All legislative powers of the Town shall be vested in a Council consisting of a Mayor and four (4) Councilmembers, who shall be elected as hereinafter provided and who shall hold office for a term of four (4) years or until the succeeding Mayor and Council takes office. The regular term of the Mayor and the Councilmembers shall expire on the last day of June immediately following the election of their successors. The Mayor and the Councilmembers holding office at the time this Charter becomes effective shall continue to hold office for the term for which they were elected and until the succeeding Mayor and Council takes office under the provisions of this Charter.
Councilmembers shall have resided in the Town for at least one year immediately preceding their election and shall be qualified voters of the Town. Councilmembers shall maintain a permanent residence in the Town during their term of office.
Each Councilmember shall receive an annual salary which shall be equal for all Councilmembers and shall be as specified from time to time by an ordinance passed by the Council in the regular course of its business; provided, however, that the salary specified at the time any Council takes office shall not be changed during the period for which that Council was elected. The ordinance making any change in the salary paid to the several Councilmembers, either by way of increase or decrease, shall be adopted prior to the municipal election for the members of the next succeeding Council and shall take effect only as to the members of the next succeeding Council.
[Amended 7-1-2013 by Res. No. 2013-04]
The newly elected Council shall meet at 7:00 p.m. on the first Monday in July, following the election in May, for the purpose of organization. Special meetings shall be called by the Clerk-Treasurer upon the request of the Mayor or majority of the members of the Council. All meetings of the Council shall be open to the public, and the rules of the Council shall provide that residents of the Town shall have a reasonable opportunity to be heard at any meeting in regard to any municipal question. All meetings of the Council shall be open to the public unless closed in a manner consistent with § 10-501 et seq. of the State Government Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, and the rules of the Council shall provide that residents of the Town shall have a reasonable opportunity to be heard at any meeting in regard to any municipal question.
The Council shall be the judge of the election and qualification of its members.
A majority of the members of the Council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but no ordinance shall be approved nor any other action taken without the favorable votes of a majority of the whole number of members elected to the Council.
The Council shall determine its own rules and order of business. It shall keep minutes of its proceedings and enter therein the yeas, nays, or abstentions upon final action on any question, resolution, or ordinance, or at any other time if required by any one member. The minutes shall be open to public inspection.
No ordinance shall be passed at the meeting at which it is introduced. At any regular or special meeting of the Council held not less than six (6) nor more than sixty (60) days after the meeting at which an ordinance was introduced, it shall be passed, or passed as amended, or rejected, or its consideration deferred to some specified future date. In cases of emergency, the above requirement may be suspended by the affirmative votes of four (4) members of the Council. Every ordinance, unless it be passed as an emergency ordinance, shall become effective at the expiration of twenty (20) calendar days following approval by the Mayor or passage by the Council over the Mayor's veto. A fair summary of each ordinance shall be published at least twice (2) in a newspaper or newspapers having general circulation in the municipality. An emergency ordinance shall become effective on the date specified in the ordinance, but no ordinance shall become effective until approved by the Mayor or passed over the Mayor's veto by the Council.
Ordinances shall be permanently filed by the Clerk-Treasurer and shall be kept available for public inspection.