mayor and aldermen shall, within two days after every such election, examine and compare all such returns, and make out a certificate of the result of such elections, to be signed by the mayor and a majority of the aldermen, and also by the city clerk, which shall be transmitted or delivered in the same manner as similar returns are by law directed to be made by selectmen of towns. And in all elections for representatives to the general court, in case the whole number proposed to be elected shall not be chosen by a majority of the votes legally returned, the mayor and aldermen shall forthwith issue their warrant for a new election, conformably to the provisions of the constitution and the laws of the commonwealth.

SECTION 19. Prior to every election, the mayor and aldermen shall make out lists of all the citizens of cach ward, qualified to vote in such elections, in the manner in which selectmen of towns are required to make out lists of voters; and, for that purpose, they shall have full access to the assessors' books and lists, and be entitled to the assistance of all assessors and city officers; and they shall deliver the said lists, so prepared and collected, to the clerks of the said wards, to be used at such elections; and no person shall be entitled to vote whose name is not borne on such lists.

SECTION 20. General meetings of the citizens qualified &c. may be held to vote may, from time to time, be held, to consult upon the public good, to give instructions to their representatives, and to take all lawful measures to obtain redress for any grievances, according to the right secured to the people by the constitution of this Commonwealth.

-shall be duly warned.

And such meetings may and shall be duly warned by the mayor and aldermen, upon the requisition of fifty qualified

voters.