Except as provided for in Sections 18.02 and 18.03 which shall be effective upon ratification, the newly elected municipal assembly will assume full control of the area unified by this charter on its effective date, December 2, 1971, at which time the former governments shall cease to exist.
No elected positions shall be placed before the electorate by the governments to be unified after ratification of this charter.
Any elections concerning bonds propositions pending prior to ratification of this charter shall be held only under authority of this charter.
The first election after ratification of this charter shall take place on November 2, 1971 and shall be for the purpose of electing the first assembly and to elect school board members to replace those whose terms ordinarily would have expired in October, 1971. The election shall be held subject to and regulated by Sections 2.03 and 10.02 of this charter. The borough clerk shall act ex-officio as election clerk.
The assembly shall meet and organize within seven days of certification of the election subject to and regulated by Section 2.06 of this charter. From the time of the first meeting of the assembly the provisions of this charter shall be in effect insofar as they are applicable to the selection of an administrator, administration of existing budgets and general organization of the municipality.
Costs incurred in the administration of this charter from the date of ratification to December 2, 1971, shall be paid from area-wide funds of the Greater Sitka Borough upon proper verification.
To provide a period for an orderly transition and for the new municipal government to organize, the governments being unified shall continue to function in their respective areas until December 2, 1971. All officers, employees, departments, offices, committees, boards and commissions of local governments shall cooperate with and assist the assembly to facilitate unification in the most efficient and orderly fashion. All records, files, and other data in possession of both local governments to be dissolved shall be available for inspection by the assembly and shall become the property of and be in the control of the municipality on December 2, 1971.
Following ratification of this charter, the municipality shall operate under the budgets of the governments to be unified until June 30, 1972.
Before December 2, 1971, the local governments affected by this charter whose fiscal years end on December 31, 1971 shall prepare budgets covering the six-month period from January 1, 1972, to June 30, 1972. The municipal assembly shall provide for tax levies sufficient to meet the requirements of these budgets.
Transitional audits of the local governments to be dissolved shall be performed within 30 days after December 2, 1971, and presented to the municipal assembly on completion. Any audit which would have normally been made at December 31, 1971, shall be postponed until June 30, 1972.
All employees of governments being unified shall continue in employment until the assembly adopts by ordinance an administrative code; current employees of the former governments may be terminated only for cause. Salaries and benefits enjoyed under their former employment shall continue until the new code is effective.
Current employees of the former governments shall be given preference in municipal employment. Such current employees affected by the unification of duplicative agencies of the former governments are entitled to preference in other municipal employment in comparable capacities, without loss of income. Pension plans, collective bargaining agreements, and other existing employee benefits shall not be diminished by the adoption of this charter.
Except for those provided for by this charter, all appointed committees, commissions, and boards in effect at the time this charter is ratified shall be dissolved one year after the effective date of this charter unless sooner abolished or specifically continued by ordinance.
To the extent not inconsistent with the charter, ordinances, resolutions and orders of local governments to be dissolved shall continue in full force and effect in their respective jurisdictions until no later than 2 years after ratification of this charter when they shall expire, unless after substantive review by the assembly, each ordinance, resolution, or order has been expressly reaffirmed, revised, or repealed. The administrator and municipal attorney shall, eighteen months after ratification of this charter, submit a comprehensive substantive study of remaining pre-unification ordinances and resolutions to aid the assembly in the adoption of an integrated code.
(a) 
Assets and Liabilities. The municipality shall succeed to all the assets and liabilities of the local governments. Bonded indebtedness incurred before unification shall remain the tax obligation of the area which contracted the debt, except that the tax obligation shall be spread over a larger area by vote of the assembly if the asset, for which the bonded indebtedness or other liability was incurred, is used for benefit of a larger area.
(b) 
Sales and Use Taxes. All revenues from sales and use taxes in effect at the time this charter goes into effect shall continue to be allocated in accordance with existing ordinances until changed as provided by Section 13.01(c) of this Charter.
(c) 
Reserves. Any pledged reserve accounts of the prior local governments shall remain committed to the purposes for which they were originally dedicated.
(d) 
Franchises. All existing franchises of the governments to be unified shall continue after ratification of this charter until they expire, are extended, renewed, or revoked by the municipal Assembly.
Subject to Article XIV of this charter, service areas and local improvement districts in existence at the time of enactment of this charter shall continue to exist. The area of the City of Sitka shall comprise a service area. The functions of local government and service areas being exercised immediately prior to enactment of this charter may continue insofar as consistent with this charter, except that the assembly may alter, consolidate, or abolish service areas and may add or eliminate services as provided by Article XIV of this charter.
The adoption of this charter shall not abate or otherwise affect any action, cause of action, claim or proceeding, civil or criminal, by or against a local government to be dissolved and which had accrued at the time of the effective date of this charter. All applications, petitions, hearings, and other proceedings pending on the effective date before a local government to be dissolved shall be continued before the municipality.
Assembly members shall receive an initial monthly salary of $25.00 per regular meeting attended, $4.00 per special meeting attended, and $10.00 per work session attended. In addition to payment for meetings attended, the Mayor shall receive $150.00 per month.
By July 1, 1973, the assembly by ordinance shall prescribe penalties for violations of this charter if no penalty is prescribed by this charter.