The legislative body of Coatesville shall be
known as the "City Council," hereinafter referred to as the "Council."
The Council shall be composed of seven members, two members elected
at large and five members, each being elected from a ward in which
he or she resides.
A member of the City Council, hereinafter referred
to as a "Council member," shall be a citizen of the United States,
a qualified voter of the city and a resident for at least one year
preceding nomination; must retain such status during the term of office
for which elected; should not have been convicted of any crime classified
as a misdemeanor of the second class or higher; and must not otherwise
be disqualified from office by the terms of this Charter or by laws
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
No Council member shall, during the term of
office of the Council member, hold any other elected public office
nor any other compensated position in the City of Coatesville government.
The office of Council member shall be forfeited
if the Council member is declared by any court in this commonwealth
to:
A. Lack any qualifications for the office prescribed
by this Charter or laws of the General Assembly.
B. Have willfully violated any express prohibition of
this Charter.
C. Be convicted of any crime classified as a misdemeanor
of the second class or higher, under the laws of the commonwealth
or of the United States, or be convicted of any comparable crime under
the laws of any other state in the United States.
Commencing in the general municipal election of 1987 the Council members to represent the First, Third and Fifth wards shall be elected to serve four-year terms. In the general municipal elections of 1989, the Council members representing the Second and Fourth wards and the two at-large Council members shall be elected to serve four-year terms. Council members shall serve four-year staggered terms beginning at 3:00 p.m. of the first Monday of January following the year in which they are elected except for Council members appointed or elected to fill a vacancy, who shall serve for the remainder of the unexpired term of the member succeeded or as otherwise provided in §
2-208 of this Charter.
The procedure for the nomination and election
of Council members shall be as provided in the election laws of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The office of Council members shall become vacant
upon death, resignation, removal of place of residence from the city,
legal certification of mental and/or physical disability or forfeiture
of office as directed by this Charter or as otherwise provided by
law.
Whenever a vacancy exists in the office of Council
member, the vacancy shall be filled under the following procedures:
A. The Council, by a majority vote of its total membership, shall, within 30 days from the time the office becomes vacant, make an interim appointment of a qualified person per §
2-202 to fill the vacancy.
B. Should sufficient vacancies exist so that the Council
lacks the necessary majority to make the appointment, the Court of
Common Pleas, upon petition of any Council member or any five registered
voters of the city, shall make the interim appointments to fill the
vacancies.
C. Should the Council, for any reason, fail to fill a
vacancy within 30 days after the vacancy occurs, the Court of Common
Pleas, upon petition of any Council member or any five registered
voters of the city, shall make the interim appointments to fill the
vacancies which may exist.
D. The person appointed to fill a vacancy shall serve
until the first regularly scheduled meeting of the Council at which
a successor assumes the office following a municipal, general or primary
election at which the successor shall have been elected.
E. At the next regularly scheduled election, municipal,
general or primary, which occurs at least 60 days after a vacancy
occurs, a qualified person shall be elected by special election to
fill the vacancy. A person elected to fill a vacancy shall assume
office at the start of the first regularly scheduled meeting of the
Council following certification of election and shall serve for the
remainder of the unexpired term.
A. The compensation of the Council members to first serve
under this Charter shall be and is hereby set at $600 per annum. The
Council may establish, by ordinance, the annual compensation of succeeding
Council members, but no ordinance changing compensation shall become
effective until the expiration of the term of all Council members
in office at the time the ordinance is enacted. It is the intent of
this Charter that all Council members in office at the same time shall
be paid at the same rate and that no Council shall change the compensation
of Council members then in office during the term for which any of
them were elected. Ordinances affecting the compensation of future
Council members shall be enacted prior to the first day of February
in municipal election years in order to apply to Council members elected
in such years and to other Council members serving at the same time.
They shall be authorized to receive reimbursement of reasonable expenses
actually incurred in the performance of their duties in accordance
with regulations which shall be set forth in the Administrative Code
or other ordinance.
The Council shall organize at a meeting at 3:00
p.m. on the first Monday of January of each year. If the first Monday
is a legal holiday, the organizational meeting will be held on the
first day following which is not a legal holiday. At the organizational
meeting, the Council shall elect from its membership a President and
a Vice President, who shall hold such offices at the pleasure of the
Council. The President or, in the President's absence, the Vice President
shall preside at Council meetings, shall serve as the city's representative
at ceremonial occasions and shall carry out such duties as prescribed
elsewhere in this Charter or in the Administrative Code or other ordinance.
A. The Council shall meet regularly at least once in
every month at such time and place within the city as the Council
may prescribe by ordinance or resolution.
B. At its first meeting each year, the Council shall
designate and advertise the calendar of regular monthly meetings for
the remainder of the year. Special meetings may be held on the call
of the presiding officer by providing notice to each Council member
at least 24 hours in advance of such special meeting, which meeting
notice shall be prominently posted at the City Hall. In the event
of an emergency which makes it necessary to convene a meeting with
less than 24 hours' advance notice, this requirement may be waived.
The Council shall, in the Administrative Code or other ordinance,
adopt rules and regulations for its meeting which shall be designed
to assure full and equal participation in the deliberations of the
Council by all of its members and shall not be inconsistent with specific
provisions of this Charter. All regular meetings of the Council and
any special meetings at which official actions are taken shall be
open to the public, and public notice of such meetings shall be given.
The Council shall cause to be prepared for each
regular meeting an agenda of matters to be considered by the Council
at such meeting, including pertinent background information, which
agenda shall be distributed to the public in attendance at the start
of the meeting. The agenda shall be available prior to the start of
the meeting. No official action may be taken on any matters not included
in the announced agenda for the meeting except by an affirmative vote
of a majority of the total number of the members of the Council. The
agenda shall include opportunity and reasonable time for public participation
in the meeting.
A majority of the members of the Council shall
constitute a quorum. The Council shall conduct no business except
in the presence of a quorum. The action of a majority of Council members
present and entitled to vote shall be binding upon and constitute
the action of the Council, provided that a quorum is present, except
as otherwise stated in the Charter. The phrase "majority of the total
membership of the Council" or similar language is used elsewhere in
this Charter to indicate actions which must be taken by a majority
of the total membership rather than by a majority of a quorum.
All actions of the Council shall be taken by
the adoption of an ordinance, resolution or motion. All legislation
shall be enacted by the adoption of an ordinance. All ordinances and
resolutions shall be in written form and enacted only after reasonable
notice, except as otherwise provided in this Charter. All final action
in adopting ordinances and resolutions shall be by roll call vote,
and the vote of each Council member shall be entered in the record
of the meeting.
The City Manager shall maintain a written record
of the minutes and proceedings of all meetings of the Council. All
ordinances and resolutions shall be entered, as approved, in the record
books of the city. All records and reports shall be open and available
for public inspection at City Hall throughout normal office hours.
No citizen of Coatesville shall be denied reasonable access to all
public records of the city. Copies of the minutes, ordinances, resolutions
and other official reports and actions of the Council shall be available
to the public without charge or at a reasonable fee established by
the Council.
All legislative powers and duties of the city
shall be exclusively vested in and exercised by the Council. The Council
shall provide for the exercise of and performance of all legislative
powers and duties imposed on the city by law or this Charter and,
specifically, but not limited to, the following:
A. To adopt the budget, make appropriations for expenditures
for all lawful purposes and levy taxes authorized by law and limitations
thereon imposed by this Charter or general law.
B. To adopt, amend and repeal an Administrative Code
to create, alter, combine and/or abolish municipal departments, bureaus,
boards and commissions and prescribe procedures not inconsistent with
this Charter or general law.
C. To make or cause to be made such studies or postaudits
and investigations as it deems to be in the best interest of the city.
D. To adopt ordinances and resolutions not inconsistent
with or restrained by the Constitution and laws of the commonwealth
or by this Charter and prescribe fines and penalties consistent with
general law for the violation of city ordinances.
E. To make provision for any matter of the city government
not otherwise provided for in this Charter or general law and inconsistent
therewith.