The City Clerk shall perform for the City the same duties devolving under the law of this State upon town clerks, except insofar as the same are changed or modified by the provisions of this charter; the Clerk shall be the ex officio Clerk of the Board of Aldermen, Board of Civil Authority, Board for the Abatement of Taxes, Board of Finance, Board of Public Health, and of the Board of Highway Commissioners. The City Clerk may be City Purchasing Agent. He or she shall have exclusive charge and custody of the public records of the City and of all records, papers, and documents belonging to the Town of Rutland at the time the City of Rutland was organized. He or she shall receive the same fees as do town clerks under the State law, but his or her salary as set by the Board of Aldermen shall be in lieu of all fees, and all fees received by the City Clerk shall be accounted for, and paid into the City Treasury.
(a)
Public records shall not be taken out of or away from the City Clerk's office except upon the order or process of a court of competent jurisdiction, but the Board of Aldermen may by ordinance or by law regulate the removal from said office of all papers and documents belonging to the City and in the custody of the City Clerk as aforesaid.
(b)
The Clerk shall make duly certified copies of public records, papers, and documents, upon payment of the proper fee. Such copies so certified shall be legal evidence of the same validity and effect as those of town clerks, in all courts and for all purposes.
Whenever any notice signed by the Mayor, Board of Aldermen, or any City officer or officers, or any advertisement, ordinance, resolution, or bylaw shall have been published in some newspaper or publicly posted under the provisions of the general law, this charter, or the ordinances thereby authorized, the City Clerk shall examine and ascertain whether such notice, advertisement, or ordinance has been duly published or posted, and if such be the fact he or she shall so certify upon the proper City record; and such record or a duly certified copy thereof shall be treated as prima facie evidence of the facts so certified.