[Amended 4-24-2018 by Res. No. 18-CR-02; 10-13-2020 by Res. No. 20-CR-02]
A. All legislative
powers of the City shall be vested in a Mayor and eight district Council
members, two from each district of the City, to be known as the Mayor
and Council. The Mayor and Council is the legislative body of the
City. The Mayor shall be elected at large by the voters of the City
and the Council members shall be elected by the voters within their
respective districts. The candidate for Mayor with the highest number
of votes shall be declared elected as Mayor. The two candidates for
Council member for each Council district with the highest number of
votes shall be declared elected as Council member. At the time of
taking office, the Mayor and each member ofthe Council shall have
attained the age of 18 years. To qualify, a candidate for elective
office shall:
(1) Be a
citizen of the United States;
(2) Be a
current registered voter in the City; and
(3) For
Council Member candidates, have been domiciled in their respective
district for at least one year immediately preceding the date of qualification.
A Council Member candidate does not lose the benefit of having met
all or part of the one year domicile period requirement due to redistricting
of their domicile.
(4) For
Mayoral candidates, have been domiciled in the City for at least one
year immediately preceding the date of qualification.
B. The City's
Supervisors of Elections shall determine whether these requirements
have been met. The Mayor and Council members shall continuously be
domiciled in the City during their term of office. Each Council member
must reside in their respective district and the Mayor and each Council
member shall retain throughout their respective term of office all
the qualifications necessary for election, and the failure to retain
all of such qualifications shall ipso facto cause a forfeiture of
office.
During his/her term of office, neither the Mayor nor any Council
member may hold:
B. Membership on the City's Advisory Planning Commission, Noise Control
Board, Ethics Commission or Supervisors of Elections; or
C. Membership on any other committee, commission, board or operational
authority appointed by the Mayor and/or Council, unless authorized
in the enabling legislation.
[Amended 4-24-2018 by Res. No. 18-CR-02]
Before entering upon the duties of the office, the Mayor and
each Council member shall take an oath to diligently and faithfully
discharge all duties of office without favor, partiality or prejudice.
Said oath shall be filed among the records of said City. The Clerk
of the Circuit Court or a sworn deputy of the Clerk shall administer
the oath of office to the Mayor. The Mayor shall administer the oath
of office to Council members.
[Amended 4-24-2018 by Res. No. 18-CR-02]
The Mayor shall receive as compensation $10,500 per year as
salary, payable on a monthly basis. Each Council member holding office
under this Charter shall receive as compensation $7,000 per year as
salary, payable on a monthly basis. A change to the amount of compensation
of the Mayor and Council shall be adopted by ordinance. No change
in the amounts of compensation enacted by ordinance may be enacted
by the Mayor and Council to be effective during their current term
of office.
[Amended 3-23-2021 by Res. No. 21-CR-01; 4-11-2023 by Res. No. 23-CR-01]
The qualified voters of the City shall elect a Mayor to serve
a term of two years. The voters within each district shall elect two
Councilpersons for their respective districts, each to serve the term
of two years. On or before March 31 of a general election year, the
Mayor and Council may by motion set the date in November for the general
election, on a date that is not a City, state, county or federal election
day or holiday. If the Mayor and Council fail to set the election
date by March 31, the general election shall be held on the first
Tuesday following the first Monday in November.
[Amended 4-24-2018 by Res. No. 18-CR-02]
The Mayor and Council members elected under this Charter shall
assume the duties of their respective offices at the first regular
meeting of the Mayor and Council in the December following election
or as soon thereafter as is practicable and, unless removed for cause,
shall continue to serve until their successors are duly elected and
installed. In the case of special elections, Mayor and Council members
shall assume the duties of office at a regular meeting as soon after
certification of the results of the special election as is practicable,
but no later than during the next calendar month following the election.
All officers appointed by the Mayor and Council pursuant to § C3-6,
Vacancies, of the Charter shall assume the duties of their offices
at the meeting of the Mayor and Council at which they are administered
the oath of office and, unless removed for cause, shall continue to
serve until their successors are duly elected and installed.