OF CITIES AND TOWNS. result of said election shall have been ascertained by the inspectors as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the mayor elect, having received the certificate hereinbefore provided for, to take and subscribe, before some Justice of the Peace in the County of New Castle, an oath or affirmation that he will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Delaware and that he will perform the duties of his office with fidelity, and thereupon he shall enter upon the duties of his office. The mayor shall administer a like oath or oath to other affirmation to each of the persons who shall have been officers elected elected as aforesaid, as president of Council, member of Council, treasurer and assessor, upon the taking of which oath or affirmation and the giving of such bond as is required by this Act, they shall enter upon the duties of their offices, respectively. To administer Tenure of office Vacancies Section 7. The mayor, president of Council, members of Council, treasurer and assessor shall hold their respective offices until their successors shall have been duly elected and qualified as hereinbefore provided, and the failure to hold an election on the day fixed or the omission to execute any authority conferred by this Act shall not dissolve the corporation, but the authority of each officer shall continue until a new election can be legally held. Section 8. In case of the death, resignation, refusal to act, disability, removal, or failure to give bond under the provisions of this charter, of any person elected as aforesaid to the office of mayor, president of Council, member of Council, treasurer, or assessor, the vacancy thus occasioned shall be filled by the Council, who shall elect some suitable person, not of their own body, having the qualifications herein provided for, to fill said vacancy until the next election, or until a successor shall have been duly qualified. OF CITIES AND TOWNS. violation of officers Section 9. Any inspector or assistant inspector of Penalty for election, at any election held under this charter, who law by election shall knowingly and wilfully take and receive or advise and consent to the taking and receiving of the vote of any person not entitled to vote at any such election, or shall knowingly and wilfully reject or advise and concur in rejecting the vote of any person entitled to vote at such election, or shall use any fraud, falsehood, or deceit in doing or performing any of the duties, matters or things required of him, or shall refuse or wilfully neglect to perform any of the said duties, matters or things, shall, for every such offense, upon conviction thereof in the Court of General Sessions in and for New Castle County, forfeit and pay to the State a fine of two hundred dollars for the use of the City of New Castle; and any person not entitled to vote, who shall vote or offer to vote at any such election, shall, upon conviction as aforesaid, forfeit and pay to the State a fine of fifty dollars for the use of the City of New Castle. powers of the Section 10. The mayor of the said City shall be the Duties and executive officer thereof, and is hereby constituted a con- Mayor servator of the peace within the said City, and is authorized, empowered and required to exercise within said City, all the authority which justices of the peace in and for the County of New Castle may exercise under the laws of this State, and he shall further be invested with authority in all lawful cases of commitment to commit. persons guilty of a breach of the peace to the New Castle County Workhouse. And it shall be the duty of the mayor to take care to have the laws and ordinances of said City faithfully executed, and for that purpose shall have the power and authority to arrest and hold to bail or fine and imprison, or either, all persons guilty of a breach of said ordinances. Such power and authority shall be exercised upon complaint duly made under oath and hearing of the party accused, and for that purpose, the mayor Authority to appoint acting mayor Record of all judicial proceedings to be kept OF CITIES AND TOWNS. shall have power to issue the ordinary process for the arrest of parties and for the attendance of witnesses, and the power to punish for contempt, now possessed by justices of the peace. Provided, that he shall not have jurisdiction in any civil matter other than to carry out the provisions of this charter, or the regulations and ordinances adopted for the government of said City by the powers herein authorized to adopt the same, and provided further, that he shall not impose any fine exceeding twenty dollars, nor imprison for a longer term than thirty days, and that all fines thus imposed and collected, shall be paid to the treasurer of the City. Section 11. The mayor shall have authority to appoint the president of Council as acting mayor, to serve during the absence of the mayor from the City or while he shall be prevented by sickness from performing the duties of his office, and the said president of Council, upon receiving the appointment aforesaid in writing under the hand of the mayor, shall be invested with all the powers and authority hereby conferred upon the mayor, to exercise the same during such absence or sickness until notified by the mayor that he is ready to assume again the duties of his office. Section 12. The mayor shall keep a record of all judicial proceedings had before him, which record shall be the property of the City and subject to the control of the Council. Process issued by the mayor shall be similar in form to that prescribed in like cases before justices of the peace and shall run throughout New Castle County, and shall be directed to the Sheriff or to any constable of said County, or to any police constable of said City. The costs of any proceedings before the mayor shall be the same as are provided by law in like proceedings before justices of the peace, and shall be collected from the defendant in cases of conviction in addition to any fine im OF CITIES AND TOWNS. posed or shall be paid by him before his discharge from imprisonment, but the said costs may be remitted in the discretion of the mayor. In case the charge is for the violation of a City ordinance and the party so charged be acquitted, the costs shall be paid by the City. be appointed Section 13. The mayor shall annually appoint a suit- Constables to able number of police constables for said City, and shall have power to supply by new appointment all vacancies that may occur, and for good and sufficient cause may remove or suspend any police constable from office. Appointments made by the mayor under this section shall not take effect until approved by the Council, and for this purpose the mayor shall communicate such appointments in writing to the said Council. The mayor may, on his own motion, and at the request of the Council, shall appoint any number of special police constables to perform all the duties of police constables during any Constables riot, breach of the peace, or other emergency for which the permanent police force is not adequate, and he shall have authority to call upon the sheriff of New Castle County at all times to assist in preserving the peace of the City. Special Duties of Section 14. The police constables and special police Constables constables so appointed shall assist the mayor in carrying into effect the ordinances of the City and laws of the State, and shall be under the exclusive direction and control of said mayor. They shall have, within said City, the same powers as are possessed by the constables of the County of New Castle, and are hereby declared conservators of the peace within the limits of said City, and they may pursue and arrest beyond the limits of the City any violator of the laws or ordinances of the City. Section 15. All the legislative powers of the corpora- Legislative tion shall be vested in the Council, consisting of the pres powers vested in Council Meetings of Council OF CITIES AND TOWNS. ident of Council and two members from each ward or district, the members of which shall assemble as soon as may be after their election, and organize by electing a clerk, who need not, but may, be one of their own number. They shall adopt rules for the government of their own body and the transaction of business. The president of Council shall be the presiding officer and a member of the Council. The Council shall meet for the transaction of business on the first Tuesday of every month and at such other times as the said Council may determine, and a majority of the whole number of members shall constitute a quorum to do business. All meetings of the Council shall be public, except meetings for the transaction of executive business. No ordinance shall pass the Council unless the same shall have the concurrence of a majority of all the members of the Council and have had at least two readings at a previous meeting thereof. No ordinance shall be repealed other than by an ordinance duly passed. On the final passage of an ordinance the Yeas and nays vote shall be taken by yeas and nays and the names of Passage of ordinances to be taken the persons voting for and against the same shall be entered on the minutes. The yeas and nays on any question shall at the desire of any member be entered on the minutes. No ordinance authorizing the borrowing of money and the issuing of bonds therefor shall pass the Council without the concurrence of at least two-thirds of all the members. Every ordinance after it shall have passed the Council shall be signed by the president of Council and the clerk of Council in authentication of its passage, and on the next day thereafter presented to the mayor. If he approve it, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it with his objections to the Council who shall enter the objections on the minutes and proceed to reconsider it. If two-thirds of all the members of the Council shall then agree to pass the same, it shall become an ordinance of the City; otherwise it shall be inoperative. Every ordinance that shall not be returned to the Council by the |