Lists of Voters. General Meetings. By-Laws. ward records 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. SECT. 19. Prior to every election, the mayor and aldermen shall make out lists of all the citizens of each 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 said. lists, so prepared and corrected, to the clerks of said wards, to be used at such elections; and no person shall be entitled to vote whose name is not borne on such lists. SECT. 20. General meetings of the citizens qualified 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 the Commonwealth. And such meeting may and shall be be duly warned by the mayor and aldermen, upon the requisition of fifty qualified voters. SECT. 21. The city council shall have power to make all such salutary and needful by-laws, as towns, by the laws of this Commonwealth, have power to make and establish, and of By-Laws. SECT. 22. All fines, forfeitures and penalties accruing Fines for breach for the breach of any by-laws of the city of Newburyport, or of any ordinances of the city council, or of any of the orders of the mayor and aldermen, may be prosecuted for and recovered before the police court of the said city of Newburyport, by complaint or information, in the same manner in which other criminal offences are now prosecuted before the police courts within this Commonwealth; reserving, however, in all cases, to the party complained of and prosecuted, the right of appeal to the court of common pleas, then next to be held in the county of Essex, from the judgment and sentence of the police court. And the appeal shall be allowed on the same terms, and the proceedings shall be conducted therein in the same manner, as provided in the one hundred and thirty-eighth chapter of the Revised Statutes of this Commonwealth. And it shall be sufficient, in all such prosecutions, to set forth, in the complaint, the offence fully, plainlý, substantially, and formally; and it shall not be necessary to set forth such by-law, ordinance, or order, or any part thereof. All fines, forfeitures, and penalties, so recovered and paid, shall be paid to the treasurer of the city of Newburyport, and shall enure to such uses as said council shall direct. When any person, upon any conviction before the police court for any breach of any by-law of said city of Newburyport, or any of the ordinances of the city council, or any of the orders of the mayor and aldermen, shall be sentenced to pay a fine, or ordered to pay any penalty or forfeiture First organization of city government. provided by any such by-law, ordinance, or order, or, upon claiming an appeal, shall fail to recognize for his appearance at the court appealed to, and there to prosecute his appeal, and to abide the sentence or order of the court thereon, and, in the mean time, to keep the peace and be of good behavior; and, upon not paying the fine, penalty, or forfeiture, and cost so assessed upon him, he shall be committed to prison, there to remain until he or she shall pay such fine, forfeiture or penalty, and costs, or be otherwise discharged, according to law. The provisions of this section shall also apply to all prosecutions founded on the by-laws and ordinances of the town of Newburyport, which may continue in force after this act shall go into operation, and all the powers of the police. court, already established, shall be continued to it. SECT. 23. For the purpose of organizing the system of government, hereby established, and putting the same into operation, in the first instance, the selectmen of the town of Newburyport, for the time being, shall, within thirty days after the acceptance of this act, issue their warrants, seven days at least previous to the day so appointed, for calling meetings of the said citizens, at such place and hour as they may deem expedient, for the purpose of choosing a warden, clerk and inspectors for each ward, and all other officers whose election is provided for in the preceding sections of this act; and the transcripts of the records of each ward, specifying the votes given for the several officers aforesaid, certified by the warden and clerk of each ward at such first meeting, shall be returned to the said selectmen, whose duty it shall be to examine and compare the same, and, in case said elections should not be completed at the first meeting, then to issue new warrants, until such elections shall be completed, and to give notice thereof, in the manner hereinbefore provided, to the several persons elected. And, at said first meeting, any inhabitant of said ward, being a legal voter, may call the citizens to order, and preside until a warden shall have been chosen. And, at said first meeting, a list of voters in each ward, prepared and corrected by the selectmen for the time being, shall be de livered to the clerk of each ward, when elected, to be used as hereinbefore provided. And the selectmen shall appoint such time for the first meeting of the city council as they may judge proper, after the choice of city officers, as aforesaid, or a majority of the members of both branches, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and shall also fix upon the place and hour of said first meeting, and a written notice thereof shall be sent, by said selectmen, to the place of abode of each of the city officers chosen as provided in this section. And after this first election of city officers, and this first meeting for the organization of the city council, as in this section is provided, the day of holding the annual elections, and the day and hour for the meeting of the city council, for the purpose of organization, shall remain as provided in the sixth section of this act. And it shall be the duty of the city council, immediately after the first organization, to elect all necessary city officers, who shall hold their offices. respectively until others are chosen and qualified. SECT. 24. All officers of the town of Newburyport, having the care and custody of any records, papers, or muniments of property belonging to said town, shall deliver the same to the city clerk, within one week after his entering upon the duties of his office. SECT. 25. All such acts and parts of acts as are incon- Repeal. sistent with the provisions of this act shall be, and the same are, hereby repealed. SECT. 26. Nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to prevent the Legislature from altering or amend ing the same whenever they shall deem it expedient. SECT. 27. This act shall be void, unless the inhabitants of the town of Newburyport, at a legal meeting called for that purpose, at which the selectmen shall preside, and the check list used in the same manner as at meetings called to choose State officers, and the polls kept open at least six hours, shall, by a vote of the majority of the voters present and voting thereon, yea or nay, by a written ballot, de Power of Legischarter. lature over this This act to be void if nega tived by the cit izens. |