HevJ VAcu/ck. - Oy<^ uacucvces . to cKavtev t\\* Gwevfcl a.sStn\Vlu y \3\5, AMENDMENTS TO CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN PASSED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1915 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 httpS://arChiVe.Org/detailS/CharterOrdinanCe00neWh_0 ^»V\V \ (o 3 3.6 jV 4-5 eo- \3\A sv^(j > AN ACT AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened : The board of aldermen of the city of New Haven may provide by ordinance for the construction and maintenance of ornamental projections, canopies, permanent awnings, marquees, and signs extending from the front of buildings, whether erected prior to or after the approval of this act, beyond any established building or street line. Such ordinance may provide for payment of license fees for the exercise of such privilege, and all such permits shall be revocable by said board of aldermen. Approved April 30, 1915. AN ACT AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened : Any person who shall be aggrieved by any assessment of benefits or damages made in establishing a building line by the special commission on building lines of the city of New Haven, may, within thirty days after recording a description of the location of such building line in the records of the city by the city clerk, make written application for relief to the superior court in the manner provided in section eighty-five of the charter of the city of New Haven as amended by an act approved June 6, 1913. Approved April 30, 1915. AN ACT AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened : Section one hundred. and thirty-two of an act revising the charter of the city of New Haven, approved June 20, 1899, is hereby amended to read as follows : The City of New Haven shall be a highway district and the board of aldermen shall have sole authority" over all streets and highways therein, including sole authority to lay out, make, or order new highways and streets and to discontinue the same. No person shall open, within the limits of said city, any public or private way, except under the 4 provisions of an order of said board of aldermen. Said board of aider- men is hereby authorized to order, lay out, construct, repair, and alter public squares, parks, streets, highways, sewers, gutters, drains, bridges, and walks, except as herein otherwise provided, when and where, in the opinion of said board, the public good shall so require, and to order the paving, macadamizing, or other improvement of any street, alley, or high- way within said city. Said board is also authorized to construct and main- tain wharves and docks ; provided no wharf or dock shall be extended be- yond the harbor line ; and if in the construction of any such wharf or dock, it is necessary to take any right or property of an individual, and it cannot agree with such individual upon the price to be paid for the same, said board may exercise all the powers of eminent domain. The department of public works shall execute all orders of the board of aldermen with reference to the matters referred to in this section. The board of aider- men may, upon the execution of any order for the paving, macadamizing, or other improvement of any street or highway within said city, or upon the construction or alteration of any public sewer or other public work, assess upon the persons whose property is in the judgment of said board especially benefited thereby, after reference to the board of compensation, and report thereon, as hereinbefore provided, a proportional and reasonable part thereof, and shall estimate the amount of such expense to be paid by every such person upon such assessment. In estimating such reasonable part of the expense of any sewer, the cost of constructing any main or trunk sewer, into and through which such other sewer is discharged, may be taken into consideration. Said city shall have authority, at the dis- cretion of the board of aldermen and upon such terms as said board shall deem proper, to allow the Westville School District in said city to connect any sewer constructed by said district with any sewer constructed by said city. Approved May 4, 1915. AN ACT AMENDING AN ACT TO PROVIDE FUNDS FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC PARKS IN THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened. Section three of an act to provide funds for the maintenance of public parks in the city of New Haven, approved April 16, 1901, as amended by section two of an act amending an act to provide funds for the maintenance of public parks in the city of New Haven, approved June 29, 1909, is hereby repealed. Approved May 4, 1915. 5 AN ACT AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened : Section 1. Section two of an act conferring upon the freemen of New Haven the right to amend the charter of New Haven, approved May 8, 1913, is hereby amended to read as follows: The powers of amendment under this act shall be as follows: To provide the man- ner in which candidates for the office of mayor or for any other office required by law to be filled by popular election, may be nominated for their respective offices, and that no person unless nominated in accor- dance with such provisions shall be eligible to such office ; to provide whether the mayor or any other officer required to be elected by popular vote, shall be elected by plurality of votes cast, by cumulative voting, or in the case of boards constituted of more than one member, by min- ority representation ; to provide how the board of aldermen shall be con- stituted, the number of its members, their qualifications, tenure and terms of office, and for the election of any part or all of them at large or by wards, and the amount of their salaries or compensation, if any; to provide that any .officer of said city, now elected by popular vote, shall be chosen by appointment, excepting that the mayor, members of the board of aldermen, town clerk, members of the board of selectmen, registrars of voters, and justices of the peace shall continue to be elected by popular vote ; to provide how, by whom, when, and in what manner any of the officers, boards, directors, commissioners, and em- ployees of said city who are or may be subject to appointment and not to popular election, may be appointed, their qualifications, the terms and conditions of the tenure of each ; to provide for the payment of salaries or compensation of any officers of said city who are subject to appoint- ment, and the amount of such salaries or compensation or to provide by whom such salaries or compensation shall be determined and regulated ; to provide that the powers and duties given to or imposed upon any of the officers, commisioners, boards, agents, or employees of said city shall be exercised and performed by any other officer, board, agent, or employee, including the power of appointing and employing other officers, agents, and employees, excepting that the powers and duties, other than the power of appointment and as herein otherwise authorized, of the mayor or board of aldermen, shall not be curtailed under the procedure authorized by this act, nor shall the powers and duties of the town clerk, board of selectmen, registrars of voters, or justices of the peace, be in any respect curtailed ; to provide for the abolition of any office, the powers and duties of which shall be transferred to another officer, board, or agent, and to provide for any new department, bureau, or officer as may seem best for the exercise of the powers and to perform the duties given to or imposed 6 upon said city; to provide that the mayor shall act and vote as a member of the board of aldermen ; that any or all of the powers and duties which might be exercised and performed by appointive officers, boards, or agents may be exercised and performed by the board of aldermen in such man- ner as it may determine either directly or through such agents as it may select or for whose selection it may provide ; to provide for a general revision of the charter which may include any of the amendments herein authorized; to provide for pensions and pension funds for any class of employees of said city, and to apportion to any pension fund or to the general city income any license moneys payable to the city or to any pension fund. Sec. 2. The city engineer of the city of New Haven, may, upon the request of the board of education of the Westville school district and upon payment to said city of New Haven of such compensation as may be agreed upon by said city and said school district, make maps, profiles, surveys, and layouts of the sewer in said district, and may superintend the construction thereof under the direction of said Westville school district. Approved May 17, 1915. AN ACT AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN CONCERNING THE ABATEMENT OF TAXES. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened : Section 1. There shall be in the city of New Haven a committee which shall be known as the tax committee. Sec. 2. Said committee shall consist of the following members : The mayor, ex officio, the controller, ex officio, the assistant corporation council, ex officio, one member of the board of aldermen to be elected by said board of aldermen in the month of January, 1916, and in January of each second year thereafter, and three citizens to be appointed by the mayor in the month of January, 1916, and in January of each second year thereafter. The term of said committee, shall be for the period of two years, beginning the first week day of January in which such election and appointments are made. Any vacancy which may occur in said committee shall be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as that in which the previous incumbent was selected. Neither the clerk nor any member of said committee shall receive any pay for his services. Sec. 3. Said committee is hereby authorized to direct the settlement compromise, adjustment, correction, or abatement of any claim for taxes or assessments, including interest and cost of liens, which at any time 7 appears on the books of the tax collector to be due to the city and is in arrears for more than three years. No deduction or abatement made or directed to be made by said committee shall have any effect unless signed by at least five members of said committee, and no deduction or- abatment shall be made by said committee on the ground that the prop- erty on which said tax was laid was assessed on a valuation too high. Sec. 4. Said tax collector shall settle, compromise, adjust, correct, or abate such claims in accordance with the direction of said committee, and the controller shall adjust his accounts in accordance with such direction. Sec. 5. The city clerk shall be, ex officio, the clerk of said committee. He shall keep, in a book for that purpose, a complete and systematic record of all deductions and abatements made by said committee, and shall transmit promptly to said tax collector a copy of the same. Sec. 6. The term of the tax committee now existing in said New Haven, by virtue of an act amending the charter of the city of New Haven concerning the abatement of taxes, approved April 30, 1913, is hereby extended to the thirty-first day of December, 1915, with the same powers and duties as were conferred upon said committee by said act. Sec. 7. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to limit the power of the mayor and board of aldermen to abate taxes of persons who are poor and unable to pay the same. Sec. 8. Section forty-five of an act revising the charter of the city of New Haven, approved June 20, 1899, is hereby amended to read as follows: The board of finance may provide at any time for the discount- ing, at current rates of interest, of all sums assessed for taxes, and of all sums assessed for benefits on account of the construction of pavements, but not yet payable. Said board shall have power, in the name of the city, to borrow such sums from time to time, as in its opinion may be needed for city purposes, in anticipation of such taxes as shall have been previously laid, and in anticipation of the collection of such assess- ments as shall have been previously laid on account of the construction of pavements, and in anticipation of the sale of bonds which may have been ordered by the board of aldermen in accordance with law, and for no other purpose ; and the amount so borrowed shall be used only for the same purposes that the taxes, assessments, or avails of bonds might have been used for, and shall be repaid from said taxes or assessments when collected, or from the sale of such bonds. It shall be the duty of said board to make rules regulating the method of payment of all officers and employees of said city and prescribing the forms of the receipts tq be required. Approved May 17, 1915. 8 AN ACT AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened : Section 1. Section fifty-two of the charter of the city of New Haven, approved June 20, 1899, is hereby amended to read as follows: The town clerk shall select and provide for use in each ward and voting district of said city and town, a suitable place for holding elections, and shall at least ten days before holding any election, furnish the mayor a list of voting places so selected by him, provided no place where in- toxicating liquors are licensed to be sold shall be selected. Sec. 2. The town clerk shall decide how many voting machines shall be used in each polling place and said town clerk shall appoint all demon- strators of voting machines and shall distribute all machines which are ready for operation by the voters and all dummy machines to be used at such elections, and he shall appoint machinists as provided by law. Nothing herein contained shall give the town clerk of the city of New Haven control over elections held in the borough of Fair Haven, east, or in the Westville school district, nor shall the expense of elections in said borough or school district be paid by the city of New Haven. Sec. 3. An act amending the charter of the city of New Haven, approved April 22, 1913, is hereby repealed. Approved May 20, 1915.