Notice.

Quorum.

Rules.

Casting vote.

Meetings to be public.

To keep a journal.

By-laws and

subsequent month during the year, and at such other times as they, by adjournment or resolution, shall direct. The Mayor may call special meetings at any time he may think proper, by causing a written notice of such special meeting to be served upon each member of the Common Council. Such notice may be served, either personally, or by leaving a copy at the residence of the member, or at his place of business. At all meetings of the Common Council, the Mayor, when present, shall preside.

SEC. 19. A majority of the Council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a less number may adjourn from time to time, and may compel the attendance of absent members. No tax or assessment shall be ordered, nor shall any office be created, unless by the vote of a majority of all the members elect. In case of a tie, the Mayor shall have the casting

vote.

SEC. 20. The Common Council shall determine the rules for the government of their own proceedings, and shall be the judges of the qualification and election of their members.

SEC. 21. In the proceedings of the Common Council, each member present shall have a vote, except the Mayor, who shall have the casting vote, in all cases, when the votes of the other members are tied.

SEC. 22. All meetings of the Common Council shall be public. except when the Board shall deem that the interests of the City require secrecy. A Journal of all the proceedings of the Council shall be kept by the Clerk, and the ayes and noes shall be taken upon any question, and entered upon the Journals, at the request of any two members.

SEC. 23. The Common Council shall have power:

First-To make by-laws and ordinances, not repugnant to the ordinances. Constitution or laws of the United States, or of the State of California.

To levy and

Second-To levy and collect taxes on all property within the collect taxes. City, both real and personal, made taxable by law for State or County purposes, which tax shall not exceed two per cent. per annum upon the assessed value of all such property, unless an increased tax shall be authorized by a vote of the people, as hereinafter provided.

To lay out

Third-To lay out, extend, and alter the streets and alleys, streets, etc. provide for the grading, draining, cleaning, widening, lighting, or otherwise improving the same. Also, to provide for the construction, repair, and preservation of sidewalks, bridges, drains, and sewers, and for the prevention and removal of obstructions from the streets and sidewalks.

Fires and fire

Fourth-To provide for the prevention and extinguishment of companies. fires. Also, to organize, regulate, and establish fire-companies. Fifth-To regulate the storage of gunpowder and other combustible material.

Gunpowder.

To prevent nuisances.

Police.

Sixth-To prevent and remove nuisances. Also, to determine what are nuisances.

Seventh-To create and establish a City Police, to prescribe their duties and compensation, and provide for the regulation and government of the same.

Eighth-To fix and collect a license-tax on and regulate all Licenses. theatres, and theatrical performances, circuses, shows, billiardtables, bowling-alleys, and all exhibitions and amusements.

Ninth-To fix and collect a license-tax on and regulate all To tax taverns, hotels, restaurants, saloons, bar-rooms, bankers, brokers, hotels, etc. gold-dust buyers, manufacturers, livery-stables, and livery stable keepers, express companies, and persons engaged in the business of transmitting letters or packages, and stage-companies or owners whose principal place of business is in said City, or who shall have any agency therein.

Auctioneers.

and prohibit

Tenth-To license and regulate auctioneers. Eleventh-To license, tax, regulate, prohibit, and suppress, all To license tippling-houses, dram shops, raffles, hawkers, peddlers, and pawn- dram-shops, brokers, refreshment, or coffee-stands, booths, and sheds. Also, etc. to prohibit and suppress all gaming, gambling-houses, disorderly houses, and houses of ill-fame.

Twelfth-To fix and collect a license-tax upon all professions, License trades, or business not heretofore specified, having regard to the trades, etc. amount of business done by each person, or firm, thus licensed.

Thirteenth-To provide for all necessary public buildings for Public the use of the City.

buildings.

Fourteenth-To establish a Board of Health, to prevent the Health. introduction and spread of diseases; to establish a City Infirmary, and provide for the indigent.

Fifteenth-To prevent and restrain any riot, or riotous assem- Riots. blage, or disorderly conduct within said City.

Sixteenth-To fix and prescribe the punishment for the breach Fines. of any City ordinance. But no fines shall be imposed, for one offence, in any sum greater than five hundred dollars, and no term of imprisonment shall be prescribed of more than thirty days.

Seventeenth-The Common Council may prescribe, by ordinance, that any person sentenced to imprisonment by the City Recorder, for any offence committed within the City limits, may be compelled to labor upon any of the streets, alleys, public grounds, or works of said City, during the term of imprisonment, under the control and in the custody of the City Marshal.

Labor on streets.

Eighteenth-To compel the attendance of absent members, to Attendance. punish its members for disorderly conduct, and to expel members, for cause, by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected.

Nineteenth-To provide for the regulation, establishment, and Schools. support of common schools.

Twentieth-To make all necessary contracts and agreements Power to for the benefit of the City; to contract debts on the faith and contract deb credit of the City; but no debt shall be contracted, or liability incurred, which, with the other liabilities of said City, (exclusive of the funded debt and interest,) shall exceed, in the aggregate, the estimated annual revenue, except as provided in section twenty-fourth of this Act. The Common Council shall not au- Scrip prothorize the issuance of, nor shall any City officer issue, any scrip, or other evidence of debt, or order on the treasury, unless there be cash actually in the treasury to meet the order or warrant so drawn.

hibited, etc.

Twenty-first-To appropriate money for any item of City ex- Payment of

6

debt, etc.

Salaries, fees, etc.

Special tax.

Proclamati'n

penditure, and to provide for the payment of any City indebtedness; to appropriate to the use of the City all fines, penalties, and forfeitures, imposed for the breach of any City ordinance.

Twenty-second-To fix and establish the fees, salaries, and compensation, of all City officers, (except Mayor and Aldermen,) and provide the manner and mode of payment. The Mayor and Aldermen shall receive no fee, salary, or compensation, for the performance of their duties.

SEC. 24. Whenever, in the opinion of two-thirds of the members of the Common Council elect, it shall be expedient, or for the interests of said City, to collect by tax, for any purpose whatever, a larger sum of money than is herein before authorized to be levied and collected, they shall, by resolution, inform the Mayor of the amount of money proposed to be collected, the rate per cent. necessary to be levied upon the assessed value of the property in the City, whether the same is to be levied and collected in one or two years, and the object or purposes for which the money is to be expended. The Mayor shall then, at least two weeks before the day when the proposition is to be voted upon by the people, issue his proclamation, and cause the same to be published for said two weeks, at least once a week, in some newspaper published in said City, stating all the matters contained in such resolution of the Common Council, and calling upon the people to vote upon the question of such tax. Such vote may be had either upon the day of the general annual election or upon such other day as the Mayor in his proclamation Vote on tax. may designate. Upon the day designated, the qualified electors of said City may vote upon the question of levying and collecting such tax; those voting in favor thereof shall have either written or printed upon their ballots, the words "For the Tax," and those voting against the same shall have written or printed upon their ballots the words "Against the Tax." If a majority of those voting upon the question shall vote in favor of the tax, the Common Council shall levy and cause to be collected, in addition to the taxes herein before authorized, the said tax, at the rate per cent. mentioned in the proclamation of the Mayor, at the same time and in the same manner as the other City taxes Special fund. upon property are levied and collected. The money collected by such tax shall be a Special Fund, and shall be used and expended by the Common Council solely for the purpose or object mentioned in the proclamation of the Mayor, unless there shall be a surplus remaining after the accomplishment of such purpose or object, in which case such surplus shall be paid into the General Fund of said City. The Common Council shall in no case be authorized to borrow money upon the faith and credit of the City.

Official bonds.

SEC. 25. It shall be the duty of the Common Council to provide for the accountability of all officers and other persons elected under this charter, to whom the receipt or expenditure of any of the funds of the City shall be intrusted, by requiring from them sufficient security for the faithful performance of their respective duties. Those persons or officers from whom security shall be required, shall, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, file with the Common Council an official bond,

with two sufficient sureties, to be approved by the Common Council. Such bond shall be payable to the "Mayor and Common Council of the City of Placerville," shall in form be joint and several, shall be conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of the office. In case any such bond shall at any time be deemed insufficient, additional security may be required; and if the officer or person required to give such additional bond. shall neglect or refuse so to do, for the space of three days after notice of such requirement, the Common Council may declare his office vacant.

SEC. 26. It shall be the duty of the Common Council to pub- Statement of lish in one or more newspapers published in said City, at least finances. two weeks before the annual election in each year, a full and detailed statement of the receipts and disbursements of the City during the year ending on the last day of the month preceding that in which the publication is made, and shall set forth, in every such statement, the different sources of the City revenues, and the amount received from each, the various appropriations made by the Common Council, the objects for which the same were made, and the amount expended under each.

taxes.

SEC. 27. Real and personal property may be sold by the City Delinquent Collector for taxes or assessments due said City. The manner of assessing and collecting taxes, and the proceedings for the sale of property, in case of non-payment of the same, shall be prescribed by ordinance. In case the property sold for assessments or taxes shall be personal property, the title to the same shall vest absolutely in the purchaser thereof; but if real property, any person or persons may, at any time within six months after the date of such sale, redeem the same by depositing with the City Treasurer, for the benefit of such purchaser, the amount of such tax or assessment, and the expenses thereon, including the cost of certificate, together with fifty per cent. upon such aggregate amount in addition. At the expiration of six months Tax-deed. from the date of such sale, the title to any real estate sold for City taxes or assessments, and not redeemed as above provided, shall vest and remain absolutely in the purchaser thereof, or his legal representatives, and the City Collector shall, on demand of such person or persons, make and execute to him or them a deed, duly acknowledged, for the same, for which deed the said Collector shall be entitled to receive five dollars, and such deed shall be received in any Court in this State, as prima facie evidence that the grantee or grantees named in said deed, or his or their successors in interest, have a good and legal title to the premises described therein.

SEC. 28. Special assessments may be made by ordinances for Improvem' the grading, paving, draining, or planking, any of the streets, alleys, or sidewalks, of said city, upon the lots, or parts of lots, situated upon the line of the proposed improvement. And the Common Council shall have authority to provide, by ordinance, the time and manner of assessing and collecting the same.

SEC. 29. Every ordinance which shall have been passed by Ordinances. the Common Council, shall, before it becomes effective, be presented to the Mayor for his approval. If he approve, he shall sign it. If not, he shall return it, with his objections in writing,

Duty of the
Mayor.

Duty of
Aldermen.

Treasurer.

Marshal.

Assessor.

to the Common Council, who shall cause such objections to be entered at large upon the Journals, and shall proceed at once to consider the same, or appoint a time when they shall be considered. If, after such consideration, a majority of the members elected shall vote in favor of the passage of the ordinance, the same shall be thenceforth in full force and effect, the objections of the Mayor notwithstanding. If any ordinance shall not be returned by the Mayor within five days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall then become of full force and effect, the same as if the Mayor had signed it.

SEC. 30. It shall be the duty of the Mayor to communicate to the Common Council semi-annually, and oftener if he shall deem it expedient, a general statement of the situation and condition of the City, in relation to its government, finances, and improvements; to recommend to the Common Council the adoption of all such measures connected with the police, health, cleanliness, and ornament of the city, and the improvement of its government and finances, as he shall deem expedient; to be vigilant and active in causing the laws and ordinances for the government of the City to be duly executed and, enforced; to exercise a constant supervision and control over the conduct and acts of all subordinate officers; to receive and examine into all such complaints as may be preferred against any of them, for violation and neglect of duty, and certify the same to the Common Council.

SEC. 31. It shall be the duty of every Alderman of said City to attend the regular and special meetings of the Common Council; to act upon Committees when appointed thereto by the Mayor; to report to the Common Council all City officers whom they may know to be guilty of misconduct in office, or neglect of duty; and to aid to the extent of their ability in maintaining the peace and good order of the City, and in enforcing the bylaws and ordinances of the Common Council.

SEC. 32. It shall be the duty of the City Treasurer to receive all moneys belonging to the City, and to disburse the same upon proper warrants or vouchers. He shall keep an accurate and full account of all receipts and expenditures, in such manner as the Common Council shall direct; and he shall, whenever required by the Common Council, present to them a full account of such receipts or expenditures, for any period designated in their resolution. All warrants drawn on the treasury shall have specified therein the services or indebtedness for which the same is drawn. The Treasurer shall do and perform all such other acts as shall be prescribed by ordinances.

SEC. 33. It shall be the duty of the City Marshal to executo and return all process issued by the Recorder, or directed to him by any legal authority, and to attend upon the Recorder's Court; he shall arrest all persons guilty of a breach of the peace or other offence committed in his presence, and all persons guilty of a breach of any City ordinance, and bring them before the Recorder for trial or examination. He shall be ex officio Chief of Police, and shall perform all such police and other duties as the Common Council shall, by ordinance, direct.

SEC. 34. It shall be the duty of the Assessor to make out, and