[Amended 11-8-2004 by Charter Amendment No. CA-04-04]
To the extent permitted by the Constitution and laws of Maryland the legislative powers of the town are vested in a council consisting of five councilpersons who shall be elected as hereinafter provided and who shall hold office for a term of two years, except that beginning with the elections in May, 2005, and May, 2006, councilpersons shall be elected for terms as provided in section C-609. The regular term of councilpersons shall expire on the second Monday in May following the election of their successors.
Councilpersons shall be at least twenty-one years old, have resided in the town for at least one year immediately preceding their election and be qualified voters of the town. A councilperson must retain these qualifications during the term of office.
Each councilperson may receive an annual salary which shall be equal for all councilperson and shall be a specified from time to time by an ordinance passed by the council in the regular course of its business; provided, however, that the salary specified at the time any council takes office shall not be changed during the period for which that council was elected. The ordinance making any change in the salary paid to the several councilperson, either by way of increase or decrease, shall be finally ordained prior to the municipal election for members of the next succeeding council and to the municipal election for members of the next succeeding council and shall take effect only as to the members of the next succeeding council.
[Amended 11-8-2004 byCharter Amendment No. CA-04-03]
The council shall meet at 4:00 PM on the second Monday in May following each election for the purpose of organization, after which the council shall meet regularly at such times as may be prescribed by its rules but not less frequently than once each month. Special meetings shall be called by the Town Administrator upon the request of the mayor or a majority of the members of the council. All meetings of the council shall be open to the public, except for such meetings as may be closed in accordance with the laws of the state of Maryland. Meetings of the council to which the Maryland Open Meetings Act does not apply may be closed for the same reasons and under the same procedures as apply to meetings covered by that act. The rules of the council shall provide that residents and owners of real estate and businesses in the town shall have a reasonable opportunity to be heard at any open meeting of the council in regard to any municipal question, concern or matter.
The council shall be the judge of the qualification of its members. If anyone questions the continuing qualifications of a councilperson or the mayor, the matter shall be determined by vote of the council. By qualification is meant those requirements for office as set forth in Section 202 and 302 of this charter.
The mayor shall serve as president of the council. The mayor may take part in all discussion, but he or she shall have no vote. The council shall elect a vice-president of the council who, in the absence of the president of the council, shall preside.
A majority of the members of the council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but no ordinance shall be approved nor any other action taken without the favorable votes of at least three councilpersons.
The council shall promulgate rules and order of business. It shall keep a journal of its proceedings and enter therein the yeas and nays upon final action on any question, resolution, or ordinance. The journal shall be open to public inspection.
No ordinance shall be passed at the meeting at which it is introduced. At any regular or special meeting of the council held not less than six nor more than sixty days after the meeting at which an ordinance was introduced, it shall be passed, or passed as amended, or rejected or its consideration deferred to some specified future date. In cases of emergency, the provision that an ordinance may not be passed at the meeting at which it is introduced may be suspended by the affirmative votes of four members of the council. Every ordinance, unless it be passed as an emergency ordinance, shall become effective at the expiration of twenty calendar days following approval by the mayor or passage by the council over his veto. A fair summary of the ordinance shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality at least seven calendar days prior to its effective date. The intent of the publication requirement is to put the public on notice that an ordinance has been approved. It is not intended that the entire ordinance be published. It is the intent of this charter that publication costs be kept to a minimum. Therefore, fair summaries and a reduced size type is permissible. In lieu of publication the council can accept as a substitute a news article that has been published in a newspaper of general circulation in the town within the time prescribed above that presents a fair summary of the ordinance.
An emergency ordinance shall become effective on the date specified in the ordinance, but no ordinance shall become effective until approved by the mayor or passed over his veto by the council.
All ordinances passed by the council shall within two days of passage be delivered by the Town Administrator to the mayor for approval or disapproval. If the mayor approves any ordinance, the mayor shall sign it. If the mayor disapproves any ordinance, the mayor shall not sign it. The mayor shall return all ordinances to the Town Administrator within seven days after delivery to the mayor (excluding the first day, including the last day, and excluding any Sunday) with the mayor's approval or disapproval. Any ordinance approved by the mayor shall be law. Any ordinance disapproved by the mayor shall be returned with a written message stating the reasons for its disapproval. Any disapproved ordinance shall not become a law unless subsequently passed by a favorable vote of four fifths of the whole council within forty calendar days from the date of the disapproval of the ordinance. If the mayor fails to return any ordinance within seven days of its delivery, it shall be deemed to be approved by the mayor and shall become law in the same manner as an ordinance signed by him.
If, before the expiration of twenty calendar days following approval of any ordinance by the mayor or passage of any ordinance over the mayor's veto, a petition is filed with the Town Administrator containing the signatures of not less than twenty per centum (20%) of the then registered and qualified voters of the town and requesting that the ordinance, or any part thereof, be submitted to a vote of the registered and qualified voters of the town for their approval or disapproval, the council shall have the ordinance or the part thereof requested for referendum submitted to a vote of the qualified voters of the town at the next regular town election or, in the council's discretion, at a special election occurring before the next regular election. No ordinance, or the part thereof requested for referendum, shall become effective following the receipt of such petition until and unless approved at the election by a majority of the registered and qualified voters voting on the question. An emergency ordinance, or the part thereof requested for referendum, shall continue in effect for no longer than sixty days following receipt of such petition. If the question of approval or disapproval of any emergency ordinance, or any part thereof, has not been submitted to the qualified voters within sixty days following receipt of the petition, the operation of the ordinance, or the part thereof requested for referendum, shall be suspended until approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting on the question at any election. Any ordinance, or part thereof, disapproved by the voters, shall stand repealed. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any ordinance, or part thereof, levying taxes, but the provisions of this section shall apply to any ordinance, or any part thereof, levying special assessment charges under the provisions of Article 10 of this Charter. The provisions of this section shall be self-executing, but the council may adopt ordinances resolutions or rules, as appropriate, in furtherance of these provisions and not in conflict with them.
Ordinances shall be permanently filed by the secretary and shall be kept available for public inspection.
These words shall have their ordinary meaning. Where permitted the council shall promulgate such resolutions, rules, and regulations as are necessary to implement an ordinance. While there shall be no publication requirement, resolutions, rules and regulations shall be appropriately numbered and maintained in separate records. Resolutions, rules and regulations shall be binding from one council to the next and shall remain in effect until changed, amended, repealed or superceded by the council.