The executive powers of the City shall be vested wholly in the
Mayor, and may be exercised either personally or through the several
officers and boards of the City in their departments, under the Mayor's
general supervision and control.
The Mayor's executive authority shall include the power to organize
the City into various Departments in order to promote the effective
and orderly management of the City. This authority includes the power
to hire and discharge employees in accordance with applicable laws,
regulations and contracts.
Notwithstanding the above, the Mayor shall recommend the appointment
or removal of the City Clerk, but the full City Council shall have
the final decision in regard to such appointment or removal by a vote
of at least five (5) members of the City Council.
The Mayor shall hold office for the term of three (3) years
from the first Monday in December following the Mayor's election,
unless sooner removed, and until a successor is elected and qualified.
Every ordinance, order, resolution or vote of the City Council,
except such as relates to its own internal affairs, to its own officers
or employees, to the election or duties of the Auditor of Accounts,
to the removal of the Mayor, or to the declaration of a vacancy in
the office of Mayor, shall be presented to the Mayor for approval.
If not approved the Mayor shall return it, with objections,
at the next session of the City Council, and the City Council shall
cause such objections to be entered at large upon its journal, and
shall proceed to reconsider the same. If upon such reconsideration,
it shall be passed by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of all the members of
the City Council, it shall have the same effect as if signed by the
Mayor.
In case of a vacancy in the office of Mayor when such ordinance,
order, resolution or vote is finally passed, it shall go into effect
without approval but must be passed by a roll call of a majority of
all the members of the City Council.
Whenever any ordinance, order, resolution or vote of the City
Council involves an appropriation or expenditure of money, the Mayor
may approve it as a whole, or the Mayor may approve or disapprove
specific items thereof, and the portions approved shall then be in
force in like manner as if no part thereof had been disapproved, and
the items disapproved shall thereupon take the course herein provided
for orders or ordinances disapproved as a whole.
The Mayor may be removed from office by the City Council for
official misconduct or neglect of duty. At any meeting of the City
Council, it shall be in order for any member thereof to give written
notice, seconded in writing by a majority of at least of all the members
of the City Council, of the intention to move, at the next meeting
thereof, occurring within not less than ten (10) days, a resolution
that the Mayor be removed from office.
Such notice shall specify as particularly as possible the acts
of misconduct, or the instances of neglect of duty complained of,
shall be entered by the City Clerk in the minutes of the City Council,
and the Clerk shall within two (2) days serve a copy thereof, upon
the Mayor at the Mayor's residence, and mail a copy to each of the
members of the City Council.
At such next meeting of the City Council, the Mayor shall have
the right to speak and present a defense, and to be heard by counsel.
The City Council shall vote on the resolution by roll call.
If the resolution receives the affirmative vote of three-fourths (3/4)
of all the members of the City Council, it shall, upon the service
of a copy thereof upon the Mayor, personally or by leaving the same
at the Mayor's residence, take effect, and the office of Mayor shall
thereupon become vacant. The City Council shall thereupon cause a
warrant for a new election for mayor to be issued and such further
proceedings shall be had as are provided herein, for the case of a
failure to elect a Mayor. If the resolution fails to receive the affirmative
vote of three-fourths (3/4) of all the members of the City Council,
it shall have no effect, and shall not be reintroduced during that
meeting of the City Council.
During the Mayor's term of office, the Mayor shall receive no
salary or compensation for discharging the duties of any other office
established by or under the provisions of this Charter. During the
Mayor's term, the Mayor shall be ineligible to serve as an employee
of the City or School Department.