[Home Rule Charter, Section 501]
a. 
All legislative power of the Municipality shall be vested in Council.
b. 
Council shall have the power to enact, amend or repeal all ordinances and resolutions not inconsistent with this charter or with the laws of the Commonwealth.
c. 
Council shall have the power to create or abolish all authorities, boards and commissions, committees, departments, offices or agencies.
d. 
Council shall have the power to appoint and remove all members of authorities, boards, commissions and committees and all members of its legislative and legal staff.
e. 
Council shall have the power to receive and accept all gifts or donations of real and personal property or interest therein in the name of the Municipality.
f. 
Council, as a body or through a committee thereof, shall have the power to make inquiries and investigations into the affairs of the Municipality and its government and into the conduct of any municipal department, office or agency or any of the committees thereof.
g. 
Council shall have the power to hold public hearings on any matter. Notice of every such hearing shall be given in the manner determined by Council and all interested persons shall have an opportunity to be heard.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 502]
a. 
Council shall appoint a Municipal Manager.
b. 
Council shall adopt an Administrative Code{20}, establishing and defining the responsibilities of the municipal departments and agencies as well as such procedures as it shall deem to be of basic importance in the operation of the municipal government. Council shall have the continuing authority thereafter, by amendment of the Administrative Code, to make changes in departmental and administrative organizations and procedures, and to abolish any department, board, commission or other agency not required by law or by this Charter to be established and maintained.
c. 
Council shall appoint the Municipal Solicitor, who shall be an attorney at law or a firm of attorneys, and the Municipal Secretary. The Secretary shall be directly under the supervision and control of Council.
d. 
Council shall adopt a Personnel System{30}, which shall provide for the appointment, promotion and removal of all appointed officers and employees of the Municipality. Such system shall provide, among other things, that all appointments and promotions of appointed municipal officers and employees shall be made on the basis of merit and fitness demonstrated by examination or other evidence of competence. The nondiscrimination provisions of § 1-104 of this codification shall apply in any appointment or promotion and political affiliation or beliefs shall not be a factor.
e. 
Council shall adopt procedures which shall provide for the purchasing of products, goods and services, the making of contracts and the sale or lease of personal or real property of the Municipality{40}. Such procedures shall provide for negotiated contracts, competitive bidding, detailed bidding procedures, assurance of controls on aggregate spending and safeguards against special interests.
f. 
Whenever a petition shall be presented to Council by registered electors of the Municipality, comprising at least 2% of the electors voting at the most recent municipal election, requesting that Council consider and take action on the subject matter of the petition, it shall be the duty of Council to place the subject matter thereof on its agenda for a regular or special meeting taking place within two months after receipt of the petition. At such meeting, Council shall consider and take action on such subject matter. However, the same subject shall not be presented to Council by petition pursuant to this section oftener than one time in any two-year period. This section is not intended to prevent any individual or group of individuals from petitioning Council in any other legal manner.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 503]
Council shall, in the conduct of its powers, be subject to the following limitations:
a. 
Individual Councilmen shall not exercise any power of Council unless such authority shall be specifically delegated by Council or by this charter.
b. 
Except where authorized by law, no Councilman shall hold any other municipal office or municipal employment during his term of office.
c. 
Neither Council nor any of its members shall in any manner dictate activities or the appointment or removal of any municipal officer or employee who is appointed by the Manager; but Council or any of its members may express its views and discuss with the Manager anything pertaining to the activities or appointment or removal of any of his subordinates.
d. 
Any Councilman who shall have a special financial interest in a matter before Council shall abstain from voting on the question.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 601; amended by Ord. 916 and 917, 11/8/1977{50}]
Council shall hold its organizational meeting on the first Monday of January of each even-numbered year. At the organization meeting, it shall elect one of its members as President of Council, who shall hold such office at the pleasure of Council. The Council shall transact any other business that it may deem necessary or appropriate at the organization meeting.
In any year when the first Monday of January shall be a legal holiday, the organization meeting of Council shall be held on the following day.
It shall be the responsibility of the President of Council to designate the committees of Council and to appoint Council members to such committees, subject to the approval of Council.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 602]
Council shall hold regular meetings at least once a month on such day and at such time as Council, from time to time, determines and schedules.
Council may adjourn to a stated time for general business or for special business. A majority of the members of Council in office, not including the Mayor in his capacity as presiding officer, shall constitute a quorum. If no quorum is present at a regular or adjourned meeting, a majority of the members of Council who are present may agree upon another date and hour for a meeting, and members so present may continue so to agree until a meeting can be held with a quorum in attendance.
Special meetings may be called by the Mayor on his own initiative or shall be called by him upon written request of at least two of the members of Council. Members shall have at least 24 hours' notice of special meetings. The notice shall state the nature of the business to be considered. Presence at a meeting constitutes waiver of notice.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 603]
Meetings of Council shall be open to the public and shall be conducted according to rules of procedure that shall be adopted from time to time by Council. Such rules shall be designed to assure full and equal participation in the deliberations of Council by all of its members.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 604]
Council shall cause minutes of all its meetings to be made and preserved. The minutes shall be open to public inspection in the municipal offices, during regular business hours.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 605]
In the conduct of inquiries and investigations, Council shall have authority to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers or other evidence at any meeting of Council or of any committee thereof and for that purpose may issue subpoenas, signed by the Mayor or the Chairman of the Committee, as the case may be, and may cause the same to be served in any part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Mayor or Committee Chairman, as the case may be, shall have the power to administer oaths to witnesses.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 504]
The following actions of Council shall be taken by ordinance:
a. 
Adoption of the Administrative Code{60}.
b. 
Adoption of the Personnel Rules and Regulations{70}.
c. 
Adoption of procedures for purchasing of products, goods or services, for the making of contracts and for the sale or lease of personal or real property of the Municipality{80}.
d. 
Adoption of tax levies and authorization for service charges, fees and assessments{90}.
e. 
All other actions which are legislative in nature, which affect or regulate the conduct of the public, which create or establish any long-term, permanent physical change, right or privilege or which amend or repeal any previously-enacted ordinance.
f. 
Ordinances shall become effective following the carrying out of the publication and recording requirements; however, a later date may apply when required or when specified in the ordinance.
g. 
All other actions shall be taken by resolution or motion.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 1006]
All ordinances, resolutions, rules and regulations of the Municipality of legislative nature, or portions thereof, in force when this charter takes effect, and not in conflict herewith, shall remain and continue in force until they either expire by their own terms or are amended or specifically repealed, either in whole or in part pursuant to this charter.
Council shall have the power to amend, repeal or replace such enactments, pursuant to this charter, or, when they deal with a matter outside the purview of this charter, pursuant to the applicable enabling legislation.
All ordinances and resolutions or amendments thereof in continued effect as of the effective date of this charter shall be construed as if enacted under this charter, but as of the date of their original enactment or amendment, as the case may be.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 606; amended by Ord. 919, 11/8/1977{100}]
Action on any ordinance shall be at a lawful meeting of Council and shall be by majority vote of the members present. If such ordinance receives such affirmative majority vote, it shall then be signed by the President of Council or, in his absence, any other Councilman and attested by the Municipal Secretary, who shall affix the Municipal Seal and insert the date of the Council vote. Such ordinance shall then be presented to the Mayor for his approval. If the Mayor approves such ordinance, he shall sign it; if the Mayor shall not approve the ordinance, he shall have the power to veto it within 14 days of its date. If the Mayor vetoes such ordinance, he shall, at the same time, give his reasons in writing for such veto. Council may, by an affirmative vote of five members of Council, override the veto of the Mayor at the next meeting of the Council following the veto, whether such meeting is a regular, special or adjourned meeting.
The enactment of an ordinance shall be the date when the Mayor shall approve it or the date of passage by Council over the veto of the Mayor or, in the case of any ordinance neither approved nor vetoed by the Mayor, then on the date which is 15 days after the original approval by Council.
Ordinances shall be numbered consecutively and shall contain a clear statement that the document is an ordinance.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 607; amended by Ord. 1770, 2/2/2004]{110}
Notices of ordinances adopted by Council shall be published in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the Municipality within seven days of enactment. Such publication shall state where the full text of the ordinance may be examined and copies obtained.
In addition to the publication herein required after enactment of an ordinance, prior public notice of the intent to take action on a proposed ordinance may be made in any case at the discretion of Council.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 608]
Within seven days after the enactment of an ordinance, the Municipal Secretary shall cause to be recorded in the Municipal Ordinance Book, a verbatim copy of such ordinance, which shall contain a notation of the date of enactment and the date of publication and the name of the newspaper in which publication was made.
It shall not be necessary to record in the Ordinance Book the full text of any ordinance where there is a specific provision in the laws of Pennsylvania permitting adoption and recording by reference, or in the case of any ordinance adopting, with or without amendment or modification, any building code, plumbing code or other code complete in itself, for the regulation of any trade, occupation or line of activity or undertaking but, in the latter cases, it shall be necessary only to record the ordinance adopting the same by reference and indicating the municipal office where the complete code or ordinance shall be available.
Whenever an ordinance shall be specifically amended or repealed, the Municipal Secretary shall cause a notation to the effect to be made in the Ordinance Book at the location where the recording of such ordinance shall commence.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 609]
The Ordinance Book shall be open and available for public inspection and perusal in the Municipal Building during office hours and the Municipality shall make available, at a cost of reproduction, copies of any ordinance, upon request.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 610]
The Municipality shall cause the valid ordinances and the permanent ordinances to be codified and indexed, and the codification shall be kept current by updating on a biennial or more frequent basis.
[Home Rule Charter, Section 611]
Violation of an ordinance shall constitute a summary offense and prosecution for every such offense shall be according to the practice in the case of summary convictions, except where the laws of Pennsylvania shall specifically provide otherwise. Any ordinance may prescribe a penalty for the violation thereof, which may not exceed the maximum penalty that may be imposed by any non-charter Borough in the Commonwealth for violation of an ordinance. All fines, penalties and costs collected shall be paid to the municipal treasury for use of the Municipality.
Any ordinance may provide that, for continuing violations, each day that a violation exists may be regarded as a separate violation.