it shall be the duty of the president of the select coun- Duty of president cil to issue a proclamation for such joint convention, to be held not less than ten nor more than twenty days after such vacancy shall take place. of select council. Until the vacancy is filled the president of select vacancy. council shall act as city recorder. It shall be the duty of the city recorder: I. To cause the ordinances of the city and the laws of the State to be executed and enforced. Duties of city recorder. To execute and enforce the laws. To communicate to councils state etc. II. To communicate to councils, at least once a year, a statement of the finances and general condition of ment of finances, the affairs of the city, and also such information in relation to the same as either branch of council may from time to time require. message. III. To recommend by message, in writing, to the To recommend by councils, all such measures connected with the affairs of the city, and the protection and improvement of its government and finances, as he shall deem expe dient. To call special meetings of councils. To be responsible for good order, etc. Shall call together heads of consultation and departments for advice. IV. To call special meetings of councils, or either of them, when required by public necessity. V. To perform such duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance; and he shall be responsible for the good order and efficient government of the city. The city recorder shall call together the heads of departments for consultation and advice upon the affairs of the city, at least once a month, and at such meetings he may call on the heads of departments for such reports as to the subject matters under their con- May call for retrol and management as he may deem proper, which ports. it shall be their duty to prepare and submit at once to the city recorder. Records shall be kept of such meetings; and rules and regulations shall be adopted thereat for the administration of the affairs of the city departments not inconsistent with any law or ordinance, which regulations shall prescribe a com- Regulations shall mon and systematic method of ascertaining the com- prescribe method parative fitness of applicants for office, position and fitness of applipromotion, and of selecting, appointing and promoting those found to be the best fitted. Section 2. The city recorder may, by a written order, to be transmitted to select council giving his reasons therefor, remove from office any head of department, director or other officer appointed by him. Records shall be kept of meetings regulations adopt and rules ed. of ascertaining cants for office, etc. city recorder office those ap cancies. During the recess of select council, he shall have He may fill vapower to fill all vacancies that may happen in offices. to which he may appoint, subject to the approval of Appointment subthe said select council at their next session, and if ject to approval. such appointment shall not be rejected within thirty days after said select council shall have convened, the same shall be considered confirmed. The several heads of departments shall present to ments shall make reports. Heads of depart the city recorder annually, on or before the first Monday of February, a report of their proceedings during the preceding year, and he shall transmit the same to councils, with any recommendations he may think proper to make. The city recorder may disapprove ation bills. The city recorder may disapprove of any item or Items of appropri- items of any bill making appropriations, and the part or parts of the bill approved shall be the law; and the item or items disapproved shall be void, unless repassed according to the rules and limitations prescribed by law for the passage of bills over the city recorder's veto. He shall appoint three persons to The city recorder shall, as often as he may think examine accounts. proper, appoint three competent persons to examine, without notice, the accounts of any city department, trust, officer or employe, and the money, securities and property belonging to the city in the possession or charge of such department, trustees, officer or And report result. employe, and report the result of such investigation. Departments No other department shall be created. Councils shall provide for bu ARTICLE II. The Executive Departments. Section 1. There shall be the following executive departments; I. Department of Public Safety. II. Department of Public Works. III. Department of Collector of Delinquent Taxes. IV. Department of Assessors. V. Department of City Treasurer. VI. Department of City Controller. VII. Department of Law. VIII. Department of Charities and Correction. No department shall be created other than those herein enumerated, but councils may by ordinance provide that one person may be appointed Director of Public Safety and the Department of Charities and Corrections, and that the city treasurer may be appointed collector of delinquent taxes. Councils shall provide by ordinance for such bureaus, clerks, etc. reaus, clerks, or other subordinate officers, as may be required for the transaction of the business of the departments. Each department shall prescribe tions for its own government. Each department shall have power to prescribe rules rules and regula- and regulations, not inconsistent with any law or ordinance, or with the provisions of Article I. hereof, for its own government; regulating the conduct of its officers, clerks and employes, the distribution and performance of its business, and the custody, use and preservation of the books, records, papers and property under its control. formation. Each department shall furnish to the city recorder Shall furnish inor councils, or either branch of councils, such information as he or they may at any time demand in rela tion to its affairs. give bond. The heads and members of all departments, and all All officers shall subordinate officers, clerks and employes, shall give bonds as may be fixed by ordinance. ARTICLE III. Department of Public Safety. Section 1. The department of public safety shall be Public safety. under the charge of one director, who shall be the head thereof. department of. The care, management, administration and supervision of the police affairs, and all matters relating to the public health, to the fire and police force, fire alarm Jurisdiction of telegraph, erection of fire escapes, and the inspection of buildings and boilers, markets and food sold therein, and the construction, protection and repair of buildings erected for police purposes, shall be in charge of this department. employes. No person shall be employed in this department as Qualifications of a policeman or fireman who is not a citizen of the United States, or who has been convicted of crime, unless pardoned, or who cannot read and write understandingly in the English language, or who shall not have resided within the State at least one year preceding his appointment. The Superintendent of Police, whenever directed by the Department, shall appoint and cause to be sworn in any number of additional patrolmen, to do duty at any place in the city designated by, and at the charge and expense of, the person or persons who may ask for such appointment. They shall be subject to and obey the orders, rules and regulations of the department, and conform to the general discipline and special regulations thereof. Additional patrolpointed. men may be ap City recorder may police force. take command of special patrolmen, The city recorder may, upon any emergency or apprehension of riot or mob, take command of the police force, and appoint as many special patrolmen as he may deem advisable. During their service the special appointees shall possess the powers and perform the duties of regular employes of the department, and shall receive such compensation as shall be authorized Compensation of by the city recorder, not exceeding that of the regular officers of the force performing corresponding duties. The department shall make suitable regulations, under which the officers and members of the fire, telegraph and police force shall be required to wear an appropriate uniform. It shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding five hundred ($500.00) dollars and imprisonment not exceeding six (6) months, Officers and members shall wear uniform. to Misdemeanor falsely personate Penalty. an officer. Pension fund to be established. Investment of fund. How to be applied. Dismissal of policemen and firemen regulated. or either or both, in the discretion of the court, for any person to falsely personate by uniform, insignia or otherwise any officer or member of the department. There shall be created and established by ordinance a pension fund, to be maintained by an equal and proportionate monthly charge made against each member of the fire and police force, which fund shall be safely invested and held in trust by the commissioners of the sinking fund, and applied, upon such terms and regulations as councils may by ordinance prescribe, for the benefit of such members of the fire and police force as shall receive honorable discharges therefrom, by reason of age or disability, and the families of such as may be injured or killed in the service; but such allowance as shall be made to those who are retired by reason of the disabilities of age shall be in conformity with a uniform scale. No policeman or fireman appointed under this act shall be dismissed without his written consent, except by the decision of a court either of trial or inquiry, duly determined and certified in writing to the city recorder, which court shall be composed of persons belonging to the police or fire force, equal or superior in official position therein to the accused. Such decision shall only be determined by trial of charges, with plain specifications made by or lodged with the director of the department of public safety, of which Accused to have trial the accused shall have due notice, and at which he shall have the right to be present in person. The persons composing such court shall be appointed and sworn by the director of the department of public safety to perform their duties impartially and without fear or favor; and the person of highest rank in such court shall have the same authority to issue and enforce process to secure the attendance of witnesses, and to administer oaths to witnesses, as is possessed by any justice of the peace of this Commonwealth. notice. Charges. Court of Inquiry. Court of trial. Fines and pecuniary penalties. The director of Such charges may be of disability for service, in which case the court shall be one of inquiry, whose decision may be for the honorable discharge from the service of the person concerned; or, of neglect or violation of law or duty, inefficiency, intemperance, disobedience of orders, or unbecoming official or personal conduct, in which cases the court shall be one of trial, and its decision may authorize the director of the department of public safety to impose fines and pecuniary penalties, to be stopped from pay, or to suspend from pay or duty, or both, for a period fixed by them, not exceeding one year, or to dismiss from the service. It shall be lawful for the director of the department of public safety, at his discretion, to suspend from duty before trial any person, charged as aforesaid, until such trial can be had, with or without pay as such court shall afterward determine, but no trial shall be delayed for more than one month after charge has been made. The finding of the court of trial or inquiry, as afore. said, shall be of no offect until approved by the city recorder. The laws in relation to health, buildings and build ing inspection, remain unaffected by any of the provisions thereof, and the board of health and the building inspectors shall remain as heretofore, and shall be attached to the Department of Public Safety. ARTICLE IV. Department of Public Works. Finding of courts city recorder. to be approved by Board of health. department of public safety. to be attached to public works. Section 1. The Department of Public Works shall Department of be under the charge of one director, who shall be the head thereof. Water works, gas works and electric light plants, Jurisdiction of. owned and controlled by the city; the supply and distribution of water and gas; the grading, paving, repairing, cleaning and lighting of streets, alleys and highways; the construction, protection and repair of public buildings, bridges and structures of every kind for public use, public squares, real estate (except such as now or hereafter may be used for educational or police purposes, fire engine houses, almshouses, hospitals, pest houses and grounds), surveys, engineering, sewerage, drainage and dredging, and all matters and things in any way relating to or affecting the highways, footways, wharves and docks of the city, shall be under the direction, control and administration of the Department of Public Works. All laws relating to parks and condemnation of land for park purposes are to remain in full force. ARTICLE V. Department of Collector of Delinquent Taxes. Laws relating to remain in force. parks, etc., to linquent taxes. Section 1. The collector of delinquent taxes shall Collection of debe the head of the department of delinquent taxes, and all laws and ordinances in force prior to the passage of this act, relative to said office and collection of delinquent taxes, shall be and remain in full force. ARTICLE VI. Department of Assessors. This Department shall consist of five (5) persons, Assessors. who shall have been residents of the city for at least ten years. They shall from time to time make all valuations for purposes of municipal taxation. Duties of. |