Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/294



unless the whole number of members be equally divided between two persons, in which case one of those two persons shall immediately, by the vote of the president of the council, elected. The mayor shall hold his office for one year, from the time of his election, and until a successor is chosen and qualified in his stead. At the expiration of which period he may be re-elected for two years thereafter in succession, and no longer until he shall have been out of office for one year. He shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office, take an oath or affirmation, in the presence of the council, faithfully to execute his said office, which shall be recorded in their book of proceedings. He shall see that the laws of the corporation be duly executed, and shall report the negligence or misconduct of any officer to the common council, who, on satisfactory proof thereof, may remove from office the said delinquent, or take such other measures thereupon, as shall be just and lawful. He shall have power to convene the common council when, in his opinion, the good of the community may require it, and he shall lay before the council, from time to time, in writing, such alterations in the laws of the corporation, as he shall deem necessary or proper. He shall have and exercise all the powers of a justice of the peace within the said town, and shall receive for his services, annually, a just and reasonable compensation, to be allowed and fixed by the common council, which shall not be increased or diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected. Any person shall be eligible to the office of mayor, who is a white male citizen of the United States, who shall have attained to the age of thirty years, and shall be the bona fide owner of a freehold estate in the said town, and shall have been a resident in the town of Alexandria five years immediately preceding his election, and no other person shall be elegible [sic] to the said office.

. And be it further enacted, That in case of the refusal of any person to accept the office of mayor upon his election thereto, or of his death, resignation, inability or removal, the common council shall elect another in his place to serve the remainder of the year. The common council shall have power to supply vacancies in their own body, by causing elections to be made in manner herein before directed, out of the citizens qualified to fill the said office in the ward in which such vacancies shall have happened; and may, in the absence of the president, elect a president pro tempore. In case of a temporary inability or absence of the mayor, the president of the common council shall perform all the duties of the mayor, that may be required to be performed during his absence or inability, and in case of vacancy in the said office, he shall perform the duties thereof, until a new election shall be made.

. And be it further enacted, That the acts of the common council shall be signed by the president of the common council, and shall be presented to the mayor for his approbation, who, if he objects thereto, shall, within three days after it shall be presented to him for his assent, return it to the common council with his objections in writing, and if a majority of the whole council shall be of opinion that the law ought to be passed, it shall, notwithstanding the objections of the mayor, become a law, and he shall sign the same; but if the mayor shall not return his objections to the same, within three days, to the said council, it shall become a law, and shall be signed by him. The clerk of the council shall record, in a book to be kept by him for that purpose, all the laws, orders and resolutions which shall be passed, as aforesaid, and deliver a copy of them to the public printer, to be printed for the information of the people.

. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners to superintend the election in each ward, shall, before they receive any vote, take, severally, the following oath or affirmation, to be administered by the mayor, or any justice of the peace: “I, A. B. do solemnly swear, or