HARTER COMMISSIONERS’ STATEMENT TO THE 
 ELECTORS m REFERENCE TO THE PRO¬ 
 POSED REVISED CHARTER. 
 
 The “Grand Rapids Plan of City Government” in the revised charter, 
 which the Charter Commission herewith presents to the electors, is the fruit 
 of months of labor and the result of studying- and drawing upon the best 
 thought, the country over, along municipal lines. It is progressive, up-to- 
 Idate and will insure the people’s rule. 
 
 [ Thevrevised charter divides the powers of government into Legislative, 
 'Administrative and Judicial, and assigns the execution of these powers to the 
 [appropriate departments. 
 
 I The Council will consist of twelve Aldermen, one from each ward, elected 
 :for two years. (Title II.) 
 
 i The Council will pass all ordinances and make all laws for the city and its 
 [people. The council has now only such legislative powers as are specifically 
 given to it, but under the revised Charter it will have and exercise all legisla¬ 
 tive powers of the municipality, subject only to the few restrictions expressly 
 stated in the new Charter. Thus is the Council’s importance and responsibil- 
 lity in all legislative matters greatly increased, and it will become the policy- 
 I determining body of the city. While most of the administrative, or purely 
 business functions, with which the Council is now burdened will be trans- 
 jferred to the business end of the government, under the revised Charter, the 
 [Council will adopt all budgets, fix the amount of taxes, determine the neces- 
 isity of special and public improvements and order the same, grant all licenses, 
 [sit as a Board of Review upon all assessment rolls, act upon all franchises, 
 supervise and control all public utilities. (Title IV.) 
 
 In place of the present cumbersome and outworn board system of govern¬ 
 ment, with its necessary dissipation of power and hiding of responsibility, the 
 revised Charter will make the Mayor the responsible head of the city govern- 
 ! m.ent. 
 
 i The general business affairs of the city will be conducted' through four 
 [main departments, as follows; 
 
 j Department of Public Works, in charge of water works, electric lighting, all 
 I public and special improvements, streets and sewers; 
 
 ; Department of Health and Safety, in charge of the health, police and fire 
 i departments; 
 
 ! Department of Parks and Public Property, in charge of parks, playgrounds, 
 [markets and public buildings; 
 
 = Department of Finance and Revenue, in charge of the finances and rev- 
 venues of the city, and whose manager will be the Treasurer of the city. 
 i At the head of each of these four departments will be a General Manager, 
 I appointed by the Mayor without definite term, responsible to him for the efii- 
 [jcient management of his department and subject to removal by him for cause, 
 jupon filing his reasons therefor; and all of whom, together with the Mayor, 
 5will constitute the Administrative Board. All the administrative functions of 
 iihe city government will be concentrated in this Board and in the four general 
 [departments named. (Title V.) 
 
 ? This Board will hold daily public meetings, at which it will transact the 
 [general business of the city, by yea and nay vote to be publicly recorded, and 
 [at which the people will be heard in petition, recommendation or complaint. 
 [Thus publicity in the transaction of the city’s business will be secured and 
 P responsibility will be fixed. Efficiency in office cannot be expected nor re¬ 
 sponsibility placed without power is given. If satisfactory results are not 
 I obtained, the people will have their remedy in the recall of the Mayor. 
 
 [ Under the revised Charter, as under the present one, there will be_ one 
 [City Attorney, one Clerk, one Comptroller, each, however, with additional 
 power and responsibility, and one Judge and Clerk of the Superior Court, one 
 
2 
 
 ' ^ 
 
 /• ) /-• 
 
 I V.- 
 
 Judge and Clerk of the Police Court, two Justices of the Peace, and five 
 Library Commissioners, all to be elected by the people, (Title II.) 
 
 Under the revised Charter, all municipal primaries and elections will be 
 non-partisan. If at the primary a candidate receives a majority of all the 
 votes cast, he will be thereby elected without another election. If no candi¬ 
 date receives a majority at the primary, only the two who receive the highest 
 vote will be candidates at the subsequent election. Thus a majority choice 
 will always be assured. The purity and non-partisan character of all nom¬ 
 inations and elections will be secured through the stringent corrupt practices 
 provisions of the election title of the Charter. (Title III.) 
 
 The merit system will be established. All city employes, other than the 
 General Managers and Assessors appointed by the Mayor, will belong to the 
 classified civil service and will be appointed and hold office for efficiency and 
 merit and in accordance with civil service rules based upon experience and 
 the recommendations of the National Civil Service League. Removals of such 
 employes will he made only for cause, after reasons given and an opportunity 
 for answer afforded, all of which will be matters of public record. Thus pub¬ 
 licity will be assured, and arbitrary and unwarranted removals be nrevented. 
 (Title VIII.) 
 
 The revised Charter will secure to the people the right of the initiative and 
 referendum upon all ordinances, and the right of the recall upon any elective 
 officer, except the Judiciary. Initiative petitions of 25 per cent—fixed by the 
 Home Rule Act—referendum petitions of 12 per cent and recall petitions of 
 2 5 per cent will be required. Thus the city government will be brought closer 
 to the people. (Title VI.) 
 
 The revised Charter will safeguard the interests of the people in all fran¬ 
 chise grants, will secure reasonable rates of charge, good service and neces¬ 
 sary extensions; first, by publicity in the granting of all franchises and re¬ 
 newals and in the accounting and reports of all public utilities; second, by re¬ 
 quiring the Council to fix a maximum rate of charge; third, by requiring the 
 (Council to fix the actual value, of the property of the utility, not including any 
 so-called franchise value; fourth, by reserving to the Council the right to re¬ 
 duce rates of charge, subject only to the restriction that the rate shall be 
 such as to earn a fair and reasonable return upon the actual investment: 
 fifth, by giving the Council, in determining the value of such investment, the 
 right to pass upon all expenditures for operation and all amounts expended 
 or charged for improvements and depreciation, subject only to the right of 
 arbitration if the utility objects; sixth, by giving the right to the Council to 
 order and enforce extensions of service, subject to the right of arbitration: 
 seventh, by the compulsory and automatic referendum of all term franchises 
 and upon petitions of 12 per cent on all other franchises; eighth, by making 
 municipal ownership easy when the people so determine and by giving to the 
 city the right, at the end of fifteen years from the grant of each franchise or 
 renewal and any five-year period thereafter, to purchase the property of the 
 utility for its actual cash value, plus an amount to be named in the franchise; 
 and by giving to the city the right, either upon forfeiture or at the expiration 
 of the franchise, to purchase the property of the utility, or compel its sale to 
 others at its actual cash value—such value in no case to include any fran¬ 
 chise value. Thus will the rights of the city be protected upon the expiration 
 of the existing franchises and continuous service provided, without the ne¬ 
 cessity of tearing up streets and interrupting business for the installation of 
 new utilities. (Title VII.) 
 
 The revised Charter will initiate a new and efficient system of uniform ac¬ 
 counting of all city finances and business, a system that,will prevent expend¬ 
 itures in excess of appropriations, will show the taxpayers where their money 
 goes, will encourage economy and will in the near future bring and there¬ 
 after at all times keep the city upon a cash basis (Titles V. and XVITT.) 
 
 Under the revised Charter there will be, as at present, three Assessors 
 and the tax provisions will remain practically as at present, except that the 
 new Charter—under the specific requirements of the Home Rule Act—will 
 make the procedure of assessment, review, levy and collection of taxes con¬ 
 form to the general tax laws of the state and, it is hoped, will save consider¬ 
 able expense. The sale of property for delinquent taxes will be made only 
 upon judicial decree, as is now the case with state and county taxes. This 
 will give every delinquent taxpayer his day in court, and will insure better 
 collection of the taxes of the city. (Title IX.) 
 
 The revised Charter will recognize and secure to the people the benefits of 
 social welfare work, in the creation of a new “Municipal Social Center Com¬ 
 mission;” the proper relief of the poor and the scientific treatment of the 
 problem of poverty in the creation of thTe ‘“Commission of General Welfare;” 
 
fe\ , U \ 
 
 
 the growing interest in art for the people and the increasing importance of 
 the Museum in the creation of an “Art and Museum Commission.” It will 
 make no change in the government of the Public Library. (Titles V., XIII 
 ^ and XIV.) 
 
 In all matters, however of business and of direct administrative authority, 
 it will sw’eep away the board system and substitute therefor a system of di- 
 ^ rect, individual responsibility of each official to the people. 
 
 Finally, the revised Charter will, we believe, be a distinct step forward 
 in the well-being and progress of the City of Grand Rapids and its whole 
 people, and we bespeak for it the fair-minded consideration and study of the 
 people. 
 
 The complete text of the proposed new Charter can be secured in pam¬ 
 phlet form, free of charge, by application to the City Clerk. 
 
 ALBERT J. ALT, 
 
 JOHN DE KRUIF, 
 
 ALLEN M. FREELAND, 
 
 HENRY T. HEALD, 
 
 • CORNELIUS HOFFIUS, 
 
 ROBERT W. IRWIN, 
 
 WHLLIAM J. LANDMAN, 
 
 WILLIAM OLTMAN, 
 
 HOWARD A. THORNTON, 
 
 ARTHUR H. VANDENBERG. 
 
 MYRON H. WALKER, 
 
 SYBRANT WESSELIUS, 
 
 ROGER I. WYKES. 
 
4 
 
 I hereby certify that the follov/ing is a correct transcript of the 
 proposed Revised Charter of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, 
 as adopted by the Charter Commission of said city, November ii, 
 igii, and approved by the Governor November 15, 1911. 
 
 Said proposed Revised Charter to be submitted to a vote of the 
 electors on February 20, 1912. 
 
 JAMES SCHRIVER, 
 
 City Clerk. 
 
 Proposed Charter 
 
 REVISED CHARTER OF THE CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS. 
 
 The Electors of the City of Grand Rapids, in the State of Michigan, 
 pursuant to the authority granted them by the Constitution and 
 General Laws of said State, hereby revise the Charter of the City 
 of Grand Rapids to read as follows: 
 
 TITLE I. 
 
 IXCORPORATIOX — CITY AND 
 WARD BOUXDARIES—GEXERAL 
 CORPORATE POWERS — DIVI- 
 SIOX" OF POWERS OF GOVERX- 
 MEXT—IMPOSED AXD ASSU3IED 
 POWERS. 
 
 Xame—Action. 
 
 Sec. 1. That the municipal corpor¬ 
 ation known as “The City of Grand 
 Rapids” shall be and continue to be a 
 municipal corporation by the name of 
 “The City of Grand Rapids;” and by 
 that name it may sue, implead, and 
 complain in any court of record, and 
 in any other place whatsoever; but 
 it shall be sued or complained of only 
 in the Superior Court of Grand Rap¬ 
 ids; it shall have and use its present 
 seal, and may alter such seal at pleas- 
 sure; it may take, hold, use, occupy, 
 possess, purchase, lease, convey, en¬ 
 cumber and dispose of any real, per¬ 
 sonal or mixed estate for the use or 
 benefit of said municipal corporation 
 as authorized under this Charter. 
 Description of Territory. 
 
 Sec. 2. The district of country in 
 the County of Kent and State of ^lich- 
 igan hereinafter particularly described, 
 is hereby continued as and constituted 
 and declared to be a City by the name 
 of “Grand Rapids,” and subject to the 
 municipal government of said corpor¬ 
 ation; said district of said country be¬ 
 
 ing bounded as follows, to-wit: Be¬ 
 ginning at the northwest corner of 
 Section Eighteen, Town Seven North, 
 Range Eleven West; thence east along 
 the north line of said section, one 
 mile to the northeast corner thereof; 
 thence south along the east line of 
 said Section Eighteen, one mile to the 
 southeast corner thereof; thence east 
 along the north line of Section Twen¬ 
 ty, Town Seven North, Range Eleven 
 West, one-half mile to the north quar¬ 
 ter post of said Section Twenty; thence 
 south along the north and south quar¬ 
 ter line of said Section Twenty, to 
 the south line of said section; thence 
 east on the line between Sections 
 Twenty and Twenty-nine of said Town 
 Seven North. Range Eleven West, one- 
 half mile to the northeast corner of 
 said Section Twenty-nine; thence 
 south two miles along the east line of 
 said Section Twenty-nine and Section 
 Thirty-two of Town Seven North, 
 Range Eleven West to the south 
 line of said Town Seven North, 
 Range Eleven West, thence south 
 along the east line of Section Five, 
 Town Six N'orth, Range Eleven West, 
 one mile to the southeast corner of 
 said section; thence west along the 
 south line of Sections Five and Six of 
 Town Six North, Range Eleven West, 
 two miles to the west line of said 
 Town Six North, Range Eleven West; 
 thence west one mile along the south 
 line of Section One, Town Six North, 
 Range Twelve West, to the southwest 
 
5 
 
 corner of said Section One; thence 
 north along the west line of said 
 Section One, one mile to the 
 northwest corner thereof; thence 
 west along the south line of Sec¬ 
 tions Thirty-flve and Thirty-four 
 produced of Town Seven North, Range 
 Twelve West, one and forty-five one- 
 hundredths miles, more or less, to the 
 center of Grand River; thence north¬ 
 easterly along the center of said river 
 to the west line of Section Thirty-five 
 produced south; thence north on the 
 west line produced north of said Sec¬ 
 tion Thirty-five and the west lines of 
 Sections Twenty-six, Twenty-three and 
 Fourteen of Town Seven North, Range 
 Twelve West, to the quarter post of 
 said Section Fourteen; thence east 
 along the east and west quarter line 
 of said Section Fourteen, one-half 
 mile to the center of said section; 
 thence north along the north and 
 south quarter line of said Section 
 Fourteen, one-half mile to the north 
 quarter post of said section; thence 
 east along the north boundary of said 
 Section Fourteen and Section Thirteen. 
 Town Seven North, Range Twelve 
 West, to the northeast corner of said 
 Section Thirteen; thence north ten 
 and fifty-six one-hundredths feet to 
 the place of beginning; also as much 
 of Grand River as is embraced within 
 the boundaries above described. 
 
 Ward Divisions—Boundaries. 
 
 Sec. 3. The said City of Grand 
 Rapids shall be divided into twelve 
 wards, as follows: 
 
 First Ward. 
 
 Sec. 4. All that part of said city 
 lying south of the center line of Ful¬ 
 ton street extended to the center of 
 Grand river and west of the center 
 line of South Division street, and east 
 of the center of Grand river and north 
 of the center line of Fifth avenue in 
 said city, and of that line extended 
 west to the center of Grand river, 
 shall constitute the First Ward. 
 
 Second Ward. 
 
 Sec. 5. All that part of said city ly¬ 
 ing north of the center line of Fulton 
 street and of said center line of Fulton 
 street extended to the center of Grand 
 river and east of the center of said 
 river and south of the center line of 
 Lyon street and of said line extended 
 to the center of said river and ex¬ 
 tended east to the city limits, as fixed 
 by this Charter, shall constitute the 
 Second Ward. 
 
 Third Ward. 
 
 Sec. 6. All that part of the city ly¬ 
 ing south of the center line of Fulton 
 street and of that line extended east 
 to the city limits as fixed by this Char¬ 
 ter, and east of the center line of 
 South Division street and north of the 
 
 center line of Wealthy avenue, and of 
 that line extended east to said city 
 limits, as fixed by this Charter, shall 
 constitute the Third Ward. 
 
 Fourth Ward. 
 
 Sec. 7. All that part of said city 
 lying north of the center line of Lyon 
 Street and of said line extended to 
 the center of Grand river and east 
 to the city limits, as fixed by this Char¬ 
 ter, and south of the center line of 
 Fairbanks street and of said line ex¬ 
 tended to the center of Grand river 
 and easterly to the said city limits 
 and east of the center of Grand river, 
 shall constitute the Fourth Ward. 
 
 Fifth Ward. 
 
 Sec. 8. All that part of said city 
 lying north of the center line of Fair¬ 
 banks street, and of said line extended 
 to the center of Grand river and ex¬ 
 tended easterly to the city limits, as 
 fixed by this Charter, and lying east 
 of the center of Grand river and ex¬ 
 tended north to the north boundary 
 of said city, as fixed by this Charter, 
 shall constitute the Fifth Ward. 
 
 Sixth Ward. 
 
 Sec. 9. All that part of said city 
 lying west of the center of Grand river 
 and north of the center line of Seventh 
 street and of said line extended east¬ 
 erly to the center of Grand river and 
 extended westerly to the city limits, 
 as fixed by this Charter, and extended 
 north to the city limits, as fixed by 
 this Charter, shall constitute the Sixth 
 Ward. 
 
 Seventh Ward. 
 
 Sec. 10. All that part of said city 
 lying west of the center of Grand river 
 and south of the center line of Sev¬ 
 enth street extended easterly to the 
 center of Grand river and westerly to 
 the city limits, as fixed by this Char¬ 
 ter, and north of the center line of 
 West Bridge street and of said last 
 line extended easterly to the center of 
 Grand river and westerly to the city 
 limits, as fixed by this Charter, shall 
 constitute the Seventh Ward. 
 
 Eighth Ward. 
 
 Sec. 11. All that part of the city 
 lying west of center of. Grand river 
 and south of the center line of West 
 Bridge street extended easterly to the 
 center of Grand river and w'esterly to 
 the city limits, as fixed by this Char¬ 
 ter, and north of the center line of 
 Sha'wmut avenue extended easterly to 
 the center of Grand river and westerly 
 to the city limits, as fixed by this Char¬ 
 ter. shall constitute the Eighth Ward. 
 
 Ninth Ward. 
 
 Sec. 12. All that part of said city 
 lying south of the center line of Shaw- 
 mut avenue extended easterly to the 
 center of Grand river and westerly to 
 
me cicy limits, as fixed by this Char¬ 
 ter, and west of the center of Grand 
 river to the west city limits, as fixed 
 oy this Charter, shall constitute the 
 Ninth Ward. 
 
 Tenth Ward. 
 
 Sec. 13. All that part of said city 
 lying south of the center line of 
 Wealthy avenue and of that line ex¬ 
 tended easterly to the city limits, as 
 fixed by this Charter, and east of the 
 center line of South Division street 
 and north of the center line of Fifth 
 avenue and of such last named line 
 extended easterly to the city limits, 
 shall constitute the Tenth Ward. 
 
 Eleventh Ward. 
 
 Sec. 14. All that part of said city 
 lying south of the center line of Fifth 
 avenue and of that line extended east¬ 
 erly to the city limits, as fixed by this 
 Charter, and east of the center line 
 of South Division street and of that 
 line extended south to the city limits, 
 as fixed by this Charter, shall consti¬ 
 tute the Eleventh Ward. 
 
 Twelfth Ward. 
 
 Sec. 15. All that part of the city 
 lying south of the center line of Fifth 
 avenue and of that line extended west¬ 
 erly to the center of Grand river and 
 west of the center line of South Di¬ 
 vision street and of that line extended 
 south to the citv limits, as fixed by 
 this Charter, and east of the center of 
 Grand river, shall constitute the 
 Twelfth Ward. 
 
 Each Ward an Election District. 
 
 Sec. 16. Each ward shall be an 
 election district by itself, but it shall 
 be lawful for the Council in the month 
 next preceding the notice of a general 
 registration to d'vide the several wards 
 of the city, or any part of them, into 
 convenient election precincts for the 
 purposp of holding general and special 
 elections, and in case any ward or 
 wards shall be divided the provisions 
 of th-'s Charter end of the e-eneral laws 
 of this state relating to elections other 
 than in tow^s, shall be applicable, ex¬ 
 cept as herein otherwise provided. ' 
 
 I’ov.crs of Go-.cMimcnt—Division Of. 
 
 Sec. 17. "nhe powers of government 
 of this city are divided mto three de¬ 
 partments—the Legislative, Executive 
 and .Judicial. 
 
 Ihu'.'-cn.s in One Dci)artnicnt Not to 
 
 E.vtvcisc rowers of Another. 
 
 Sec. 18. No person belonging to 
 one department shall exercise the pow¬ 
 ers properly belongina- to another, ex¬ 
 cept in the cases cxnressly prov'ded in 
 this Charter. 
 
 Riehts and t'owers Imposed by Tjaw— 
 
 City to Exercise. 
 
 Sec. 19. Without lessening or in 
 
 disparagement of any powers now held 
 or exercised by the city, unless in this 
 Charter expressly repealed, it shall 
 hereafter have and through its Ex¬ 
 ecutive, Legislative and Judicial De¬ 
 partments exercise all rights and pow¬ 
 ers made mandatory upon it by the 
 constitution and laws of this state or 
 expressly enjoined upon it by Sec. 3 of 
 Act 279 of the Public Acts of 1909 and 
 any amendments thereof. 
 
 Further Rights and Powers—Assump¬ 
 tion of. 
 
 Sec. 2 0. Without lessening or in 
 disparagement of any powers now ex¬ 
 ercised by said city, and not herein 
 and hereby expressly surrendered and 
 repealed, it reserves the right and 
 hereby accepts the right to exercise 
 at any time, throu°-h its Executive, 
 Legislative and Judicial Departments, 
 or by the joint action of two or more 
 of said departments, all powers and 
 rights permitted by the constitution 
 and general laws of this state and 
 particularly those conferred upon it 
 by virtue of the provisions of Sec. 4 
 of Act 279 of the Public Acts of 1909, 
 and any amendment thereof, and also 
 the righi to appropriate private prop¬ 
 erty for public use, now or hereafter 
 vested in the City of Grand Rapids, 
 for any purpose authorized by this 
 Charter or by any special or general 
 law of the State of Michigan, 
 
 TITLE II. 
 
 ELECTION AND APPOINT3IENT OF 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 Elc'ctive Officers. 
 
 Sec.'l. The following officers of the 
 city shall be elected, hold office, possess 
 the .qualifications and have the powers 
 and perform the duties as provided in 
 this Charter and in the general or 
 special law^s of this state, viz: One 
 Mayor, one City Attorney, one Comp¬ 
 troller. one City Clerk, one Judge 
 and one Clerk of the Superior Court 
 of Grand Rapids, one Judge and one 
 Clerk of the Police Court, two Justices 
 of the Peace, and five Library Com¬ 
 missioners; also one Councilman and 
 one Constable from each ward, and 
 such other elective officers of the City, 
 if an.v, whose offices are no\v or may 
 hereafter be created by laAv. 
 
 Row and Mlicn Elected—Term of 
 
 Olfico. 
 
 Sec. 2. At the first municipal elec¬ 
 tion after the adoption of this Charter 
 and every two years thereafter, except 
 as otherwise provided in the schedule 
 hereto, there shall be elected by the 
 electors of the w'^hole city, the follow¬ 
 ing officei-s: The Mayor. City Attorney, 
 City Clerk, Comptroller, each of whom 
 shall hold office for the term of two 
 
7 
 
 years from and including the first 
 Monday of May after his election and 
 until his successor is elected and quali¬ 
 fied. 
 
 The Judge and Clerk of the Superior 
 Court, the Judge and Clerk of the 
 Police Court, the two Justices of the 
 Peace and the members of the Board 
 of Library Commissioners, shall be 
 elected at isuch times and hold their 
 offices for such periods as is provided 
 in the several titles or sections of this 
 Charter providing for their election, 
 but the manner of their nomination 
 and election shall conform to that of 
 all other city officers as provided in 
 this Charter. 
 
 At the first municipal election after 
 the adoption of this Charter and every 
 two years thereafter, there shall be 
 elected by the electors of the several 
 wards, one Councilman and one Con¬ 
 stable from each ward, each of whom 
 shall hold his office for the term of 
 two years from and including the first 
 Monday of May after his election and 
 until his successor is elected and quali¬ 
 fied. 
 
 Nomination and Election. 
 
 Sec. 3. All officers to be elected by 
 the people shall be nominated and 
 elected in accordance with the pro¬ 
 visions of Title III of this Charter 
 relating to nominations and elections. 
 
 General Managers. 
 
 Sec. 4. There shall be appointed, as 
 hereinafter provided, heads of the sev¬ 
 eral departments whose titles shall be 
 as follows: 
 
 (a) General Manager of Public 
 Works. 
 
 (b) General Manager of Health and 
 Safety. 
 
 (c) General Manager of Parks and 
 Public Property. 
 
 (d) General Manager of Finance 
 and Revenue: 
 
 Provided that the General Manager 
 of the Department of Finance and 
 Revenue shall be the Treasurer of the 
 city. 
 
 Office—Qualifications for. 
 
 Sec. 5. No person shall be eligible 
 to any elective office unless he shall 
 be a citizen of the United States and 
 ^ an elector of the city. 
 
 No person shall be elected or ap¬ 
 pointed to any office under this Charter 
 who shall be or has been a defaulter 
 to said city during the ten yeans previ¬ 
 ous to his election or appointment. 
 
 May Hold but One Office. 
 
 Sec. 6. It shall not be competent for 
 any city officer or employe to hold two 
 offices under the city government at 
 one time except as herein otherwise 
 provided. 
 
 Office—When Deemed Vacant—When 
 
 Council May Declare Vacant. 
 
 Sec. 7. An office shall be deemed 
 vacant upon the death or resignation 
 of the incumbent, or upon such in¬ 
 cumbent ceasing to possess the quali¬ 
 fications of an elector of the city, or 
 upon impeachment, removal or recall 
 from office. 
 
 The office of Councilman shall also 
 be deemed vacant whenever the in¬ 
 cumbent thereof shall cease to be a 
 resident of the ward for which he was 
 elected, or fails to attend four suc¬ 
 cessive regular meetings of the Coun¬ 
 cil unless excused by the Council, but 
 a change of the bounds of any ward 
 shall not be deemed a change of resi¬ 
 dence of any Councilman so as to 
 create or cause a vacancy in such 
 office. 
 
 The office of any city officer or em¬ 
 ploye may be declared by the Council 
 to be vacant whenever the incumbent 
 thereof shall be absent from the city 
 for a period of 30 days without leave 
 of the Council or shall not perform 
 the duties of his office for a like period 
 without such leave. 
 
 Office of Mayor—Vacancies in—How 
 
 Filled. 
 
 Sec. 8. In case of a vacancy in the 
 office of Mayor, the President of the 
 Council shall act as Mayor until the 
 next .special or general election and 
 until his successor is elected and quali¬ 
 fied. In case of the disability, refusal 
 to act or absence of the Mayor from 
 the city, the President of the Council 
 shall act as Mayor during such in¬ 
 terim. 
 
 Other Offices—Vacancies in—How 
 
 Filled. 
 
 Sec. 9. In case of any vacancy in 
 the office of City Attorney, Comptroller 
 or City Clerk, the Council shall elect 
 by majority ballot the person to fill 
 such vacancy who shall serve until 
 the next general or special election 
 and until his successor is elected and 
 qualified. 
 
 Acceptance of Office—Taking Oath of 
 
 Office and Filing Bond. 
 
 Sec. 10. It shall be the duty of 
 every person elected or appointed to 
 an office under this Charter, and of 
 any employe who may be required so 
 to do. within twenty days after the 
 time of his election or appointment 
 and before entering upon the duties 
 of his office or employment, to take 
 the Constitutional oath of office and 
 file the same in the office of the City 
 Clerk, together with his acceptance 
 of said office or employment, and any 
 bond which he may be required to 
 execute and file as such officer or em¬ 
 ploye. 
 
8 
 
 Failure to Qualify. 
 
 Sec. 11. If any person elected or 
 appointed under this Charter shall 
 not take and subscribe the oath of 
 office required therein and file the 
 same as required, or shall not cause 
 a notice of acceptance to be filed as 
 therein directed, or shall fail to exe¬ 
 cute and file an official bond as therein 
 required, the same shall be deemed 
 to be a refusal to serve. 
 
 Appointive Offices—Vacancies in— 
 
 WTien Filled. 
 
 Sec. 12. Whenever a vacancy occurs 
 in an appointive office or position, 
 the same shall be filled, if deemed 
 necessary, by the officer or officers 
 having power to make the appoint¬ 
 ment and in like manner as in the 
 first instance, and where the same 
 shall be subject to confirmation by any 
 other officer or officers, the same con¬ 
 firmation shall be required as in the 
 case of the original appointment. All 
 resignations shall be made to the 
 authority having power to fill the 
 vacancy and shall be filed with the 
 City Clerk. 
 
 General Managers—Appointment of— 
 
 Removal. 
 
 Sec. 13. The General Managers of 
 the several departments herein created, 
 in case of vacancy in such position, 
 shall be appointed by the Mayor, sub¬ 
 ject to confirmation by a majority vote 
 of the Council, and shall hold office 
 during good behavior and efficient 
 service: Provided, the Mayor shall 
 have power to suspend or remove any 
 General Manager, when in his judg¬ 
 ment the public interest demands or 
 will be better served thereby. In case 
 of such removal or suspension, if the 
 General Manager so removed or sus¬ 
 pended requests it, the Mayor shall file 
 in the office of the City Clerk a written 
 statement of the reasons for which 
 the removal or suspension was made. 
 During the period of suspension the 
 Administrative Board shall provide for 
 the performance of the duties of the 
 suspended officer. 
 
 Assessors—How Chosen. 
 
 Sec. 14. There shall be three As¬ 
 sessors. who shall be appointed by 
 the Mayor and confirmed by a majority 
 vote of the Council, and who shall 
 hold office during good behavior and 
 efficient service: Provided, the Mayor 
 shall have power to suspend or re¬ 
 move any Assessor, but only upon 
 cause or when in his judgment the 
 public interests demand or will be 
 better served thereby. 
 
 In case of such removal, if the As¬ 
 sessor so removed or suspended re¬ 
 quests it, the Mayor shall file in the 
 office of the City Clerk a written 
 
 statement of the reasons for which 
 the removal was made. 
 
 Until changed by the Council, the 
 salaries of the Assessors shall remain 
 as at present. The Assessors may ap¬ 
 point such employes as the economi¬ 
 cal and efficient service of their office 
 may require, and prescribe and fix 
 their duties and compensation, sub¬ 
 ject to the approval' of the Council: 
 Provided, however, that such employes 
 shall be appointed from persons cer¬ 
 tified by the Civil Service Commission 
 as eligible under its rules and shall 
 hold office during good behavior and 
 efficient service or until they shall 
 resign or be removed in accordance 
 with the Civil Service Rules and Regu¬ 
 lations in this Charter provided. The 
 Assessors shall be and constitute the 
 Board of Assessors of said city. 
 
 TITLE m. 
 
 ELECTIOXS—REGISTRATIOX. 
 
 Elections—Notice of—Primary In¬ 
 cluded. 
 
 Sec. 1. Regular elections shall be 
 held as provided in this Charter and 
 special elections shall be held at such 
 times and for such purposes as the 
 Council may prescribe, except when 
 otherwise provided in this Charter: 
 Provided, that at least ten days’ notice 
 shall be given of the time, place and 
 purpose of any such election as in this 
 Charter provided. The term “elec¬ 
 tions” and “election” as used in this 
 Title shall be construed to include 
 primary elections. 
 
 Electors—Who Are—No Party En¬ 
 rollment. 
 
 Sec. 2. All persons who are electors 
 under the Constitution and general 
 laws of the State are made electors 
 under this Charter and qualified to 
 vote at all elections held thereunder; 
 they shall be subject to the same 
 challenge and required to take the 
 same oath, and for any violation 
 thereof shall be subject to the same 
 penalties as may be prescribed by the 
 laws of the state: Provided, that noth, 
 ing in the laws of the state applying 
 to party enrollment or any other party 
 procedure shall apply to elections held 
 under this Charter. 
 
 Residence of Voters—Electors Not 
 Householders. 
 
 Sec. 3. At all elections every voter 
 shall vote in the ward or precinct 
 wherein he shall have resided twenty 
 days next preceding the day of elec¬ 
 tion at which he casts his vote. 
 
 Any elector, not being a householder, 
 shall be deemed a resident of the 
 ward or election district in which his 
 regular place of lodging is located. 
 
9 
 
 Council to Designate Place and Officers 
 
 of Election—Voting Machines. 
 
 Sec. 4. At least twenty days prior 
 to any election, the Council shall desig¬ 
 nate one place of voting in each pre¬ 
 cinct and shall appoint and fix the 
 compensation of inspectors of election 
 for each place of voting as may be 
 required by the general laws for state 
 and county elections. Voting machines 
 may be used in any ward or precinct 
 if so ordered by the Council, and in 
 that case the Council shall have the 
 authority to reduce the number of in¬ 
 spectors. 
 
 Time and Manner of Conducting Elec¬ 
 tions. 
 
 Sec. 5. At all elections the votes 
 shall be by ballot, and the polls shall 
 be opened in each of the respective 
 precincts of each of the wards of said 
 city, at the several places designated 
 by the Council, at 7 o’clock in the 
 forenoon, and shall be continued open 
 until 5 o’clock in the afternoon of the 
 same day and no longer. The manner 
 of printing, numbering and initialing 
 the ballots, of conducting the elections, 
 and voting at same under this Charter, 
 of opening and closing the polls, keep¬ 
 ing the poll lists, canvassing the votes, 
 declaring the result and certifying the 
 returns, shall be the same as provided 
 by the laws of this state for state and 
 county elections, except as otherwise 
 provided in this Charter, and except 
 wherein the same may be inconsistent 
 with the provisions of this Charter. 
 
 Notice—By WTiom and How Given. 
 
 Sec. 6. The City Clerk, under di¬ 
 rection of the Council, shall give no¬ 
 tice by publication in two daily news¬ 
 papers, printed and circulated in said 
 city, at least four alternate days with¬ 
 in the last ten days preceding such 
 election, of the time and places of 
 holding such election, the offices to be 
 filled, a list of the names of all the 
 candidates therefor, and the meas¬ 
 ures, if any, to be submitted, except 
 as otherwise provided by this Charter 
 or by the laws of the State. 
 
 Ballots, Etc.—City Clerk to Prepare 
 
 —Delivery of—Certificate for. 
 
 Sec. 7. It shall be the duty of the 
 * City Clerk to cause to be made out, 
 ready for delivery forty-eight hours 
 before the time fixed by law for the 
 opening of the polls on the day of 
 each election, all necessary books, 
 blanks and lists required by the gen¬ 
 eral law's of the state or by this Char¬ 
 ter, for holding elections, and twice 
 the number of ballots for each voting 
 place as the total vote cast therein at 
 the last general election. It shall be 
 the duty of the chairman or any 
 
 member of the board of election in¬ 
 spectors of each voting precinct in the 
 City, to appear in the office of the City 
 Clerk not more than forty-eight hours 
 before the hour for opening of the 
 polls of any municipal election, and 
 the said City Clerk shall deliver to 
 him, in a sealed package, the ballots 
 and other material provided for his 
 precinct. The necessary number of 
 ballots shall be wrapped and tied in 
 packages and securely sealed with 
 wax, and the City Clerk shall make 
 and sign a certificate setting forth the 
 number of ballots in each package, 
 and that such packages were packed 
 and sealed by himself personally, and, 
 upon delivery of such package and 
 certificate to said inspector of elec¬ 
 tion, he shall receipt for the same and 
 such certificate shail be returned and 
 filed in the office of the City Clerk 
 when the return of the number of 
 votes cast in such precinct shall be 
 made by said inspectors of election. 
 For the safe sealing of such ballots the 
 City Clerk shall provide himself with 
 a seal of such design as he may deem 
 proper. The said package shall not 
 be opened until delivered to the boards 
 of election inspectors of the respective 
 voting precincts to which they were 
 directed after said boards shall be 
 fully organized and ready for the re¬ 
 ception of votes as in this Title pro¬ 
 vided. 
 
 Ballots—How Prepared—Proof Copy 
 
 —Inspection, Etc. 
 
 Sec. 8. All ballots printed shall be 
 uniform, except as to the number 
 thereon, and the names of all candi¬ 
 dates printed thereon shall be in type 
 of the same size and style. The forms 
 shall be set up with the names of the 
 candidates for each office arranged in 
 alphabetical order according to sur¬ 
 names. In printing each set of tickets 
 for the several election precincts, the 
 positions of the names shall be 
 changed in each office division as 
 many times as there are candidates in 
 the office division wffiere there are the 
 most names. As nearly as possible 
 an equal number of tickets shall be 
 printed after the change. In making 
 the changes of position, the printer 
 shall take the line of type at the head 
 of each office division and place it at 
 the bottom of the division and shove 
 up the column, so that the name that 
 before was second shall be first af¬ 
 ter the change, and so arrange the 
 pile of ballots that every alternate 
 ballot shall have the names in a dif¬ 
 ferent position. The proof copy of all 
 ballots shall be open to inspection at 
 the office of the City Clerk not less 
 than two full secular days before such 
 election, and it shall be the duty of 
 said Clerk to correct such errors as 
 
10 
 
 may be found therein by such inspec¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Instruction Ballots. 
 
 Sec. 9. At least five days before any 
 election the City Clerk shall cause to 
 be printed not less than five hundred 
 nor more than three thousand instruc¬ 
 tion ballots, upon paper of different 
 color and quality, and plainly marked 
 “Instruction Ballots,” but otherwise 
 identical with the ballot to be used 
 at general elections, and he shall dis¬ 
 tribute the same at his office to regis¬ 
 tered voters upon personal application. 
 
 Votes—Return, Canvass and Tabula¬ 
 tion of. 
 
 Sec. 10. Immediately after the clos¬ 
 ing of the polls, the inspectors of elec¬ 
 tion shall then and there, without re¬ 
 moving the ballot box from the place 
 where the ballots were cast, publicly 
 canvass the votes and, as soon as com¬ 
 pleted, publicly declare the result and 
 certify and make return thereof and 
 forthwith, and not more than two 
 hours after the completion of such 
 certificate and return, the same, se¬ 
 curely enveloped and sealed, shall be 
 filed with the City Clerk by not less 
 than two of such inspectors: Provid¬ 
 ed, that the Council shall designate 
 an Election Commission, consisting of 
 two of its members and the City 
 Clerk, which shall receive the re¬ 
 turns thus filed and tabulate them 
 forthwith. 
 
 Return of Vote—Canvass of by Coun¬ 
 cil—Casting Off of Ties. 
 
 Sec. 11. The Council shall be the 
 Board of Canvassers for all elections. 
 On the first Thursday after any elec¬ 
 tion the Council shall meet at seven 
 o’clock p. m. and proceed to canvass 
 the returns of such election and shall 
 thereupon declare the result and what 
 persons are nominated or elected; and 
 in case of a tie vote for any office shall 
 decide by lot which of the persons hav¬ 
 ing the highest and equal number of 
 votes shall be nominated for or elect¬ 
 ed to such office. A statement of such 
 canvass shall be made out and signed 
 by the President of the Council and 
 filed with the City Clerk, and a dupli¬ 
 cate thereof shall be filed with the 
 County Clerk. The City Clerk, with¬ 
 in three days thereafter, shall make 
 out and cause to be delivered to each 
 person so nominated or elected a cer¬ 
 tificate of such nomination or election, 
 as the case may be. 
 
 Council Judge of Elections. 
 
 Sec. 12. A certificate of election 
 shall be prima facie evidence of the 
 facts therein stated; and in all cases 
 of contested election for any office 
 
 the contest shall be decided by the 
 Council as nearly as may be accord¬ 
 ing to the laws of the state regulating 
 proceedings in cases of contested elec¬ 
 tions for state officers. 
 
 . The Council shall have power 
 to settle any question concerning any 
 other election procedure or questions 
 involved therein, not specifically cov¬ 
 ered by this Charter or by the pro¬ 
 visions of the general election laws 
 of the state to which it refers. 
 
 Non-Partisan Primary Election— 
 
 Time of. 
 
 Sec. 13. A non-partisan primary 
 election shall be held in each ward 
 annually on the third Tuesday pre¬ 
 ceding the first Monday in April for 
 the purpose of nominating such offi¬ 
 cers of the city as this Charter pro¬ 
 vides. 
 
 Nominating Petitions—F o r m o f— 
 
 Time of Filing. 
 
 Sec. 14. The name of no person 
 shall be placed upon the primary bal¬ 
 lot unless before five o’clock in the 
 afternoon of the fourteenth day be¬ 
 fore the primary election day there 
 shall be filed in his behalf in 
 the office of the City Clerk a 
 petition or petitions signed by not 
 less than 2 per cent nor more 
 than 4 per cent of the qualified elec¬ 
 tors of the election district in which 
 the candidate seeks election, as shown 
 by the total vote for Mayor at the last 
 general election in said district: Pro¬ 
 vided, that these petitions shall bear 
 no reference to any political party, 
 and that the signature of each signer 
 shall include his street address, ward 
 and precinct, and date of signing said 
 petition: Provided, further, that such 
 petition must be in substantially the 
 following form: 
 
 “We, the undersigned, qualified 
 electors of the City of Grand Rapids, 
 Kent County, Michigan, respectfully 
 petition and request that the name of 
 
 . (an elector in the City of 
 
 Grand Rapids), residing at. 
 
 street, be placed upon the ballot to 
 be prepared for use at the next non¬ 
 partisan primary election as a candi¬ 
 date for the nomination for. 
 
 (name of office).” 
 
 If any elector shall sign more than 
 one petition for the same office, his 
 signature shall be void on all peti¬ 
 tions for that office, except the first 
 one signed. 
 
 The said Clerk shall number each 
 petition in numerical order as re¬ 
 ceived, and shall then place, or cause 
 to be placed, the name of such per¬ 
 son upon the non-partisan primary 
 election ballot of the city as herein 
 provided'. 
 
I 
 
 11 
 
 Primary Ballot—Printing and Form 
 
 of. 
 
 Sec. 15. On the tenth day before 
 ahy primary election, the City Clerk 
 shall prepare and proceed to have 
 printed one general, non-partisan bal¬ 
 lot, which shall bear the names of the 
 offices to be filled and the duly quali¬ 
 fied candidates therefor, without re¬ 
 spect or reference to party. Across 
 the head of each ballot shall be print¬ 
 ed in plain black type the words, 
 “Non-Partisan. Primary Election Bal¬ 
 lot.” On the next line and in smaller 
 type shall be printed the w’ords, “List 
 of Candidates for Nomination to Be 
 
 Voted for in.Ward” (naming 
 
 the ward that said ballot is intended 
 for), followed by “City of Grand Rap¬ 
 ids.” The balance of the ticket shall 
 be made up in a single column. At 
 the top shall appear the words, “To 
 vote for a person, mark ‘X’ in the 
 square at the left of the name of the 
 person for whom you desire to vote.” 
 This sentence shall be closed in a rule, 
 the same as the names of each candi¬ 
 date, and at its end shall be a square 
 directly over the squares in which 
 marks are to be made. In that square 
 there shall be a black cross to show 
 the voter how to mark the ballot. 
 Immediately below, and separated by 
 a rule, shall appear the name of the 
 first office for which candidates are to 
 be voted upon, the offices to appear in 
 the orider in which they are named in 
 Sec. 1, of Title II, of this Charter. Fol¬ 
 lowing this shall come the names of 
 each of the candidates for that posi¬ 
 tion, with a square to the extreme 
 left. Each position, with the names 
 of the candidates for that position, 
 shall be separated from the following 
 one by a black face rule to separate 
 each position clearly. In no manner, 
 directly or indirectly, shall it be per¬ 
 missible to print or cause to be print¬ 
 ed any reference to any political party 
 or the insignia or other mark of iden¬ 
 tification of any political party on said 
 ballot. 
 
 Who to Be Candidates at Election— 
 
 When Primary is Final Electioii. 
 
 Sec. 16. The two candidates receiv¬ 
 ing the largest number of votes in 
 the non-partisan primary in the whole 
 election district for any office, shall be 
 the candidates whose names shall ap¬ 
 pear upon the succeeding general 
 election ballot for said office: . Provid¬ 
 ed, that if there be but one candidate 
 in the primary for a given office, then 
 the primary for said office shall be 
 final and he shall be declared elected 
 and no second election shall be held 
 in connection with said office. If 
 there be more than one candidate in 
 the primary for a given office, and if 
 
 any one candidate receives a major¬ 
 ity of all votes cast for said office at 
 said primary, then said primary for 
 said office shall be final and he shall 
 be declared elected, and no second 
 election shall be held in connection 
 with'said office. 
 
 Election—Time of. 
 
 Sec. 17. A general non-partisan 
 election shall be held in each voting 
 district annually on the first Monday 
 in April at such places as the Council 
 shall appoint: Provided, that there 
 shall be no elections in such years as 
 there are no expiring terms of office 
 or officers to be elected under this 
 Charter. 
 
 Election Ballot—Form of. 
 
 Sec. 18. The City Clerk shall cause 
 to be printed on one ballot, without 
 respect or reference to political party, 
 the names of the two candidates for 
 each office chosen in the primary 
 election as hereinbefore provided; and 
 the names of no other candidates shall 
 appear upon the ballot. The only print¬ 
 ing on said ballot shall be the num¬ 
 ber of the ballot.'the title of the elec¬ 
 tion, the words “To vote for a person, 
 mark ‘X’ in the square at the left of 
 the name of the person for whom you 
 desire to vote,” the name of the office, 
 the names of the two qualified candi¬ 
 dates for each office and squares at 
 the left in front of these names: Pro¬ 
 vided, that if more than one officer is 
 to be elected under any classification 
 in any election district, the wording 
 and the number of names of candi¬ 
 dates shall conform to this same ratio. 
 
 In Filling Vacancies, Term of Office 
 
 to Be Designated on Ballots. 
 
 Sec. 19. If at any election to be held 
 in said City there shall be one or 
 more vacancies to be filled in any 
 office, and at the same time any per¬ 
 son is to be elected for the full term 
 of said office, the term for which each 
 person is to be voted for shall be des¬ 
 ignated on the ballot. 
 
 Bonding Proposition Ballots—Form 
 
 of. 
 
 Sec. 20. Whenever the question of 
 bonding the City or other special 
 question is proposed to be voted upon 
 by the electors of the City, the sub¬ 
 stance of such question shall be 
 clearly indicated upon the ballot, and 
 below the same upon the ballot shall 
 be placed, in separate lines, the words 
 “yes” and “no.” The elector shall 
 designate his vote by a cross (X) 
 placed opposite the word “yes” or the 
 word “no.” 
 
 Who Deemed Elected. 
 
 Sec. 21. The person having the 
 greatest number of votes for any office 
 
12 
 
 in the district in which he was a can¬ 
 didate shall be deemed to have been 
 duly elected to such office. 
 
 Campaign Expense—Sworn Statement 
 
 to Be Filed. 
 
 Sec. 22. Within two days prior to 
 any election and 10 days after any 
 election held under the provisions of 
 this charter, every candidate whose 
 name appeared either upon the pri¬ 
 mary or general election ballot as a 
 candidate for any elective office in the 
 city or in any ward or district thereof, 
 shall file with the city clerk state¬ 
 ments, under oath, setting forth in de¬ 
 tail all sums of money, if any, which 
 he has expended in his campaign, or 
 which with his knowledge, have been 
 expended by others in his behalf; said 
 statements shall show to,whom such 
 sums were paid, in what amount, and 
 for what purpose; and also in what 
 amount and by whom contributions 
 were made to him or to his knowledge 
 to any campaign committees or any 
 person working in his Dehalf. Wilful 
 neglect to file such statements, or wil¬ 
 ful falsification therein, or wilful fail¬ 
 ure to fully set forth every item here 
 required, shall be punishable as here¬ 
 inafter provided. 
 
 Campaign Expense Statement—Fail¬ 
 ure to File. 
 
 Sec. 23. The statements thus filed 
 with the City Clerk shall be public 
 records open at all times for the in¬ 
 spection of the public. If any can¬ 
 didate in any election shall have 
 failed to file the statements as herein 
 provided, it shall be the duty of the 
 City Clerk to notify the Mayor of said 
 city forthwith, and it shall be the duty 
 of the Mayor to make complaint in a 
 court of competent jurisdiction. 
 
 Campaign Contributions — Pei’sons 
 
 Disqualifiedi From 3laking. 
 
 Sec. 24. No corporation and no offi¬ 
 cer of any corporation interested, 
 either directly or indirectly, in any li¬ 
 cense or contract or the purpose there¬ 
 of then pending or in contemplation 
 before the city, its Council or any de¬ 
 partment thereof, and no officer or 
 agent of any public service corpora¬ 
 tion holding franchises in the said 
 city, shall, either directly or indirectly, 
 contribute any money or other valu¬ 
 able thing to the campaign fund of any 
 candidate for office at any primary or 
 other election held under this Charter. 
 
 Campaign Literature—What Fro- 
 
 hibited. 
 
 Sec. 25. No candidate in any elec¬ 
 tion held under the provisions of this 
 Charter shall print or cause to be 
 printed any literature or letters of any 
 description or any advertising of any 
 
 nature, which shall contain a refer¬ 
 ence to any political party, the name 
 of which has appeared on the election 
 ballot in the last preceding election for 
 Governor held in said city. 
 
 Services and Expenses—What Pro¬ 
 hibited and What Allowed. 
 
 Sec. 26. No person shall perform 
 or agree to perform any service in the 
 interest of any candidate for any 
 office provided in this charter in con¬ 
 sideration of any money or other valu¬ 
 able thing; but the bona fide payment 
 by any candidate for office or other 
 person, for the fair and reasonable 
 cost of printing, advertising, office 
 maintenance and the reasonable and 
 bona fide expenses of holding public 
 meetings and of distributing litera¬ 
 ture, shall not be in contravention of 
 this Charter. 
 
 Acts to Influence Electors Ih’ohibited. 
 
 Sec. 27. No person, firm or corpor¬ 
 ation shall give offer to give, or 
 promise any money or other consider¬ 
 ation to any elector, or to any person 
 for the use of any elector, for the pur¬ 
 pose of influencing the vote of any 
 elector at any election provided for in 
 this Charter; or to or for any elector 
 for the purpose of securing support for 
 any candidate at such election; and no 
 elector shall receive, accept or solicit 
 such money or other consideration for 
 any such purpose. 
 
 Pi’omise of Public Office Prohibited. 
 
 Sec. 28. No person nominated for 
 or holding any office in the government 
 of the city, and no person while seek¬ 
 ing a nomination for or appointment 
 to any such office, shall use or promise 
 to use, either directly or indirectly, 
 any official authority or influence, 
 wffiether then possessed or merely an¬ 
 ticipated, in the way of conferring 
 upon any person or in order to secure 
 or aid any person in securing any 
 office or public employment in any po¬ 
 sition under this Charter, or any nom¬ 
 ination, promotion, increase of salary 
 or other preferment upon the consid¬ 
 eration, condition or understanding 
 that the vote, influence or action of 
 such person shall be given or used in 
 behalf of any candidate, officer or 
 party, or upon any other consideration 
 or condition. 
 
 Political Activity by Public Officials 
 
 and Employes Prohibited. 
 
 Sec. 29. No employe or officer of 
 the city shall be an employe or officer 
 of any partisan campaign committee; 
 nor shall he be an employe or officer 
 of any campaign committee in behalf 
 of any candidate for public office, 
 other than himself. Nor shall any em¬ 
 ploye or officer of the city circulate 
 or solicit signatures to any petition 
 
13 
 
 mentioned in Sec. 14 of this Title, ex¬ 
 cept his own; nor shall he solicit en¬ 
 dorsement for any candidate for pub¬ 
 lic office, other than himself. 
 
 No Person to Do Any Act Candidate 
 
 Could Not Do. 
 
 Sec. 30. No person shall do any act 
 in the interest of any candidate at any 
 primary or election under this Charter 
 which this Title prohibits the candi¬ 
 date himself from performing. 
 
 Propositions Submitted to Vote—Pro- 
 
 visions of Title to Apply. 
 
 Sec. 31. The provisions of this 
 Title, so far as applicable, shall apply 
 to general or special elections held 
 upon any propositions submitted to 
 the vote of the electors. 
 
 Penalty. 
 
 Sec. 32. Any violation of any sec¬ 
 tion or part of this Title shall be a 
 misdemeanor, and punishable by a 
 fine of not to exceed $500, or by im¬ 
 prisonment in the County Jail for not 
 to exceed 90 days, or by both: Pro¬ 
 vided, that the conviction of any offi¬ 
 cial or employe of said city shall, ipso 
 facto, render his office vacant or end 
 his employment; or, if a candidate, it 
 shall render him ineligible to retain 
 place upon the ballot at the election 
 at which he seeks to appear as a can¬ 
 didate: Provided funrther, that any 
 
 such vacancy shall be filled in the 
 manner prescribed by ,this Charter. 
 
 Inspectors of Election. 
 
 Sec. 33. Inspectors of election, as 
 specified in the preceding sections, 
 shall be inspectors of elections held in 
 the several voting precincts of the city 
 for the election of state, county and 
 municipal officers. 
 
 V^acancy—How Filled. 
 
 Sec. 34. If from any cause any of 
 the inspectors of election shall fail to 
 attend any election held under this 
 Charter at the appointed time or 
 place, his or their places may be sup¬ 
 plied for the time being by the electors 
 present from among their number. 
 The inspectors so elected shall take 
 the oath prescribed for inspectors of 
 election. 
 
 Board of Registration. 
 
 Sec. 35. There shall be a Board of 
 Registration for each voting precinct 
 in the city, consisting of two mem¬ 
 bers, who shall be appointed by the 
 Council and whose duties and com¬ 
 pensation shall be such as are now 
 provided or as may hereafter be pro¬ 
 vided by the statutes of the state gov¬ 
 erning such boards in cities, or as the 
 Council may by ordinance provide. 
 Each member of such Board of Reg¬ 
 istration before entering upon the du¬ 
 
 ties of the office, shall take and sub¬ 
 scribe the constitutional oath of office. 
 
 Except at the time of general regis¬ 
 tration such board shall not be in ses¬ 
 sion to exceed one ,day. 
 
 Registration. 
 
 Sec. 36. There shall be a general 
 registration of the electors in the year 
 1912, in time for the general fall elec¬ 
 tion of that year. There shall also be 
 a general registration of the electors 
 every fourth year thereafter and at 
 such other times as the Council may 
 designate. The registration shall be 
 conducted according to the general 
 registration laws of the state in force 
 at the time. 
 
 TITLE IV. 
 
 DEGISDATIVE DEPARTMENT— 
 COUNCIL. 
 
 LfCgislative Power—How Vested. 
 
 Sec. 1. The Legislative power of 
 the city is vested in a Council which 
 is authorized to pass all laws and or¬ 
 dinances relating to its municipal 
 concerns, subject to the Constitution 
 and General Laws of the State and 
 this Charter, the purpose of this pro¬ 
 vision being to vest in the Council, 
 subject to the limitations of this Char¬ 
 ter, all legislative authority permitted 
 to be exercised by the city and not ex¬ 
 pressly required to be contained in 
 the Charter. 
 
 Certain Other Express Powers of 
 
 Council. 
 
 Sec. 2. Without intending to limit 
 or curtail the power in this Charter 
 otherwise vested in the Council, it is 
 hereby expressly vested with the fol¬ 
 lowing powers: 
 
 (a) To pass all ordinances and 
 regulations of every character to se¬ 
 cure the health, safety, welfare and 
 convenience of the city and its in¬ 
 habitants. 
 
 (b) To pass all ordinances and reg¬ 
 ulations of every character to ad¬ 
 vance the interest of the city and the 
 good government and prosperity of 
 the municipality and its inhabitants. 
 
 (c) To provide for the licensing 
 and regulation of trades, occupations, 
 businesses and amusements, within the 
 city. 
 
 (d) To provide for the punishment 
 of those who violate its laws or ordi¬ 
 nances, but no punishment shall ex¬ 
 ceed a fine of $500, or imprisonment 
 for 90 days in the county jail or house 
 of correction, or in any work house 
 authorized by law to receive prisoners 
 from such city, or both such fine and 
 imprisonment, in the discretion of the 
 court. 
 
 Council—How Constituted and 
 
 Chosen. 
 
 Sec. 3. The Council shall consist of 
 
14 
 
 twelve Councilmen. There shall be 
 elected from each ward of the city, 
 once in two years, one Councilman, 
 who shall be an elector of such ward, 
 and who shall hold office for two 
 years from the first day of May in the 
 year in which elected and until his 
 successor is elected and qualified. 
 
 Salary. 
 
 Sec. 4. The salary of a Councilman 
 shall be $750 per year, payable in 
 equal monthly installments. 
 
 Council—How Organized—Rules of 
 
 Pro<;edure—Judge of Qualification 
 
 and Klection of 3Iembers—Expul¬ 
 sion of 31 e ni b e r s—Exempt as 
 
 Jurors. 
 
 Sec. 5. The Council shall annually 
 organize by the election of one of its 
 members as President, who shall pre¬ 
 side at all meetings and exercise such 
 other functions as provided in this 
 Charter and, except as otherwise 
 provided, the Council shall choose its 
 own officers, including a temporary 
 President of the Council, fill all va¬ 
 cancies in its own membership to con¬ 
 tinue until the next municipal elec¬ 
 tion, and determine the rules of its 
 procedure. It shall be the judge of the 
 qualifications, elections and returns of 
 its members, and may, with the con¬ 
 currence of three-fourths of all the 
 members elected, expel a member. The 
 reasons for such expulsion shall be 
 entered upon the journal with the yea 
 and nay vote thereon. No member 
 shall be expelled the second time for 
 the same cause. The members shall 
 be exempt from sitting as jurors. 
 
 Council—3Ieeting.s of—Quorum. 
 
 Sec. 6. The Council shall meet at 
 the City Hall on the first and third 
 Mondays in each month, and at such 
 other times as it shall from time to 
 time appoint. Special meetings may 
 be called whenever the Mayor, Presi¬ 
 dent of the Council, or one-third of its 
 members, shall appoint, by such notice 
 as the Council may by rule prescribe. 
 All sessions of the Council shall be 
 public. A majority of the Council shall 
 be a quorum for the transaction of 
 business. 
 
 CMcrk of Council—Journal—Yea and 
 
 Xay Vote. 
 
 Sec. 7. The City Clerk shall be 
 C'lerk of the Council, and shall keep 
 in the Phiglish language a written or 
 printed journal of its proceedings at 
 all sessions, which shall be a public 
 record and which shall be published in 
 pamphlet form and furnished free to 
 all ])ersons applying therefor. The 
 yeas and nays of the members on any 
 vote or question shall be entered on 
 the journal on request of one member. 
 All votes on the confirmation of ap¬ 
 
 pointments, upon every franchise and 
 upon every amendment and section 
 thereof, shall be taken by yeas and 
 nays and published in the journal. 
 
 Ordinances—How Originated—Style of 
 
 Sec. 8. All legislation shall be by 
 ordinance and may originate either in 
 the Council or through an initiative 
 petition in the manner in this Charter 
 provided. The style of all ordinances 
 shall be: “The People of the City of 
 Grand Rapids do Ordain.” 
 
 Ordinances—How Adopted—Yea and 
 
 Xay Vote. 
 
 Sec. 9. No ordinance shall become 
 a law without the concurrence of a 
 majority of the entire Council elected. 
 On the final passage a yea and nay 
 vote shall oe taken and entered on the 
 journal. 
 
 Ordinances—V eto by 31ayor. 
 
 Sec. 10. Every proposed ordinance 
 passed by the Council shall be pre¬ 
 sented to the Mayor before it becomes 
 a law. If he approve he shall sign it, 
 if not, he shall return it with his ob¬ 
 jections to the Council, which shall en¬ 
 ter the objections at large on its jour¬ 
 nal and reconsider it. If passed by the 
 affirmative vote of two-thirds of the 
 Councilmen elected, within thirty days 
 after the filing of the reasons for such 
 disapproval, it shall become a law. 
 The votes thereon shall be by 
 yea and nay, and entered on the 
 journal. If any proposed ordinance be 
 not returned by the 3Iayor within ten 
 days after it has been presented to him 
 the same shall become a law in like 
 manner as if he had signed it. When 
 an ordinance appropriating money 
 contains several items the Mayor may 
 approve the provisions relating to one 
 or more items and disapprove the 
 others. In such cases those items 
 which he shall approve shall become 
 operative and those which he shall not 
 approve shall be reconsidered by the 
 Council and shall become operative 
 only if again passed by it as above pro¬ 
 vided. 
 
 W')to, 3Iotion or Hcsohition—Veto I>y 
 
 3£ayor. 
 
 Sec. 11. No final vote, motion or 
 resolution taken or passed by the 
 Council except upon confirmation of 
 appointments, shall become effective if 
 within twenty-four hours after its 
 passage the 3Iayor shall file in the of¬ 
 fice of the City Clerk his reasons, in 
 writing, why the same should not go 
 into effect and in such case the same 
 shall not go into effect or have any 
 legal operation, unless it shall, within 
 thirty days after the filing of such rea¬ 
 sons for disapproval, be passed by the 
 affirmative vote of two-thirds of the 
 Councilmen elected. 
 
15 
 
 Oidinaiice to Embrace One Subject to 
 
 be Exi3ressed in Title. 
 
 Sec. 12. No ordinance shall embrace 
 more than one subject, which shall be 
 expressed in its Title, and no ordinance 
 shall be revised or amended by refer¬ 
 ence to its Title only. 
 
 Ordinances—When to Take Effect. 
 
 Sec-. 13. No ordinance shall be in 
 force until the expiration of thirty 
 days from its approval by the Mayor, 
 or from the date of its passage over 
 his veto, or from the date of its other 
 final adoption, except that earlier ef¬ 
 fect may be given to appropriation 
 measures, to measures mentioned in 
 Sec. 20 of this Title, and to acts imme¬ 
 diately necessary for the preservation 
 of the public health, peace or safety 
 by a two-thirds vote of the Councilmen 
 elected with the approval of the 
 Mayor. 
 
 Ordinances—Publication, Etc. 
 
 Sec. 14. All ordinances shall be 
 published twice in the official paper at 
 least two weeks before becoming op¬ 
 erative and not less than one week to 
 intervene between such publications, 
 except that ordinances given effect 
 within thirty days shall be published 
 once, as long a period as possible, 
 and af least one day, before becoming 
 operative. 
 
 Ordinances—When to be Passed. 
 
 Sec. 15. No proposed ordinance, ex¬ 
 cept acts immediately necessary for 
 the preservation of the public health, 
 peace, or safety, shall be passed at the 
 session at which first presented, nor 
 before the substance thereof shall 
 have been published In the official pa¬ 
 per. 
 
 Referendum by Council. 
 
 Sec. 16. Any proposed ordinance 
 passed by the Council may be referred 
 by the Council to the qualified elec¬ 
 tors; and in such case shall become a 
 law only when approved by a major¬ 
 ity of the electors voting thereon. 
 
 ^)aths—By Whom Administered. 
 
 Sec. 17. The President or Clerk of 
 the Council and the Chairman of any 
 General or Special Committee of the 
 Council shall have power to administer 
 oaihs to persons testifying in respect 
 to any matter pending liefore the 
 Council or any such Committee and to 
 persons su])scribing affidavits in re¬ 
 spect to any such matter. 
 
 False Swearing—How Punished. 
 
 Sec. 18. Any pei’son taking any 
 such oath who shall in any statement 
 or affidavit or otherwise wilfully swear 
 falsely as to any material fact shall 
 be punished as by ordinance pre¬ 
 scribed. 
 
 Re- assessment. 
 
 Sec. 19. In the event of the failure 
 of any tax or special assessment 
 through defective procedure of assess¬ 
 ment, collection or sale, the Council 
 may provide for its re-assessment upon 
 the property chargeable- therewith in 
 the first instance. 
 
 Powers of Council to Eevy and Collect. 
 
 Sec. 2 0. The Council may provide 
 for the levying and collecting of spe¬ 
 cific taxes, tolls, excises and license 
 fees: Provided, that the same shall be 
 uniform upon the classes upon which 
 they operate. The Council may also 
 provide for the collection of rents. 
 
 Taxing Ordinance to State Object. 
 
 Sec. 21. Every taxing ordinance 
 shall state the tax and the object to 
 which it is to be applied. 
 
 Annual Budget and Annual Tax — 
 Council to Provide for by Ordinance 
 —Limitation. 
 
 Sec. 22. On or before the third 
 Monday in May in each year, the 
 Council shall provide by ordinance for 
 a budget and a tax sufficient, with 
 other resources, to pay the estimated 
 expenses of the city government for 
 the ensuing year, the maintenance of 
 all sinking funds and the interest on 
 all municipal debts: Provided, that 
 the amount of tax levied and collected 
 in each year, not including school 
 taxes, interest and principal of bonded 
 indebtedness, and special improve¬ 
 ments, shall not exceed one per cent 
 of the assessed value of all real and 
 personal property in the city appearing 
 upon the last previous assessment roll. 
 
 No Money to be Paid Except as Ap¬ 
 propriated. 
 
 Sec. 2 3. No money shall be paid out 
 of the City Treasury except in pursu¬ 
 ance of appropriations made by law. 
 
 Private Enterprise—C ity Not to be In¬ 
 terested In. 
 
 Sec. 24. The credit of the city shall 
 not be granted to nor in aid of any 
 person, association, public or priv'ate 
 corporation, nor shall the city sub¬ 
 scribe to or be financially interested in 
 any company, corporation or associa¬ 
 tion, except where the same is by this 
 Charter or the general laws or by any 
 existing special act made one of its 
 municipal departments. 
 
 Rescission of Contracts. 
 
 Sec. 2 5. The Council shall not re¬ 
 scind or alter any conti-act with the 
 City, except franchise grants, nor re¬ 
 lease the principals or sureties from 
 the perforu:iance of any of the obliga¬ 
 tions thereof, without the consent, of 
 the Administrative Hoard. 
 
1 « 
 
 Mt'inbers of Council Ineligible to City 
 
 Ollic e—Xot to be Interested in City 
 
 Contracts. 
 
 Sec. 2 6. Xo person elected a mem¬ 
 ber of the Council shall receive any 
 civil appointment within the city from 
 any municipal authority during the 
 term for which elected, but members 
 of the Council may serve as inspectors 
 of registrations and elections. No 
 member of the Council shall be inter¬ 
 ested directly or indirectly in any con¬ 
 tract with the city authorized by, or 
 the subject of legislation in, any ordi¬ 
 nance passed during the time for 
 which he is elected, nor for one year 
 thereafter. 
 
 Certain Officers Ineligible to Council, 
 
 Sec. 27. No person holding any 
 office under the city or county govern¬ 
 ment shall be eligible to, or have a 
 seat in the Council, and all votes given 
 for any such person shall be void. 
 
 Officers and Employes—Removal of 
 
 by Council. 
 
 Sec. 28. Any officer or employe of 
 the city, except the Mayor, Judges, 
 Justices of the Peace, members of the 
 Admmistrativ^e Board or employes un¬ 
 der civil service, or those whose re¬ 
 moval is otherwise provided for in this 
 Charter may be removed by the Coun¬ 
 cil -for official misconduct or for un¬ 
 faithful or improper performance of 
 the duties of his office or employment 
 or for ineligibility. The proceedings 
 for such removal shall be entered in 
 the record of the Council. A copy of 
 the charges against such officer or em¬ 
 ploye sought to be removed ami notice 
 of the time and place of hearing the 
 same, shall be served on him at least 
 ten days previous to the date as- 
 aigned for hearing. If personal ser- 
 '.nce cannot be had the same shall 
 be left at his last place of resi¬ 
 dence within the city, with some 
 /mitab’e person of proper age, or other 
 substituted service may be had. Op- 
 poi-^.unity shall be given him to make 
 his defense thereto. An affirmative 
 vote of three-fourths of all the Coun- 
 cilmen elected shall be nocessary to re- 
 mo^•e such officer or employe. 
 
 Board of Supervisor.s—Representation 
 
 o' City Upon. 
 
 Sec. 29. The several Councilmen, 
 the Mayor, and the members of the 
 Board of Assessors shall be representa¬ 
 tives of the city upon the Board of 
 Supervisors and the Council shall in 
 addi'Vn thereto annually, and before 
 the first day of June, designate other 
 electors of the city, who may be city 
 officials or employes, sufficient in num¬ 
 ber to complete the full representation 
 of the city upon the Board, who shall 
 
 likewise be representatives of the city 
 thereon. 
 
 Super \isors—Councilmen to Perforin 
 
 Unties of. 
 
 Sec. 30. The Councilmen shall pos¬ 
 sess all the powers and be subject to 
 all the duties of individual Supervisors 
 under the general laws not inconsistent 
 with this Charter and not delegated to 
 other officers: Provided, that so long 
 as the city has twenty-four Council- 
 men, these powers shall be exercised 
 only by the senior Councilmen. 
 
 Borrowing of 3Ioney by Council. 
 
 Sec. 31. Except as herein otherwise 
 provided, it shall not be lawful for the 
 Council to borrow money or authorize 
 the creation of any liability or indebt¬ 
 edness against the city in any one year 
 exceeding in the aggregate the amount 
 which, by this Charter and the laws 
 of the State, may be raised by tax for 
 such year. In case any sum or sums 
 of money are borrowed by the Council 
 in any one year, or any officer thereof 
 shall enter into any contract or con¬ 
 tracts binding upon said city for the 
 payment of moneys, the same shall be 
 paid out of the sums raised by tax for 
 such year, if the payment thereof is 
 not otherwise provided. All sums of 
 money borrowed by said city, shall be 
 applied to the purpose for which the 
 same was borrowed, and for no other 
 purpose whatsoever. Nothing in this 
 Charter contained shall be construed 
 to ])rohibit the Council from making 
 assessments and levying and collecting 
 taxes for the purpose of special im¬ 
 provements. 
 
 Council to Advertise for Proposals for 
 
 Depositai*y. 
 
 Sec. 32. The Council shall within 
 the thirty days before the termination 
 of any existing contract, advertise in 
 two of the newspapers of the city for 
 a period of at least one week after the 
 first insertion of such advertisement, 
 for sealed proposals for the highest 
 rate of interest obtainable on daily 
 balances of money belonging to the 
 city, or the Board of Education, or in 
 their custody, and the lowest rate of 
 interest to be paid by the city for 
 such temporary loans as it shall de¬ 
 sire to make. 
 
 Contracts with Banks as City Depos¬ 
 itaries. 
 
 Sec. 33. The Council shall contract 
 with any safe and secure banking in¬ 
 stitution or institutions, and make 
 rules and regulations in regard to the 
 depositing of money therein, for a pe¬ 
 riod of not to exceed three years, as a 
 depositary or depositaries for the safe 
 keeping of the public moneys belong¬ 
 ing to or in the custody of the city, or 
 any of its departments, including the 
 
17 
 
 Board of Education, and for the pay¬ 
 ment of interest, at a rate not exceed¬ 
 ing that established by law, upon 
 such moneys so deposited with such 
 banking institution or institutions, to 
 be drawn from the current account by 
 the city through its proper officer or 
 officers, which said interest shall be¬ 
 long to the city, or to the Board of 
 Education, as the case may be. Every 
 such contract shall contain an agree- 
 
 • ment on the part of such banking in¬ 
 stitution permitting the Council to 
 terminate such contract and to with¬ 
 draw all moneys deposited with such 
 institution or institutions whenever it 
 
 • shall deem that the interests of the 
 city require it, and in such case the 
 books required to be kept by such de¬ 
 positary shall be by it delivered into 
 the custody of the City Clerk. The 
 Council shall require such depositary 
 or depositaries to give suitable bonds 
 in such penalty as it shall determine, 
 and with such sureties as it shall ap¬ 
 prove, before any transfer of any such 
 moneys as aforesaid can be made to 
 such depositary or depositaries. 
 
 Books to Be Kept by City Depositaries. 
 
 Sec. 34. The depositary or deposi¬ 
 taries so designated by the Council 
 shall keep an accurate account in a 
 set of books of all moneys belonging 
 to or in the custody of said city de¬ 
 posited with such depositary or de¬ 
 positaries, such books to be provided 
 by and belong to said city, and to con¬ 
 stitute a part of the public records of 
 said city. Such books shall at all 
 times, during business hours, be sub¬ 
 ject to inspection by any member of 
 the Council, Board of Education, the 
 Comptroller, Treasurer, Mayor and 
 City Attorney. They shall be deliv¬ 
 ered by the outgoing depositary or 
 depositaries to those succeeding to the 
 trust. Such depositary or depositaries 
 shall report in writing monthly to the 
 Council the amount of moneys belong¬ 
 ing to said city then on deposit with 
 such depositary or depositaries, and 
 the interest earned thereon. 
 
 Additional Bonds from Treasurer and 
 
 City Depositarle® 
 
 • Sec. 3 5. The Council is hereby au¬ 
 thorized to require new or additional 
 bonds or security from the City Treas¬ 
 urer and from the depositaries of 
 money belonging to, or in the custody 
 the city, and deposited in such de¬ 
 positaries, at any time or times when 
 it shall deem the interests of the city 
 require. 
 
 TITTjE V. 
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENT. 
 Administrative Board—Power to Ex¬ 
 ecute Ordinances. 
 
 Sec. 1. The power and duty to exe¬ 
 
 cute all ordinances is hereby vested in 
 the Administrative Board and its sev¬ 
 eral departments. 
 
 Executive and Administrative Author¬ 
 ity—In Whom Vested. 
 
 Sec. 2. The executive and adminis¬ 
 trative functions, powers and author¬ 
 ity of the city, unless otherwise pro¬ 
 vided in this Charter or in the general 
 laws of the state, shall be vested in, 
 and in the manner herein provided, 
 exercised by, the Mayor, City Attorney, 
 Comptroller, City Clerk and the Gen¬ 
 eral Managers of four departments, as 
 follows: 
 
 Department of Public Works. 
 Department of Health and Safety. 
 Department of Parks and Public 
 Property. 
 
 Department of Finance and Rev¬ 
 enue. 
 
 Administrative Board—Who Con¬ 
 stitute. 
 
 Sec. 3. The Mayor, together with 
 the General Managers of the four de¬ 
 partments above named, shall consti¬ 
 tute an Administrative Board, which 
 shall have and exercise general su¬ 
 pervision over the administrative 
 functions, powers and authority of the 
 city. The Mayor shall preside over 
 such Board, shall be entitled to vote 
 and shall have veto powers over any 
 action of the Board in the manner 
 herein provided. The City Clerk shall 
 act as Clerk of such Board, and keep 
 the records thereof. 
 
 Administrative Board Shall Receive 
 and Consider Petitions and Com¬ 
 plaints. 
 
 Sec. 4. The Administrative Board 
 shall adopt rules for its proceedings 
 and shall meet daily at an appointed 
 hour and place, for the transaction of 
 its business, and to receive, hear and 
 consider the petitions or complaints of 
 any citizen or citizens, or other persons, 
 or organizations, pertinent to the ad¬ 
 ministrative affair.=! of the city, ex¬ 
 cept the enforcement of franchise 
 grants and take such action thereon as 
 it may deem advisable, and make a 
 record thereof. All meetings and rec¬ 
 ords of the Board shall be public. A 
 yea and nay vote of the members of 
 the Board shall be taken and record¬ 
 ed in the minutes upon all questions. 
 Administrative Board—Powers and 
 Duties of. 
 
 Sec. 5. The Administrative Board 
 shall have power as a Board: 
 
 (a) To superintendent, direct and 
 control the administration of the busi¬ 
 ness of the city, delegated to it and 
 its several departments. It shall pass 
 upon all contracts to which the city 
 shall be a party except franchise 
 grants. Its members may attend all 
 
18 
 
 meetings of the Council and shall have 
 the right to be heard upon any matter 
 concerning such member’s department, 
 but shall have no power to vote there¬ 
 in; said Board shall prepare and rec¬ 
 ommend a budget to the Council and 
 shall not exceed in its expenditures the 
 appropriations provided by the Coun¬ 
 cil, nor expend any money for any 
 purpose other th^n that for w'hich ap¬ 
 propriated. 
 
 (b) It shall possess and exercise all 
 other powers and perform all other 
 duties granted to or imposed upon it 
 by this Charter or by the Council. It 
 shall determine and assign the duties 
 of the several departments and may 
 change or reassign them from time to 
 time, subject to the limitations of this 
 Charter: it may create, subject to the 
 approval of the Council, such sub-de¬ 
 partments as it may deem wise but 
 shall not discontinue any sub-depart¬ 
 ment provided for in thi.s charter; it 
 shall annually, in connection with the 
 adoption of the budget fix the salary 
 of the sub-heads of departments, sub¬ 
 ject to the approval of the Council, 
 and shall fix the compensation of other 
 employes not fixed by the provisions 
 of this Charter; and shall prescribe the 
 duties of the officers and employes of 
 any department; it may assign, with¬ 
 out change of salary and in accord¬ 
 ance with the rules prescribed by the 
 Civil Service Commission, particular 
 officers or emploj’es to one or more of 
 the departments of the city, and shall 
 make such other rules and regulations, 
 including its own rules of procedure, 
 as may be deemed necessary or proper 
 for the efficient and economical con¬ 
 duct of the business of the city sub¬ 
 ject to the limitations of this Charter. 
 
 (c) The Administrative Board shall 
 prescribe the method by which all 
 contracts for the city in relation to 
 public works or improvements and the 
 purchase of supplies and materials in 
 its several departments shall be en¬ 
 tered into. All purchases over $25.00 
 shall be made upon specifications on 
 which sealed bids shall be received, 
 except that the Administrative Board 
 may authorize purchases without com¬ 
 petitive bids in emergency cases, and 
 the facts claimed to create such emer¬ 
 gency shall be made a matter of 
 record. 
 
 All contracts involving the expendi¬ 
 ture of .$500.00 or over shall be made 
 upon plans and specifications adopted 
 by the Board and shall be advertised 
 at least one week in two newspapers 
 of the city for proposals to execute 
 such contracts. Said Board shall re¬ 
 quire security for the performance of 
 proposals tendered and security for the 
 performance of any contract entered 
 into. Said Foard shall let the con¬ 
 tract to the lowest responsible bidder, 
 
 or may reject all bids made. All re¬ 
 quests for bids shall state the time 
 and place at which said bids are to 
 be opened and all bids received shall 
 be opened at one time and considered 
 together at a specified meeting of the 
 Board. In all cases where any ma¬ 
 terial, machinery, process or thing, 
 either in process, production or supply 
 is controlled by one person or com¬ 
 pany or is in any sense a monopoly, 
 no bids shall be invited or received 
 nor contracts for or purchases thereof 
 be made by or on behalf of the city or 
 any department thereof including the 
 Board of Education, except it be sep¬ 
 arate by itself and not included with 
 any other matter or thing. 
 
 Xo officer or employe of the city, 
 elected or appointed, including mem¬ 
 bers of the Board of Education, shall 
 be interested directly or indirectly in 
 any contract with the city unless such 
 contract shall be approved by the 
 unanimous vote of the Administrative 
 Board and a two-thirds vote of the 
 Council. 
 
 Nothing in this section or in any 
 ordinance shall limit the authority of 
 the Administrative Board to employ 
 day labor to carry on or perform any 
 work entrusted to it. 
 
 (d) Nothing in this Charter con¬ 
 tained shall authorize the Adminis¬ 
 trative Board or the Council to create 
 any new or different general depart¬ 
 ments. 
 
 (e) The Administrative Board 
 shall have and nossess all the author¬ 
 ity and perform all the duties that 
 are conferred or imposed upon the 
 Boards of Health in townships by the 
 general laws of this state and the exe¬ 
 cution of such authority and duties 
 may be delegated to and performed by 
 the General ^Manager of Health and 
 Safety in accordance with the pro¬ 
 visions of this Charter. 
 
 (f) The Administrative Board shall 
 be vested with, and possess the powers 
 conferred upon Boards of Building In¬ 
 spectors under the general law of the 
 state. 
 
 Powers and Duties Assumed— 
 
 Whom Exercised. 
 
 Sec. 6. All administrative or ex¬ 
 ecutive power and authority, per¬ 
 mitted to be exercised by the city, 
 whether required to be expressly as¬ 
 sumed and detailed in the Charter or 
 otherwise, are hereby assumed by the 
 city. Except as herein otherwise pro¬ 
 vided. such power and authority shall 
 be exercised by the Administrative 
 Board or other administrative officers 
 of the city in the form and manner 
 from time to time prescribed by or¬ 
 dinance. 
 
 Mayor—Powers and Duties—Salary. 
 
 Sec. 7. (a) The Mayor shall be 
 
19 
 
 the chief executive of the city. He 
 shall, together with the General Man¬ 
 ager of Health and Safety, take all 
 proper measures for the maintenance 
 of public order and public health and 
 safety, the suppression of riots and 
 tumults and, in case said General Man¬ 
 ager of Health and Safety shall fail 
 to perform his duty, may command 
 the police force to that end. 
 
 (b) He shall be charged with the 
 general oversight and be responsible 
 for the proper conduct of all the de¬ 
 partments of the executive and ad¬ 
 ministrative branch of the city gov¬ 
 ernment. 
 
 (c) He shall have the general su¬ 
 pervision, management and control, 
 subject to the other provisions of this 
 Charter, of the relations of the city to 
 the county, state and federal govern¬ 
 ments. of all matters pertaining to the 
 publicity of the city’s affairs and of 
 the exhibition of its products. 
 
 For the purpose of carrying into ef¬ 
 fect any of his duties in this para¬ 
 graph specified, the Mayor may ap¬ 
 point a non-salaried commission or 
 commissions of such size and charac¬ 
 ter as he may deem advisable. 
 
 (d) He shall, after approval by the 
 Administrative Board and after the 
 City Attorney shall have approved as 
 to form, validiH’ and manner of exe¬ 
 cution, sign all deeds, contracts, bonds 
 or other instruments requiring the 
 assent of the city, and cause the same 
 to be attested by the City Clerk, and 
 the seal of the city attached, and to 
 be countersigned by the General Man¬ 
 ager of the department having super-^ 
 vision over the subject matter of the 
 contract and shall take care that the 
 same are duly performed. 
 
 (e) He shall take care that the 
 laws of the state, this Charter and the 
 ordinances of the city are faithfully 
 executed within the city and its juris¬ 
 diction, and in the execution of this 
 duty he may command and call upon 
 any officer or employe of the city. 
 
 ff) He may attend and shall have 
 the right to be heard at all meetings 
 
 the Council, and shall annually, and 
 at such other t'mes as may be fixed 
 by the Council, submit in writing a 
 report of the condition of the affairs 
 of the city and his recommendations 
 **especting the same. 
 
 • (g) He may require any officer or 
 
 employe of the city to exhibit the 
 books and papers of such officer or 
 employe, and may take forcible pos¬ 
 session thereof, and may require him 
 to .submit to an examination thereof 
 *».nd of all other affairs of his depart¬ 
 ment. Upon failure to comply with 
 such requirements such officer or em¬ 
 ploye may be suspended by the Mayor 
 for a period not exceeding thirty days 
 and such failure shall be ground for 
 
 removal by the proper authority in its 
 discretion. 
 
 (h) He shall be Chairman of the 
 Administrative Board and shall have 
 power to veto any action of that Board 
 not unanimously concurred in by all 
 other members of the Board, which 
 veto and the reasons therefor shall 
 be spread upon the records of the Ad¬ 
 ministrative Board. 
 
 (i) He shall have and exercise 
 such other powers, prerogatives and 
 authority as provided by this Charter 
 or as may be conferred upon him by 
 the Council or the general laws of the 
 state not inconsistent with the pro¬ 
 visions of this Charter. 
 
 (■''' He shall receive an annual sal¬ 
 ary of $3,500. 
 
 (k) The Mayor shall have the 
 power to appoint some suitable per¬ 
 son to act as his Secretary who shall 
 not be under the Civil Service rules, 
 and may be removed at will by the 
 Mayor, and who shall receive such 
 compensation as shall be provided by 
 the Council. 
 
 City Attorney—Powers and Duties— 
 
 Salary. 
 
 Sec. 8. The City Attorney shall be 
 the lep-al adviser of the Mayor, Coun¬ 
 cil, Administrative Board, Board of 
 Education. Board of Library Commis¬ 
 sioners and all city 'officials; shall con¬ 
 duct all cases in court wherein the 
 city. Board of Education or Board of 
 Library Commissioners shall be a 
 party or interested, and shall perform 
 such other duties as are required by 
 ordinance or as may be provided for 
 in th’s Charter or assigned to him by 
 the Council or Administrative Board. 
 He or his deputy shall attend all meet¬ 
 ings of the Council and the Adminis¬ 
 trative Board. He shall keep in his 
 office copies of all franchises and con¬ 
 tracts filed -with the City Clerk in 
 which the city is interested, together 
 with proper data and information con¬ 
 cerning the same, and shall give to the 
 Mayor and Council ample notice of the 
 expiration or termination of any such 
 franchise or contract. He shall have 
 power tf> appoint and remove such 
 assistants as may be provided by ordi¬ 
 nance. He shall pass upon the le- 
 .srality of all contracts made by the 
 city or any officer in its behalf, and 
 no contract shall be valid unless ap¬ 
 proved by him as to form, validity 
 and manner of execution, and such ap¬ 
 proval endorsed thereon before exe¬ 
 cution by the city or any officer there¬ 
 of. He shall give opinions in writing 
 to all officials and heads of depart¬ 
 ments named in this Charter v'^^'en re¬ 
 quested in writing So to do; he shall 
 keep on file in hi.-s office all written 
 opinions given by him to any officer, 
 and the briefs and transcripts used in 
 causes wherein he appears, and bound 
 
20 
 
 books of record and docket entries 
 of all actions or proceedings under 
 his charge in which the cit> is inter¬ 
 ested; he shau cause an index to be 
 made of all books and records, reports 
 documents and papers, and a liot of all 
 statutes, law books and other property 
 of every description belonging to his 
 office or to ulre eity. and deliver the 
 whole thereof to r:is successor in of¬ 
 fice, who shall give him a duphcat* re¬ 
 ceipt therefor, and file one with the 
 City Clerk of sa.d city. 
 
 He shall receive an annual salary 
 of not less than three thousand dol¬ 
 lars. He may designate twm assistants 
 as his senior and junior deputies, who 
 shall respectively perform all the 
 duties of said City Attorney in case 
 of his actual disability or absence from 
 the city. 
 
 The City Attorney shall, within 
 sixty days from the taking effect of 
 the Charter, prepare and report to the 
 Council such changes and modifica¬ 
 tions in existing ordinances as may 
 be deemed necessary to adapt the same 
 to this Charter, and as may be best 
 calculated to carry into effect its pro¬ 
 visions. and he shall receive no addi¬ 
 tional compensation therefor. 
 
 Comptroller—Powers and Duties— 
 
 Salary. 
 
 Sec. 9. (a.) The Comptrollei- and 
 
 his deputy, under his direction, shall 
 have access to all books, records and 
 documents kept by any officer, em¬ 
 ploye or department of the city. Upon 
 failure of such officer or employe to 
 comply wdth the requirement of the 
 Comptroller therefor, he shall be sus¬ 
 pended by the Mayor for a period not 
 exceeding thirty days, and such failure 
 shall be grounds for removal by the 
 proper authority at its discretion. 
 
 The Mayor shall immediately re¬ 
 move or suspend any such officer or 
 employe upon satisfactory evidence 
 of such failure being submitted to him 
 by the Comptroller. 
 
 (b) The Comptroller shall keep books 
 of account of all of the departments of 
 the city government affected by the 
 provisions of this Charter, and he shall 
 keep such books and make all financial 
 reports herein provided for, according 
 to an approved uniform system of ac¬ 
 counting, which uniform system shall 
 be the system provided by the general 
 laws of this state when adopted. His 
 books shall exhibit accurate and de¬ 
 tailed statements of all money received 
 and the several sources from which 
 it is derived. His books shall contain 
 original entries of all expenditures 
 and the specific purpose for which 
 each expenditure was made and shall 
 contain a ready reference to the origi¬ 
 nal accounts and vouchers covering 
 each item. He shall keep separate 
 
 accounts of each item of the budget 
 and the date, purpose and manner of 
 each payment therefrom. 
 
 (c) He shall examine and audit all 
 claims and demands against the city, 
 shall promptly report to the Mayor 
 and Administrative Board in writing 
 any default or delinquency he may dis¬ 
 cover in the books, records or accounts 
 of any city department. He shall 
 countersign all checks and drafts 
 against the city treasury. He shall 
 provide a system for keeping a check 
 upon all monies and property received 
 by the city or by any officer or agent 
 thereof, for the counter signature of 
 receipts or otherwise so as to keep 
 a daily record thereof. 
 
 (d) He shall not audit or counter¬ 
 sign any draft, check or warrant until 
 he has audited and examined the 
 claim, and he shall not allow any ac¬ 
 count against the city for which the 
 money is not duly appropriated nor 
 unless the appropriation therefor has 
 not been exhausted, nor shall he audit 
 or countersign any pay roll unless in 
 conformity with the provisions of the 
 Civil Service Title of the Charter. 
 
 (e) He shall require any person 
 presenting for payment an account 
 or claim exceeding $5.00 against the 
 city to be sworn or affirmed touching 
 such account or claim and when so 
 sworn or affirmed, may require him to 
 answer orally as to any facts relative 
 to the justness of such account or 
 claim and may require claims of less 
 than $5.00 in amount to be verified. 
 Proof of all claims shall be under oath 
 and upon blanks to be furnished by 
 the Comptroller. False swearing shall 
 be punishable as a misdemeanor by 
 a fine of not to exceed five hundred 
 dollars, or by imprisonment in the 
 countj'- jail for not more than ninety 
 days, or both in the discretion of the 
 court. 
 
 Sub-divisions c. d and e of this sec¬ 
 tion shall not apply to unliquidated 
 claims. 
 
 (f) He shall, in co-operation with 
 the heads of the several departments; 
 prepare blanks for checking, complet¬ 
 ing and keeping an inventory of all 
 property, real or personal, which the 
 city owns in whole or in part and shall 
 keep a copy thereof in his office. In^ 
 ventories of all property shall be fur¬ 
 nished by the General Manager of 
 each department at the end of each 
 fiscal year, which shall show, item by 
 item, the sums charged off or added 
 for depreciation or increase, if any 
 depreciation or increase exists since 
 the previous inventory, and shall be 
 checked and corrected by the Comp¬ 
 troller. 
 
 (g) He shall establish in each de¬ 
 partment, with the co-operation of 
 the head thereof, an accurate system 
 
21 
 
 of distribution and accounting of ex¬ 
 penditures under the heads of “Cost 
 of Operation,” Cost of Maintenance,” 
 and “Cost of Permanent Improve¬ 
 ments,” which system, w’hen installed, 
 shall be maintained by the several 
 departments. 
 
 (h) It shall be the duty of the 
 Comptroller and the heads of the sev¬ 
 eral departments to balance all books 
 affecting accounts and accounting 
 once in each month. 
 
 (i) All accounts, vouchers, bills and 
 inventory records shall at all times be 
 open for inspection by the public dur¬ 
 ing business hours. 
 
 (j) On the first of each month he 
 shall make reports to the Council and 
 to the Administrative Board of the 
 condition of the financial affairs of 
 the city and shall report as much 
 oftener as may be required by either 
 the Council or Administrative Board, 
 and he shall make an annual report 
 covering in detail the receipts, ex¬ 
 penditures and financial condition of 
 the city. 
 
 (k) He shall perform such other 
 duties not in cohflict herewith as shall 
 be required of him by this Charter 
 or by the Council. Until such time as 
 a uniform system of accounting is 
 adopted by the state, the Comptroller 
 shall install and maintain a system 
 of accounting subject to the approval 
 of the Administrative Board. 
 
 (l) He shall also have the same 
 powers and perform the same duties 
 as in this section specified, in regard 
 to the financial affairs of the Board of 
 Education. 
 
 (m) He shall receive an annual 
 salary of not less than $2,500. 
 
 (n) He may designate an employe 
 of his office as his deputy, who shall 
 perform all the duties of said Comp¬ 
 troller in case of his actual disability 
 or absence from the city. 
 
 City Clerk—Powers and Duties— 
 
 Salary. 
 
 Sec. 10. (a) The City Clerk shall 
 be the Clerk of the Council and of 
 the Administrative Board and attend 
 all meetings thereof; he shall keep a 
 Printed record of the proceedings of 
 the Council and the record of the pro¬ 
 ceedings of the Administrative Board. 
 He shall also keep the corporate seal 
 and shall affix the same to all instru¬ 
 ments and documents requiring the 
 seal and attest the same. 
 
 (b) He is hereby authorized to ad¬ 
 minister all oaths required to be ad¬ 
 ministered under the provisions of 
 this Charter, but shall receive no com¬ 
 pensation therefor. 
 
 (c) He shall perform such other 
 duties as may be provided for in this 
 Charter and as may be assigned to 
 
 him by either the Council or Admin¬ 
 istrative Board. 
 
 (d) He shall receive an annual 
 salary of not less than $2,500. 
 
 (e) He may designate one or more 
 employes in his office as his deputy 
 or deputies, who shall perform all the 
 duties of said City Clerk in case of 
 his actual disability or absence from 
 the city. 
 
 General Managers—Powers and Duties 
 
 —Salary. 
 
 Sec. 11. The General Manager of 
 each department shall have the super¬ 
 vision and control of the affairs and 
 property belonging to such depart¬ 
 ment, except as otherwise provided in 
 this Charter, and subject to the con¬ 
 trol and supervision of the Administra¬ 
 tive Board. He shall employ the sev¬ 
 eral employes in his department ac¬ 
 cording to Civil Service regulations, 
 and may employ and discharge, or 
 delegate to any subordinate the power 
 to employ or discharge such minor 
 employes and day laborers in his de¬ 
 partment as shall not come under 
 Civil Service regulations. Each Gen¬ 
 eral Manager shall take a complete 
 inventory of all the property under 
 the control of his department at the 
 end of each fiscal year and file the 
 same in his office. He shall give to 
 the Comptroller a copy thereof and 
 shall check and correct the same with 
 the Comptroller as may be required 
 by said Comptroller. 
 
 The salaries of the General Managers 
 shall not be less than three thousand 
 dollars per annum: Provided, how¬ 
 ever, the Council shall have power to 
 increase but not to diminish the sal¬ 
 ary of any General Manager, while in 
 office. 
 
 Department of Public Works. 
 
 Sec. 12. (a) The Department of 
 
 Public Works' shall have the general 
 supervision, management and control, 
 subject to the other provisions of this 
 Charter, of the water works property 
 and service, electric lighting property 
 and service, streets, sewers, flood pro¬ 
 tection. sidewalks, bridges, conduits 
 and other public places. It shall es¬ 
 tablish, fix and maintain all grade 
 lines for street, sidewalk and other 
 purposes. It shall also have the same 
 supervision and control of any other 
 public utilities which the city may 
 hereafter acquire. 
 
 (b) The General Manager of this 
 department shall appoint, subject to 
 confirmation by a majority vote of the 
 Administrative Board, a City Engineer 
 from persons certified by the Civil 
 Service Commission as eligible under 
 its rules, to hold office during good 
 behavior and efficient service and un¬ 
 til he shall resign or be removed in 
 
0 ‘> 
 
 accordance with the Civil Service rules 
 and regulations in this Charter pro¬ 
 vided. The Administrative Board may 
 call upon said Engineer to do work 
 for any department. 
 
 (c) The income from the water 
 works property and service, except 
 as hereinafter provided, may be used 
 by the Administrative Board in the 
 operation, maintenance and extension 
 of said property and service. 
 Department of Health and Safety. 
 
 Sec. 13. The Department of Health 
 and Safety shall have general super¬ 
 vision, management and control, sub¬ 
 ject to the other provisions of this 
 Charter, of the police and Are pro¬ 
 tection service, health, city hospitals, 
 sanitation and garbage disposal. The 
 General IManager of this department 
 shall appoint, subject to confirmation 
 by a majority vote of the Administra¬ 
 tive Board, the following employes, 
 which appointments shall be made 
 from persons certified by the Civil 
 Service Commission as eligible under 
 its rules. 
 
 A Superintendent of Police, a Fire 
 Marshal, a Health Officer, each of 
 whom shall hold office during good 
 behavior and efficient service, and 
 until he shall resign or be removed 
 in accordance with the. Civil Service 
 rules and regulations in this Charter 
 provided; Provided, such Health Officer 
 shall be a registered physician in good 
 standing and of not less than five 
 years’ actual practice. 
 
 The Council shall provide by ordi¬ 
 nance for a system of gas inspection, 
 plumbing inspection, building inspec¬ 
 tion, smoke inspection, electric inspec- 
 ton. milk and food inspection, inspec¬ 
 tion bf weights and measures, and may 
 provide for a system of inspection of 
 other conditions and matters in its 
 discretion, and it shall be the duty 
 of the Administrative Board to execute 
 such ordinance and to provide the 
 necessary officers or heads of the spe¬ 
 cial departments to make the same 
 effective. 
 
 Any employe or other person desig¬ 
 nated as such officer to take charge 
 of any such system or sub-department 
 shall be appointed by the General 
 Manager of this department, subject 
 to confirmation by a majority vote of 
 the Administrative Board, which ap¬ 
 pointment shall be made from persons 
 certified by the Civil Service Commis¬ 
 sion as eligible under its rules to hold 
 office during good behavior and effi¬ 
 cient service and until they shall re¬ 
 sign or be removed in accordance with 
 the Civil Service rules and regulations 
 in this Charter provided. 
 
 Department of Ihirks and Public Prop¬ 
 erty. 
 
 Sec. 14. The Department of Parks 
 
 and Public Property shall have general 
 supervision, management and control, 
 subject to the other provisions of this 
 Charter, of the parks, playgrounds, 
 trees, plants and shrubbery in the city 
 streets, boulevards and alleys; of the 
 cemeteries, public property over which 
 supervision is not otherwise granted 
 herein, market and public buildings; 
 and the care of the streets and alleys 
 between the curb and the lot line, ex¬ 
 cept sidewalks. 
 
 The General Manager of this depart¬ 
 ment shall appoint, subject to con¬ 
 firmation by a majority _vote of the 
 Administrative Board, the following 
 employes, which appointments shall 
 be made from persons certified by 
 the Civil Service Commission as eligi¬ 
 ble under its rules. 
 
 (a) A Superintendent or Superin¬ 
 tendents of Parks, Playgrounds and 
 Cemeteries, who shall hold office dur¬ 
 ing good behavior and efficient service, 
 and until he or they shall resign or 
 be removed in accordance with the 
 Civil Service rules and regulations in 
 this Charter provided. 
 
 (b) A Superintendent of Market, 
 w'ho shall hold office during good be¬ 
 havior and efficient service and until 
 he shall resign or be removed in ac¬ 
 cordance with the Civil Service rules 
 and regulations in this Charter pro¬ 
 vided. 
 
 Department of Finance and Revenue. 
 
 Sec. 15. (a) The Department of 
 
 Finance and Revenue shall have su¬ 
 pervision, management and control, 
 subject to the other provisions of 
 this Charter, over all matters of 
 finance, collection of revenues, pay¬ 
 ment of obligations, keeping such 
 books of account as shall be pre¬ 
 scribed by the Comptroller in accord¬ 
 ance with the system of accounting 
 established as in this Charter pro¬ 
 vided. 
 
 The General Manager of this de¬ 
 partment shall designate an employe 
 of his department to act as Deputy 
 City Treasurer, who shall perform all 
 the duties of Treasurer in case of 
 his actual disability or absence from^ 
 the city. 
 
 (b) Except as in this Charter pro¬ 
 vided or by law authorized, the City 
 Treasurer shall not lend to or deposit 
 with any bank, banker, person or 
 corporation, nor use, pay out nor al¬ 
 low to pass out of his custody the 
 moneys received by him as such 
 Treasurer, or an>’ part thereof. 
 
 (c) The General Manager of this 
 department, as treasurer of the city, 
 shall be the sole money receiving 
 and disbursing officer of the corpora¬ 
 tion and of its officers, agents and of 
 its boards, including the Board of 
 Education, 
 
 (d; School moneys shall be used 
 
23 
 
 for school purposes only and shall not 
 be transferred by the Council to any 
 other fund. Except as provided in 
 this Charter the City Treasurer, in 
 respect to the moneys received 
 by him, shall perform all duties and 
 be subject to all the obligations and 
 liabilities that now or hereafter may 
 be by law imposed upon the Township 
 Treasurers of the State in respect to 
 the keeping and paying out of moneys 
 collected for school purposes. 
 
 Commission of General Welfare. 
 
 Sec. 16. (a) It shall be the duty 
 
 of the Mayor to appoint a Commis¬ 
 sion of General Welfare, consisting of 
 three members and also the Mayor 
 as ex-officio member with power to 
 vote. The terms of office of the 
 members of such Commission shall be 
 three years and their appointment 
 shall be so arranged that one mem¬ 
 ber thereof shall retire each year. In 
 making the first appointments to such 
 Commission, the Mayor shall appoint 
 one member to hold office for one 
 year, one member to hold office for 
 two years, and one member to hold 
 office for three years. Women shall 
 be eligible to appointment on this 
 Commission. 
 
 (b) Said Commission subject to 
 the general laws of this state shall 
 be vested with the entire charge and 
 care of the public charities of the 
 city, and the care of poor persons en¬ 
 titled to relief by the city, and shall 
 have the same powers and authority 
 as Supervisors acting as Directors of 
 the Poor in townships of the state, 
 where the poor are cared for under 
 what is known as the township sys¬ 
 tem; Provided, that said Commission 
 may ado^t such plans and system in 
 the administration of the charities of 
 the city as it may deem adapted to 
 secure the greatest efficiency in the 
 care and relief of the poor: Pro¬ 
 vided, further that said Commission 
 shall be charged with the duty of 
 gathering statistics bearing upon the 
 question of poverty and, with the ap- 
 yroval of the Council, of establishing 
 special departments dealing with the 
 problems relating to the question of 
 poverty, such as the housing prob¬ 
 lem, the unemployed, child labor, 
 provident loans and such other work 
 <xs may tend to abolish as well as to 
 relieve poverty. 
 
 (c) It shall be the <luty of said 
 Commission to appoint a Superintend¬ 
 ent, City Physician and such other 
 employes as the economical and ef¬ 
 ficient service of this department 
 shall require, and to prescribe and fix 
 their duties, which appointments 
 shall be made from persons certified 
 by the Civil Service Commission as 
 eligible under its rules. 
 
 (d) Such City Physician shall be 
 a registered physician of at least five 
 years’ actual practice and a graduate 
 of a reputable medical college, whose 
 duty it shall be to prescribe for and 
 treat professionally the poor in said 
 city and who shall perform such other 
 services as may be required by said 
 Commission or by the Department of 
 Health and Safety in connection with 
 the work thereof, with the consent of 
 said Commission. Both said Superin¬ 
 tendent and City Physician shall hold 
 office during good behavior and effi¬ 
 cient service and until they shall re¬ 
 sign or be removed in accordance 
 with the Civil Service rules in this 
 Charter provided. 
 
 (e) The salaries and compensa¬ 
 tion of the employes of this depart¬ 
 ment shall be fixed by said Commis¬ 
 sion, subject to the approval of the 
 Administrative Board. 
 
 (f) Said Commission shall hold 
 weekly meetings and shall serve 
 without pay. It may adopt its own 
 rules of procedure, and choose an¬ 
 nually its own officers, and shall keep 
 a written record of its proceedings. 
 
 (g) No length of actual residence 
 by any person within the city, while 
 supported wholly or partially at the 
 expense of the county, or any town¬ 
 ship, shall operate to give such per¬ 
 son a settlement in the city. 
 
 Municipal Social Center Commission. 
 
 Sec. 17. A Municipal Social Cen¬ 
 ter Commission is hereby created to 
 consist of a member of the Board of 
 Education, designated by it for that 
 purpose, the General Managers of the 
 Departments of Parks and Public 
 Property, Public Works, Health and 
 Safety, and not more than five other 
 persons to be appointed by the Mayor, 
 who shall have charge of municipal 
 social centers; all of whom shall 
 serve without compensation. Women 
 shall be eligible to such Commission 
 and the Mayor shall be ex-officio a 
 member thereof. The Council shall 
 place in the budget annually a reason¬ 
 able sum for the creation and main¬ 
 tenance of such social centers. 
 
 Certain Officers and Emi)loyes to 
 
 Give Entire Time. 
 
 Sec. 18. The City Attorney, City 
 Clerk, Comptroller and Assessors and 
 all employes, except in cases of spe¬ 
 cial employment, shall give their en¬ 
 tire time during business hours to the 
 service of the city. 
 
 Annual Examination—Books of Ac¬ 
 count. 
 
 Sec. 19. At the beginning of each 
 year the Council shall employ, for a 
 stipulated compensation to be agfeed 
 upon in advance, a certified public 
 accountant, who shall examine, at 
 
24 
 
 least once in each year, the books, 
 records, papers and reports of the 
 Department of Finance and Revenue 
 and of the Comptroller and of such 
 other officers and departments as 
 the Council may direct, and he shall 
 make triplicate reports thereof, and 
 present one to the Mayor, one to the 
 Council, and file one with the City 
 Clerk. 
 
 Such accountant shall have ade¬ 
 quate privileges of investigation to 
 examine upon oath or otherwise all 
 officers, clerks or employes of the 
 city, and every such officer, clerk and 
 employe shall give all required assist¬ 
 ance and information to such account¬ 
 ant and submit to him for exam¬ 
 ination such books and papers of his 
 office as may be required, and failure 
 to do so shall be ground for removal. 
 The expense thereof shall be included 
 in the budget. 
 
 Definitions. 
 
 Sec. 2 0. The words “officer” and 
 “official,” when used in this Charter, 
 shall be construed to mean an elective 
 officer, members of the Commisison of 
 General Welfare, members of the 
 Civil Service Commission, members of 
 the Art and Museum Commission, and 
 the appointive members of the Mu¬ 
 nicipal Social Center Commission, and 
 of the Sinking Fund Commission, re¬ 
 spectively. 
 
 The word “employe,” when used in 
 this Charter, shall be construed to in¬ 
 clude all other persons in the employ 
 of the city. 
 
 TITLE VI. 
 
 DIRECT LEGISLATION—RECALL. 
 Direct Legislation. 
 
 Sec. 1. Any proposed ordinance 
 may be submitted to the Council by 
 petition filed with the City Clerk and 
 signed by not less than twenty-five 
 per cent of the registered voters of 
 the city entitled to vote for munici¬ 
 pal officers, and verified by the person 
 or persons who obtained the signa¬ 
 tures thereto: Provided, that such 
 petition may be signed by such other 
 per cent, not less than twelve per 
 cent, of the qualified or registered 
 voters, that may be hereafter author¬ 
 ized by the laws of the state. Such 
 verification shall state that the said 
 signatures were obtained by the per¬ 
 son or persons verifying the same, 
 that the said signatures are the gen¬ 
 uine signatures of the persons pur¬ 
 porting to sign the same, and that the 
 person or persons verifying such pe¬ 
 tition verily believes that the signers 
 thereof are duly qualified electors of 
 the city. Said pe'ii.on shall give the 
 residence of eacn uf said electors 
 
 signing the same by street and num¬ 
 ber, ward and precinct. 
 
 Proposed Ordinance—Action Upon. 
 
 Sec. 2. Said initiatory petition 
 shall contain said proposed ordinance 
 in full and a request that, if said pro¬ 
 posed ordinance be not passed by the 
 Council, the same shall be submit¬ 
 ted to a vote of the people. Upon fil¬ 
 ing said petition, the City Clerk shall 
 at once ascertain and certify its num¬ 
 ber of qualified signers. If such cer¬ 
 tificate shows the required number of 
 qualified signers, the Council, within 
 twenty days thereafter, shall either- 
 (a) pass said proposed ordinance 
 without alteration, subject to the ref¬ 
 erendum vote provided in this Title; 
 or, (b) call a special election, unless 
 a general or special election is to be 
 held within six months thereafter, 
 and at such general or special elec¬ 
 tion such proposed ordinance shall be 
 submitted without alteration. 
 
 Referendum. 
 
 Sec. 3. If within the thirty days 
 from the time of the approval of any 
 ordinance, other than appropriation 
 or emergency measures, adopted by 
 the Council a petition shall be filed 
 with the City Cerk protesting against 
 such ordinance taking effect, and 
 signed by not less than 12 per cent of 
 the registered voters of the city en¬ 
 titled to vote for municipal officers, 
 and verified as required in section one 
 hereof, and certified by the City Clerk 
 as required in this Title, the same 
 shall thereupon be suspended from 
 taking effect; and it shall be the duty 
 of the Council at its next regular ses¬ 
 sion to reconsider such ordinance and 
 act thereon by yea and nay vote; and 
 if the .«ame be not entirely repealed, 
 the Council shall submit such ordi¬ 
 nance by the method provided in this 
 Title to a vote of the qualified elec¬ 
 tors of the city, either at the next 
 regular municipal election or at a 
 special election which may be called, 
 for that purpose at the discretion of 
 the Council: and such ordinance shall 
 not take effect unless a majority of 
 the qualified electors voting thereon 
 at such election shall vote in favor 
 thereof. 
 
 Inconsistent, Provisions and Ordi¬ 
 nances—Which to Pi’CA'ail, 
 
 Sec. 4. If the provisions of two 
 or more ordinances or measures 
 adopted or approved at the same elec¬ 
 tion be inconsistent, then the ordi¬ 
 nance or measure receiving the high¬ 
 est affirmative vote shall prevail in- 
 so far as it or its provisions are in¬ 
 consistent with the other ordinance 
 or ordinances adopted or approved. 
 
Ordinances—Publication of. 
 
 Sec. 5. Whenever any proposed or¬ 
 dinance is required by this Charter to 
 be submitted to the voters of the city 
 at any election, the Council shall 
 cause it to be published in the official 
 paper of the city at least twice. The 
 last publication thereof shall not be 
 more than ten nor less than five days 
 before the election. 
 
 Ballots—What to Contain; Ordinance 
 
 —When to Become. 
 
 Sec. 6. The ballots used for vot¬ 
 ing upon such proposed ordinance 
 shall state the title and the nature of 
 the ordinance in terms sufficient to 
 identify it and shall contain in sep¬ 
 arate lines and words: “For the Or¬ 
 dinance” and “Against the Ordi¬ 
 nance.” If a majority of the quali¬ 
 fied electors voting on such proposed 
 ordinance shall vote in favor there¬ 
 of, the same shall become thereupon 
 an ordinance of the city. 
 
 All Proposed Ordinances—Ballots to 
 
 Contain. 
 
 Sec. 7. Provisions shall be made 
 on one ballot for voting upon all pro¬ 
 posed ordinances submitted at that 
 election. 
 
 Special Elections—Number Bimited. 
 
 Sec. 8. There shall be held under 
 this Titl’e not more than one special 
 election, other than recall elections, in 
 any period of twelve months. 
 
 Repeal or Amendment. 
 
 Sec. 9. An ordinance proposed by 
 petition and adopted by a vote of the 
 electors as herein provided, shall not 
 be repealed or amended except by 
 submission to, and majority vote of, 
 the electors voting thereon. 
 
 General Regulations. 
 
 Sec. 10. The Council shall make by 
 ordinance such regulations not in 
 conflict herewith as may be necessary 
 to execute the provisions of this Title. 
 
 Penalty For False Swearing. 
 
 Sec. 11. Any person who shall sub¬ 
 scribe and .swear to a verification false 
 in any particular, either to the initia¬ 
 tory petitions or to the petitions for 
 referendum herein provided, upon 
 conviction thereof shall be punished 
 by a fine not to exceed five hundred 
 dollars or by imprisonment in the 
 county jail for a period not to exceed 
 ninety days, or by both such fine and 
 imprisonment, in the descretion of 
 the court. 
 
 Oflicers Subject to Recall. 
 
 Sec. 12. The holder of any elective 
 office, other than judicial, may be re¬ 
 called therefrom by the qualified elec¬ 
 
 tors of the city, or any other election 
 district, as provided in this Title. 
 
 Instituting Recall—3Iethocl of Peti¬ 
 tions for. 
 
 Sec. 13. Any qualified elector of the 
 city may make and file with the City 
 Clerk an affidavit containing the 
 name of the officer sought to be re¬ 
 moved, and a specific statement of the 
 grounds of removal. The Clerk shall 
 thereupon deliver to the elector mak¬ 
 ing such affidavit a sufficient number 
 of copies of petitions for such recall 
 and removal, printed forms of which 
 he shall keep on hand. Such peti¬ 
 tions shall be issued by the Clerk 
 with his signature and official seal 
 thereto attached. They shall be dated 
 and addressed to the Council, shall 
 contain the name of the person to 
 whom issued, the number of forms so 
 issued, the name of the person sought 
 to be removed, the office from which 
 such removal is sought, the grounds 
 of such removal as stated in said affi¬ 
 davit, and shall demand the election 
 of a successor to such office. Any de¬ 
 fect in said form shall not invalidate 
 the same. Said recall petition, to be 
 valid, must be returned and filed with 
 said Clerk within forty days of its 
 issuance. Said petitions, before be¬ 
 ing returned and filed, shall be signed 
 by qualified electors, equal in number 
 to at least twenty-five per centum 
 of last preceding vote cast for 
 all the candidates for Mayor 
 by the electors of the city or other 
 election district which the officer 
 sought to be rem.oved serves; and to 
 each such signature shall be attached 
 the signer’s place of residence, street, 
 number, ward and precinct. Such 
 signatures need not all be on one pa¬ 
 per. One of the signers of each such 
 paper shall make an affidavit thereto 
 that the statements therein, con¬ 
 tained are true and that each signa¬ 
 ture appended to the paper is the 
 genuine signature of thd person whose 
 name it purports to be, and that the 
 person verifying such petition verily 
 believes that the signers thereof are 
 duly qualified electors. 
 
 Duties of Clerk in Regard Thereto. 
 
 Sec. 14. Within five days from the 
 filing of said petition, the Clerk shall 
 ascertain by examination thereof and 
 of the registration books and election 
 returns whether the petition is signed 
 by the requisite number of qualified 
 electors, and shall attach thereto his 
 certificate showing the result of such 
 examination. 
 
 If his certificate shows the petitions 
 to be insufficient, he shall, within five 
 days, so notify in writing the person 
 designated on the petition as orig¬ 
 inally securing the same: and the pe- 
 
26 
 
 tition may be amended by filing ad¬ 
 ditional names at any time within ten 
 days from the filing of the certificate. 
 The Clerk shall, within five days after 
 such amendment, make like examina¬ 
 tion of the amended petition and at¬ 
 tach thereto his certificate of the re¬ 
 sult. If still insufficient, or if no 
 amendment is made, he shall, after 
 five days, deliver the petition to the 
 officer sought to be recalled, without 
 prejudice, however, to the filing of a 
 new petition for the same purpose. 
 
 Duty of Clerk and Council as to Peti¬ 
 tions and Elections. 
 
 Sec. 15. If the petition or amended 
 petition shall be found and certified 
 by the Clerk to be sufficient, he shall 
 submit the same, with his certificate, 
 to the Council without delay. If the 
 officer sought to be removed does not 
 resign within five days thereafter, the 
 Council shall order an election to be 
 held on a Tuesday fixed by it, not less 
 than thirty nor more than forty days 
 from the date of the Clerk’s certifi¬ 
 cate that a sufficient petition is filed: 
 Provided, that if any other municipal 
 election is to occur within sixty days 
 from the date of the Clerk’s certifi¬ 
 cate, the Council may, in its discre¬ 
 tion, postpone the holding of the re¬ 
 call election to the date of such other 
 municipal election. If a vacancy occur 
 in said office after a recall election 
 has been so ordered and after nom¬ 
 ination petitions have been filed as 
 provided in Section 17, the election 
 shall, nevertheless, proceed as in this 
 Title provided. 
 
 Officer’s Name—When to Be Placed on 
 
 Ballot. 
 
 Sec. 16. Any officer sought to be re¬ 
 called may be a candidate to succeed 
 himself, and, unless he requests other¬ 
 wise in writing, the Cerk shall place 
 his name on the official ballot. 
 
 Candidate at Recall Election—How 
 
 to Become. 
 
 Sec. 17. Other nominations for the 
 office from which the officer is 
 sought to be recalled shall be made 
 without the intervention of a primary 
 election, by filing with the Clerk 
 at least fourteen days prior to said 
 special election a statement of can¬ 
 didacy, accompanied by a petition 
 signed by electors entitled to vote at 
 said special election, equal in number 
 to at least ten per centum of the en¬ 
 tire vote for all candidates for the 
 office of Mayor at the last preceding 
 general election in said election dis¬ 
 trict, Said statement of candidacy 
 and petition shall be substantially in 
 the form provided for primary nom¬ 
 ination petition in Section 14, Title 
 III, of this Charter, so far as the same 
 
 is applicable, substituting the words 
 “Special Recall’’ for the word “Pri¬ 
 mary” in such statement and petition 
 and stating therein that such person 
 is a candidate for election instead of 
 nomination. 
 
 Recall Election—Candidate, When 
 
 Elected—When Nominated. 
 
 Sec, 18. If the names of more than 
 two candidates appear upon the recall 
 election ballot for the office from 
 which the officer is sought to be re¬ 
 called, then, in case one candidate 
 shall receive a majority of all the votes 
 cast, he shall be declared elected; 
 otherwise the recall election shall be 
 considered as having been only a pri¬ 
 mary, and the two highest candidates 
 shall be considered to have qualified 
 for a final election to be held the third 
 Tuesday thereafter under the pro¬ 
 visions of this Charter applying to the 
 general election of city officials. If 
 the names of only two candidates ap¬ 
 pear on the first recall election ballot, 
 then the candidate receiving the high¬ 
 est number of votes shall be declared 
 elected. 
 
 Term of Office—^Expiration of. 
 
 Sec. 19. The incumbent shall con¬ 
 tinue to perform the duties of his 
 office until the recall election. If not 
 then elected as provided herein, his 
 term shall expire upon the qualifica¬ 
 tion of his successor, who shall hold 
 office until the next regular election 
 for such office and until his successor 
 is elected and qualified. If the suc¬ 
 cessor fails to qualify within ten days 
 after receiving notification of his elec¬ 
 tion, the incumbent shall thereupon 
 be removed and the office vacant. 
 
 Recall Elections to Proceed as Other 
 
 Elections. 
 
 Sec. 2 0. Any recall election or elec¬ 
 tions shall conform in procedure to 
 the provisions of the non-partisan 
 election title of this Charter, except 
 wherein they may be contradictory 
 hereto. 
 
 Recall—Not to Be Instituted—When. 
 
 Sec. 21. No recall petition shall be 
 filed against any officer until he has 
 held his office for at least four months. 
 
 Second Recall Election—For Wliat 
 
 Causes Only. 
 
 Sec. 22. No recall petition shall con¬ 
 tain charges not arising after the time 
 of the first election, nor be filed 
 against any officer a second time dur¬ 
 ing the same term in which he has 
 previously submitted to one recall 
 election, except for causes occurring 
 after the previous recall electidn. 
 Officers Recalled-When Not Elig¬ 
 
 ible. 
 
 Sec. 23. No person who has been 
 
27 
 
 removed from office by recall or who 
 has resigned from such office while re¬ 
 call proceedings are pending against 
 him shall be appointed to any office 
 within one year after such recall or 
 resignation. 
 
 Terms of Office. 
 
 Sec. 24. All terms of office under 
 this charter shall continue for the 
 time herein limited, or until a pre¬ 
 vious recall, except as in this Charter 
 otherwise provided. 
 
 TITLE VII. 
 
 PUBLIC UTILITY FRANCHISES 
 
 AND MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. 
 Power to Grant. 
 
 Sec. 1. The power to grant public 
 utility franchises, rights or privileges, 
 and to renew, extend, amend, or alter 
 the same, shall be exercised by ordi¬ 
 nance, which shall become effective 
 only upon receiving a two-thirds vote 
 of the members of the Council elect¬ 
 ed: Provided, that if the Mayor shall 
 return the same within ten days with 
 his disapproval and the reasons there¬ 
 for said ordinance shall not become 
 effective unless it shall be again 
 adopted by a two-thirds vote of the 
 members of the Council elected. 
 
 Grants—When Void. 
 
 Sec. 2. Such power shall be exer¬ 
 cised expressly subject to the condi¬ 
 tions and limitations in this Title con- 
 cained, and every grant of any fran¬ 
 chise and of any extension, renewal, 
 alteration or amendment thereof 
 which shall not conform to the limi¬ 
 tations, conditions and regulations in 
 this Title contained shall be void, and 
 no rights shall be vested or exercised 
 thereunder. 
 
 When to Be Aeted Upon By Coiineil. 
 
 Sec. 3. No ordinance granting any 
 franchise, renewal, extension, amend¬ 
 ment or alteration shall be finally 
 actec? upon by the Council until at 
 least three months after the filing of 
 the application therefor with the City 
 
 • Clerk, nor until at least thirty days 
 after the publication in full in the 
 official paper of said city of the 
 grant, franchise, renewal, extension, 
 amendment or alteration so applied 
 
 • for, together with notice of such ap¬ 
 plication and the publication in one 
 or more of the daily papers published 
 and circulated in said city of notice 
 of such application and of a brief ab¬ 
 stract of such grant, franchise, re¬ 
 newal, extension, amendment or al¬ 
 teration, with correct reference to the 
 issues of the official paper where the 
 same may be found in full. All such 
 publications shall be prepared by the 
 City Attorney, and the expense of 
 
 publishing the same shall be advanced 
 and borne by the applicant. 
 
 Provided, that at least two public 
 hearings shall be had by the Council 
 due and timely notice of which shall 
 have been first given in the official 
 paper, before any final action is taken 
 thereon: Provided, further, that the 
 Council, in framing such ordinance 
 and before final action thereon, shall 
 refer the same to the head of the 
 commission or department of said 
 city having control or supervision of 
 public utilities, or the Administrative 
 Board, if no such commission or de¬ 
 partment shall have been created, and 
 obtain and file with the City Clerk his 
 or its written report and recommen¬ 
 dation thereon. 
 
 In cape said grant, franchise, re¬ 
 newal, extension, amendment or alter¬ 
 ation, as originally applied for and 
 published, shall be amended or 
 changed, then in that event such 
 amendment or changes shall be pub¬ 
 lished in full in said official paper at 
 least fourteen days before said ordi¬ 
 nance, as amended or changed, shall 
 be finally acted upon by the Council, 
 and public hearings thereon shall be 
 granted if requested in writing with¬ 
 in seven days after such publication 
 by any resident of said city. 
 
 Franchises—Term of — Amendments, 
 
 Etc. 
 
 Sec. 4. No franchise shall be grant¬ 
 ed for a longer period than thirty 
 years, and every amendment or alter¬ 
 ation of any franchise heretofore or 
 hereafter granted and all of the priv¬ 
 ileges and righths claimed by virtue 
 thereof shall expire at the same time 
 as the original grant or franchise, un¬ 
 less a shorter term be limited in the 
 amendment or alteration. 
 
 Renewals—Wlien Applied for and 
 
 Granted—City Attorney to Notify 
 
 Council of Expiration. 
 
 Sec. 5. Application for the renewal 
 or extension, in whole or in part, of 
 any franchise heretofore or hereafter 
 granted, shall be made not less than 
 three years nor more than four years 
 before the expiration of such fran¬ 
 chise, and any renewal or extension 
 granted by the Council shall be sub¬ 
 mitted to the vote of the qualified 
 voters of said city not less than 
 eighteen months before such expira¬ 
 tion; except that any existing utilities, 
 whose first mortgage bond issue ma¬ 
 tures more than four years before such 
 expiration, may apply for such renew¬ 
 als at any time within two years before 
 the maturity of such bonds, and ex¬ 
 cept that any application for renewal 
 or extension may be granted before 
 the time herein limited by vote of 
 five-sixths of the members of the 
 
28 
 
 Council elected: Provided, however, 
 that such renewal or extension so 
 granted before the time herein limit¬ 
 ed shall be accepted by the grantee 
 and put into operation within four 
 months from the time the same is 
 granted, and not thereafter. At least 
 three months before the expiration of 
 the time limit for the application for 
 the renewal of any existing franchise, 
 the City Attorney shall notify the 
 Council thereof, and it shall be the 
 duty of the Council forthwith to take 
 steps to procure continuous service of 
 such utility. 
 
 Assignment of Franchises. 
 
 Sec. 6. No franchise or privilege 
 nor any rights therein shall be as¬ 
 signed, transferred, sold or sublet in 
 whole or in part, either directly or in¬ 
 directly, nor shall the property, busi¬ 
 ness or interest of the grantee, his 
 successors or assigns, or of any person 
 operating thereunder, be transferred to 
 or combined with the business of any 
 other company or person, without the 
 express consent of the Council first 
 obtained by ordinance duly enacted, 
 and no dealings with the lessee, as¬ 
 signee or other person or company 
 claiming to own or operate the same, 
 to require the performance of any act 
 or payment of any compensation by 
 such lessee, assignee, claimant or 
 otherwise, shall be deemed to operate 
 as such consent: Provided, that noth¬ 
 ing in this section contained shall 
 limit the right of any public utility 
 company to mortgage its property and 
 franchise or limit or restrict the rights 
 of the purchaser upon foreclosure sale 
 to operate the same, except that such 
 mortgagee and purchaser shall be sub¬ 
 ject in all things to the franchise and 
 to the provisions of this Title. 
 
 Rights of BondJiolders. Etc. 
 
 Sec. 7. The rights and equities of 
 all bondholders or mortgagees of the 
 property, rights or privileges of any 
 public utility, or of any right or priv¬ 
 ilege granted by the city, and of all 
 persons contracting with the owners 
 or operators thereof, shall not, as 
 against the city, whether in the use of 
 public property, public streets, public 
 places or otherwise, be greater or for 
 a longer term than those of the 
 grantee of the franchise, right or 
 privilege. 
 
 Acceptance by Grantee. 
 
 Sec. 8. Every franchise and every 
 extension or renewal of any franchise 
 heretofore or hereafter granted shall 
 contain a provision for its affirmative 
 acceptance by the grantee thereof 
 within three months from the time the 
 same is granted, and before the same 
 is submitted to the vote of the electors, 
 and such acceptance shall be con¬ 
 strued to be an acceptance of and con¬ 
 
 sent to all the terms, conditions and 
 restrictions contained in the ordinance 
 granting the same, as well as to the 
 provisions of this Charter and no such 
 franchise shall be deemed binding 
 upon' the city and may be withdrawn 
 by the city until its acceptance in the 
 manner prescribed by the ordinance. 
 Construction of Grant. 
 
 Sec. 9. All grants and franchises, 
 whether originals, renewals, exten¬ 
 sions, alterations or amendments, shall 
 be construed in favor of the city. 
 Referendum. 
 
 Sec. 10. The right of the referen¬ 
 dum as provided in this Charter shall 
 exist upon all ordinances passed or 
 authorized to be passed pursuant to 
 this Title or relating to or affecting 
 franchises: Provided, that petition 
 
 therefor may be filed with 'the City 
 Clerk within forty days from the time 
 the acceptance of such ordinance by 
 the grantee is reported to the Council 
 by the C’ty Clerk. 
 
 Rates of Charge. 
 
 Sec. 11. Every franchise hereafter 
 granted shall fix the maximum rate or 
 rates of charge for the service to be 
 furnished thereunder, and the Council 
 shall employ one or more competent 
 experts to ascertain and recommend a 
 fair maximum rate befofe finally fix¬ 
 ing the same. 
 
 The Council, by ordinance, shall 
 have the power to reduce such rate or 
 rates below, but not to increase them 
 above, those so fixed in the franchise, 
 and at least one public hearing shall 
 be had upon any such ordinance before 
 its adoption: Provided, that no such 
 rate or rates shall be so reduced as 
 not to pay, together with any and all 
 other earnings and income of such 
 utility from the property, the value of 
 which is included in the franchise, a 
 fair and reasonable return upon the 
 necessary cash working capital re¬ 
 quired in the operation of such utility, 
 the amount of which shall be fixed 
 from time to time, in advance, by the 
 Council and be subject to the right of 
 arbitration in this Title provided, and 
 upon the value of the property actu¬ 
 ally and necessarily used in the oper¬ 
 ation of such utility, such value to be 
 fixed as provided in this Title, but 
 which shall not in any case include 
 any value of the franchise, nor exceed 
 the cost of reproduction new, includ¬ 
 ing the intangible elements mentioned 
 in Section 13, less actual depreciation 
 and obsolescence. 
 
 The Council in addition to the 
 above, may provide in any such fran¬ 
 chise for a division with the city of 
 the net earnings of such utility, in 
 which case not less than 25 per cent 
 thereof shall be paid to the city, or for 
 the so-called sliding scale of rates and 
 
29 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 dividends, the one to be decreased and 
 the other to be increased in the pro¬ 
 portions fixed in such franchise. 
 
 Accounting and Repayment of Excess. 
 
 Sec. 12. In case the grantee of, or 
 operator under, any franchise, or any 
 company, individual or corporation 
 interested in the property or the utility 
 under such franchise, shall in any 
 manner attempt to question, contest or 
 review the action of the city in fixing 
 such reduced rate or rates of charge in 
 such manner as may delay or postpone 
 the putting into effect of the reduced 
 rate or rates of charge so fixed, then 
 the grantee of such franchise or oper¬ 
 ator of the public utility thereunder, 
 as the case may be, shall keep strict 
 account, according to such method as 
 shall be prescribed by the city, of any 
 income affected, or that may be affect¬ 
 ed by such reduced rate or rates of 
 charge, in such manner as to clearly, 
 fully and accurately show the amount, 
 if any, produced by the rates actually 
 charged, over the amount which 
 would have been produced by such re¬ 
 duced rates upon the same volume and 
 character of business in the interim. 
 In case any such question, contest or 
 review of the rate or rates so fixed 
 shall terminate in sustaining the va¬ 
 lidity of the reduced rate or rates, 
 then the said grantee or operator, as 
 the case may be, shall within thirty 
 days thereafter pay into the city treas¬ 
 ury the amount which has been pro¬ 
 duced from the date of the taking 
 effect of such ordinance in excess of 
 the amount which would have been 
 produced upon the same volume and 
 character of business had the reduced 
 rate or rates been in effect for that 
 time. 
 
 In case the utility be of such a 
 character that accounts for service 
 are kept with the persons served, then 
 and in such case the payment of the 
 excess shall be made within the time 
 above limited and in the proper pro¬ 
 portions, to the persons from whom 
 such excess was received, instead of to 
 the city. 
 
 In case of such question, contest or 
 review of any rate or rates, the grantee 
 or operator thereof or other person in¬ 
 stituting the same, as a prerequisite to 
 any order or process restraining the 
 putting into effect of the reduced rate 
 or rates, shall be required to give a 
 bond to the city in such adequate 
 amount and with such sufficient sure¬ 
 ties as shall be provided by the court 
 in which the suit is instituted, condi¬ 
 tioned to pay to the city or other 
 proper persons as herein provided the 
 full amount of excess charged, and 
 such bond may be renewed or en¬ 
 larged from time to time by order of 
 the court. 
 
 Value of Property—Francliise to Fix, 
 
 Etc. 
 
 Sec. 13. Every franchise hereafter 
 granted, extended or renewed, shall 
 fix the then value of the property of 
 the utility within the city, and of such 
 portion of the property thereof beyond 
 the city limits as is actually and nec¬ 
 essarily used in, belonging to and a 
 part of the local service, and whicii the 
 city may own and operate under the 
 constitution and general laws of the 
 state; except that in the case of a new 
 utility, the value need not be fixed in 
 the franchise, but shall be the value of 
 the property as first installed, subject, 
 however, to the right of the Council 
 to supervise and change the accounts 
 as provided in Section 14: Provided, 
 that the value thus fixed or deter¬ 
 mined in no case shall include an,y 
 value of the franchise, nor exceed the 
 cost of reproduction new at the time 
 of the granting of such franchise, re¬ 
 newal Or extension, or in the case of a 
 new utility, at the time of the com¬ 
 pletion of the same, but may in either 
 case include the .value of any in¬ 
 tangible elements which properly and 
 necessarily enter into the cost of re¬ 
 production of the property as a new 
 installation, less actual depreciation. 
 There shall be added annually to the 
 value so fixed and determined, the 
 value of additions and betterments, 
 and there shall be deducted therefrom 
 all amounts properly charged off for 
 depreciation and obsolescence. 
 
 Provided, that nothing shall be 
 added on account of additions or bet¬ 
 terments unless the expenditures 
 therefor shaP have been approved by 
 the Council subject to the same right 
 to demand arbitration as given in Sec¬ 
 tion 27. 
 
 Control of Accounts, Expenditures, 
 
 Etc. 
 
 Sec. 14. Every public utility fran¬ 
 chise shall provide that the Council 
 shall prescribe the form of reports to 
 be made to the city by such utility 
 and to what accounts and under what 
 heads the different character of items 
 and expenditures shall be charged and 
 reported, including therein additions, 
 betterments, investments, mainten¬ 
 ance, depreciation, expense and cost 
 of operation from which accounts the 
 grantee of such franchise, his succes¬ 
 sors or assigns, shall make verified 
 statements to the city and file with the 
 City Clerk, at the time and in form 
 and substance as provided for in the 
 franchise, or as shall thereafter from 
 time to time be required by the Coun¬ 
 cil, but not less than one such state¬ 
 ment covering a year’s operation shall 
 be furnished in each and every year, 
 and the Council may prescribe that the 
 accounts and books of account of such 
 
30 
 
 grantee, his successors or assigns, 
 shall he kept according to some ap¬ 
 proved standard form of accounting. 
 
 The Council in all such reports shall 
 have the right to and shad annually 
 pass upon all items charged to the dif¬ 
 ferent accounts and may change items 
 from one account to another, if such 
 items are not properly classified or 
 charged, and may make original en¬ 
 tries, reduce any items which may be 
 excessive, and reject or throw out en¬ 
 tirely items not properly chargeable 
 to additions, betterments, investment, 
 maintenance, depreciation or expense 
 and cost of operation or other items 
 of expenditure, even though the 
 amounts therefor have actually been 
 paid in whole or in part or the liability 
 therefor incurred, and such accounts, 
 and the value determined as in this 
 Section and in this Title provided, 
 shall form the basis for fixing the 
 rates, and for purchasing the property, 
 as in this Title provided: Provided, 
 that all such changes shall be fair and 
 reasonable. If the grantee of any 
 franchise, his successor, or assigns, is 
 dissatisfied with the accounts as 
 changed and determined by the'Coun- 
 cil, he shall within thirty days, and 
 not thereafter, have the right to de¬ 
 mand an arbitration thereon, which 
 arbitration and the right thereto shall 
 be exclusive of any and all other ac¬ 
 tions or remedies and binding and 
 final as to all parties in interest. 
 
 Discrimination Prohibited. 
 
 Sec. 15. Every franchise shall con¬ 
 tain a provision which shall prohibit 
 unjust discrimination, and no grantee 
 of any franchise, right or privilege, 
 his successor or assigns, shall unjustly 
 discriminate in the matter of rates, 
 charges, or character of service. 
 
 Inspection of Books of Account. 
 
 Sec. 16. Every franchise shall pro¬ 
 vide that all records, books of ac¬ 
 counts, contracts, vouchers and other 
 documents or papers of any grantee, 
 his successors or assigns, owning or 
 operating under any franchise here¬ 
 after granted, renewed, extended, 
 amended or altered, and which pertain 
 to such utility, shall at all times dur¬ 
 ing business hours be open to the in¬ 
 spection of the Council, Mayor or 
 other representative of the city au¬ 
 thorized by the Council, who may 
 make transcripts thereof in whole or 
 in part. 
 
 Extensions of Service. 
 
 Sec. 17. Every franchise shall pro¬ 
 vide that the Council shall have the 
 right from time to time to order all 
 reasonable and necessary extensions 
 of lines or service, any such order to 
 be made only after proper notice to 
 the utility and an opportunity for pub¬ 
 
 lic hearing thereon. The reasonable¬ 
 ness of such extension and of the order 
 requiring the same when requested by 
 the grantee, his successors or assigns, 
 within thirty days from the date of 
 the order of the Council, and not 
 thereafter, shall be determined by ar¬ 
 bitrators to be chosen as in this Title 
 provided. The arbitrators shall have 
 authority to modify any such order of 
 the Council or‘to change or alter the 
 time therein fixed: Provided, how¬ 
 ever, that the reasonableness of such 
 extensions and orders shall be pre¬ 
 sumed until the contrary thereof is 
 established. 
 
 Such order of the Council or deter¬ 
 mination of the arbitrators, as the case 
 may be, shall be exclusive of any and 
 all other actions or remedies and con¬ 
 clusive and binding upon all persons 
 having or claiming any rights in such 
 utility or franchise and shall not be in 
 anywise subject to review. 
 
 The failure to make and to put into 
 operation such extensions, to the ex¬ 
 tent, in the manner and time ordered 
 by the Council, or by such arbitrators, 
 as the case may be, and for one year 
 thereafter, shall constitute a cause for 
 forfeiture of the franchise right or 
 privilege which may be declared by 
 said council. 
 
 Right to Regulate Service, Secure 
 
 Safety, Convenience, Etc. 
 
 Sec. 18. Every ordinance granting 
 a public utility franchise, right or priv¬ 
 ilege, and any extension or renewal of 
 any franchise hereto. ,'e or herea''ler 
 granted, shall expressly pijvide that 
 the Council may 'from time to time 
 make all regulations which it .sliall 
 deem necessary to secure in the most 
 ample manner the safety, welfare, and 
 convenience of the pul.dic, inducing 
 among other things, the right to re¬ 
 quire any and all wires, cables, con¬ 
 duits and othei like appliances to be 
 placed under ground or otherwise 
 properly protected, the right to pro¬ 
 tect the public from danger and t,- 
 convenience in the operation of any 
 utility work or busine.ss authorized by 
 the grant, franchise, exteaslor. or re¬ 
 newal, the right to make and enforce 
 any and all reasonable regulations, (ir- 
 ders and restrictions for the conveni¬ 
 ence, safety and welfaj'e of the ublic, 
 and the right to require uniform, ade¬ 
 quate, sufficient and proper .service and 
 accommodations to tho public, and the 
 maintenance of the utihty plant, prop¬ 
 erty and service at the maximum ot 
 efficiency. The enumeration heroin of 
 particular regulations shall not ex¬ 
 clude the right of the Council to make 
 other regulations as provided in this 
 Section. 
 
 Joint Use of Tracks. Etc. 
 
 Sec. 19. The right is hereby re- 
 
31 
 
 # 
 
 
 served to the city to use and to con¬ 
 trol and regulate the use of its streets, 
 alleys and public places and the space 
 above and beneath them. 
 
 Every franchise for the operation 
 of a public utility, occupying the 
 streets, alleys or public places of the 
 city, shall be subject to the limitation 
 that the citymay refuse or maj’’ permit 
 the joint use of the property of such 
 public utility located in the streets, 
 alleys or public places of the city by 
 any other public utility on such terms 
 as it may impose, and upon paj’ment 
 of a reasonable compensation to the 
 owner thereof. If the owner of such 
 property and the one desiring such use 
 are not able to agree on such compen¬ 
 sation, the same shall be deter.iiined 
 by arbitration, as provided in Section 
 27 of this Title, except that sucn other 
 public utility instead of the city shall 
 .select one arbitrator. 
 
 The use of the streets, alleys or pub¬ 
 lic places of the city by such other 
 public utility shall be subject to regu¬ 
 lation by the Council. 
 
 Purchase by the City. 
 
 Sec, 20. Every franchise hereafter 
 granted, and every renewal, extension, 
 or amendment of any franchise now 
 existing or hereafter granted, shall 
 provide that at the termination there¬ 
 of, and also at fifteen years from the 
 time of the taking effect thereof, and 
 at any five-year period thereafter, or 
 upon the forfeiture thereof, the city 
 shall have the right to buy and take 
 over all the tangible property of such 
 utility within the city and such por¬ 
 tion of the property of such utility be¬ 
 yond the city limits as is actually and 
 necessarily used in, belonging to and a 
 part of the local service, and which 
 the city may own and operate under 
 the constitution and general laws of 
 the state, at the actual cash value as 
 fixed in the franchise or the value as 
 fixed when first installed, as the case 
 may be, including the value of any 
 intangible elements, as mentioned in 
 Section 13 of this Title, plus the value 
 of additions and betterments made 
 during the period of operation under 
 the franchise, less the amounts which 
 have been properh'’ charged off for de¬ 
 preciation or obsolescence during such 
 period of operation os provided in Sec¬ 
 tion 18 of this Title: Provided, that 
 the amount thus to be paid in no case 
 shall include any value of the fran¬ 
 chise, nor exceed the cost of repro¬ 
 duction new at the time of the pur¬ 
 chase and taking over of said property 
 by the city, but may include the value 
 of any intangible elements which prop¬ 
 erly and necessarily enter into the cost 
 of reproduction of the property as a 
 new installation, less actual deprecia¬ 
 tion. 
 
 If said right to purchase shall be 
 
 exercised by the city at the end of 
 the first fifteen-year period, or at any 
 five-year period thereafter, then, ex¬ 
 cept in case of forfeiture, there shall 
 be added as part of the purchase price 
 to the cash value of the property, de¬ 
 termined as provided in this section, 
 such per cent of the amount thereof 
 as shall be fixed in the franchise. 
 
 If the city does not elect to pur¬ 
 chase the property under the pro¬ 
 visions herein named then, at the ter¬ 
 mination of such franchise or upon 
 any forfeiture thereof, the Council may 
 provide that the grantee of such ex¬ 
 pired or forfeited franchise, his suc¬ 
 cessors, or assigns, shall sell the same 
 at the price to be ascertained as herein 
 provided, to the party to whom a new 
 franchise may be granted, or such 
 other party as the Council may deter¬ 
 mine, conditioned on the obligation of 
 the grantee of such new franchise or 
 other party to purchase the same: 
 Provided, that said grantee, his suc¬ 
 cessors or assigns, shall continue to 
 operate such public utility under the 
 terms of such franchise and give ef¬ 
 ficient service until such time, not ex¬ 
 ceeding one year, as the city or such 
 other party is ready to take possession 
 and operate the same, and in default 
 thereof, the Council may at once di¬ 
 rect and authorize the taking posses¬ 
 sion and operation of the same during 
 the interval on the account of said 
 grantee, his successors or assigns. 
 
 Operation After Expiration of Fran¬ 
 chise—Control of. 
 
 Sec. 21. In the case of any person 
 or company operating any public util¬ 
 ity after its franchise has terminated, 
 either by expiration, forfeiture, or oth¬ 
 erwise, the Council shall have full au¬ 
 thority of control and government over 
 the same and the operation thereof, 
 including the authority to fix and reg¬ 
 ulate the rate or rates of charge for 
 the service furnished by such person, 
 company or utility, the division of 
 earnings and the compensation to the 
 city therefor. 
 
 Franchises —- Renewals. Etc. — When 
 
 Revocable. 
 
 Sec. 22. Everv franchise, and 
 every renewal, extension, amendment 
 pr alteration thereof, shall be and con¬ 
 tinue subject to alteration, amend¬ 
 ment, repeal or revocation by the 
 Council at any time after thirty days 
 from the introduction of the resolu¬ 
 tion for that purpose, unless the same 
 shall affirmativelv state that such re¬ 
 served power shall not exist in the 
 city, and unless and until the same 
 shall have received the affirmative 
 vote of not less than three-fifths of 
 the qualified voters of said city voting 
 thereon. 
 
32 
 
 Forfeiture. 
 
 Sec. 23. Every such franchise shall 
 provide for the revocation or forfeit¬ 
 ure thereof by the Council for viola¬ 
 tion of its provisions, and in addition 
 thereto shall provide for the judicial 
 forfeiture thereof, either of which 
 methods of procedure shall be op¬ 
 tional. 
 
 Faihii’e to Operate. Etc.—Forfeiture. 
 
 Sec. 24. Failure on the part of 
 the grantee to commence work in good 
 faith under any franchise hereafter 
 granted for a new utility within six 
 months from the time of the taking 
 effect thereof and failure to complete 
 such work within the time fixed in 
 the ordinance, unless such time is ex¬ 
 tended by the Council on good cause 
 shown or wilful failure of any utility 
 at any time thereafter for ten days 
 to keep* in actual operation, in whole 
 or in part the utility covered by such 
 franchise, shall be cause for forfeiture. 
 
 Franchises—When to Take Effect. 
 
 Sec. 25. No franchise shall be 
 granted which shall not by its terms 
 take effect within one year after tne 
 adoption of the ordinance g:anting the 
 same, except in the case of grants to 
 take effect at the end of an existing 
 franchise. 
 
 Fi’ce Passes, Etc., Prohibited. 
 
 Sec. 2 6. Every ordinance granting 
 a franchise shall prohibit the grantee 
 therein named, or his successors or as¬ 
 signs, from giving cr granting, either 
 directly or indirectly, any pass, frank, 
 free ticket or free servi'-*e to any per¬ 
 son whomsoever, except to such classes 
 of the employes of the utility and of 
 the Fire and Police Departments of 
 the city as shall be fixed in the fran¬ 
 chise. 
 
 Arbitrators — How Chosen — What 
 
 Franchises to Provide Thereon. 
 
 Sec. 27. In all cases in this Title 
 where arbitratioT^ is provided, or al¬ 
 lowed, the arbitrators shall be chosen 
 as follows: The utility, within ten 
 days after claiming such arbitration, 
 shall name one arbitrator; the Council, 
 within ten days after notice thereof, 
 shall name one arbitrator; within ten 
 days after their appointment, the two 
 arbitrators so chosen shall name a 
 third arbitrator. 
 
 Every franchise shall specifically 
 provide the method of choosing the 
 third arbitrator in every case wherein 
 the two arbitrators are unable to 
 choose such arbitrator, as above pro¬ 
 vided. In case the utility shall fail to 
 name its arbitrator as herein provided, 
 it shall forfeit its right to said arbitra¬ 
 tion. and the order of the Council shall 
 stand and be final; and in case the city 
 shall fail to name its arbitrator as 
 
 here’n provided, the order of the 
 Council shall be of no effect. The 
 written findings of such arbitrators, or 
 any two of them, shall be conclusive 
 upon all parties in interest. 
 
 Apijiicant to P^iy Expenses. 
 
 Sec. 28. The grantee of any public 
 utility franchise or privilege shall pay 
 to the city the cost of its submission 
 to the vote of the people and the ac¬ 
 tual cost of publication and advertis¬ 
 ing, the amount thereof to be fixed by 
 the Council. 
 
 Acceptance of an Amendment—Ef¬ 
 fect of. 
 
 Sec. 2 9. The acceptance of any 
 amendment to a franchise or grant 
 now existing shall subject the grantee 
 thereof, his successors and assigns, to 
 all of the provisions of this Title, unless 
 the same is revocable or unless it be 
 expressly stated therein that its effect 
 shall not be to subject said grantee to 
 such provision. 
 
 Books of Record and Reference. 
 
 Sec. 30. The Mayor and Council 
 shall provide and cause to be kept in 
 the office of the City Clerk the follow¬ 
 ing books of record and reference, 
 which shall be open to the public. 
 
 First: A Franchise Record, indexed 
 and of proper form, in which shall be 
 transcribed accurate and correct copies 
 of any and all grants by the city of 
 every franchise, right or privilege and 
 of any and all renewals, extensions, 
 amendments or alterations thereof to 
 any person or company owning or 
 operating any public utility or which 
 may be acquired or claimed by such 
 person or compan 5 ^ The index of said 
 record shall give the name of the 
 grantee and thereafter the name of 
 any assignee thereof or successor 
 thereto. Said record shall be a com¬ 
 plete history of all franchises hereto¬ 
 fore or hereafter granted by the city, 
 and shall include a comprehensive 
 and convenient reference to actions, 
 contests, proceedings at law or arbi¬ 
 trations, if any, and all matters or 
 proceedings affecting the same. 
 
 Second: A Public Utility Record, for 
 every person or company owning or 
 operating any public utility under any 
 franchise granted by the city, which 
 shall show the original investment or 
 value of the property, to be ascer¬ 
 tained as in this Title provided, to¬ 
 gether with the footing and summary 
 of all accounts and statements as fur¬ 
 nished by the person or cbmpany oper¬ 
 ating under said franchise, or as as¬ 
 certained as in this Title, provided, 
 and such other statements, reports and 
 matters of information and public in¬ 
 terest as may be made or furni.shed 
 or as the Council may from time to 
 time require. All footings and sum- 
 
maries of all annual statements shall 
 be published once in the official news¬ 
 paper or printed and distributed in 
 pamphlet form, as the Council may 
 deem best. 
 
 Right of City to Acouire, Construct 
 
 and Operate. 
 
 Sec. 31. The City of Grand Rapids 
 shall have and it is hereby given the 
 right and power to acquire, construct, 
 own, operate and maintain, either 
 within or without its corporate limits, 
 street railways, subways, and any and 
 all transportation facilities, water 
 works, electric light works, gas works, 
 power works, heating works, telephone 
 and telegraph lines, conduits, bridges, 
 viaducts, wharfs and docks, markets 
 and market houses, garbage collection, 
 garbage disposal and reduction plants, 
 asphalt and other paving plants and 
 appliances, and such other public 
 utility, enterprise or service as the 
 Council may from time to time de¬ 
 termine and designate, and to acquire 
 all property, real or personal, neces¬ 
 sary or proper therefor, and to main¬ 
 tain and operate the same, or to lease 
 the same, or any part thereof, to other 
 corporations or individuals for the 
 purpose of maintenance and opera¬ 
 tion; and said city may also sell and 
 deliver water, heat, power, light and 
 other service of any such utility as it 
 is now, or may be hereafter authorized 
 to do by the laws of the state. 
 
 Power to Acquire Existing Franchises, 
 
 Etc. 
 
 Sec. 32. The city shall have, and it 
 is hereby given the power and right, 
 to acquire, by purchase or condemna¬ 
 tion, existing franchises, if any, and 
 the property used in the operation of 
 any and all companies or individuals 
 now engaged in the street railway, 
 tram railway, electric light, gas, heat, 
 water or power business in the city; 
 Provided, that the proposition to ac¬ 
 quire or to construct any public utiility 
 under Section 31 of this Title and the 
 proposition to acquire by purchase any 
 existing franchise and property under 
 this Section, shall have first received 
 the affirmative vote of not less than 
 three-fifths (3-5) of the qualified elec¬ 
 tors of said city voting thereon at a 
 regular or special municipal election, 
 and upon every such proposition, wo¬ 
 men taxpayers having the qualifica¬ 
 tions of male electors, shall be en¬ 
 titled to vote. Provided, further, that 
 in any such referendum, the approxi¬ 
 mate purchase price or cost of con¬ 
 struction, as the case may be, shall 
 be a part of the question submitted to 
 the people, and that the city shall not 
 pay or agree to pay therefor more 
 than ten per cent in excess of such 
 approximate purchase price or cost 
 
 of construction, as the case may be: 
 Provided, further, that the city shall 
 in no case purchase or pay any con¬ 
 sideration for any franchise or privi¬ 
 lege hereafter granted, renewed or 
 extended, except as herein otherwise 
 provided: Provided, further, that the 
 qualified voters of the city may initiate 
 the proposition or ordinance to ac¬ 
 quire, construct or operate any such 
 public utility and have the same sub¬ 
 mitted to the vote of the qualified 
 voters for their approval or disap¬ 
 proval in the same manner as pro¬ 
 vided in this Charter for the initiation 
 and approval of ordinances. 
 
 Tile Right to Bond. 
 
 Sec. 33. To acquire, construct, own, 
 operate or maintain any such public 
 utilities, as authorized in this Title 
 the city may issue its mortgage bonds 
 therefor beyond the general' limit of 
 bonded indebtedness prescribed by law 
 and subject only to the-conditions and 
 limitations now or hereafter contained 
 in the constitution and laws of this 
 state. 
 
 Procedure to Acquire, Etc. 
 
 Sec. 3 4. The Council, by ordinance, 
 shall prescribe, or the people, by ordi¬ 
 nance duly initiated and approved un¬ 
 der the provisions of this Charter, may 
 prescribe, the procedure to acquire or 
 construct any public utility. 
 
 Books of Account—Examination. 
 
 Sec. 3 5. The city, when owning any 
 public utility, shall keep the books of 
 accounts for such public utility dis¬ 
 tinct from other city accounts and in 
 such manner as to show the true and 
 complete financial result of such city 
 ownership, or ownership and operation, 
 as the case may be. Such accounts 
 shall be so kept as to show the actual 
 cost to such city of the public utility 
 owned, all cost of maintenance, ex¬ 
 tensions, additions and betterments; 
 all operating expenses of every de¬ 
 scription, in case of such city’ opera¬ 
 tion; the amounts set aside for sink¬ 
 ing fund purposes; if water or other 
 service sha.l be lurnished for the use 
 of such public utility without charge, 
 the accounts shall show, as nearly 
 as possible, the va.ue of such service, 
 and also the value of such similar 
 service rendered by the pub ic utility 
 to the city or any department thereof 
 without charge; such accounts shall 
 also show reasonable allowance for 
 depreciation and obsolescence, and 
 also estimates of the amount of taxes 
 that would be chargeable against such 
 property if owned by a private cor¬ 
 poration, and such other' matters as 
 the Council shall from time to time 
 prescribe. The Council shall cause 
 to be printed annually for- public dis¬ 
 tribution a report showing the finan- 
 
34 
 
 cial results, in form as aforesaid, of 
 such city ownership, or ownership and 
 operation. The accounts of such pub¬ 
 lic utility, kept as aforesaid, shall be 
 examined at least once a year by an 
 expert accountant, who shall report 
 to the Council the results of his exam¬ 
 ination. Such expert accountant shall 
 be selected in such manner as the 
 Council may direct, and he shall re¬ 
 ceive for his services such compensa¬ 
 tion as the Council may prescribe, to 
 be paid out of the income or revenues 
 from such public utility. 
 
 Civil Service. 
 
 Sec. 36. All employes of any public 
 utility owned or operated by the City 
 shall be subject to the Civil Service 
 provisions of this Charter. 
 
 Public Utilities Department. 
 
 Sec. 37. The Council may provide 
 for a local public utilities department 
 relating to privately owned or operated 
 public utilities, with such powers and 
 duties not in conflict with this Title 
 as shall be prescribed by ordinance. 
 
 TITIjE VIII. 
 
 CIVILi SERVICE CODE. 
 Commissioners — Number — Term— 
 Quorum—Not to Hold Otlier Office. 
 
 Sec. 1. On the first Monday in May 
 after the adoption of this Charter the 
 Mayor shall appoint, subject to con¬ 
 firmation by the Council, three electors, 
 who shall constitute the Civil Service 
 Commission of the city. One Commis¬ 
 sioner shall be appointed for six 
 years, one for four years and one for 
 two years from the first Monday of 
 May in the year in which appointed 
 and until their respective successors 
 •are appointed and.qualifled; and every 
 second year thereafter the Mayor shall 
 appoint in like manner one person 
 as the successor of the Commissioner 
 whose term shall expire in that year 
 to serve as such Commissioner for six 
 years, and until his successor is ap¬ 
 pointed and qualified. Two Commis¬ 
 sioners shall constitute a quorum. The 
 Commissioners shall hold no other of¬ 
 fice or employment under this Charter. 
 
 R( niovals—Mayor to Make for Cer¬ 
 tain Cause—Vacane.v, How Filled. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Mayor may remove, sub¬ 
 ject to approval by the Council, any 
 Commissioner for incompetency, ne¬ 
 glect of duty, malfeasance in office, or 
 for the violation of any of the terms 
 of this Charter. The Mayor shall 
 forthwith report in writing any such 
 removal to the Council with his rea¬ 
 sons therefor. Any vacancy in the 
 office oi Commissioner shall be filled in 
 
 the same manner as the original ap¬ 
 pointment. 
 
 Offices and Employments to be Classi¬ 
 fied—Appointments to be Made 
 
 Under Civil Service Rules. 
 
 Sec. 3. Except as herein otherwise 
 provided said Commission shall class¬ 
 ify all the offices and places of em¬ 
 ployment in the city with reference 
 to the examination hereinafter pro¬ 
 vided and with the duties of the said 
 offices as the basis for said classifica¬ 
 tion. The offices and places so classi¬ 
 fied by the Commission shall con¬ 
 stitute the classified Civil Service of 
 the city and no appointments to any 
 of such offices or places shall be made 
 except under and according to the 
 rules hereinafter provided. 
 
 Commission to Make and Publish 
 
 Rules—What to Provide for. 
 
 Sec. 4. The Commission shall make 
 rules to carry out the purposes of this 
 Charter and for examinations, appoint¬ 
 ments. service on probation, promo¬ 
 tions and removals, and the Commis¬ 
 sion may from time to time make 
 changes in the original rules. All rules 
 and amendments thereto shall be pub¬ 
 lished at least once in the official news¬ 
 paper of the city and be posted in a 
 conspicuous place in the offices of the 
 Commission. 
 
 Public and Competitive Examinations 
 —Notice and Character of. 
 
 Sec. 5. All applicants for offices or 
 places in said classified service shall 
 be subjected to examination, which 
 shall be public, competitive and ad¬ 
 vertised in the same manner as pro¬ 
 vided for the advertisement of the 
 rules of the Commission. Such exam- • 
 inations shall be practical in their 
 character and shall relate to those 
 matters which shall fairly test the 
 relative capability of the persons ex¬ 
 amined to do the duties of the posi¬ 
 tions to which they seek to be ap¬ 
 pointed. Xo question in any examina¬ 
 tion shall relate to political or re¬ 
 ligious opinions or affiliations. The 
 Commission shall control all examina¬ 
 tions and its gradings shall be final. 
 
 Register of Eligibles—Commission to 
 
 I*repare—Rank of. 
 
 Sec. 6. Prom the examinations made 
 by the Commission, the Commission 
 shall prepare a register for each grade 
 or class of positions in the classified 
 service of such city, of the persons 
 whose general average standing upon 
 examination for such grade or class 
 is not less than the minimum fixed by 
 the rules of the Commission and who 
 are otherwise eligible; and such per¬ 
 sons shall take rank upon the register 
 as candidates in the order of their 
 
relative excellence as determined by 
 examination. 
 
 Notice by Head of Department of 
 Position to be Filled—Whom Com¬ 
 mission to Certify. 
 
 Sec. 7. The head of the department 
 or office in which a position classified 
 under this Title is to be filed, shall 
 notify the Commission of that fact, 
 and the Commission shall certify to 
 the appointing- officer the name and 
 address of a candidate for appoint¬ 
 ment who shall have been determined 
 under the rules of the Commission in 
 the following manner: 
 
 (a) By promotion as a result of 
 competitive examination among ern- 
 ployes of a lower grade in the classi¬ 
 fied service than that of the office to 
 
 ploye in the classified Civil Service of 
 the city may be removed by the Gen¬ 
 eral Manager of the department or 
 head of any other department in which 
 he is employed: Provided, that the 
 reasons for removal shall be stated 
 to the employe in writing, and he shall 
 be given an opportunity to reply there¬ 
 to before removal is made, both rea¬ 
 sons and answers to be made a public 
 record of the Commission. Provided 
 further, that such removal shall be 
 final and not subject to review in 
 the courts or elsewhere: Provided, 
 that nothing in this Charter shall 
 limit the power of any officer to .sus¬ 
 pend a subordinate for a reasonable 
 period of time not exceeding thirty 
 days. 
 
 to Investigate Enforce- 
 
 be filled. 
 
 (b) As a result of a previous com¬ 
 petitive examination for an office in 
 the same class. 
 
 (c) As the result of original com¬ 
 petitive examination. 
 
 Temporary Appointments— Hoav and 
 
 When Made. 
 
 Sec. 8. To prevent the stoppage of 
 public business or to meet extraordi¬ 
 nary exigencies, the head of any de¬ 
 partment or office, with the approval 
 of the President of the Commission, 
 may make temporary appointment, to 
 remain in force not exceeding thirty 
 days, and only until regular appoint¬ 
 ments under the provisions of this 
 Charter can be made. 
 
 Promotions —< How Hegiilatcd and 
 
 meiit of Title and Conduct of Ap¬ 
 pointees—To Administer Oaths and 
 Issue Subpoenas. 
 
 Sec. 11. The Commission shall in¬ 
 vestigate the enforcement of this Title 
 and of all its rules and the conduct 
 and action of the appointees in the 
 classified service* in this city; and may 
 inquire as to the nature, tenure, and 
 compensation of all offices and places 
 in the public service thereof. In 
 the course of such investigations each 
 Commissioner shall have powder to ad¬ 
 minister oaths, and said Commission 
 shall have the power to secure by its 
 subpoena both the attendance and 
 testimony of witnesses and the pro¬ 
 duction of books and papers relevant 
 to such investigation. 
 
 Made. 
 
 Sec. 9. The Commission shall, by 
 its rules, provide for promotions in 
 such classified service on the basis of 
 ascertained merit and seniority in 
 servdee and examination, and shall 
 provide in all cases where it is prac¬ 
 ticable that vacancies shall be filled by 
 promotion. All examinations for pro¬ 
 motion shall be competitive among 
 such members of lower ranks as de¬ 
 sire to submit them.selves to such ex¬ 
 aminations, and it shall be the duty./ 
 of the Commission to submit to the 
 appointing power the name of the ap¬ 
 plicant for such promotion having the 
 highest rating. The method of ex¬ 
 amination and the rules governing the 
 same and the method of certifying 
 shall be the same as provided for 
 applicants for original appointment. 
 Rduoval and Discharge for Cause 
 Only—Reasons and Answer—Tem¬ 
 porary Suspension. 
 
 Sec. io. No officer or employe in 
 the classified Civil Service shall be 
 removed or discharged except for 
 cause. The rules of the Commission 
 shall provide that any officer or em- 
 
 Change in Office or Coinpensatioii to 
 bo Reported to Commission. 
 
 Sec. 12. Where any office or place 
 of employment is created, abolished, 
 or the compensation attached thereto 
 altered, the authority making such 
 change shall immediately report it in 
 writing to the Commission. 
 
 Classified Service—What Includes. 
 
 Sec. 13. The classified service shall 
 include all officers and employes of 
 the city, except those otherwise pro¬ 
 vided for in this Charter, and except 
 common laborers whose work re¬ 
 quires no special skill or training and 
 who are employed from day to day, 
 and any other employes for whose 
 appointment this Charter otherwise 
 provides. 
 
 Employment of Common Laborers— 
 IIoAV Regulated. 
 
 Sec. 14. By a sysem of registra¬ 
 tion or otherwise the Commission 
 shall make rules and regulations cov¬ 
 ering the employment of common la- 
 liorers which shall require, so far as 
 })ossible, such employment to origi¬ 
 nate on merit and continue during 
 
36 
 
 good behavior, and shall give pref¬ 
 erence to residents of the city who are 
 citizens of the United States. 
 
 Certain Acts Prohibited. 
 
 Sec. 15. No person or officer shall 
 wilfully or corruptly, by himself or in 
 co-operation with other persons, de¬ 
 feat, deceive or obstruct any person 
 in respect to his or her right of ex¬ 
 amination or promotion, or corruptly 
 or falsely mark, grade or report upon 
 the examination or promotion or 
 proper standing of any person exam¬ 
 ined, or aid in so doing, or wilfully 
 or corruptly make any false repre¬ 
 sentation concerning the same or con¬ 
 cerning the person examined or wil¬ 
 fully or corruptly furnish to any per¬ 
 son any special or secret information 
 for the purpose of either improving 
 or impairing the prospects of any per¬ 
 son so examined or to be examined, 
 of being appointed, employed or pro¬ 
 moted. 
 
 Commission to Receive No Gifts of 
 
 Money or Otherwise from Inter¬ 
 ested Pci'sons. 
 
 Sec. 16. No Civil Service Commis¬ 
 sioner shall receive any money or other 
 valuable consideration or any present 
 of any nature lor any purpose what¬ 
 soever from any city official or city 
 employe, or from any candidate for 
 appointment w ho may have previous¬ 
 ly taken an examination, or from any 
 candidate for examination. No Civil 
 Service Commissioner shall receive 
 any money or ol her valuable consid¬ 
 eration from any other person whom¬ 
 soever for or on account of the ap¬ 
 pointment or proposed appointment 
 or promotion or proposed promotion 
 of any other person. 
 
 Applicants, Officers or Employes Not 
 
 to Pay or Promise Money or Other 
 
 Valuable Thing for Examinations. 
 
 Sec. 17. No applicant for exam¬ 
 ination or appointment in said classi¬ 
 fied Civil Service shall pay or prom¬ 
 ise to pay, either directly or indirect¬ 
 ly, any money or other valuable thing 
 to any person whomsoever for or on 
 account of his examination, appoint¬ 
 ment or proposed appointment, and 
 no officer or employe shall pay or 
 promise to pay, either directly or in¬ 
 directly, to any person any money or 
 other valuable thing whatever for or 
 on account of his promotion. 
 
 Appointments—To Certify to Comp¬ 
 troller. 
 
 Sec. 18. The Commission shall cer¬ 
 tify to the Comptroller all appoint¬ 
 ments to offices and places in the 
 classified Civil Service. No Comp¬ 
 troller or other officer shall approve 
 the payment or be in any manner con¬ 
 
 cerned in paying any salary or wages 
 to any person for service as an of¬ 
 ficer or employe of such city unless 
 such person is occupying an office or 
 a place of employment and is entitled 
 to payment therefor according to the 
 provisions of law. The head of any 
 department in which any employe 
 has been removed or suspended shall 
 forthwith report the same to the 
 Comptroller. 
 
 Penalty. 
 
 Sec. 19. Any person who shall wil¬ 
 fully or through culpable negligence 
 violate any of the provisions of this 
 act or any rule promulgated in ac- 
 cordance with the provisions thereof, 
 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and 
 shall, on conviction thereof be 
 punished by a fine of not more 
 than $500 or by imprisonment 
 in the county jail for a term 
 not exceeding ninety days, or both, 
 in the discretion of the court: Pro¬ 
 vided, that if any person shall be 
 convicted under this Section, any pub¬ 
 lic office or place of public employ¬ 
 ment which such person may hold, 
 shall, by reason of such conviction, 
 be rendered vacant, and such person 
 shall be incapable of holding any of¬ 
 fice or place of public employment for 
 a period of five years from the date 
 of such conviction. 
 
 Organization of Commission—Com¬ 
 pensation of Commissioners—May 
 
 Employ Assistance. 
 
 Sec. 2 0. The Commission shall or¬ 
 ganize biennially by the election of 
 one of their number as President, and 
 each of the Commissioners shall re¬ 
 ceive an annual compensation of $100 
 per year for their expenses in such 
 office. The Commission may employ 
 such clerical assistance as is neces¬ 
 sary. A sufficient sum of money shall 
 be appropriated each year by the city 
 to carry out the provisions of this 
 Title. 
 
 Retention of Present Officials and 
 
 Employes in the Classified Service. 
 
 Sec. 21. The Commission shall 
 prescribe rules providing for the re- > 
 
 tention of city officials and employes 
 who shall be in office at the time of 
 the adoption of this Charter and who 
 come within the classified service. 
 
 After the first certification of reten- ^ 
 
 tion, all such officials and employes 
 shall come under the provisions of 
 this Charter. 
 
 TITIjE IX. 
 
 GENERAL TAXATION. 
 Subjects of Taxation Same as General 
 Law. 
 
 Sec. 1. The subjects of taxation for 
 
general municipal purposes shall be 
 the same as foi state, county and 
 school purposes under the general 
 law. 
 
 Assessors to Make and Complete As¬ 
 sessment Rolls—Powers and Duties. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Assessors shall make 
 and complete an assessment roll of 
 all of the taxable property in each of 
 the wards of the city at the time and 
 in the manner and form provided in 
 the general tax law and upon such 
 roll shall assess at its true cash valutj 
 all real and personal property sub¬ 
 ject to taxation by the laws of the 
 state. They shall possess all the 
 powers vested in and be charged with 
 all the duties imposed upon assessing 
 officers by the general tax laws of the 
 state. 
 
 Assessors—Notice to Taxpayers as to 
 
 Examinations and Correction of 
 
 Assesment Roll—Return of Roll to 
 
 Council. 
 
 Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the 
 Assessors to cause to be published in 
 two newspapers in said city, for ten 
 days, commencing thirty days prior to 
 the first meeting of the Board of Re¬ 
 view on said roll, in each year, no¬ 
 tice to the taxpayers that the assess¬ 
 ment roll will be open for inspection 
 and that said Assessors will be in 
 their office in the City Hall to hear 
 complaints upon the assessments in 
 said roll, for ten days, beginning 
 twenty days prior to said first meet¬ 
 ing of the Board of Review, and that 
 any person considering himself ag¬ 
 grieved by reason of any such assess¬ 
 ment, may make complaint thereof to 
 said Assessors. The said Assessors at 
 such time shall reviev/ the assess¬ 
 ments complained of, and may alter 
 or correct the same as to persons 
 charged thereby, the property de¬ 
 scribed therein and the estimated val¬ 
 ue. thereof. After having com¬ 
 pleted the review and correction of 
 said assessment roll, the said Asses¬ 
 sors shall sign the same and add 
 thereto their certificate that the same 
 has been duly completed. Before the 
 dale provided for the first meeting 
 of the Board of. Review, by State law, 
 said Assessors shall return said 
 assessment roll to the Council: Pro¬ 
 vided, that in the publication above 
 provided for, the Assessors shall des¬ 
 ignate the particular days and dates 
 on which said assessn;ent roll is open 
 to the public for exauiimii ion. 
 
 Board of Review—Council to Con¬ 
 stitute. 
 
 Sec. 4. After receiving said as¬ 
 sessment roll from the Assessois, the 
 Council shall act thereon as a Board 
 of Review and, as such, shall have 
 
 the powers vested in and be charged 
 with the duties imposed upon Boards 
 of Review in townships or as in this 
 Charter otherwise provided. It shall 
 meet in the Council chamber on the 
 dates and at the times designated in 
 the State law for the meeting of such 
 Township Boards of Review, and at 
 its second meeting may continue in 
 session from day to day, not exceed¬ 
 ing five days, until such review is 
 completed. 
 
 Increased or Additional Assessment— 
 
 Notice Of. 
 
 Sec. 5. After the first meeting of 
 the Board of Review, no assessment 
 shall be increased or property added 
 to said assessment roll, except on 
 written or printed, or partly written 
 and partly printed, notice to the per¬ 
 son to be directly affected thereby. 
 Such notice, in case of a resident of 
 said city, shall be served either per¬ 
 sonally upon him or by leaving the 
 same at his place of abode with some 
 suitable person of proper age and dis¬ 
 cretion, at least two days before such 
 action is taken thereon by said Coun¬ 
 cil acting as a Board of Review: 
 Provided, that in case of a non-resi¬ 
 dent of said city, or in case, service 
 cannot be made upon a resident in 
 the manner above provided, such no¬ 
 tice shall be published in two news¬ 
 papers of said city at least two days 
 before any action is taken by such 
 Council acting as such Board of Re¬ 
 view. 
 
 City Clerk to Keep Records of Board 
 
 of Review, and Deliver Roll to As¬ 
 sessor.?. 
 
 Sec. 6. The City Clerk shall be the 
 Clerk of the Council acting as such 
 Board of Review; keep the records of 
 its sessions and proceedings, and af¬ 
 ter the review has been completed 
 and the roll endorsed and signed as 
 provided by the General Tax Law of 
 the State it shall be his duty at once 
 to redeliver said assessment roll to 
 said Assessors. 
 
 Meeting; of Board of Review—Notice 
 
 of—Apportionment Among; Wards. 
 
 Sec. 7. The Council shall provide 
 for the giving of notice to the public 
 of the time and place of meeting of 
 the Board of Review. The Council 
 shall provide, in case any assessment 
 roll is divided into separate rolls for 
 each ward of the city, for a proper 
 apportionment of any tax to be spread 
 thereon among the several wards of 
 the city. 
 
 A.sscssmcnt Roll—What to Contain— 
 
 How Collected. 
 
 Sec. 8. After the Board of Review 
 shall have approved such assessment 
 
38 
 
 roll, the Assessors shall spread there¬ 
 on the amount of state and county- 
 taxes, and the same shall be levied, 
 collected, accounted for and returned 
 at the time and in the manner pro¬ 
 vided by the general tax laws of the 
 state. The City Treasurer in such 
 case shall act in the same capacity as 
 Township Treasurers under the State 
 law; and he or his employes shall be 
 in the City Treasurer’s office at all 
 hours between eight a. m. and five p. 
 m. of every week day, not a legal 
 holiday, for the purpose of receiving 
 taxes. 
 
 City and School Taxes—How Spread 
 
 —City Tax Roll. 
 
 Sec. 9. The city and school taxes 
 shall be spread and levied upon a 
 separate roll, which shall be known 
 as the “City tax roll,’’ and be a du¬ 
 plicate or copy, either manifold or 
 otherwise, of the assessment roll pre¬ 
 pared for state and county taxation, 
 after the same has been reviewed but 
 before the taxes have been spread 
 thereon. 
 
 City and School Taxes—Council’s Duty 
 
 in Regard Thereto. 
 
 Sec. 10. The Council shall fix the 
 time within which such City Tax Roll 
 shall b^ prepared and the taxes ex¬ 
 tended thereon, and shall provide a 
 uniform system for the time, method 
 and notice of the levy and collection 
 of such taxes, the accounting there¬ 
 for, the return, advertisement, sale 
 and conveyance of lands for delin¬ 
 quent taxes, and the redemption 
 thereof, together with the amount of 
 collection fees, interest or penalty to 
 be added. 
 
 Taxes—When Become Lien. 
 
 Sec. 11. Every tax levied upon the 
 City Tax Roll shall become at once a 
 debt to the city from the person to 
 whom assessed, and from the date of 
 the delivery of such roll to the Treas¬ 
 urer for collection, such tax, together 
 with all interest and charges, shall 
 be and remain, until paid, a first lien 
 upon the real property against which 
 the same is assessed. All personal 
 taxes shall become a lien upon all 
 of the personal property of such per¬ 
 sons so assessed from the same date, 
 which shall take precedence of any 
 sales, assignments, chattel mortgages, 
 levies or other liens thereon executed 
 or made after said date, except where 
 such property is sold in the regular 
 course of trade. 
 
 Tax Sales—Conditions of. 
 
 Sec. 12. All sales for taxes of any 
 lands which have been bid in to the 
 state at any tax sale, and upon which 
 such bid or bids remain undischarged, 
 shall be conditioned upon the pay¬ 
 
 ment of the tax lien held by the state 
 and the payment of all taxes then 
 a lien upon the said land, and 
 no purchase by the city at any 
 such sale shall be made without 
 the purchase of any tax lien held by 
 the state. 
 
 Judicial Decree Basis of Sale. 
 
 Sec. 13. The system of sales of land 
 for delinquent taxes prescribed by the 
 Council sha.ll provide for a judicial 
 decree as a basis of the sale. 
 
 Unpaid Taxes—Return of. 
 
 Sec. 14. The Council may provide 
 by ordinance for the return of all un¬ 
 paid taxes upon real property to the 
 County Treasurer in the same manner 
 and with like effect as returns by 
 township treasurers, in which case 
 the time and manner of sale, convey¬ 
 ance, redemption and other pro¬ 
 cedures shall be the same as for state 
 and county taxes. 
 
 Additional Bonds Required of Treas¬ 
 urer. 
 
 Sec. 15. Before any tax rolls are de¬ 
 livered to the City Treasurer, the 
 Council shall require him to give ad¬ 
 ditional bonds in such form and 
 amount and with such condition and 
 sureties as it shall order and appprove. 
 The City Treasurer shall give such 
 additional bonds to the County of 
 Kent as are required by law of town¬ 
 ship treasurers. Such bonds shall be 
 paid for by the city. 
 
 Upon the giving of such bonds, the 
 City Treasurer shall possess and exer¬ 
 cise all of the powers, duties and 
 functions with respect to the collec¬ 
 tion and return of all taxes as are now 
 or may be hereafter prescribed for 
 township treasurers. He shall also 
 perform such other duties with respect 
 to the collection, return of taxes and 
 sale of property for taxes, a.s may be 
 imposed upon him by the Council. 
 
 Procedure for Collection of City Taxes 
 
 to Follow General Tax Law. 
 
 Sec. 16. Except as otherwise pro¬ 
 vided in this Charter, or any ordi¬ 
 nance in pursuance thereof, the as¬ 
 sessment of property taxable in the 
 city, the review of assessments, the 
 levy and. collection of taxes, the ac¬ 
 counting for such taxes, the sale of 
 property for unpaid taxes and the re¬ 
 demption of property sold for taxes, 
 shall be made and held at the same 
 time. In the same manner and with like 
 effect as is now or may be hereafter 
 provided by law for the assessment of 
 property, the review of assessment, 
 the levy and collection of taxes, the 
 sale of property for unpaid taxes and 
 the redemption of property sold for 
 taxes for state and county purposes. 
 
 A 
 
 
City Officials to Have Like Powers 
 
 and Duties as Township Offieers. 
 
 Sec. 17. All the powers and duties 
 of Supervisors, Township Treasurers 
 and Township Clerks vested in or im¬ 
 posed upon them by the general tax 
 laws of the state, so far as they may 
 be applicable under this Charter, are 
 hereby vested in and imposed upon 
 the Assessors, the City Treasurer and 
 the City Comptroller, respectively. 
 
 .Annual Tax—Clerk to Certify—As¬ 
 sessors to Apportion. 
 
 Sec. 18. After the Council shall 
 have determined the amount of the 
 annual tax to be raised, the City Clerk 
 shall forthwith certify the same, un¬ 
 der the seal of the city, to the Asses¬ 
 sors. and it shall be the duty of the 
 Assessors to apportion such amount 
 among- the several wards of the city, 
 according to the property valuation 
 appearing upon such assessment rolls 
 as approved by the Council, acting 
 a hoard of Review. 
 
 Making and Delivery of City Tax Rolls 
 
 —Date of Collection. 
 
 Sec. 19. Upon receipt of such cer¬ 
 tificate from the City Clerk, it shall 
 be the duty of the Assessors to make 
 manifold or other copies of such rolls 
 and to cause the amount of all taxes 
 authorized to be assessed and collect¬ 
 ed in each year to be ratably assessed 
 upon the property therein described 
 upon and according to the value 
 thereof as assessed in said assessment 
 rolls. Said assessment rolls shall be 
 knowm as “The City Tax Rolls,” and 
 shall show in separate columns the 
 property assessed, the name of the 
 person to whom assessed, the assessed 
 value and the amount of the city, 
 highway, school and other municipal 
 taxes. Said rolls shall be completed, 
 footed, balanced, signed, certified by 
 the Assessors and delivered to the 
 Treasurer of the city before the date 
 fixed by the Council for the collection 
 of such taxes, and the said Assessors, 
 within the time aforesaid, shall annex 
 their warrant to each of said city tax 
 rolls, to be signed by the Assessors 
 and directed to the Treasurer, com¬ 
 manding him to collect from the per¬ 
 sons named in said city tax rolls the 
 taxes therein set forth, in accordance 
 with the mandate of the law in rela¬ 
 tion thereto, and take the receipt of 
 the City Treasurer therefor. The As¬ 
 sessors shall at the same time deliver 
 to the Comptroller a statement show¬ 
 ing the amount of the taxes assessed 
 upon eacfi of said rolls, including 
 school taxes, and the Comptroller 
 shall make an entry thereof in the 
 books of his office, and charge the 
 gross amount thereof to the Treas¬ 
 urer. 
 
 Collection Fees to Be Collected by 
 
 Treasurer and Paid to City. 
 
 Sec. 20. All collection fees and 
 charges which are now or may here¬ 
 after be, by the general tax laws of 
 the state, payable to the Township 
 Treasurer to his own use, and all in¬ 
 terest upon funds of the State, County 
 and City received by the City Treas¬ 
 urer shall be collected and paid by 
 the City Treasurer to the city for its 
 use. 
 
 Ad\ertising of Rolls and Collection by 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 Sec. 21. Upon receipt of any tax 
 roll for state, county, school or city 
 taxes, the Treasurer forthwith shall 
 give notice thereof for at least ten 
 successive days in two newspapers 
 published and circulated in the city, 
 which notice shall describe said tax 
 roll, the general nature of the taxes 
 thereon contained, and name the lo¬ 
 cation of his office, the time when 
 said taxes are due and payable, the 
 days and hours of collection, the 
 amount of penalty and when it will 
 attach for non-payment. 
 
 TITLE X. 
 
 PUBLIC AND SPECIAL I3IPROVE- 
 MENTS. 
 
 Waters and Water Fronts—Power of 
 
 City in Regard to. 
 
 Sec. 1. The City of Grand Rapids 
 shall have, and it is hereby given the 
 power to use, control and regulate the 
 streams, waters and water courses, 
 natural or artificial, within its cor¬ 
 porate limits, and to that end it may, 
 
 (a) Deepen, widen, dock, cover 
 wharf, alter or change the channels 
 of such streams, waters and water 
 courses, establish dock lines and pro¬ 
 vide permanent flood protection by 
 walls or otherwise; 
 
 (b) Control and regulate the use of 
 the beds, waters, chores and banks of 
 such streams, waters and water 
 courses so as to keep the same in 
 safe, sanitary and proper condition as 
 concerns health, satcty, utility and 
 beauty. 
 
 (c) Acquire by purchase, condemn¬ 
 ation or otherwise the waters, beds, 
 shores and banks of such streams, 
 water,s and water courses, and to im¬ 
 prove, use and maintain the same for 
 such useful or ornamental purposes 
 as may from time to time be deter¬ 
 mined by the Council. 
 
 1*0wcr of City to Acquire and Dispose 
 
 of IToperty. 
 
 Sec. 2. The city, by a two-thirds 
 vote of the Councilmen elected and 
 subject to the provisions of this Char- 
 
40 
 
 ter and the general laws, shall have 
 the power to obtain by purchase or 
 gift, or to otherwise acquire real es¬ 
 tate or other private property within 
 or without the city limits, and, when 
 acquired, to hold, improve and prop¬ 
 erly maintain the same for parks, 
 playgrounds, cemeteries, streets, al¬ 
 leys, driveways, boulevards, or for 
 purposes, incident thereto, and for 
 other uses or purposes within the 
 scope of its powers heretofore or here¬ 
 after granted, and it shall have the 
 power to sell and dispose of such real 
 estate or other property, subject to the 
 same limitations and by the same vote 
 of the Council. 
 
 Plan of Streets and Alleys—Council 
 May Adopt—Administrative Board 
 May Execute. 
 
 Sec. 3. The Council shall have 
 power to adopt, and the Administra¬ 
 tive Board shall have power to exe¬ 
 cute, a plan of streets and alleys with¬ 
 in the city limits and for a distance of 
 not more than three miles beyond' its 
 limits, or for such other distance be¬ 
 yond the limits as may be hereafter 
 authorized by law; and to that end 
 all plats shall be submitted to and ap¬ 
 proved by the Administrative Board 
 before they are filed for record. 
 
 Sewers—Right to Extend Beyond City 
 Limits. 
 
 Sec. 4. The city shall have the right 
 to extend sewers beyond the city lim¬ 
 its, when necessary for better sanita¬ 
 tion or drainage. 
 
 Grade Crossings—Separation of. 
 
 Sec. 5. The city, by ordinance, shall 
 provide for a general plan of separa¬ 
 tion of streets from the railroads and 
 street railways at grade crossings 
 within said city and for the execution 
 of the same under and by the Admin¬ 
 istrative Board and the proper depart¬ 
 ment thereof. 
 
 Power and Duty of Council as to Pub¬ 
 lic Works—Public and Special Im¬ 
 provements. 
 
 Sec. 6. The Council shall 
 
 (a) Determine the necessity for and 
 order all public works and public and 
 special improvements by a vote of 
 five-sixths of the Council elected, ex¬ 
 cept where street improvements and 
 sewer extensions are ordered by the 
 Administrative Board upon petition, 
 and shall make the requisite appro¬ 
 priation and provide for securing the 
 necessary funds therefor. 
 
 (b) Declare the same to be a nec¬ 
 essary public improvement at the next 
 regular session after the Administra¬ 
 tive Board shall have ordered any 
 street improvement or sewer exten¬ 
 sion. 
 
 (c) Provide by general ordinance 
 the method of petitioning the Admin¬ 
 istrative Board for the ordering of 
 any street improvement or sewer ex¬ 
 tension. 
 
 (d) Determine the character of the 
 improvement in the cases in which it 
 orders the improvement, and deter¬ 
 mine and fix the district over which 
 the assessment to pay the cost of any 
 public or special improvement shall 
 be levied and the amount, if any, of 
 the cost of such public or special im¬ 
 provement which shall be spread up¬ 
 on the city at large. 
 
 (e) Specify, at the time of declar¬ 
 ing the necessity of any public or spe¬ 
 cial improvement, whether the cost of 
 the same shall in the first instance 
 be met by issuing the bonds of the 
 city therefor in anticipation of the 
 collection of the assessment to defray 
 the expense thereof, and in such case 
 authorize the issuing of such bonds. 
 
 Special Improvements — Administra¬ 
 tive Board May Order Upon Peti¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Sec. 7. The authority to order street 
 improvements and sewer extensions, 
 when petitioned for by property own¬ 
 ers owning a majority of the street 
 frontage to be affected by the im¬ 
 provement, and the fixing in such 
 cases of the character of the improve¬ 
 ments to be ordered, is vested in the 
 Administrative Board: Provided, that 
 when the character of the pavement 
 for any such street improvement shall 
 be named in any such petition signed 
 by property owners owning not less 
 than two-thirds of the street frontage 
 affected thereby, that the Administra¬ 
 tive Board, if it order such improve¬ 
 ment to be made, shall specify pave¬ 
 ment of the character named in such 
 petition. 
 
 Ad",ertising Bids, Letting Contracts— 
 Supervising Public Works and Im¬ 
 provements—Declared to Be Ad¬ 
 ministrative Functions. 
 
 Sec. 8. The estimating of the cost, 
 advertising for bids, letting and mak¬ 
 ing of contracts, the carrying on, su¬ 
 pervision and approval of the work 
 upon or for any public work or public 
 or special improvement are hereby 
 declared to be administrative func¬ 
 tions and vested in the Administrative 
 Board: Provided, that in case of any 
 contract involving the expenditure of 
 ten thousand dollars or more, let and 
 approved by less than an unanimous 
 vote of the Administrative Board, the 
 same shall be reported to the Council 
 at its next meeting, and, if disap¬ 
 proved by the Council at the same or 
 the next subsequent meeting, shall not 
 take effect. 
 
 % 
 
 
Special Improvements — Assessment 
 
 Districts—Notice of. 
 
 Sec. 9. Before any special improve¬ 
 ment is ordered or declared to be 
 necessarj^, and before any special as¬ 
 sessment district is fixed, the Council 
 or Administrative Board, as the case 
 may be, shall give notice and an op¬ 
 portunity to be heard thereon to all 
 persons liable to be assessed therefor. 
 Such notice shall be given in such 
 form and manner as the Council by or¬ 
 dinance shall prescribe: Provided, 
 
 that notice by publication shall be 
 deemed sufficient. 
 
 Special Improvement Bonds—Amount 
 and Payment of. 
 
 Sec. 10. The aggregate amount to 
 be borrowed in any one year for the 
 purposes of special improvements shall 
 not exceed two-fifths of one per cent 
 of the assessed valuation of the city, 
 according to the last preceding city 
 tax roll: Provided, that the total 
 
 amount of bonds authorized to be is¬ 
 sued for such purpose and outstanding 
 at any one time shall not exceed one 
 and one-quarter per cent of the total 
 assessed valuation of the city accord¬ 
 ing to the last preceding city tax roll. 
 Said bonds shall bear interest at a 
 rate not exceeding five per cent per 
 annum and shall be made payable in 
 equal yearly amounts for a period of 
 not exceeding five years from the date 
 of issue. Such bonds shall be sold for 
 not less than par, and the proceeds of 
 the same shall be paid to the Treas¬ 
 urer, by him to be placed to the credit 
 of the particular improvement fund for 
 which issued. Said bonds shall be the 
 general obligation of the city and shall 
 be paid at or before maturity, and 
 shall not be reissued or refunded, and 
 any avails thereof shall be used o’^ly 
 to defray the expense of the special 
 improvement for which they were 
 issued. 
 
 When and as collected the install¬ 
 ments of the tax roll for the special 
 Improvement, together with the ac¬ 
 crued interest thereon, shall be paid 
 by the Treasurer into the Sinking 
 F^nd, the same to be credited to the 
 proper special improvement, and to be 
 used only to retire the bonds issued 
 on account of such improvement and 
 to pay the interest thereon. 
 
 Special As.sessments—Rolls—Notice of 
 
 Comp’etion—Inspection and Appeal 
 
 —Separation of Assessment Rolls. 
 
 Sec. 11. The Council shall cause to 
 be transmitted to the Assessors a map 
 of the district fixed by it, and a state¬ 
 ment of what part of the cost of any 
 improvement Is to be spread upon the 
 city at large, and the Administrative 
 
 Board shall transmit to the Assessors 
 such facts as they may have and are 
 necessary to make a proper assess¬ 
 ment; and thereupon the Assessors 
 shall prepare an assessment roll which 
 shall contain the names of the owners 
 and the description of the several par¬ 
 cels of property in the district fixed 
 by the Council to be assessed for such 
 improvement, and upon such roll or 
 against each of such descriptions 
 the Assessors shall spread and levy 
 the cost of such improvement, in 
 whole or in part, as the Council may 
 determine, in proportion, as near as 
 may be, to the advantages which each 
 such parcel shall be deemed to be 
 benefited by the making of such im¬ 
 provement. After the assessment roll 
 is completed, the Assessors shall give 
 notice to all persons assessed thereon, 
 in such manner as tne Council rnay 
 provide, by publication or otherwise, 
 of the completion of such roll, that the 
 same will be open for ten days for 
 public inspection and for correction 
 by said Assessors, and of the time and 
 place of the meeting of the Board of 
 Review on such roll. Immediately 
 after the expiration of said ten days 
 such corrected roll shall be signed by 
 said Assessors or a majority of them, 
 and returned forthwith to the Council. 
 Assessment rolls for sewer purposes, 
 as well as bond issues therefor, shall 
 be kept separate and distinct from 
 street improvement rolls and bonds. 
 The exemption of any property from 
 general taxation shall not amount to 
 an exemption of such property from 
 taxation for special improvements un¬ 
 der this Title. 
 
 Council—Board of Review—Hearing 
 
 of Appeals. 
 
 Sec. 12. At its next regular session 
 after the receipt of such roll from the 
 Assessors, the Council shall act there¬ 
 on as a Board of Review, anfi shall 
 continue to act at such other times as 
 may be necessary and as it may 
 designate. Any person may appeal in 
 writing to the Council acting as such 
 Board of Review at any time prior to 
 the opening of its first session as such 
 Board of Review. The Council as such 
 Board shall have the power to correct 
 or change the whole or any part of 
 such roll or to return it to the As¬ 
 sessors for re-assessment, in which 
 latter case it shall take the same 
 course as an original roll. The roll as 
 finally corrected and reviewed shall be 
 ratified and confirmed by the Council 
 and delivered by its Clerk to the 
 Treasurer for collection, with proper 
 warrant for such purpose attached 
 thereto, signed by the President of the 
 Council, and attested in due form by 
 the Clerk. 
 
42 
 
 liiens, Return and Sale of Delinquent 
 
 Proi)crty, etc.—Council by Ordi- 
 
 ance to Provide for. 
 
 Sec. 13. The CounciL by general or¬ 
 dinance shall make the necessary pro¬ 
 visions for carrying this Title into 
 effect, including the time within which 
 such rolls shall be prepared by the 
 Assessors, the method of transferring 
 such rolls from one office or depart¬ 
 ment to another, the notice, time, place 
 and manner of payment of assess¬ 
 ments and the return of surplus, if 
 any. It shall fix a uniform rate of in¬ 
 terest on deferred installments, the 
 time at which any such assessment 
 shall become a lien upon the property 
 assessed and the penalty for non-pay¬ 
 ment, and shall make provision for the 
 return, sale and conveyance of any 
 property delinquent for non-payment 
 thereof, and for the redemption of 
 said property after sale. 
 
 Supplenirntal Roll. 
 
 Sec. 14. The Council may provide 
 for th'- spreading of an additional as¬ 
 sessment for any public or special 
 improvement, in case it determines 
 that the former assessment or assess¬ 
 ments will not produce sufficient 
 funds to pay for sucn Improvement. 
 Such additional assessment shall be 
 spread upon a supplemental roll which 
 shall conform so far as possible to the 
 original roll for such improvement, 
 and shall be made, reviewed, deliv¬ 
 ered, collected, accountea for and re¬ 
 turned in the same manner as the or¬ 
 iginal roll, and all sales and redemp¬ 
 tion of property therein describee 
 shall be made in the same manner as 
 the sales and redemption upon said 
 original roll. 
 
 Acquiriiio- Private Property for Public 
 
 Use—Right of Condemnation, etc. 
 
 Sec. 15. The Council shall by or¬ 
 dinance provide for acquiring, by con¬ 
 demnation proceedings in a court of 
 competent jurisdiction under the gen¬ 
 eral laws of the state, or otherwise, 
 such private property and rights as 
 may be required for any public 
 works, public or special improvement, 
 or for any other use or purpose within 
 the scope of its powers heretofore or 
 hereafter granted: Provided, that 
 
 until the passage of a valid ordinance 
 for that purpose, the right of eminent 
 domain for such purpose may be ex¬ 
 ercised by the city in the manner pro¬ 
 vided for in Sections 3392 to 3415, in¬ 
 clusive, of the Compiled Laws of 1897, 
 as amended or supplemented, or any 
 other general law which, so far as the 
 same may be applicable, is hereby 
 adopted and made the law of the city 
 for such nurposes. 
 
 Cost of Condemned Property to be 
 
 Added. 
 
 Sec. 16. Whenever any property is 
 purchased by condemnation or other¬ 
 wise for the purpose of any special 
 improv'^ment, the cost thereof shall be 
 added to the cost of such special im¬ 
 provement levied upon the property 
 benefited thereby, and collected ac¬ 
 cordingly. 
 
 Delinquent Taxes—Safi s of Property 
 
 For; Decree as Basis of Sale; Pay¬ 
 ment of State and City Tax Liens. 
 
 Sec. 17. The sale of any property ^ 
 on account of the non-payment of any 
 special assessment levied against it,, 
 shall be made only upon decree there¬ 
 for of some court of competent juris¬ 
 diction, upon petition praying for such 
 decree filed by the Treasurer in form 
 and manner advised by the City At¬ 
 torney, who shall conduct such pro¬ 
 ceedings to a final hearing. Due no¬ 
 tice of the pendency of such petition 
 shall be given to all persons interested 
 in any property to be affected in such 
 decree in like form and manner as is 
 provided for notice of like proceedings 
 under the general tax laws of this 
 state, and such sale so decreed may 
 include property which has been as¬ 
 sessed for any public or special im¬ 
 provement, whether made after or be¬ 
 fore this Charter goes into effect, and 
 against which property there is any 
 unpaid assessment which has become 
 a lien: Provided, that no sales of any 
 property for any such assessments 
 upon which the state or the city holds 
 a tax lien shall be made to any person 
 without the payment of all such tax 
 liens nor to the city without the pay¬ 
 ment or purchase of the tax liens held 
 by the state. 
 
 Assessments Against Railroad Fropert.v 
 
 —Who Liable for—How LiAicd and 
 
 Collected. 
 
 Sec. • 18. All freight houses, road 
 beds, rights of way and other prem¬ 
 ises or property belonging to any 
 steam, electric or street railroad or 
 corporation, within the corporate lim- ■» 
 
 its of the city, which are necessarily 
 used in the operations, under the re¬ 
 spective fi’anchises, or of the owners 
 of said railroads, and the person, cor¬ 
 poration or company owning the same « 
 
 shall be liable for all valid unpaid as¬ 
 sessments for public improvements 
 hereafter made within the city and 
 assessed against such property. As¬ 
 sessments of such property shall be 
 made in the same manner as that of 
 other property, for special improve¬ 
 ments under this Charter, and the as¬ 
 sessment roll therefor shall be prima 
 facie evidence in any court of the reg¬ 
 ularity of all proceedings up to and 
 
including such assessment and the 
 making of said roll. 
 
 •Cost of Improvement to Include Cost 
 of Estimate. Plans, Etc. 
 
 Sec. 19. The cost of public and spe¬ 
 cial improvements for which a special 
 assessment roll shall be made shall in¬ 
 clude the cost and expense of making 
 estimates, plans and assessments inci¬ 
 dental thereto. 
 
 Persons Contributing Lands for Streets 
 —Council May Relieve From Assess¬ 
 ment. 
 
 Sec. 20. In any case where the 
 owner of property liable to be assessed 
 to pay the cost of a street opening has 
 contributed thereto a portion of the 
 street, the Council may relieve such 
 person from paying an assessment for 
 the purchase or condemnation price of 
 a like portion opposite that so con¬ 
 tributed. 
 
 Sewer Extension.s—-to be Construed. 
 
 Sec. 21. The term “sewer exten¬ 
 sions” shall be construed to mean the 
 construction of new sewers and the 
 reconstruction or changing in any 
 material way of existing sewers. 
 
 TITLE XI. 
 
 CITY BONDS—EXCEPT STREET 
 AND SEWER. 
 
 Public Improvement Bonds—When 
 and Row Issued—Vote of Electors. 
 
 Sec. 1. For the purpose of making 
 public improvements, other than 
 street and sewer improvements, or for 
 any other purpose within the scope of 
 its powers, the Council may borrow, on 
 the faith of the city, such sum or 
 sums of money as it may deem ex¬ 
 pedient; for a term of not exceeding 
 twenty years at a rate not exceeding 
 5 per cent per annum; and it may is¬ 
 sue the bonds of the city therefor. The 
 avails thereof shall be used for the 
 purpose for which fhe same were is¬ 
 sued and for no other purpose. 
 
 But any such bonded indebtedness 
 against the city shall be void unless 
 approved by three-fifths of the quali¬ 
 fied electors of the city voting there¬ 
 on: Provided further, that bonds is¬ 
 
 sued for the purpose of renewal of 
 former bonds or loans, bonds issued to 
 raise money for the current expenses 
 of the city, authorized by this Charter, 
 street and sewer improvement bonds, 
 school bonds and emergency bonds for 
 the purposes and within the limits 
 enumerated in Sub. b of Sec. 4 of Act 
 No. 279 of Public Acts of 1909 or any 
 amendment thereof, shall be valid 
 without such approval. 
 
 Bonds for Ciirrt'ni Expoiise.s. 
 
 Sec. 2. For the purpose of paying 
 
 that portion of the expenses and lia¬ 
 bilities of the city for the current year 
 which the revenues thereof shall not 
 be sufficient to meet the Council may 
 issue the bonds of the city for a period 
 not longer than one year, in such 
 form and for such sum as it shall di¬ 
 rect, not exceeding fifty thousand dol¬ 
 lars in any one year, at a rate of in¬ 
 terest not exceding five per cent per 
 annum, to be signed by the Mayor and 
 countersigned by the Comptroller, and 
 with the seal of the city affixed there¬ 
 to. Such bonds shall be disposed of un¬ 
 der the direction of the Council, and 
 upon such terms as it shall deem ad¬ 
 visable, but for not less than their 
 par value, and the avails thereof 
 shall be applied only to the purposes 
 mentioned in this section. The amount 
 so borrowed shall be assessed and col¬ 
 lected in the general assessment roll 
 for the ensuing year. 
 
 Emergency Ronds, 
 
 Sec. 3. In case of fire, flood or other 
 calamity, the Council may borrow for 
 the relief of the inhabitants of the city 
 or for the preservation of municipal 
 property, a sum not to exceed one- 
 fourth of one per cent of the assessed 
 value of all real and personal property 
 in the city, and issue bonds therefor 
 due in not more than three years. 
 
 TITLE XII. 
 
 BOARD OF SINKING FUND COM¬ 
 MISSIONERS. 
 
 31embei's of Board. 
 
 Sec. 1. The Mayor, Comptroller, 
 Clerk. Treasurer and the President of 
 the Council, together with two electors 
 who shall be citizens and free-holders 
 of said city and be appointed by the 
 Mayor, on the first Monday in May 
 after his election, or as soon there¬ 
 after as practicable, and each of whom 
 shall hold office for two years, shall 
 act cs a Board of Sinking Fund Com¬ 
 missioners, without compensation. 
 
 Powers and Duties of Board. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Board of Sinking Fund 
 Commissioners, from time to time, and 
 upon terms satisfactory to it, shall 
 purchase or pay the bonded indebted¬ 
 ness of the City or such part thereof 
 as it may be able so to do. Whenever 
 said board is not able to purchase or 
 pay said debt, or any part thereof, it 
 may invest temporarily by unanimous 
 vote to be recorded in its minutes, any 
 moneys in such Sink'ng Fund in ir 
 terest bearing municipal bonds or in 
 other bonds or securities which consti¬ 
 tute a legal investment for savings 
 banks in the State. All bonds and evi¬ 
 dences of debt so purchased shall be 
 delivered to the Treasurer and shall 
 become and be the property of the 
 
44 
 
 city, and be held and controlled by 
 said Board of Sinking Fund Commis¬ 
 sioners. The interest on such bonds 
 and evidences of debt shall be cred¬ 
 ited and belong to said Sinking Fund. 
 The Treasurer shall endorse upon the 
 back of all bonds so purchased by 
 the Sinking Fund Commissioners the 
 following: “Registered bonds not 
 
 transferable without the written con¬ 
 sent of the Mayor. Comptroller and 
 Treasurer endorsed hereon.” Such 
 bonds shctll be transferred and sold 
 only under the direction of the Board 
 of Sinking Fund Commissioners. In 
 making temporary investments of the 
 moneys of the Sinking Fund the said 
 Board shall give preference to bonds 
 of this city, but may sell such bonds 
 and apply the proceeds thereof to the 
 purchase or to the payment of other 
 bonds of this city, whenever such ac¬ 
 tion is deemed advisable. Whenever 
 the Council shall transfer funds to said 
 Sinking Fund for temporary invest¬ 
 ment, the same shall be invested by 
 said Commissioners by loan or pur¬ 
 chase of the bonds of said city, and 
 not otherwise. 
 
 Board to Have Control of Sinking 
 
 Fund, Etc. 
 
 Sec. 3. The Board of Sinking Fund 
 Commissioners shall have exclusive 
 control of the moneys of the Sinking 
 Fund, and whenever possible and when 
 it may appear to the city’s interest, 
 shall faithfully apply the same to the 
 payment of the principal and interest 
 of the bonded indebtedness of this 
 city, and to no other purpose whatso¬ 
 ever, except as herein otherwise pro¬ 
 vided. The Board may invest, tem¬ 
 porarily. any portion of the Sinking 
 Fund in so-called street improvement 
 bonds of the city, but no. portion of 
 the Sinking Fund shall be applied to 
 the payment of any of such bonds. 
 
 l^Ieetings of Hoard—Yea and Nay Vote 
 
 —City Clerk to be Clerk of Board 
 
 and Keep Record. 
 
 Sec. 4. The Board of Sinking Fund 
 Commissioners shajl meet at such 
 times as it may determine, for the 
 transaction of business, and it may 
 adopt rules of procedure for its meet¬ 
 ings. A majority of the whole Board 
 shall be a quorum for the transaction 
 of business. It shall not purchase or 
 pay the outstanding debt of said city, 
 or invest any of the moneys belonging 
 to the Sinking Fund, except under a 
 resolution for such purpose passed and 
 approved by a five-sevenths vote of 
 the whole Board, by a yea and nay 
 vote, entered of record at a regular 
 meeting, or at a special meeting called 
 for that purpose. The Mayor of said 
 city, or in case of his absence, some 
 member to be designated by those 
 
 present, shall preside at the meeting 
 of said Board. The City Clerk shall 
 be the Clerk of said Board, and it shall 
 be his duty to keep and preserve on 
 file in his office a true record of all 
 meetings of said Board. 
 
 Treasurer to Have Custody of All 
 Moneys. Etc. Funds—How Paid 
 Out. 
 
 Sec. 5.—The Treasurer shall have 
 custody of all moneys, securities and 
 evidences of debt belonging or apper¬ 
 taining to the Sinking Fund. He shall 
 pay out the moneys of said fund only 
 by order of the Board of Sinking Fund 
 Commissioners, on a five-sevenths vote 
 of the members thereof, and upon the 
 warrant of the Comptroller, counter¬ 
 signed by the Mayor and Treasurer. 
 The official bond of the City Treasurer 
 shall cover any and all funds in his 
 hands or under his control belonging 
 to the Sinking Fund. 
 
 When not invested the money con¬ 
 stituting the Sinking Fund shall be 
 kept in an approved depositary to be 
 withdrawn only upon checks counter¬ 
 signed by the Comptroller, Mayor and 
 Treasurer. 
 
 Bond of Treasurer’s Depositary. 
 
 Sec. 6. Such Board shall require 
 proper and sufficient bonds from the 
 person or institution in whose actual 
 custody any of its money or property 
 may be. 
 
 Tax for Benefit of tlie Sinking Fund. 
 
 Sec. 7. At least one-fifth of a mill 
 on a dollar upon the assessed valua¬ 
 tion of the real estate and personal 
 property of the city shall be placed 
 annually in said Sinking Fund, to be 
 applied exclusively to the payment of 
 the principal of the bonds of the city 
 other than water bonds, school bonds 
 and street and sewer improvement 
 bonds. 
 
 Freniium.s and Interest to Go to Sink¬ 
 ing und. 
 
 Sec. 8. Whenever any bonds of the 
 city shall be sold for more than par 
 value thereof, all of the premiums or 
 amount received at such sale more 
 than the face value of the bonds so 
 sold, not including interest accrued 
 upon such bonds that may be paid by 
 the purchaser, shall be credited and 
 belong to the Sinking Fund. All of 
 the interest paid to the city, by the 
 city depositary or other depositaries, 
 or on account of any securities pur¬ 
 chased for the Sinking Fund, shall be 
 credited and belong to said Sinking 
 Fund. 
 
 Relative to Pavment of Water Bonds 
 and Interest Thereon. 
 
 Sec. 9.—From the gross income re¬ 
 ceived from the sale of water fur- 
 
45 
 
 nished by the city’s water works there 
 shall be paid fifty (50) per cent there¬ 
 of to the Board of Sinking Fund Com¬ 
 missioners; Provided, that this per¬ 
 centage may be temporarily increased 
 by the unanimous vote of the entire 
 A-dministrative Board. From such 
 moneys so received said Board shall 
 pay at maturity the current interest 
 * of the water bonds issued by said city, 
 and the remainder of said money shall 
 be kept separate from other funds and 
 invested by said Board under the limi¬ 
 tations provided in this Title, for the 
 i purpose of creating a special sinking 
 fund, the moneys of which are to be 
 applied to the payment, so far as pos¬ 
 sible, of the principal of the so-called 
 water bonds of said city. 
 
 Sinkin?" Fund for Payment of School 
 
 Bonds. 
 
 Sec. 10. There shall be placed in 
 the budget of the Board of Education 
 of said city a sufficient amount to pay 
 the interest upon the school bonds, 
 and such amount for each year as may 
 be recommended by the Board of Edu¬ 
 cation on approval of the Council, or 
 as may be determined to be necessary 
 by the Council, to be paid to sa d 
 Sinking Fund Commissioners to cre¬ 
 ate a Sinking Fund to be applied to 
 the payment of the principal of the 
 bonded indebtedness of the Board of 
 Education as the same matures. 
 
 Cemetery Funds. 
 
 Sec. 11.—There shall be paid to the 
 Board of Sinking Fund Commission¬ 
 ers fifteen per cent of the gross re¬ 
 ceipts of the cemeteries of the city, 
 other than the receipts for the per¬ 
 petual care of lots in such cemeteries, 
 and such further and other sums as 
 may be determined upon from time to 
 time by a majority vote of the Ad¬ 
 ministrative Board, which moneys 
 shall be invested by said Board of 
 Sinking Fund Commissioners under 
 the provisions of this Charter. A sep¬ 
 arate account shall be kept of the 
 funds of each cemetery and the earn¬ 
 ings from these funds shall be ex- 
 > pended only for the maintenance of 
 such cemeteries. From the funds ac¬ 
 cumulated from any cemetery here¬ 
 after acquired, there may be taken 
 and paid to the city an amount suf- 
 f ficient to pay the principal and inter¬ 
 est of any moneys advanced by the 
 city for the purchase or improvement 
 of such cemeterv. The interest on all 
 such sums shall be expended for ceme¬ 
 tery purposes or left with the Sinking 
 Fund Commissioners to be added to 
 such fund in the discretion of the Ad¬ 
 ministrative Board. The moneys and 
 property received by the city for the 
 perpetual care of cemetery lots shall 
 be placed in a .separate fund in care 
 of said Board of Sinking Fund Com¬ 
 
 missioners. and invested by said board 
 under the limitations provided in this 
 Title, the interest thereof to be used 
 for the care of the lots on which such 
 payments have been made, said Board 
 to carry out the trust imposed on it 
 by law. 
 
 Investment of Other Funds—Improve¬ 
 ment Bonds Preferred. 
 
 Sec. 12. The Board of Sinking 
 Fund Commissioners, subject to the 
 approval of the Mayor, shall invest 
 such other funds as shall be intrusted 
 to it from time to time by the Council, 
 and said funds shall in all respects be 
 subject to the provisions of this Title. 
 In the investment of such funds pref¬ 
 erence shall be given to public im¬ 
 provement bonds, to be repaid out of 
 the first installment of bonds issued 
 against the same. Such bonds shall 
 be actually delivered to said Board of 
 Sinking Fund Commissioners, or. in 
 lieu thereof, temporary interest bear¬ 
 ing bond certificates may be accepted, 
 and said bonds shall be held until paid 
 or until the same are sold with the 
 balance of said issue to other pur¬ 
 chasers. 
 
 Power to Collect Bonds by Suit. 
 
 Sec. 13. The Board of Sinking 
 Fund Commissioners may adopt rules 
 not in conflict with this Charter, and 
 it is hereby authorized for the purpose 
 of enforcing the collection of any 
 bonds or securities taken by it. to 
 bring suit in the name of the City of 
 Grand Rapids in any court of com¬ 
 petent jurisdiction. The City Attorney 
 shall act for such Board. 
 
 TITLE XIII. 
 
 BOARD OF LIBRARY COMMIS¬ 
 SIONERS. 
 
 Term of Office. 
 
 Sec. 1. At each annual election 
 after the adoption of this Charter, one 
 Library Commissioner shall be elected 
 to hold office for five years and until 
 his successor is elected and qualified. 
 Notice of the election of such Com¬ 
 missioners shall be given in the same 
 manner as that of members of the 
 Board of Education. 
 
 Members of—Control of Library. 
 
 Sec. 2. The five Library Commis¬ 
 sioners so elected with the Superin¬ 
 tendent of Schools, and their succes¬ 
 sors, shall constitute the Board of Li¬ 
 brary Commissioners of the City of 
 Grand Rapids, the Superintendent of 
 Schools having the same right to vote 
 on any matter coming before the 
 Board as the other members thereof. 
 Such Board '■'-nil have the entire man- 
 ngement and control of the Public Li¬ 
 brary of said city being the District 
 Library, and of all property and as- 
 
sets belonging thereto, real or per¬ 
 sonal, the title to which is now vested 
 in the Board of Education, and which 
 is devoted to or intended for library 
 purposes. 
 
 Elections, Etc. 
 
 Sec. 3. The election of members of 
 said Board shall be upon the same 
 ballot and in the same box as the elec¬ 
 tion of the members of the Board of 
 Education. All persons eligible to vote 
 for school officers shall be eligible to 
 vote for Library Commissioners. The 
 result of the vote shall be canvassed 
 and declared in the same manner as in 
 the case of city officers. Except as 
 herein otherwise 'provided, the election 
 of Library Commissioners shall be 
 governed by the same rules as the 
 election of members of the Board of 
 Education. 
 
 Wlio Eligible to Election as Library 
 Commissioner. 
 
 Sec. 4. Any qualified voter at 
 school elections in the city shall be 
 eligible to election as Library Com¬ 
 missioner. Nominations shall _ be 
 made in the same manner as nomina¬ 
 tions for members of the Board of 
 Education, and nominating petitions 
 Shan be signed by not less than one 
 hundred qualified school electors. 
 Vacancies. 
 
 Sec. 5.—In case of the death, resig¬ 
 nation or rem.oval from the city of any 
 Commissioner, his position shall be¬ 
 come vacant and the vacancy shall be 
 filled by election by the remainder of 
 the Board, but for a term continuing 
 only until the next election for Li¬ 
 brary Commissioners, at which time 
 his successor for the unexpired term 
 shall be nominated and elected in the 
 manner herein provided. 
 
 Members to Serve Without Compensa¬ 
 tion—Organization of Board—City 
 Treasurer Custodian of Funds—Al¬ 
 lowance of Bills. 
 
 Sec. 6. No member of such Board 
 shall receive any compensation for his 
 services in connection therewith. An¬ 
 nually on the first Monday of May the 
 Board shall organize by electing one 
 of its members President and one of 
 its members Secretary. The City 
 Treasurer of the City of Grand Rap¬ 
 ids shall hold the funds of said Li¬ 
 brary Commission, and all bills in¬ 
 curred by it shall be allowed by said 
 Board and certified by it to the City 
 Comptroller to be audited by him and 
 paid from the Library Fund. 
 
 Librarian, Etc. — Employment, Sal¬ 
 aries. 
 
 Sec. 7. The Board may employ in 
 its management of said library such 
 Librarian, assistants, janitors and 
 
 other employes or workmen as it 
 may determine and fix their salaries: 
 Provided, however, that such Li- 
 rarian and employes shall be appoint¬ 
 ed from persons certified by the Civil 
 Service Commission as eligible under 
 its rules and shall hold office during 
 good behavior and efficient service or 
 until they shall resign or be removed 
 in accordance with the Civil Service 
 rules and regulations in this Charter 
 provided. It may purchase such 
 books, charts, maps, and apparatus 
 for the use of the library as it may 
 find necessary, and may do every act 
 and thing necessary to maintain the 
 library building and grounds and in¬ 
 crease the usefulness of such library. 
 For this purpose it may estab¬ 
 lish and, from time to time alter, 
 amend or repeal rules and regulations 
 in any manner not inconsistent with 
 this Title. 
 
 Fines and Penalties to Go to Library. 
 
 Sec. 8. All fines and penalties 
 which by law are devoted to library 
 purposes and which now by law are 
 paid to the Board of Education for 
 such purposes, shall instead thereof 
 be paid into the City Treasury for 
 the purposes of the Board created by 
 this Title. 
 
 Gifts to Board for Library. 
 
 Sec. 9. Said Board of Library 
 Commissioners is hereby authorized 
 to receive gifts, devises or bequests 
 of real or personal estate, as trustees 
 for the Board of Education, for the 
 library or any matters connected 
 therewith, and the said Board is here¬ 
 by authorized to carry out in connec¬ 
 tion with any such gifts any trust or 
 trust conditions that may be at¬ 
 tached thereto, in the same manner as 
 any other trustee. All such gifts, de¬ 
 vises or bequests for the benefit of 
 the said library, shall be subject to 
 the same control and management by 
 the said Board of Library Commis¬ 
 sioners as the original library com¬ 
 mitted to its care. 
 
 Funds for Support of Library. 
 
 Sec. 10. There shall be placed in 
 the budget annually for the support 
 of the library and the running ex¬ 
 penses thereof, two-fifths of a mill on 
 a dollar of the assessed value of the 
 property of the City of Grand Rap¬ 
 ids, and such further sum as may be 
 determined by the Council in making 
 up its budget from year to year. The 
 Council may provide from time to 
 time temporary funds for the purpose 
 of such Board, in such manner and 
 in such amount as it determines to be 
 necessary. 
 
 Enforcement of Rights, etc. 
 
 Sec. 11. Whenever necessary for 
 the enforcement of the powers, rights 
 
47 
 
 and privileges conferred upon said 
 Board, it may in the name of the City 
 of Grand Rapids institute in any 
 court of competent jurisdiction an ac¬ 
 tion at law or equity to protect the 
 property placed in its charge, or to 
 enforce the powers, rights and priv¬ 
 ileges hereby given to such Board, 
 and shall be represented therein by 
 ^ the City Attorney of said city. 
 
 TITLE XIV. 
 
 BOARD OF ART AND MUSEUM 
 t COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Members—How Appointed—Term of. 
 
 Sec. 1. There shall be a Board of 
 Art and Museum Commissioners con¬ 
 sisting of the Superintendent of 
 Schools and five other persons, to be 
 appointed by the Mayor, on the first 
 Monday of May after his election, or 
 as soon thereafter as practicable, one 
 of whom may be a non-resident of 
 the city. Women shall be eligible to 
 serve upon this Board. In making 
 the first appointment hereunder, the 
 respective appointees shall be se¬ 
 lected for such terms as may be nec¬ 
 essary to constitute a Board wherein 
 one member’s term shall expire at the 
 end of one year, one at the end of 
 two years, one at the end of three 
 years, one at the end of four years, 
 and one at the end of five years. The 
 full term of each member of the 
 Board thereafter appointed shall be 
 five years. The Superintendent of 
 Schools shall be ex-officio member of 
 the Board and entitled to vote. 
 
 Control of Property. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Board shall have the 
 management and control of the mu¬ 
 seum, heretofore under the control 
 of the Library Commissioners, and of 
 all property and assets belonging 
 thereto or intended to be used there¬ 
 with, real or personal, and of all 
 property belonging to the City or Board 
 of Education intended for or devoted to 
 art or an Art Gallery or similar pur¬ 
 poses, and all property which shall 
 ^ hereafter be purchased, donated, 
 loaned, or otherwise belong to, or be 
 used in connection with said Museum 
 or Art Gallery. 
 
 ^ Members to Serve Without Compen¬ 
 sation—Organization of Board—City 
 Treasurer Custodian of Funds— 
 —Allowanee of Bills. 
 
 Sec. 3. No member of such Board 
 shall receive any compensation for 
 his or her services in connection 
 therewith. Annually on the first 
 Monday in May, or as soon thereafter 
 as practicable, the Board shall or¬ 
 ganize by electing one of its members 
 President and one of its members Sec¬ 
 
 retary. The City Treasurer shall hold 
 the funds of said Board and all bills 
 incurred by it shall be allowed by said 
 Board hnd certified to the "City Comp¬ 
 troller to be audited by him. 
 
 Superintendents, etc—Employment of 
 
 —Salaries. 
 
 Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the 
 Board to appoint and employ such 
 Superintendent and other employes 
 as the economical and efficient ser¬ 
 vice of this department shall require, 
 and to prescribe and fix their duties 
 and compensation, subject to the ap¬ 
 proval of the Council: Provided, 
 however, that such Superintendents 
 and employes shall be appointed 
 from persons certified by the Civil 
 Service Commission as eligible under 
 its rules and shall hold office during 
 good behavior and efficient service 
 or until they shall resign or be re¬ 
 moved in accordance with the Civil 
 Service rules and regulations in this 
 Charter provided. 
 
 Gifts to Board. 
 
 Sec. 5. Said Board is hereby au¬ 
 thorized to receive loans, gifts, de¬ 
 vises and bequests of property, both 
 real and personal, as Trustees for the 
 Board of Education or the City in 
 connection with either said Museum 
 or Art collection; and it may carry 
 out any trust or trust conditions that 
 may be attached to such loans, gifts, 
 devises and bequests, in the same 
 manner as might any other trustee: 
 Provided, that in case of the gift or 
 devise of real estate, it shall be ac¬ 
 cepted only after the approval of the 
 Council. All such additions to the 
 property, either real or personal, shall 
 be under the management and con¬ 
 trol of the Board. 
 
 Funds for Support. 
 
 Sec. 6. There shall be placed in 
 the budget annually to defray the ex¬ 
 penses of conducting the Museum and 
 Art Gallery, a sum which shall be 
 annually appropriated by the Coun¬ 
 cil. 
 
 Enforcement of Rights. 
 
 Sec. 7. If at any time it shall be¬ 
 come necessary to institute or defend 
 a suit or suits in any court, for en¬ 
 forcing the rights, powers and priv¬ 
 ileges of the said Board, or to protect 
 the property placed in its charge, it 
 may cause suit therefor to be brought 
 and prosecuted in the name of either 
 the City of. Grand Rapids or the 
 Board of Education of the city. The 
 City Attorney shall act for the Board. 
 Title to Property—Holding and Man¬ 
 aging Board. 
 
 Sec. 8. The Board hereby created is 
 intended to be a holding and inanag- 
 
48 
 
 ing board and not to take title to any 
 property except as trustee, either for 
 the Board of Education or the City of 
 Grand Rapids or other owner of the 
 property. The title to all property now 
 held by either the City or the Board 
 of Education shall remain as now 
 vested, and the equitable title to 
 property hereafter received to be 
 either in the City or the Board of 
 Education as the gift, bequest or 
 conveyance thereof shall determine. 
 
 TITLE XV. 
 
 HOUSE OF CORRECTION. 
 
 Council 3Iay Provide for. 
 
 Sec. 1. The Council, by ordinance 
 may provide for the establishment 
 and maintenance by the city of a 
 house of correction. 
 
 How Governed and Maintained. 
 
 Sec. 2. Said institution when es¬ 
 tablished shall conform to the general 
 state law and be governed, conducted 
 and maintained in the manner there¬ 
 in provided, and when established the 
 Council shall have the authority over 
 such institution and over the appoint¬ 
 ment and control of the officers and 
 employes thereof, as is or shall be 
 vested in it by Act 278 of the Public 
 Acts of 1911, or any amendment 
 thereof. 
 
 Referendum. 
 
 Sec. 3. The questions whether 
 such institution shall be provided for 
 and maintained in said city and of 
 raising the necessary funds for instal¬ 
 lation shall first be submitted to and 
 approved by three-fifths of the quab 
 ified electors of the city voting there¬ 
 on, and upon such propositions 
 women tax payers having the qualifi¬ 
 cations of male electors shall be en¬ 
 titled to vote. 
 
 TITLE X\ I. 
 
 LICENSES. 
 
 Intoxicating Liquors—Places of Sale 
 
 —Council May Regulate. 
 
 Sec. 1. The Council shall have 
 authority to restrain, license, and 
 regulate saloons or other places 
 where intoxicating, spirituous, malt, 
 brewed, vinous, or fermented liquors 
 are sold, furnished or given away, and 
 to prescribe the location thereof. 
 
 District Wherein Liquor May be Sold 
 
 or Furnislied—Council to Fix. 
 
 Sec. 2. The Council shall fix and 
 prescribe by ordinance, from time to 
 time the district within which sa¬ 
 loons and bars where such liquors are 
 furnished, sold at retail, or given 
 
 away may be located; and no such 
 district, after it has once been fixed, 
 shall be extended except upon a three- 
 fourths vote of the members of the 
 Council elected. 
 
 License Fees—Council to Fix. 
 
 Sec. 3. The Council shall fix by or¬ 
 dinance the city license fees that shall 
 be charged and paid for the privilege 
 of manufacture, sale or other disposi¬ 
 tion, of any such liquors. 
 
 License—Wlien and How Obtained. 
 
 Sec. 4. No person shall engage in 
 the business of manufacturing, selling 
 at wholesale or retail or otherwise 
 disposing of, any intoxicating, spirit¬ 
 uous, malt, brewed, vinous, or fer¬ 
 mented liquors until he shall , have 
 first been granted a license therefor by 
 a two-thirds vote of the members of 
 the Council elected. Said license shall 
 fix the location of such business. 
 
 No license shall be issued to any 
 such person for the manufacture, sale, 
 or disposition of any such liquors un¬ 
 til he shall have first complied with 
 the state law and all city ordinances 
 and until he shall have paid the state 
 tax and all license fees provided for 
 by ordinance. 
 
 Every application for license shall 
 be first filed with the Department of 
 Health and Safety and by it shall be 
 investigated and transmitted to the 
 Council with the recommendation 
 endorsed thereon of the Superintend¬ 
 ent of Police. In case the recom¬ 
 mendation of the Superintendent of 
 Police be adverse to the granting of 
 such license, such license shall not be 
 granted except by a five-sixths vote 
 of the members of the Council 
 elected. 
 
 Druggists, Who Soli According to I.aw, 
 
 Not to Apply to. 
 
 Sec. 5. Druggists who furnish 
 liquors for medicinal, mechanical, 
 scientific or sacramental purposes only 
 and in strict compliance with law, 
 shall not come within the provisions 
 of the foregoing sections relating to 
 saloons. 
 
 Other Licenses—How Granted—Terms 
 
 of. 
 
 Sec. 6. No licen.se shall be granted 
 for more than one year and before the 
 issuance thereof the licensee shall 
 execute a bond to the city in such 
 pengl sum as the Council may pre- 
 scrilDe, with one or more sureties con¬ 
 ditioned for the faithful observance 
 of this Charter and the ordinance.s 
 and regulations of the Council of said 
 city. All licenses shall terminate on 
 the first day of May following their 
 issuance. 
 
 
 
49 
 
 TITLE XVn. 
 
 CE3IETERIES. 
 
 Cemeteries—Adinlnistrati\ie Board to 
 Have Charge of. Survey, Make Sale 
 of Lots, Improve and Regulate— 
 Limitation as to Price of Certain 
 I Sites and Lots. 
 
 Sec. 1. The -Administrative Board 
 shall have exclusive care, custody, and 
 management of all cemetery property 
 belonging to the city and shall have 
 authority to adopt rules and regula¬ 
 tions for the use of cemetery lots in 
 any of the cemeteries of the city and 
 for the care thereof. It may cause 
 to be made suitable surveys and maps 
 of all cemeteries and shall regulate 
 the sales and prices of lots and in¬ 
 terments therein, and shall make such 
 improvements and regulations for the 
 use and protection of such cemeteries 
 as it may deem proper; Provided, 
 there shall always be for sale, in some 
 of the city cemeteries, single grave 
 sites at not to exceed one dollar for 
 sites under four feet in length and 
 two dollars for sites four feet and 
 over in length. The Council shall 
 make an annual appropriation for care 
 of such sites: Provided further, that 
 there shall always be for sale in some 
 of the city cemeteries family burial 
 lots, containing one hundred and 
 twenty square feet, at not to exceed 
 thirty dollars, and containing two 
 hundred and forty square feet at not 
 to exceed fifty dollars. 
 
 It may expend, for the care and 
 improvements of the cemeteries, 
 moneys received by it from the sale 
 of lots and other sources of revenue, 
 subject to the other provisions of this 
 Charter. 
 
 Board May Accept Trii.sts for Certain 
 Purposes. Income—How Expended. 
 
 Sec. 2. The said board is hereby 
 authorized to accept from any person 
 any conveyance, gift, bequest or de¬ 
 vise, in trust for the use and purpose 
 I of keeping in good order and repair 
 any or all burial lots, monuments, 
 vaulLs, tombs, graves and lot improve¬ 
 ments as well as for the planting and 
 care of flowers or shrubbery on such 
 - lots or graves or any part thereof in 
 ' the cemeteries or any part thereof 
 under the charge and control of such 
 board, but for no other use or purpose 
 whatsoever. All funds in trust for 
 such uses or purposes shall pass to 
 and be held by the Board of Sinking 
 Fund Commissioners, and be kept 
 separate and apart from all other 
 funds under its control and invested 
 as in this Charter provided, and the 
 whole income thereof shall be paid 
 over to the Administrative Board and 
 
 used according to the terms of the 
 trust and accounted for accordingly. 
 
 Earnings of Cemeteries—Administra¬ 
 tive Board May Expend for Care and 
 Upkeep. 
 
 Sec. 3. The Administrative Board 
 shall have the authority to expend the 
 earnings from cemetery funds in the 
 hands of the Board of Sinking. Fund 
 Commissioners for the care and up¬ 
 keep of the cemeteries from which the 
 fund was created. 
 
 Cemetery Lots—Conveyances of—How 
 Executed and Recorded—Control 
 Retained. 
 
 Sec. 4. All deeds and conveyances of 
 cemetery lots shall be executed by the 
 Mayor and City Clerk, countersigned 
 by the Comptroller and recorded in 
 the office of the City Clerk: Provided, 
 that no deed or conveyance shall be 
 delivered to any person until the receipt 
 for the purchase price thereof is 
 shown to the officer executing or con¬ 
 veying the same: Provided, however, 
 that such deed shall not in any way 
 preclude or limit the right and au¬ 
 thority of the board to approve and 
 give final directions as to grading and 
 platting lots, monuments to be erected, 
 and other improvements and use of 
 the same. 
 
 Cemeteries and Lots Exempt from 
 Taxation—Execution, Levy and Sale 
 or Other Process. 
 
 Sec. 5. The cemetery properties of 
 the City of Grand Rapids, and all lots 
 or plats therein which have been or 
 shall hereafter be conveyed by said 
 city as places of burial of the dead, 
 shall forever be exempted from taxa¬ 
 tion and from special assessments for 
 local improvements, and shall not be 
 liable to be levied upon or sold under 
 execution or be applied to the payment 
 of debts by any assignment under any 
 insolvent law, or by any compulsory 
 process of law. 
 
 TITLE XVIII. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Bonds of City Officers and Employes— 
 
 Foitu and Approval of. 
 
 Sec. 1. The Council shall prescribe 
 the character and amount of surety 
 bonds t6 be furnished by any officer 
 or employe of the city. Such bonds 
 before acceptance shall be approved 
 as to form and validity by the City 
 Attorney: and when so approved and 
 accepted by the Council shall be filed 
 with the City Clerk. 
 
 Cost Paid by City. 
 
 Sec. 2. The cost of all bonds re¬ 
 quired to be given under the provisions 
 
50 
 
 of this Charter by any and all city 
 officials or employes shall be paid by 
 the city, 
 
 A^'arrants Void Wlien V'und is Ex¬ 
 
 hausted. 
 
 Sec, 3, No warrant shall be drawn 
 upon the treasury after the specific 
 appropriation from which it is pay¬ 
 able has been exhausted; and in case 
 any warrant is so drawn it shall be 
 void. 
 
 Contingent Fund—Temporary Transfer 
 of Moneys to Sinkino- Fund Au¬ 
 thorized. 
 
 Sec. 4. Moneys not received or ap¬ 
 propriated for any particular purpose 
 shall be credited to the Contingent 
 Fund. The Council may, by majority 
 vote, upon the written request of the 
 Administrative Board, temporarily 
 transfer to the Sinking Fund any funds 
 not needed for the purpose for which 
 the same are appropriated for a period 
 of not less than sixty days, and which 
 transfer shall specify the purpose 
 thereof and the investment to be made 
 of such funds. 
 
 Warrants Payable Only from Specified 
 Appropriation. HE 
 
 Sec, 5. Every warrant upon the 
 (treasury shall specify the specific ap¬ 
 propriation from which it is payable, 
 and shall be paid therefrom. 
 
 Fiscal V'ear. 
 
 Sec, 6. The fiscal year of the city 
 shall begin on the first day of April 
 in each year and end on the last day 
 of March in each year. 
 
 Annual Reports—Budget. 
 
 Sec. 7. The Administrative Board 
 and every other official, commission, 
 board or department not under the 
 Administrative Board shall render, an¬ 
 nually, on the last Tuesday of April, 
 and oftener when required by resolu¬ 
 tion of the Council and in accordance 
 with such resolution, their whole and 
 complete written report of the busi¬ 
 ness of such office, commission, board 
 or department, or any division thereof 
 covering the period of the fiscal year 
 and of the doings of the several subor¬ 
 dinates, and shall make such com¬ 
 ments find recommendations for the 
 irhprovement and needs of the work 
 of the office, commission, board or 
 department,' as he or it may deem 
 expedient or necessary. All reports 
 so made shall be public, and the origi¬ 
 nal thereof shall be filed with the 
 City Clerk. Each such annual report 
 shall show the amount of money re¬ 
 ceived and expended, and the balance 
 on hand, and shall also contain an 
 estimate of the probable income for 
 the ensuing year, and a recommenda¬ 
 tion as to what sum of money in his 
 
 or its judgment should be placed in 
 the next annual budget to be raised 
 by direct taxation or in any other 
 manner. Such reports shall be printed 
 and published as the Council may 
 direct in a single bound volume. All 
 reports of receipts and expenditures 
 of money and estimates for the budget 
 shall be upon blanks furnished by the 
 Comptroller. 
 
 Contracts—Term of Limited,. 
 
 Sec. 8. Except as otherwise pro¬ 
 vided in this Charter, no contract 
 shall be entered into by the city for 
 a period exceeding fiv.e years. 
 
 Contracts To Be in Triplicate. 
 
 Sec. 9, All contracts executed by 
 the city shall be in triplicate, one 
 copy thereof to be filed with the Comp¬ 
 troller and one with the City Clerk. 
 
 Contracts for City Printing—Council 
 
 to Advertise For. 
 
 Sec. 10. The Council shall annually 
 advertise for bids and award contracts 
 for city printing and advertising. One 
 contract shall cover the printing of 
 the city pamphlets in manner and 
 form as the Council shall provide by 
 ordinance, which shall contain the 
 record of the proceedings of the Coun¬ 
 cil. One contract shall cover all ad¬ 
 vertising where the city is required by 
 this Charter to advertise in one daily 
 newspaper, and such newspaper shall 
 be known as the official paper. One 
 contract shall cover all^ advertising in 
 a second daily newspaper and shall in¬ 
 clude all advertising where the city is 
 required by this Charter to advertise 
 in more than one daily newspaper. 
 Books, Papers, etc., to be Delivered to 
 
 Successor—Violation How l^unislied. 
 
 I 
 
 Sec. 11. Whenever any officer shall 
 resign or be removed from office, or 
 the term for which he shall have been 
 elected or appointed shall expire, he 
 shall, on demand, deliver to hLs suc¬ 
 cessor in office all the books, papers, 
 mone.vs and effects in his custody as 
 such officer, or in any way appertain¬ 
 ing to his office. Every person violat¬ 
 ing this provision shall be deemed 
 guilty of a misdemeanor and punished 
 as the Council shall by ordinance pro¬ 
 vide. 
 
 Rights to Use and Occupy Streets— 
 
 How and for What Term Granted. 
 
 Sec. 12. No right for the use or oc¬ 
 cupancy of any street for any purpose 
 shall be granted, except by a two- 
 thirds vote of the Councilmen elect, 
 nor shall any such right be granted 
 for a period exceeding 30 years, and 
 no such franchise or right so granted 
 shall affect the right or claim of any 
 person for damages sustained by rea¬ 
 son of the exercise of such right 
 
 ■r- 
 
 t' 
 
 > 
 
against the person, firm or corpora¬ 
 tion exercising the same. 
 
 Title to Public Property Not To Be 
 
 Acquired by Adverse Possession or 
 
 Given Away. 
 
 Sec. 13. No person, persons, firm or 
 corporation shall be entitled to any 
 street, lane, alley, public place, square, 
 or any part thereof, or to any right 
 therein by reason of any occupancy 
 thereof had, created or claimed by 
 adverse poss-ession. The Council shall 
 not possess the power to give away, 
 surrender or relinquish the control 
 of any street, lane, alley, court, public 
 square or place, or create any per¬ 
 manent use thereof for any other pur¬ 
 pose than for street or public pur¬ 
 poses, except by regular vacation pro¬ 
 ceedings. 
 
 Claims for Damages—Notices of— 
 
 When and How Given. 
 
 Sec. 14. If any claim for unliquidated 
 damages is made against said city for 
 injuries to persons or property by 
 reason of any defects in the sidewalks, 
 streets, highways, crosswalks, bridges, 
 alleys, courts, public grounds, or public 
 places in said city, or by reason of any 
 negligence on the part of said city, or 
 said city officials, or its employes, in 
 any public work in which it or they 
 are engaged, or any claim is made 
 against said city in an action of tort, 
 the claimant in such cases shall present 
 the same to the Council within sixty 
 days after the injury or wrong oc¬ 
 curred, such claim shall state the place 
 where such injury or wrong was re¬ 
 ceived. the names of claimant’s wit¬ 
 nesses concerning the same, then 
 known to claimant, a description of 
 the injury sustained, and a succinct 
 statement of the facts constituting 
 such claimant’s demands against said 
 city and any further statement that 
 may be required by said Council, If 
 said claim arises from injury received 
 by reason of any defect in the side¬ 
 walks, streets, highways, bridges, al¬ 
 leys, courts, public grounds or public 
 places in said city, or public works 
 in which the said city or its officials 
 are engaged, the claimant who alleges 
 injury thereon shall give notice to the 
 city by a written statement filed with 
 the City Clerk within ten days of the 
 time of said injury, specifying the loca¬ 
 tion upon the street, alley, lane, high¬ 
 way, sidewalk, crosswalk, bridge, 
 court, public place or public ground, 
 or public works where the same was 
 received, and the general character 
 of the alleged defect claimed to have 
 existed resulting in the injury of the 
 claimant; said preliminary notice not 
 to take the place of the specific no¬ 
 tice herein required to be filed within 
 sixty days. If required by the Coun¬ 
 cil or a committee thereof, said claim¬ 
 
 ant shall produce his witnesses before 
 ' said Council or committee and they 
 m.ay be sworn and examined as to the 
 nature of the claims, the amount there¬ 
 of and the particular basis upon which 
 they are miade. The Council or com¬ 
 mittee shall have power to .subpoena 
 witnesses for such hearing. Any such 
 claim shall be void unless such claim¬ 
 ant shall bring an action against said 
 city for such a demand within a period 
 of one year from and after said Coun¬ 
 cil has had a reasonable time, not to 
 exceed sixty days, to investigate and 
 pass upon such claim. 
 
 Claims for Damages-^—Bar to Action, 
 
 etc. 
 
 Sec. 15. It shall be a sufficient bar 
 to any action or proceeding brought 
 in any court for the recovery of any 
 such claim against the city that such 
 claim has never been presented to the 
 Council, or notice thereof given either 
 as to the time and place of injury or 
 of the specific basis of the claim as 
 provided for in the preceding section, 
 within the time therein limited, or 
 that the action or proceeding was 
 brought before said Council, had such 
 reasonable time to investigate and 
 pass upon such claim as hereinbefore 
 provided, or that such claimant did 
 not produce his witnesses for examina¬ 
 tion upon claim made, as required by 
 the preceding section, or that the ac¬ 
 tion or proceeding was not brought 
 within the period of one year after 
 the time elapsed for the Council to 
 investigate and pass upon such claim 
 as hereinbefore provided. 
 
 Contractor Liable for Damages to Per¬ 
 sons or Property Injured Througli 
 
 Negligence — City Subrogated bo 
 
 Plaintiff's Bights in Certain Casts. 
 
 Sec. 16. If any contractor shall fail 
 to maintain sufficient fence or protec¬ 
 tion guards to prevent damage or in¬ 
 jury to persons or property, or shall be 
 guilty of other negligence in doing 
 work under contract, and injury to 
 persons or property shall occur by 
 reason of such default or negligence, 
 such contractor and his bondsmen 
 shall be liable to the person injured in 
 person or property, for the damage 
 sustained, to be recovered with costs 
 in the proper form of action in any 
 court of competent jurisdiction. If 
 any judgment be recovered against the 
 city as defendant in any suit based 
 upon such default or negligence, the 
 city shall be subrogated to the rights 
 of the plaintiff against such contractor 
 or his bondsmen. 
 
 I'owors Reserved to City I?egarding 
 
 Fulfillment of Contraets. 
 
 Sec. 17. Every contract to which 
 the city Ls a party shall reserve to the 
 
52 
 
 city the right to determine finally all 
 questions as to the proper perform¬ 
 ance of such contract, or any unfinish¬ 
 ed portion thereof and, in case of the 
 improper, dilatory or imperfect per¬ 
 formance thereof, to suspend the work 
 at any time and to order the partial 
 or entire reconstruction of the same, 
 and, whenever from unreasonable de¬ 
 lay in the work or for other just cause, 
 it shall deem such contract forfeited, 
 to relet the work covered by such con¬ 
 tract, or any unfinished portion thereof, 
 and power is hereby given said city to 
 determine all such questions arising 
 under any such contract according to 
 the true intent and meaning thereof. 
 Every contract shall also reserve to 
 the city the right, when it shall be¬ 
 come satisfied that the work provided 
 for in any contract will not be com¬ 
 pleted within the time limited, to place 
 additional men and teams on said work 
 and supply additional material if nec- 
 essry, and render such assistance as 
 it may deem advisable for the com¬ 
 pletion of such contract, and all cost 
 and expense thereof shall be charged 
 to the contractor and retained by said 
 city out of the contract price. 
 
 Arrests AVithout Process. ^ 
 
 Sec. IS.—The chief of police, police 
 officers, police detectives, police con¬ 
 stables and special policemen of the 
 city, in addition to the powers, duties 
 and authority possessed by them at 
 common law and the laws of this state, 
 in matters of a criminal nature, shall 
 have power to arrest without process 
 all persons who in the presence of 
 the arresting officer shall be engaged 
 in the violation of any law or ordi¬ 
 nance, and such persons may be de¬ 
 tained in custody until complaint can 
 be made and process issue for their 
 arrest and trial; and it shall be the 
 duty of such officer to make such com¬ 
 plaint and procure such process in the 
 proper court as speedily as possible 
 after such arrest. 
 
 Police Court to Enforce Rules and Or. 
 
 dinances. 
 
 Sec. 19. The police court of the 
 City of Grand Rapids shall have juris¬ 
 diction for the enforcement of all the 
 legal provisions of th's Charter, and 
 of all Ordinances in pursuance thereof 
 concerning the cemeteries, or of the 
 general statutes of the state, within 
 the boundaries of cemeteries, both 
 within and without the city, an 1 to 
 that end the Council may ‘adopt ordi¬ 
 nances and regulations in relation to 
 such enforcement, and may provide 
 for the imposition of penalties, for im¬ 
 prisonment, or both, for any violation 
 thereof. 
 
 Expenses of Apprclicnding Criminals. 
 
 Etc.. To Pc l^aid b.v Kent Count.v. 
 
 Sec. 20. The expen.ses of apprehend¬ 
 
 ing, examining and committing of¬ 
 fenders against the laws of this state 
 in said city, and their confinement, 
 shall be audited and paid by the 
 supervisors of the County of Kent, in 
 the same manner as if such expenses 
 had been incurred in any town of the 
 said county. 
 
 Suits to Recover Fines, Etc. 
 
 Sec. 21. All suits which shall be 
 commenced to recover any fine, penalty 
 or forfeiture for the violation of any 
 by-laws, ordinance or regulation of 
 the Council, or of any of the provisions 
 of this Charter, shall be brought in 
 the name of the City of Grand Rapids 
 in any court having jurisdiction 
 thereof. 
 
 No Person Disqualified as Judge, 
 
 Juror or Witness Because of Resi¬ 
 dence in City. 
 
 Sec. 22. No person who is an in¬ 
 habitant of the city, and who has the 
 other requisite qualifications therefor, 
 and is not specially exempt therefrom, 
 shall be disqualified from acting as a 
 judge, justice or a juror in the trial 
 or other proceedings in any suit 
 brought to recover any such fine, pen¬ 
 alty or forfeiture, nor from serving 
 any process or summoning a jury in 
 such suit, nor from acting in any 
 capacity in any proceeding before or 
 during the trial thereof, or in any 
 proceeding after judgment therein, 
 taken to carry such judgment into ef¬ 
 fect; nor shall any such person be dis¬ 
 qualified from being a witness on the 
 trial of any issue or upon the taking 
 of any inquisition or assessment, or 
 any investigation of facts to which is¬ 
 sue, inquest or investigation in any 
 suit as aforesaid, the city or any city 
 or ward officer is a party, or on which 
 the city or such officer is interested. 
 
 provisions of Ihreccding Section to Ap¬ 
 ply to All Suits Bi’Ought by City. 
 
 Sec. 23. All of the provisions of the 
 preceding section in relation to the 
 disqualification of any person because 
 of his residence in the city, shall apply 
 to all suits of whatever nature, civil or 
 criminal, brought in the name of the ^ 
 City of Grand Rapids, or on its ac¬ 
 count or in its behalf. * 
 
 Pleadings in Certain Cases. 
 
 Sec. 24. In suits commenced before ^ 
 any justice of the peace or in any 
 other court for the recovery of any 
 fine, penalty or forfeiture for violation 
 of any provisions of the statutes of 
 thi.s state or any provisions of this 
 Charter, or of any by-law, ordinance 
 or regulation of the Council, it shall 
 not be necessary to file any declara¬ 
 tion therein or to recite, or to name 
 any plea in any writ or process, but 
 the plea of the defendant shall be the 
 same as in criminal cases and shall 
 
be to the complaint filed in such suit. 
 If upon the trial of any such suit the 
 defendant is acquitted, the judgment 
 entered shall show that fact, and if 
 convicted it shall show the judgment 
 for the fine, penalty or forfeiture for 
 which suit was brought, and costs 
 therein, and the term of imprisonment, 
 if any, in case of the non-payment 
 thereof. 
 
 Fines, Costs and Imiorisonment—Exe¬ 
 cutions For. 
 
 Sec. 25. Every execution for any 
 fine, penalty or forfeiture recovered 
 for the violation of any of the pro¬ 
 visions of the statutes of this state, or 
 of this Charter, or of any by-law. or¬ 
 dinance or regulation of the Council, 
 may be issued immediately on the ren¬ 
 dition of the judgment and shall com¬ 
 mand the amount thereof to be made 
 of the property of the defendant, if 
 any such can be found, and if not, 
 then to commit the defendant to the 
 Kent County jail for such time as shall 
 be fixed therein by the court from 
 which such execution was issued. It 
 shall be lawful for the officer receiv¬ 
 ing such execution to take the body 
 of such defendant therein, unless such 
 defendant shall point out or deliver 
 to such officer sufficient goods and 
 chattels belongvn^^ to such defendant, 
 liable to execution and free from all 
 encumbrances, to satisfy the same. The 
 keeper of said Kent County jail shall 
 receive the said defendant and keep 
 him safely therein during the time 
 mentioned in said writ unless he shall 
 sooner pay the amount specified in 
 such execution and the cost of his de¬ 
 tention. 
 
 Payment of Judgments and Costs by 
 
 City. 
 
 Sec. 26. No execution shall issue 
 against the city for any judgment or 
 costs recovered against it. but the 
 Council shall allow and pay the 
 amount of any final judgment or costs 
 which may be recovered against the 
 city in the same manner as accounts 
 are audited and paid by the city. 
 
 Not Necessary for City to 111c Bond. 
 
 Sec. 27. Whenever the city shall 
 take any proceedings or shall be a 
 party to any suit or proceeding in any 
 court, or an apnellant from any judg¬ 
 ment or final order of a court wherein 
 by the statutes of the state, or by the 
 rules and practice of the court where 
 such suit or proceeding is to be com¬ 
 menced or is pending or is sought to 
 be taken, a bond is required to be 
 given, such statutes or such rules and 
 practice of the court shall not apply 
 to said city, but such proceedings or 
 appeal may be taken and such suit 
 brought by said city without the giv¬ 
 ing of such bond. 
 
 Public Records—What Deemed to Be 
 
 —Effect as Evidence. 
 
 Sec. 28. All papers, books or other 
 records of any matter required by the 
 general statutes of this state, or any 
 of the provisions of this Charter, or 
 by the provisions of any by-law, or¬ 
 dinance, resolution or regulation of 
 the Council, to be kept in any of the 
 several departments of the municipal 
 government of the city, shall be 
 deemed public records of such depart¬ 
 ments, and the same or copies duly 
 certified by the custodian thereof shall 
 be prima facie evidence of their con¬ 
 tents in all suits at law or in equity or 
 in any other proceedings. 
 
 Pensions for Policemen and Firemen. 
 
 Sec. 29. Upon wmitten recommenda¬ 
 tion of the General Manager of the 
 Department of Health and Safety, 
 which shall set forth in verified detail 
 the cause of the action, the Adminis¬ 
 trative Board, by a four-fifths vote, 
 shall have authority to pay pensions, 
 under rules to be provided by ordin¬ 
 ance, to disabled firemen or policemen 
 or to firemen or policemen who have 
 been in continuous service of either or 
 both departments for a period of not 
 less than tw'enty years, or to the widows 
 or other dependents of firemen or po¬ 
 licemen killed in discharge of their 
 duties; and the Comptroller shall pay 
 such claim when certified to him by 
 the Administrative Board. All such 
 pensions now in existence shall con¬ 
 tinue in full force and effect. No new 
 pension to a policeman or fireman for 
 temporary injury shall be paid for 
 more than six months or for more 
 than two-thirds of the regular pay of 
 such disabled member. No pension to 
 firemen or policemen, wffio may be re¬ 
 tired after at least twenty years of 
 service as aforesaid, shall exceed a 
 sum equal to one-half of the amount 
 paid to full paid firemen and police¬ 
 men filling like positions at the time 
 of their retirement. No pension to a 
 widow or other dependent as afore¬ 
 said shall be paid for a period longer 
 than five years or in a sum exceeding 
 $30 0 per year. 
 
 Perquisites Prohibited. 
 
 Sec. 30. No city officer or employe 
 shall receive directly or indirectly any 
 perquisite of office in addition to his 
 salarv. 
 
 Buildings Threatened b.y Fire—When 
 
 May be Destroyed—Claims for Dam¬ 
 ages Therefor—How and When 
 
 Ih'esented to Council. 
 
 Sec. 31. Whenever any building in 
 the city shall be on fire it shall be 
 lawful for the fire marshal or his as¬ 
 sistant in charge at such fire, with the 
 consent of a member of the Admin- 
 
istrative Board, to order such building 
 or any part thereof not on fire, but 
 which may be deemed hazardous or 
 likely to communicate fire to other 
 buildings, to be pulled down and de¬ 
 stroyed. In such case no action shall 
 be maintained against the city or any 
 person therefor until after a claim 
 therefor shall have been presented to 
 the Council and disallowed in whole or 
 in part by it. 
 
 The Council shall, by general ordin¬ 
 ance, prescribe the time, manner and 
 form in which claims against the city 
 under this section may be presented 
 and the time thereafter within w^hich 
 suits based thereon shall be instituted 
 against it. 
 
 Except in those cases where the 
 pulling down or destruction of the 
 building shall deprive the claimant of 
 the right to collect insurance actually 
 in force thereon, the Council in con¬ 
 sidering, and the Court in any suit 
 based upon any such claim, shall take 
 into account the probability of the 
 building having been destroyed or in¬ 
 jured by fire if it had not been pulled 
 down or destroyed. 
 
 TITLE XIX. 
 
 SCHEDULE. 
 
 That no inconvenience may arise 
 from the changes in the Charter of the 
 city hereby made, and in order to carry 
 the same into complete operation, it 
 is hereby declared that: 
 
 Existing Ordinances and Rules Con¬ 
 tinued in Force. 
 
 Sec. 1. The existing ordinances and 
 special laws of the city, the rules and 
 regulations of the Council and of all 
 Boards of the city not inconsistent 
 with this Charter are hereby re-enact¬ 
 ed and shall continue in force until 
 they expire by limitation or are super¬ 
 seded Or repealed by action of the con¬ 
 stituted authority: Provide, that the 
 Council for a period not greater than 
 sixty days may by a separate vote 
 upon each continue in force any such 
 ordinances, rules or regulations in¬ 
 consistent with this Charter. 
 
 City to Remain Vested With Property, 
 
 etc. 
 
 Sec. 2. After the adoption of this 
 Charter, the city shall continue to be 
 vested with all the property, moneys, 
 contracts, rights, credits, effects, and 
 the records, files, books and papers be¬ 
 longing to it as formerly incorporated, 
 and no right or liability, either in fa¬ 
 vor of against it, existing at the time 
 of the taking effect of this Charter, 
 and no suit or prosecution of any 
 character shall in any manner be af¬ 
 fected by such change, but the same 
 shall stand or proceed as if no such 
 change had been made, and all debts 
 
 and liabilities of the city shall con¬ 
 tinue to be its debts and lia¬ 
 bilities, and all fines and penalties 
 imposed and all taxes and assess¬ 
 ments levied and uncollected at 
 the time of such change shall be col¬ 
 lected, and all licenses issued by the 
 city shall be and remain the same as 
 if such change had not been made: 
 Provided, that when a different rem- - 
 edy is given in this Charter, or in any 
 ordinance pursuant hereto, which can 
 be made applicable to any rights ex¬ 
 isting upon the adoption of this Char¬ 
 ter or subject thereto, the same shall 
 be deemed cumulative to the remedies 
 before provided, and may be used ac¬ 
 cordingly, unless the newly provided 
 remedy shall be expressly declared to 
 be exclusive. 
 
 Charter—3Iethod of Pubisliing Before 
 
 Submission. 
 
 Sec. 3. This Charter, before sub¬ 
 mission to the electors shall, to¬ 
 gether with such a statement of its 
 provisions as shall be prepared by or 
 under the direction of the Charter 
 Commission, be published in the fol¬ 
 lowing manner: 
 
 Within twenty days after the filing 
 of a copy of the Charter with the 
 City Clerk, he shall cause it to be 
 printed at least once in the official 
 paper of the city, together with such 
 statement of its provisions. 
 
 Under the direction of this Commis¬ 
 sion, and within thirty days after such • 
 filing, the Clerk shall procure printed 
 copies of such Charter and statement 
 in pamphlet form from the official 
 paper in like manner as pamphlet 
 copies of the proceedings of the Coun¬ 
 cil are procured, and keep on file for 
 free distribution, and shall cause to be 
 distributed to the registered voters 
 of said city either copies of such of¬ 
 ficial paper or of such pamphlet. 
 
 Said statement shall also be pub¬ 
 lished in each of the aaiiy newspapers 
 of the city, not more than 15 days nor 
 less than 10 days before the election 
 for the adoption of such Charter, and 
 specific attention shall be directed to ^ 
 the issue of the official paper contain¬ 
 ing such Charter and to the fact that ^ 
 copies may be procured at the office , 
 of the City Clerk. 
 
 Officers to Continue in Office. ^ 
 
 Sec. 4. All officers now holding any 
 office or appointment shall continue 
 to hold the same unless removed by 
 competent authority, until superseded 
 under laws now in force or under this 
 Charter. 
 
 Ek'Ction to Adopt Charter—Time and 
 
 Manner of. 
 
 Sec. 5. This Charter shall be sub¬ 
 mitted for adoption or rejection to a 
 
55 
 
 vote of the qualified electors of the 
 city at a special election to be held 
 on Tuesday, February 20th, in the 
 year 1912. Notice of such election 
 shall be given in the same manner 
 and for the same length of time as 
 is provided in the existing Charter for 
 special elections, and the votes shall 
 be counted and canvassed and the re- 
 Jturns made, and the result determined 
 and declared in the same manner, as 
 '^near as may be, as provided by gen¬ 
 eral law for the counting, canvassing 
 and returning of votes, and the de- 
 l termining of the results thereof. 
 
 Charter Election—\Vlio Entitled to 
 Vote—Form of Ballot. 
 
 Sec. 6. The ballots used at such 
 election shall contain the instructions 
 required under the general election 
 laws of the state, and the proposition 
 
 to be submitted 
 
 ; shall be 
 
 in the 
 
 lan- 
 
 guage: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 “Shall 
 
 the 
 
 
 Revised 
 
 Charter 
 
 Be 
 
 Adopted ? 
 
 ( 
 
 ) 
 
 Yes. 
 
 
 
 “Shall 
 
 the 
 
 
 Revised 
 
 Charter 
 
 Be 
 
 Adopted ? 
 
 ( 
 
 ) 
 
 No.’’ 
 
 
 
 Every 
 
 person 
 
 entitled 
 
 to vote 
 
 for 
 
 city officers under the existing Char¬ 
 ter may vote upon said adoption or 
 rejection. 
 
 Should the revised Charter so sub¬ 
 mitted receive more votes in its favor 
 than shall be cast against it, it shall 
 take effect and be the governing law 
 of the city on and after the first Mon¬ 
 day of May, 1912, except as herein 
 otherwise provided. 
 
 Council and Clerk—Duty of Upon 
 
 Adoption of Charter. 
 
 S^c. 7. At the next regular meeting 
 after such election the Council shall 
 canvass the vote and declare the re¬ 
 sult thereof, and, if a majority of the 
 electors shall have voted in favor of 
 the adoption of the Charter, the Coun¬ 
 cil, by a resolution entered upon its 
 records, shall declare such result and 
 that a majority of the electors voting 
 thereon voted in favor of the adop¬ 
 tion of such Charter, and that the 
 4Name was thereby adopted. The Clerk 
 shall thereupon, and within thirty 
 “^days after the adoption of this Char- 
 •ter, certify to four copies of said reso¬ 
 lution and to four printed copies of 
 ^said Charter, and file two copies of 
 each with the Secretary of State and 
 the County Clerk, respectively. 
 
 Primary Election—Time of—Ofiicer.s 
 
 Holding Over. 
 
 Sec. 8. The first non-partisan pri¬ 
 mary election under the provisions of 
 this Charter shall be held on the 
 third Tuesday preceding the first 
 Monday in April, in the year 1912; 
 and the first non-partisan election 
 
 under the provisions of this Char¬ 
 ter shall be held on the first Mon¬ 
 day in April, in the year 1912. No¬ 
 tices of said primary and of said elec¬ 
 tion and of the officers to be nominat¬ 
 ed and elected shall be given, petitions 
 for nomination filed, the elections held 
 and conducted, the votes canvassed, 
 the results determined and notices 
 given the persons nominated and 
 elected, as the case may be, in the 
 manner and within the time herein 
 provided. Nominating petitions for 
 candidates for the primary in 1912 
 may be filed until five o’clock in the 
 afternoon of the tenth day prior 
 thereto. At such elections, all officers 
 who are named in this Charter and 
 required to be elected biennially 
 shall be nominated and elected, except 
 the Clerk and Comptroller and the 
 twelve Councilmen elected at the last 
 general city election. The present 
 City Treasurer shall continue to hold 
 office and shall be ex-officio General 
 Manager of the Department of 
 Finance and Revenue until the expira¬ 
 tion of the term for which he was 
 elected. 
 
 All officers elected thereat shall take 
 office under this Charter on the first 
 Monday in May, in the year 1912, and 
 the • terms of office of all officers su¬ 
 perseded by any officer elected under 
 this Charter, or whose office or du¬ 
 ties are abrogated thereby, shall 
 thereupon terminate and cease. 
 
 All terms of appointive officers 
 holding office under the city shall also 
 terminate and cease on that day, and 
 appointments to fill offices for terms 
 under this Charter shall begin on that 
 day. The provisions of this Charter 
 limiting the Council to twelve mem¬ 
 bers shall take effect in 1913, and at 
 the first Charter election under this 
 Charter a sufficient number of Coun¬ 
 cilmen shall be elected to continue the 
 Council w’ith twenty-four members, 
 ea.ch of whom shall hold office for one 
 year. In 1913, twelve Councilmen, 
 the Clerk and the Comptroller shall 
 be elected to hold office for one year. 
 So long as the Council consists of 
 twenty-four members the representa¬ 
 tion of the city upon the Board of Su¬ 
 pervisors shall remain as at present, 
 and the other provisions of this Char¬ 
 ter fixing such representation shall 
 not take effect. 
 
 l^Tseiit Salaries to Continue. 
 
 Sec. 9. Unless otherwise herein or 
 by ordinance provided, the salaries or 
 compensation of all city officers shall 
 continue as under the existing Char¬ 
 ter and ordinances. 
 
 Casli Basis Fund. 
 
 Sec. 10. For the purpose of plac¬ 
 ing the city upon a cash basis, the 
 Council shall create and maintain, so 
 
5G 
 
 3 0112 098436246 
 
 long- as necessary, a cash basis fund, 
 and for this purpose it shall place 
 in the budget until the city is on a 
 cash basis and until the amount ac¬ 
 cumulated in such fund shall be suf¬ 
 ficient to meet all legal demands 
 against the treasury for any shortage 
 heretofore existing, five cents upon 
 each 3100.00 of the value of the prop¬ 
 erty placed upon the assessment roll 
 each j^ear. 
 
 Until the said city is on a cash 
 basis, the Board of Sinking Fund 
 Commissioners may loan to the said 
 city, such sums from time to time at 
 a rate of interest not exceeding five 
 per cent, funds it may have avail¬ 
 able for such purpose, and the inter¬ 
 est upon such loans shall be pro¬ 
 vided for in the annual budget. Pro¬ 
 vided, that the authority to borrow 
 money given by this provision shall 
 be subject to the other limitations of 
 this Charter on the authority to bor¬ 
 row money. 
 
 Special Acts—Power Conferred by— 
 
 To be Exercised Until Repealed. 
 
 Sec. 11. All power and authority 
 conferred upon any municipal officer, 
 department or board under any spe¬ 
 cial act so long as- such act remains 
 in force, shall continue to be exer¬ 
 cised by the board, officer or depart¬ 
 ment exercising like duties under this 
 Charter. 
 
 Repealing Clause. 
 
 Sec. 12. The existing charter, be¬ 
 ing Act. No. 593, Local Acts of 1905, 
 and all acts, amendatory thereto or 
 forming a part thereof, are hereby 
 repealed, except Title XIV of said Act 
 relating to the Board of Education; 
 Title XVII, relating to Justice Courts; 
 Title XVIII, relating to the Police 
 Court; Title XIX, relating to dock 
 and safety lines; Title XX, relating to 
 the Superior Court; Title XXI, relat¬ 
 
 ing to Jury Commissioners; 
 XXIV, relating to repeal of Hydraj 
 Company’s charter; Title XXVI, 
 lating to Tax Histories, and the 
 amendatory to said Titles 
 XVII, XVIII, and XIX, XX, >i 
 XXIV and XXVI which are repe 
 only so far as inconsistent with 
 Charter; Title XIV of said Act 
 593 of the Local Acts of 1905, b 
 the Title covering the Board of 
 ucation, and the acts, amenda 
 thereto, are hereby continued in 
 force and effect, except that par 
 Act No. 523 of the Local Acts of 1 
 requiring the members of the Be 
 of Library Commissioners to be v 
 for and elected at the same time 
 on the same ballot as members of 
 Board of Education, which is het 
 repealed. All other special acts b 
 plementary to the existing charte 
 the city are hereby repealed so 
 as inconsistent with the provision^ 
 this Charter and so far as consis 
 therewith are hereby continued 
 force, until the same are supers 
 by lawful authority exercised urj 
 this Charter or otherwise. 
 
 Adopted by the Charter Commis; 
 of the City of Grand Rapids of 1 
 at the City Hall in said city, on 
 eleventh day of November, 1911. 
 
 R. W. IRWIN, 
 Preside 
 
 Adopted by the Charter Com 
 Sion of the City of Grand Ra 
 Mich., in regular session assemt] 
 on November 11, 1911, by the fob 
 ing vote: 
 
 Yeas—Commissioners Alt, DeK 
 Pleald, Hoffius, Irwin, Landman, 
 man, Thornton, Vandenberg, Walj 
 Wesselius. Wykes—12. 
 
 Nays—Commissioners Ball, B 
 
 — 2 . 
 
 Absent—Commissioner Freelan 
 JAMES SCHRIVER, 
 Secreta 
 
 MILLS PRINTING CO., GRAND RAPIDS. MICH.