The inhabitants of the City of Clayton, within the corporate
limits as now established or as may hereafter be established, shall
continue to be a municipal body politic and corporate in perpetuity
under the name of the City of Clayton.
The municipal government provided by this charter shall be of
the type generally known as a council-manager government. Subject
only to the limitations imposed by the Constitution of the State of
Missouri and this charter, all powers of the city shall be vested
in a board of aldermen, except as hereinafter otherwise specified.
The city shall have all powers of local self-government and
home rule and all powers possible for any city to have under the constitution
and laws of the State of Missouri or which the general assembly would
be competent to grant to any city of any class or population group,
and except as prohibited by the constitution, the city may exercise
all municipal powers, functions, rights, privileges, and immunities
of every name and nature. Such powers shall be exercised in the manner
prescribed in this charter or, if not prescribed herein, in such manner
as may be prescribed by the board of aldermen.
The enumeration of particular powers in this charter is not
exclusive of others, nor restrictive of general words or phrases granting
powers, nor shall a grant or failure to grant power in this article
impair a power granted in any other part of this charter; and whether
powers, objects, or purposes are expressed conjunctively or disjunctively,
they shall be construed so as to permit the city to exercise freely
any one or more such powers as to any one or more such objects for
any one or more such purposes.
[Ord. No. 5603, 12-19-2000, passed by majority vote
4-3-2001]
The city is hereby divided into three wards bounded and numbered
as shown on the map which is attached to and made a part of this charter.
(See last page).
On or before the first day of June following the first mayoral
election after the year in which the federal decennial census is taken,
the board of aldermen shall appoint a redistricting commission consisting
of three registered voters, one from each ward of the city, who have
resided in the City of Clayton for at least five years immediately
prior to their appointment, and who shall not be officers or employees
of the city. The commission shall ascertain whether the wards contain
approximately equal numbers of residents and shall, if it finds substantial
inequalities, recommend changes in ward boundaries to the end that
wards shall be compact and contiguous and contain approximately equal
numbers of residents. The commission shall make its report in writing
to the board of aldermen not later than the first day of August following
the date of the appointment of its members. The board of aldermen,
after a public hearing, shall take final action on the recommendations
of the commission not later than the fifteenth day of September following
receipt of such report. The board may adopt, reject, or modify the
recommendations of the commission. If the board of aldermen fails
to take final action on the recommendations of the commission by the
date specified above, such recommendations shall become effective
without board action. Any changes in ward boundaries made pursuant
to this section shall be effective for the following regular election
and for each succeeding election until changed in accordance with
the provisions of this charter.