Chap. 56.--An ACT to amend che C} harter of the City of Neorfotk,

Pasecd April 19, 1867.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That the fourth,
fiita, sixth, seventh, erohth. tenth, eleventh, twelfth, four-
teenth. fifteenth, sixteenth, ci ieitecnth, twentieth and twenty-
second sections of the act entitled an act cone: rhing the > City
of Nortolk, passed Tebraary thirteenth, ciehtieen, hundred
and forty-live, be revived, amended and re-enacted so as to
read as fol! LOWS:

“$4. beat further enacted, That hereafter all the rights,
priviieges ane pow ers how vested in the select and common
councils, and formerly in the common council of said corpo-
ration, be vested in ene body, to wit: tue eouneil of the
said city, tevether with the additional powers in this act
herentter enumerated, except as to the mode of appointing
officers and supplying vacanedes In this act spree ally stated,

SQ. ie it fut bet enacted, Tiiat the number of persons
to be elected for the ecouneil, recorder and alderinan, at the
first cleetion under this act, shall be thirty-six citizen free-
holders of suid corporation; and. triennn uly thereafter there
shall be elected cihteen citizen frecholders as aforesaid,

“6. Be it further enacted, That the thirty-six persons so
elected, at their frst general mecting, shall. as has heretotore
been practiced, choose from among themselves one person to
be recorder and eleht persons to be aldermen, to serve three
vears from the date of their election; who, together with
the mayor, shall constitute the court of the said city, vested
with all the powers of the court hereinbefore reterred to;
and the recorder and aldermen to hold their respective offices
for three years from the date of their respective appoint-
ments; and trienmially thereafter a recorder and eight alder-
men shall in like manner be chosen by atid from among the
thirty-six persons elected to comprise the said recorder,
aldermen and council.

“$7. Be it further enacted, That after the selection of
recorder and aldermen, as before herein prescribed, and tri-
ennially thereafter, in like manner as hereinbefore prescribed,
the said council, consisting of the remaining persons elected
thereto, shall fill the various offices in said corporation now
existing (and not herein otherwise provided for), and the
other oifices, the appointments to which are now exercised
by the courts, and which appointments by this act are taken
trom said court, in such mode as to them may seem best;
the terms of which offices respectively shall be for one year
from the date of appointment.

“$8 Be it further enacted, That except in the first in-
stance, and triennially thereafter, there: shall be an annual
election, on the day fixed by law, of nine citizen freeholders
of said corporation as councilmen of said corporation. At
the first meeting of the council, consisting of the twenty-seven
remaining persons, as provided by the foregoing (seventh)
section, the members thereof shall be divided into three
classes of nine each, by lot; one class to serve one year, the
second class to serve two years, and the third class to serve
three years from said first day of election; and the nine
councilmen annually elected and designated as hereinbefore
provided, after the first election shall serve for three years,
so that one-third of the said council shall be changed annually.
And the said twenty-seven:citizen freeholders of the said cor-
poration, comprising the council as aforesaid, shall have like
power as to appointment of officers for one year, as herein-
betore directed, atter the first election and triennially there-
after. And the said council shall have power, from time to
time, to apportion the said persons to be elected triennially
and annually as aforesaid, among the several wards of the
said city, as nearly as may be, in proportion to population.”

“$10. Be it further enacted, That the said council shall
elect annaally its own officers, to consist of a president, vice
president and clerk; which officers, respectively, shall be liable
to he removed by the said council, with power to the said coun-
cil to supply any vacancy occurring by death, resignation or
removal.

Ҥ 11, Be it further enacted, That vacancies occurring in
the said court or council, by death or otherwise, shall be sup-
plied by the respective bodies, each acting for itself, by the
choice of other citizen freecholders. No restriction, however,
is imposed on the court, In case of vacancy in that body, to
supply the vacancy by selection from the council. The per-
rons appointed to fill such vacancies, shall continue no longer
in office than the persons to whose places they may be chosen
would have been entitled to continue; but they may be ca-
pable of re-election or reappointment as other citizen free-
tolders of said corporation.

"§ 12. Be it further enacted, That to constitute a quorum

47
for the transaction of business, a majority of the council shall
be present.”

“S14. Be it further enacted, That the appointments to
all the other ofiiees of the cor poration now existing, or which
may hereafter exist (except of recorder and aldermen and
officers appointed by the court as herembefore set forth),
shall be made in the first instance, and annually thereafter,
as hereinbefore provided, and exist for one year from the date
of the appointment.

Ҥ 15. Be it further enacted, That except in the first in-
stance (and triennially thereafter, when the eighteen citizen
frecholders shall be elected as before herein provided), there
shall be annually elceted nine citizen frecholders, who, with
those holding over, as before herein provided, shall COMPOSE
the said conncil. vested with all the nichts, powers and au-
thorities hereinbefore stated as to the ap pointment of officers,
and subject in every respect to the provision before set out
as to the transaction of business.

“$16. Be it further enacted, That the court of the said
corporation shall not hereafter exercise any power over the
public property of said) corporation, whether consisting of
lands, tenements or any other property whatever; strects,
wharves, docks, lanes, alleys. sewers within the limits of the
said corporation, or other matters generally pertaining to the
ceneral welfare of the said corporation, and proper subjects
of corporate legislation of the said) corporation; but all
rights, powers and authorities heretofore vested in the court
of said corporation, in respect to all or any such matiers and
things, shall hereafter be exercised by the said council.
Nothing, however, herein contained is to be so construed as
in any degree to affect the jurisdiction of said court, as a
court of jurisdiction, in regard to all or any matters or things
existing or growing ont of any ordinance of said corporation
now in force, or legislation or other action of the council
aforesaid herealter to be had, as before referred to.”

“V8, Be it‘further enacted, That none other or furthet
powers shall be exercised by the said council, by legislation
or otherwise, over any person in said corporation, or pro-
perty of any person in the same, than such as those now
legally possessed by the select and common councils, and
formerly by the common council of said corporation, and
those now legally possessed by the hustings court of said
corporation. And for the files and penalties now Imposed,
or hereatter at any time to be imposed by virtue of any ordi-
nance now subsisting, or hereatter to be passed by the said
council, persons and property shall be amenable, as at pre-
sent, and with like behefit of appeal, in hike cases to the
hustings court of the corporation as now exists.”

“$20. Be it further enacted, That in case of vacaney in
any of the offices, the appointments of which are authorized
to be made in the first instance, and annually thereaiter by
the twenty-seven citizen freeholders who are to constitute the
said council, the vacancies shall be supplied by the said coun.
cil in the same manner as now authorized by law, or ordi-
nances in reference to vacancies occurring in the oftices, the
appointments to which are at this time exercised by the select
and common councils of the city of Norfvik; and all the
said officers shall be liable to be removed by the said council
in the same'manner as is now the case in reference to the
officers at this time appointed by the select and common
councils of the city of Norfolk.”

Ҥ 22. Be.it further enacted, That in every instance where
now any authority exists in said corporation, or any officer or
officers thereof, to act jointly with the county of Norfolk, or
any authority of said county, in any matter or thing what-
soever, the said authority so existing shall hereafter exist in
the said council, to be jointly acted | upon by the said council
and the proper authori ity or authorities of the county ot Nor-
fulk. The manner of exercising said authority on the part
of the corporation of Nortolk to be hereafter exercised by
the said council in such manner as it may determine.”

2. The mayor of the city of Norfolk shall hereafter be
elected biennially (instead of annually), by the qualified voters,
at the places and in the manner that members of the said
council may be elected, commencing on the said first day of
election. He shall hold his oflice for two years from the time
of his election, and until a successor is chosen and qualitied
in his stead. So much of the first section of the act passed
February the twentieth, eighteen hundred and thirty-two,
entitled an act to vest in the frecholders and qualitied voters
of the borough of Norfolk the election of mayor of said
borough, as provides for the annual election and tenure of
office for one year only of the said mayor, and so much of all
other acts as may be in conflict with the provisions of this
section, are hereby repealed.

3. The ninth section of the said act, entitled an act con-
cerning the city of Norfolk, passed Fcbruary thirteen, cigh.
teen hundred and forty-five, and the second section of the
act entitled an act to provide tor the election of certain offi-
cers in the ejty of Norfolk by the qualified voters thereof,
passed May nineteen, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, are
hereby repealed.

4. The said council of the city of Norfolk shall have and
exercise all the rights, privileges and powers heretofore
cranted to the sclect and common councils, and formerly to
the common council of the said city, by any act heretofore
passed,

» Beit further enacted, That at the next election of dele-
eates to represent the said corporation of Norfolk in the gene-
ral assembly of this commonwealth, polls shall be opened by
the officers conducting said election, to ascertain the sense of
the voters of said corporation, duly qualitied to vote for such
delegates (which officers shall previously be duly sworn to act
fuirly and impartially), as to their acceptance of this act; and
for that purpose, each voter, at the time of voting in his ward
for delegates, shall be naked by the respective office rare you
for or against the amendnients to the charter? to which the
voter will reply aye or no, according to his preference; and
distinct lists shall be made ofthe names of the voters who prefer
and of those who object to theamendments; andif a majority
of the duly qualified voters voting at the said election of dele-
gates shall, in manner aforesaid, indicate their preference to
accept of said amendments, it shall, after the ¢lose of the
polls for delegates, be openly proclaimed at the courthouse
door of said corporation, and the amendments herein set
forth, and every part thereof, shall forthwith possess all the
force of law.