No person shall be an Alderman unless he is at least twenty-one
(21) years of age, a citizen of the United States, and an inhabitant
and resident of the City of Albany for one (1) year next preceding
his election, and a resident of the Ward from which he is elected.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §23, 11-15-1960; Ord. No. 973 §1, 11-15-1983; Ord. No. 03-31 §1, 10-7-2003; Ord. No. 16-12 §§1 – 2, 7-5-2016; Ord.
No. 20-13, 9-22-2020[1]]
The members of the Board of Aldermen shall be two (2) in number
from each Ward of the City. The regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen
shall be held at City Hall on the first (1st) and third (3rd) Tuesday
of each month at 5:30 p.m. Special meetings may be called by the Mayor
or by any two (2) Aldermen by notice in writing stating the time,
place of the meeting and business to be transacted. Notice of any
meeting shall be distributed in a manner prescribed by the members
of the Board of Aldermen and in a manner reasonably designed to provide
suitable notice to each individual member. No ordinance, resolution,
order or vote at any special meeting of the Board of Aldermen shall
be invalidated or in any way affected by failure to give or record
the notice above prescribed, if a majority of the members of the Board
of Aldermen shall have been present at the meeting and shall have
voted for the measures. The Mayor and any two (2) Aldermen or any
three (3) Aldermen in the absence of the Mayor, shall constitute a
quorum for the transaction of business at any meeting.
[1]
Editor’s Note: Section 2 of this ordinance provided
an effective date of 9-23-2020
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §24, 11-15-1960]
The Board of Aldermen shall elect a Clerk for such Board, to
be known as the City Clerk whose duties and term of office shall be
fixed by ordinance. Among other things, the City Clerk shall keep
a journal of the proceedings of the Board of Aldermen. He shall safely
and properly keep all records and papers belonging to the City which
may be entrusted to his care; he shall be the general accountant of
the City and he is hereby empowered to administer official oaths and
oaths to persons certifying demands or claims against the City.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §25, 11-15-1960]
The Board of Aldermen shall cause to be kept a journal of its
proceedings, and the "ayes" and "nays" shall be entered on any question
at the request of any two (2) members. The Board of Aldermen may prescribe
and enforce such rules as it may find necessary for the expeditious
transaction of its business.
The Board shall elect one of their own number who shall be styled
"Acting President of the Board of Aldermen" and who shall serve for
a term of one (1) year.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §27, 11-15-1960]
When any vacancy shall happen in the office of Mayor by death,
resignation, removal from the City, removal from office, refusal to
qualify, or from any other cause whatever, the acting President of
the Board of Aldermen shall, for the time being, perform the duties
of Mayor with all the rights, privileges, powers and jurisdiction
of the Mayor, until such vacancy be filled or such disability be removed;
or, in case of temporary absence, until the Mayor's return.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §28, 11-15-1960]
The Board of Aldermen shall semi-annually in January and July
of each year make out and spread upon their records a full and detailed
account and statement of the receipts and expenditures and indebtedness
of the City for the half year ending December thirty-first (31st)
and June thirtieth (30th), preceding the date of such report, which
account and statement shall be published in some newspaper in the
City.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §29, 11-15-1960]
The Board of Aldermen shall have power to compel the attendance
of witnesses and the production of papers and records relating to
any subject under consideration in which the interest of the City
is involved, and shall have power to call on the proper officers of
the City, or of the County in which such City is located, to execute
such process. The officer making such service shall be allowed to
receive therefor such fees as are allowed by law in the Circuit Court
for similar services, to be paid by the City. The Mayor or Acting
President of the Board of Aldermen shall have power to administer
oaths to witnesses.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §30, 11-15-1960]
The Mayor and Board of Aldermen shall have the care, management
and control of the City and its finances, and shall have power to
enact and ordain any and all ordinances not repugnant to the Constitution
and laws of this State, and such as they shall deem expedient for
the good government of the City, and preservation of peace and good
order, and benefit of trade and commerce and the health of the inhabitants
thereof, and such other ordinances, rules and regulations as may be
deemed necessary to carry such powers into effect, and to alter, modify
or repeal the same.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §32, 11-15-1960]
The Board of Aldermen shall have power, by ordinance, to employ
special counsel to represent the City, either in case of a vacancy
in the office of City Attorney or to assist the City Attorney and
shall have power to pay reasonable compensation therefor.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §33, 11-15-1960]
The Board of Aldermen shall have power, by ordinance, to secure
the general health of the inhabitants of the City by any measure to
regulate, suppress and abate slaughterhouses, slaughtering animals,
stockyards, soap and other factories, pig pens, cow stables, and other
stables and dairies and to remove the same, and to regulate or prevent
the carrying on of any business which may be dangerous or detrimental
to the public health, or the manufacturing or rendering of articles
obnoxious to the health of the inhabitants; and to pass ordinances
for the prevention of nuisances and their abatement.
[Ord. No. 88-18 §2, 9-20-1988]
The style of the ordinances of the City shall be: "Be it ordained
by the Board of Aldermen of the City of Albany, as follows:". No ordinance
shall be passed except by bill, and no bill shall become an ordinance
unless on its final passage a majority of the members elected to the
Board of Aldermen shall vote for it and the "ayes" and nays" be entered
on a journal. Every proposed ordinance shall be introduced to the
Board of Aldermen in writing and shall be read by title or in full
two (2) times prior to passage. Both readings may occur at a single
meeting of the Board of Aldermen. If the proposed ordinance is read
by title only, copies of the proposed ordinance shall be made available
for public inspection prior to the time the bill is under consideration
by the Board of Aldermen. No bill shall become an ordinance until
it shall have been signed by the Mayor or person exercising the duties
of the Mayor's office, or shall have been passed over the Mayor's
veto, as provided herein.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §36, 11-15-1960]
Every bill duly passed by the Board of Aldermen and presented
to the Mayor and by him approved shall become an ordinance, and every
bill presented as aforesaid, but returned with the Mayor's objections
thereto, shall stand reconsidered. The Board of Aldermen shall cause
the objections of the Mayor to be entered at large upon the journal,
and proceed at it's convenience to consider the question pending,
which shall be in the following form: "Shall the bill pass, the objections
of the Mayor thereto notwithstanding?" The vote on this question shall
be taken by "ayes" and "nays" and the names entered upon the journal,
and if two-thirds (⅔) of all the members-elect shall vote in
the affirmative, the City Clerk shall certify the fact on the roll,
and the bill thus certified, shall be deposited with the proper officer,
and shall become an ordinance in the same manner and with like effect
as if it had received the approval of the Mayor. The Mayor shall have
the power to sign or veto any ordinance passed by the Board of Aldermen;
provided, that should he neglect or refuse to sign any ordinance and
return the same with his objections, in writing, at the next regular
meeting of the Board of Aldermen, the same shall become a law without
his signature.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §37, 11-15-1960]
Every ordinance shall take effect and be in full force from
the time of its approval or from the time of its passage over the
Mayor's veto, or from the first (1st) regular meeting after its passage
when the Mayor fails or neglects to sign and return it with his objections,
as the case may be; provided however, that the Board of Aldermen may,
if deemed necessary or expedient, by provision therein, postpone the
taking effect of any ordinance until any future date within ninety
(90) days from its passage.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §38, 11-15-1960]
The Mayor and the Board of Aldermen shall have no power to release
any person from the payment of any tax, or exempt any person from
any burden imposed by law.
[Ord. No. 650 Ch. 3 Art. 3 §39, 11-15-1960]
The Board of Aldermen shall, within a reasonable time after
the Assessor's books of each year are returned, ascertain the amount
of money to be raised thereon for general and other purposes, and
fix the annual rate of levy therefor by ordinance.
