All legislative powers of the Town shall be
vested in a Board of Commissioners consisting of five (5) Commissioners.
The registered voters of the Town shall vote in an election for three
(3) Commissioners on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November
1999, and for two (2) or three (3) Commissioners, as the case may
be, as hereafter provided, every two (2) years thereafter. The terms
of office of all Commissioners shall be for four (4) years and shall
begin on the first regularly scheduled Town meeting after election
in November in the year of their election and shall end when their
successors are elected and qualified. Commissioners whose terms shall
expire April 1999 shall continue in office until the election of November
1999 and their terms shall end when their successors are elected and
qualified.
Commissioners shall have resided in the Town
for at least six (6) months immediately preceding their election and
shall be registered voters of the Town.
a.
The Commissioners shall be eligible to receive an
annual salary and benefits which shall be specified from time to time
by ordinance passed by the Board of Commissioners at a public meeting.
The Chair of the Board may receive an annual salary higher than the
other Commissioners.
b.
The salaries or compensation specified for the Chair
of the Board or the Commissioners shall not be changed during the
period for which that Chair or that Commissioner was elected. The
ordinance making any change in the salary paid to the Chair or any
Commissioner, either by way of increase or decrease, shall be finally
enacted prior to the next scheduled election for Commissioners and
shall only apply to the Commissioners elected or re-elected.
The Board of Commissioners shall meet at some
convenient place in the Town of Bel Air at least once a month or as
often as is necessary to properly discharge the duties of their office.
A majority of Commissioners shall constitute
a quorum for the transaction of business, but no ordinance shall be
approved without the favorable votes of a majority of the Board of
Commissioners.
The Board of Commissioners shall determine its
own rules and order of business. It shall keep minutes of its regularly
scheduled proceedings and enter therein the results of the votes taken
upon each action, question, resolution, or ordinance, or at any other
time if required by any one member. The minutes shall be open to public
inspection.
[Amended by Charter Res. No. 112-03, effective
1-20-2004]
a.
When there is a tie vote in an election for the Office
of Commissioner, resulting in a vacancy on the Board, Commissioners
duly elected to serve on the Board newly constituted after the election,
shall call a special run off election between the tied candidates
to be held as soon as practicable after the election producing the
tie, in accordance with procedures required under state and local
laws. The Commissioner elected in the run off election shall serve
the remainder of the four-year term attributable to the vacant office
to which he/she is elected. This provision shall apply to all elections
held after November 1, 2003.
b.
When there shall be fewer than three Commissioners
in office, the Commissioners then serving shall call a special election
for the purpose of filling the vacancies in the office of Commissioner.
In all cases, other than those involving a run off or a special election,
in the event of a vacancy on the Board of Commissioners, the Commissioners,
by three favorable votes shall appoint some person qualified under
Section 302, to serve as Commissioner. Any person duly appointed by
three favorable votes of the Commissioners to fill a vacancy or elected
in a special election where there were fewer than three Commissioners
in office, shall serve until the next regular election for Commissioner.
b.
Ordinances and Resolutions; How Passed
1.
In order to enable the Board of Commissioners to fully
exercise the power conferred upon it by this Charter and to enable
it to better promote and preserve the public health, safety, and welfare,
the Board of Commissioners may pass all ordinances and resolutions
that are from time to time necessary; and to insure the observance
of such ordinance, they may affix thereto such penalties as are hereinafter
provided in this Charter.
2.
An ordinance may be introduced by any Commissioner.
No ordinance shall be passed at the meeting at which it is introduced.
Within twenty-four hours following the introduction of an ordinance,
the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners or the Town Administrator
shall schedule a public hearing on such ordinance, which shall not
be less than five nor more than thirty days after publication of the
hearing notice.
3.
Upon the introduction of an ordinance, a copy shall
be posted on an official board at or near the entrance to the Town
Hall. Additional copies of a proposed ordinance shall be available
to the public upon request and upon payment of reasonable reproduction
costs. Public notice of the hearing on an ordinance, including a summary
of the contents of the proposed ordinance shall be published in a
newspaper of general circulation in the Town of Bel Air. The public
hearing on an ordinance need not be held on the day of a regularly
scheduled meeting.
4.
At any regular or special public meeting of the Board
of Commissioners of Bel Air held not less than six or more than sixty
days after the meeting at which an ordinance was introduced it shall
be passed, or passed as amended, or rejected; provided that no ordinance
shall be adopted except by a yea and nay vote and the names of Commissioners
voting for and against the same shall be entered in the minutes. An
ordinance shall become effective on the twenty-first (21st) day after
passage unless petitioned to referendum.
5.
In the case of any stated emergency the provision
that an ordinance may not be passed at the meeting at which it is
introduced may be suspended by the affirmative vote of four Commissioners.
An emergency ordinance shall become effective upon the date of its
passage.
c.
Referendum
A newly enacted ordinance may be subjected to
referendum in accordance with the provisions of Section 504 of this
Charter.
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Ordinances shall be permanently filed in the
office of the Town Administrator and shall be made available for public
inspection.
a.
Any Commissioner may introduce a resolution proposing
an amendment to the Charter of the Town of Bel Air.
b.
Any resolution proposing an amendment to the Charter
shall contain the complete and exact wording of the proposed amendment,
prepared so that the section or sections are set forth as they would
read when amended or enacted and so that they otherwise comply with
the requirements for form set forth in the Public Laws of Maryland.
No Charter and no section of the Charter may be revised or amended
by reference to its title or section only. No resolution proposing
a Charter amendment shall embrace more than one subject and that shall
be described by the resolution's title.
c.
No resolution proposing a Charter amendment shall
be passed at the meeting at which it is introduced. Within twenty-four
hours following the introduction of the resolution, the Chairman of
the Board of Commissioners or the Town Administrator shall schedule
a public hearing on the resolution, which hearing shall be held not
less than five days or more than thirty days after publication of
the hearing notice. Public notice of the hearing on the resolution,
including a summary of the contents of the proposed resolution, shall
be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town of
Bel Air. The public hearing on the proposed resolution may, but need
not be, held on the day of a regular scheduled meeting.
d.
Upon the introduction of a resolution proposing a
Charter amendment, a copy shall be posted on an official board at
or near the entrance to the Town Hall. Additional copies of the proposed
resolution shall be available to the public upon request and upon
payment of reasonable reproduction costs.
e.
At any regular or special meeting of the Board of
Commissioners held not less than six nor more than sixty days after
the meeting at which resolution proposing a Charter amendment was
introduced, it shall be passed, or passed as amended or rejected;
provided that no resolution proposing a Charter amendment shall be
adopted except by a yea and nay vote, and the names of Commissioners
voting for and against the same shall be entered in the minutes.
f.
For a period of forty-five days following the adoption
of a resolution amending the Charter, a complete exact copy of the
resolution shall be posted on an official board at or near the entrance
to the Town Hall. A fair summary of the resolution shall be published
in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town of Bel Air not less
than four times at weekly intervals within a period of at least forty-five
(45) days after the adoption of the resolution containing the amendments.
g.
A resolution containing a Charter amendment shall
become and be considered a part of the Charter in all respects to
be effective and observed as such, upon the fiftieth day after being
passed, unless on or before the fortieth day after being passed, there
shall be presented to the Board of Commissioners a petition for referendum
meeting the requirements of Section 504 of this Charter.
h.
The provisions of Article 23A of the Annotated Code
of Maryland which sets forth annexation procedures shall apply to
all annexation resolutions and shall supersede provisions for resolutions
set forth herein. Decisions on annexation resolutions must be made
within ninety (90) days of the final public hearing.