Corporate

vided, shall be a body politic and corporate, by the name Town incorof "The Town of Morgantown, in West Virginia ;" and porated. shall have perpetual succession and a common seal; and by that name may sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded; may purchase and hold real and personal estate necessary to enable them the better to discharge their duties, and needful for the good order, government and welfare of the said town.

powers.

council.

Fifth. All the corporate powers of said corporation shall To be used by be exercised by said council or under their authority, except where otherwise provided.

Sixth. There shall be a town sergeant and street com- Sergeant, etc.. missioner of said town.

ed.

Seventh. The mayor, recorder, and councilmen shall Officers electbe elected by the citizens of the said town who may be entitled under this act to vote. The town sergeant and street commissioner shall be appointed by the council at Appointed. the first meeting of the council after the annual election. hereinafter provided for.

Eighth. Their term of office shall be, (except when Term of offive elected or appointed to fill vacancies,) for one year and until their successors shall have been elected or appointed and qualified, as hereinafter provided.

Ninth. The mayor, recorder, and councilmen must be qualifications freeholders in said town, and entitled to vote for members for office. of its council. The sergeant and street commissioner must

be residents of said town.

Tenth. An election for mayor, recorder, and council- Annual elecmen shall be held annually on the fourth Saturday in tion. March in each year, and at such special times as are hereinafter provided. All said elections shall be held at some convenient place in the town, which shall be appointed and duly published by the council.

Eleventh. All persons who have had their domicil in the Who may vote said town for sixty days next preceding the day of election, and who shall also be entitled to vote for members of the House of Delegates of West Virginia, shall be entitled to vote for all officers elected by the people under this act.

Twelfth. Whenever a vacancy shall occur from any Vacancies. cause in the office of mayor or recorder, the council for the time being, shall at once order a special election to be held to fill the vacancy, of which election two weeks notice shall be given and published by the council.

Thirteenth. At all elections the vote shall be by ballot. Vote by ballot.

Elections;

ed.

Fourteenth. Before every election the council, for the how conduct time being, shall appoint three or more of their own number, whose duty it shall be to superintend the said election, record in a poll-book the votes given, and make return thereof, and of the result of said election, to the council.

Tie votes;

Fifteenth. Whenever two or more persons are voted for how decided. for the same office at said election, and receive an equal number of votes, the said commissioners, or a majority of them, after proclamation made at the front door of the place of voting, that the polls are about to be closed, and after closing the polls shall decide and say which of said persons shall be returned as elected.

Contested elections.

Oath of commissioners.

Oath of office.

Mayor and recorder.

Councilmen.

Failure to qualify.

Sixteenth. All other contested elections shall be heard and decided by the council for the time being.

Seventeenth. Before said commissioners shall act, they shall make oath or affirmation, before a justice of the peace, that they will faithfully and impartially discharge their duty as such; and a certificate of said oath or affirmation shall be annexed to and returned with the poll-books.

Eighteenth. The mayor, recorder, and councilmen shall each, before entering upon the duties of their office, and within two weeks from the day of their election, make oath or affirmation that they will truly, faithfully, and impar tially discharge the duties of their said offices to the best of their ability, so long as they continue therein. The mayor and recorder shall take said oath or affirmation before a justice of the peace, and the councilmen shall take it before the person presiding, for the time, in the council. Certificates of said oath or affirmation shall be given and recorded in the journal of the proceedings of the council.

Nineteenth. The mayor and recorder shall each enter upon the duties of his office so soon as qualified.

Twentieth. Whenever any three of the newly elected councilmen shall have been so qualified, they shall enter upon their said office and supersede the former council

men.

Twenty-first. If any one who has been duly elected mayor, recorder, or councilmen, shall not have been eligible as herein prescribed, or shall refuse or fail to take the oath or affirmation required under this act; or in the case of the sergeant or commissioner also to give the bond hereinafter required, for two weeks from the day of his election or appointment, the council, for the time being, shall declare his office vacant, and shall order a new election for

ćom

mayor or recorder, and appoint a new sergeant or co missioner, as the case may be.

Twenty-second. Whenever, from any cause, a vacancy Vacancies. shall occur in the office of councilmen, the council, for the time being, shall, by a vote of a majority present, fill it by choosing a councilman from among the citizens of the town eligible to that office under this act.

Twenty-third. The council shall be presided over at its Presiding meetings by the mayor, or, in his absence, by the recorder, officer. or in the absence of both mayor and recorder, by one of the councilmen selected by a majority of the council present.

Twenty-fourth. The presence of the mayor or [recorder,] and at least three councilmen, or in the absence of both Quorum. mayor and recorder, the presence of four councilmen shall be necessary for the transaction of business.

council.

2. The council shall cause to be kept in a journal an accurate record of all its proceedings, by-laws, acts and Journal of orders, which shall be fully indexed, and shall be open to the inspection of any one who is entitled to vote for members of council; at each meeting of the council the proceedings of the last meeting shall be read in the council, and shall be thereupon corrected, if erroneous, and signed by the person who presided at the last meeting at the time of its adjournment; upon the call of any member, the yeas and nays on any question before the council sl.all be called Yeas and nays and recorded in the journal. The mayor and recorder shall have votes as members of the council, and in all cases of a tie, the person at the time presiding at the Casting vote. council shall have a casting vote.

3. The council so constituted, shall have power within Powers of said town to lay off, open, curb and pave streets, alleys, council. walks and gutters, for public use, and to alter, improve and light the same, and have them kept in good order and free from obstruction on or over them; to regulate the width of sidewalks on the streets, and to order the sidewalks, footways and gutters to be curbed and paved and kept in good order, free and clean, by the owners or occupants thereof, or of the real property next adjacent thereto; to lay off public grounds, and to provide, control and take care of all buildings proper for the town; to establish and regulate markets; to prescribe the time for holding the same and what articles shall be sold in such markets; to prevent injury and annoyance to the public or to individuals from anything dangerous, offensive or unwholesome; to protect places of divine worship and to prevent disturbance of public worship in and about the premises where held; to abate or cause to be abated any

Powers of council.

thing which, in the opinion of a majority of the whole council, shall be a nuisance; to regulate the keeping of gunpowder and other combustibles; to provide in or near the town places for the burial of the dead, and to regulate interments in the town; to provide for the regular building of houses or other structures, and for the making of division fences; to make regulations for the purpose of guarding against danger or damage from fires; to provide for the poor of the town; to appoint and publish the places of holding town elections, and the time of holding special elections and polls; to provide a revenue for the town, and appropriate the same to its expenses, and to provide for the annual assessment of the taxable property and persons of the town; to adopt rules for the transaction of business, and for the government and regulation of its own body; to promote the general welfare of the town, and to protect the property of persons therein; and to preserve peace and good order therein; to keep a town guard, to appoint and order out a patrol for the town, in like manner and for like purposes within the same as the patrol may be ordered out by a justice within the county, and to appoint such other officers as they may deem proper; to define their powers, prescribe their duties, fix their term of service and compensation, require and take from them bonds with sureties in such penalty as the council may see fit, conditioned for the true and faithful discharge of their duties, and remove them at pleasure; all bonds taken by the council shall be made payable to the town by its corporate name; to permit or prohibit the establishment of new places for the interment of the dead in or near the town, and regulate the same, and to prevent violations of or injuries to any place of interment, and to protect the same; to erect or authorize or prohibit the erection of gas works, or water works in or near the town, to prevent injuries to or pollution of the same or danger to the water and healthfulness of the town; for all which purposes named in this clause the council shall have jurisdiction for one mile beyond the town, in like manner as it has within the town; to regulate and provide for the weighing and measuring of hay, wood, coal, and other articles sold, delivered or to be delivered, or for sale in said town, and to regulate the transportation thereof through the streets; to carry into effect these enumerated powers and all other powers conferred upon the said town or its council, expressly or by implication in this or any other acts of the Legislature of West Virginia; the council shall have power to make and pass all needful orders, by-laws and ordinances not contrary to the constitution and laws of West Virginia or of the United States, and to prescribe, impose and enact reasonable fines and penalties, or imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding thirty days; all of which fines, penalties or imprisonments shall be recorded before or en

forced under the judgment of the mayor of said town, or of Powers of the person lawfully exercising his functions; and the au- council. thorities of the town shall have the right to use the jail of the said county of Monongalia for any purposes for which the use of a jail may be needed by them, under the acts of council or of the State.

4. The council shall annually cause to be made up and entered upon its journal an account and estimate of all sums which are or may become lawfully chargeable on the town, which ought to be paid in one year, and it shall order a town levy of so much as, in its opinion, is necessary to be raised in that way, in addition to the amount which may be raised from license and other sources; also the treasurer shall, on the first of February, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, and annually thereafter, publish a full exhibit of all the receipts and expenditures of the said corporation during the last preceding year; said publication. shall be made by inserting the said exhibit in some newspaper published in the said corporation, if any, and if there be none so published, then by posting the same in some public place in the said corporation. The levy so ordered may be upon all male persons within the town over sixteen years of age, and on real estate in said town which is not expressly exempted from State taxation, and all such other subjects in said town as may at the time be assessed with State taxes against the person residing in the town: Provided, that the tax do not exceed seventy-five cents on every one hundred dollars of the value of the real and personal property, or one dollar per head on each taxable person; and provided, that the concurrence of a majority of the whole council shall be necessary to pass any act levying taxes on any subject whatever.

5. Whenever anything, for which a State license is re- Licenses. quired, is to be done within said town, the council may require a town license to be had for doing the same, and may impose a tax thereon for the use of the town, and the council may, in any case, require from the person licensed a bond, with such sureties and in such penalty, and with such conditions as it may deem proper, and may revoke. such license at any time if the condition of said bond be broken; and no license to sell strong or spirituous liquors, or wine, beer, ale, porter, or drinks of like nature, within said town, or within two miles of the corporate limits thereof, shall be granted by the supervisors of Monongalia county, unless the person applying therefor shall produce to said supervisors the certificate of the council of said town of its consent to the granting of such license. The revenue from these and other sources shall be collected, nue; how colpaid over, and accouted for, at such times and to such per- lected. sons as the council may order. The collector of the town

Town reve