CITY CHARTER.

COMMONWEALTH

OF

MASSACHUSETTS.

In the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-one.

AN ACT

TO ESTABLISH THE CITY OF NEWBURYPORT.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

be a city.

SECT. 1. The inhabitants of the town of Newburyport Newburyport to shall continue to be a body politic and corporate, under the name of the City of Newburyport, and as such, shall have, exercise and enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers and privileges, and shall be subject to all the duties and obligations now incumbent upon, and appertaining to, said town, as a municipal corporation.

Administration

mayor, aldermon council.

men, and com

SECT. 2. The administration of all the fiscal, pruden- to be vested in tial, and municipal affairs of said city, with the government thereof, shall be vested in one principal officer, to be styled the mayor; one council of six, to be called the board of aldermen; and one council of eighteen, to be called the common council; which boards, in their joint capacity, shall be denominated the city council, and the members thereof shall be sworn to the faithful performance of their respective offices. A majority of each board shall constitute a quorum for doing business.

Selectmen to divide the town into wards.

SECT. 3. It shall be the duty of the Selectmen of Newburyport, as soon as may be, after the passage of this act, and its acceptance by the inhabitants, as hereinafter provided, to divide said town into six wards, to contain, as nearly as conveniently may be, an equal number of inhabitants, which proceedings of the selectmen shall be subject to the To be revised ev- revision of the city council, within one year after the passage of this act. And it shall be the duty of the city council, once in five years, and not oftener, to revise, and if it be needful, to alter said wards, in such manner as to preserve, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants in each ward.

ery five years by city council.

Election and duties of warden and clerk,

SECT. 4. On the second Monday in December, annually, there shall be chosen by ballot, in each of said wards, a warden, clerk, and three inspectors of elections, residents of wards in which they are chosen, who shall hold their offices for one year, and until others shall have been chosen in their places, and qualified to act. It shall be the duty of such wardens to preside at all ward meetings, with the power of moderators of town meetings: and, if at any meeting, the warden shall not be present, the clerk of such wards shall call the meeting to order, and preside until a warden pro tempore shall be chosen by ballot; and, if at any meeting, the clerk shall not be present, a clerk pro tempore shall be chosen by ballot. The clerk shall record all the proceedings, and certify the votes given, and deliver to his successor in office all such records and journals, together with all other documents and papers held by him in said And inspectors capacity. And it shall be the duty of the inspectors of elections to assist the warden in receiving, assorting and counting the votes. And the warden, clerk and inspectors, so chosen, shall respectively make oath or affirmation, faithfully and impartially to discharge their several duties relative to all elections, which oath may be administered by the clerk of such ward to the warden, and by the warden to the clerk and inspectors; or by any justice of the peace for the county of Essex. All warrants for meetings of the citizens for municipal purposes, to be held either in wards or in general meetings, shall be issued by the mayor and aldermen,

of elections.

Warrants for ward and city meetings.

and shall be in such form, and shall be served, executed and returned, in such manner, and at such times, as the city council may, by any by-law, direct.

SECT. 5. The mayor and six aldermen, one alderman being selected from each ward, shall be elected by the qual ified voters of the city at large, voting in their respective wards; and three common council men shall be elected from and by the voters of each ward, being residents in the ward where elected. All said officers shall be chosen by ballot, and shall hold their offices for one year from the first Monday in January, and until others shall be elected and qualified.

ward meetings.

election.

01

SECT. 6. On the second Monday of December, annually, Proceedings of the qualified voters in each ward shall give in their votes for mayor, aldermen and common council men, as provided in the preceding section; and all the votes so given, shall be assorted, counted, declared and registered, in open ward meeting, by causing the names of the persons voted for, and the number of votes given for each, to be written in the ward records in words at length. The clerk of the ward, Certificates within twenty-four hours after such election, shall deliver to the persons elected members of the common council, certificates of their election, signed by the warden and clerk, and by a majority of the inspectors of elections, and shall deliver to the city clerk a copy of the records of such elections, certified in like manner: provided, however, that if the choice of the common councilmen shall not be effected on that day, the meeting may be adjourned, from time to time, to complete such election. The board of aldermen shall, as soon as conveniently may be, examine the copies of records of the several wards, certified as aforesaid, and shall cause the person who may have been elected mayor, to be notified, in writing, of his election; but if it shall appear that no person has received a majority of all the votes, or if the person elected shall refuse to accept the office, the board shall issue their warrants for a new election, and the same proceedings shall be had as are hereinbefore provided for the choice of a mayor, and repeated, from time to time, until a mayor shall be chosen.

To supply vacancy in the office of mayor.

Mayor's oath.

Organization of city government.

Notice to convention when no mayor is elected.

Organization of common coun

cil.

In absence of mayor at first meeting.

In case of the decease, resignation or absence, of the mayor, or his inability to perform the duties of his office, it shall be the duty of the board of aldermen and common council in convention, to elect a mayor to serve during the unexpired term, or until the occasion, causing the vacancy, is removed. And if it shall appear that the number of aldermen have not been elected, the same proceedings shall be had as are hereinbefore provided for the choice of mayor. Each alderman shall be notified, in writing, of his election, by the mayor and aldermen for the time being.

The oath prescribed by this act shall be administered to the mayor by the city clerk, or any justice of the peace for the county of Essex.

The aldermen and common councilmen elect shall, on the first Monday in January, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, meet in convention, when the oath required by this act shall be administered to the members of the two boards present, by the mayor, or by any justice of the peace for the county of Essex; and a certificate of such oath having been. taken, shall be entered on a journal of the mayor and aldermen, and of the common council, by their respective clerks.

And whenever it shall appear that no mayor has been elected, previously to the said first Monday in January, the mayor and aldermen, for the time being, shall make a record of that fact, an attested copy of which the city clerk shall read at the opening of the convention to be held as aforesaid.

After the oath has been administered, as aforesaid, the two boards shall separate, and the common council shall be 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 in January, the city government shall organize itself in the manner hereinbefore 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.