CHAP. 109 unfit or unnecessary for the city's use, but only after such sale has been authorized by the city council, and subject to such restrictions as the city council may by ordinance provide. The city manager shall act as purchasing agent until the city council. by ordinance shall provide for the appointment of a purchasing agent. ARTICLE VIII PUBLIC UTILITIES Sec. 1. Franchises. All public utility franchises, hereafter granted, and all renewals, amendments, and extensions thereof shall be granted or made only by a four-fifths vote of the voting members of the council. No franchise and no renewal or amendment thereof shall be granted or made within three months after the application therefor is filed with the city clerk nor within thirty days after the publication in full of the proposed franchise in its final form, nor until a public hearing has been held thereon. No public utility franchise shall be transferable except with the approval of the city council. Sec. 2. Right of regulation. All orders providing for grants, renewals, amendments or extensions of public utility franchises shall retain to the city the following rights: (a) To repeal the same by order at any time for non-use, or for failure to begin construction within the time prescribed, or for failure to otherwise comply with the terms prescribed; (b) To require proper and adequate extension of plant and service, and the maintenance of the plant and fixtures at the highest practicable standard of efficiency; (c) To establish reasonable standards of service and quality of products and prevent unjust discrimination in service or rates; (d) To impose such other regulations as may be conducive to the safety, welfare, and accommodation of the public. Sec. I. ARTICLE IX MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS Members of the city council ineligible for certain offices. No member of the city council shall during the term for which he was chosen be eligible for any other office the salary of which is payable by the city, nor shall he during such term hold any such office. Sec. 2. No personal interest. No city manager, no member of the city CHAP. 109 council, no subordinate city officer, no member of any board or commission charged with the expenditure of any money appropriated by the city council or belonging to the city, no officer or employee of the city, elected or appointed, shall be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract entered into by or in behalf of the city of Portland for work or material, or the purchase thereof, to be furnished to or performed for the city, and all contracts made in violation hereof are void and the city treasurer is expressly forbidden to pay any money out of the city treasury on account of any such contract. No such officer or employee, except a policeman or fireman, shall accept or receive from any person, firm or corporation acting under a franchise or license from the city, any frank, free pass, free ticket, or free service, or accept directly or indirectly from any such person, firm or corporation, any service upon terms more favorable than those granted to the public generally. This provision shall not apply, however, to any free service now or hereafter provided for by contract, franchise or ordinance. Sec. 3. Referendum; date of meeting; form of question; procedure. This act shall be submitted for approval or rejection to the qualified voters of the city of Portland at an election to be held the second Monday in September in the year A. D. nineteen hundred and twenty-three and warrants shall be issued for such election in the manner now provided by law for the holding of municipal elections, notifying and warning the qualified voters of said city to meet in the several ward meetings of said city, there to cast their ballot concerning the selection of a charter for the city of Portland in substantially the following form: FORM OF BALLOT "Place a cross X in the square after the form of charter which you select. Mark only one form or your ballot will not be counted. FORMS OF CHARTER Plan 1. Present form of charter with mayor, board of nine aldermen, and common council of twenty-seven members elected by wards and with party designation. Plan 2. Form providing mayor and board of fourteen councilors elected for a term of two years, one from each ward and five at large with party designation retained. Plan 3. Council-manager form providing for a city council of five members elected one each year for a term of five years from the city at large without regard to ward lines and without party designation, and a city manager elected by the Council." CHAP. 109 Otherwise said ballot shall be in the form provided by law when a constitutional amendment is submitted to the vote of the people. The provisions of law relating to the preparation of voting lists for municipal elections shall apply to such election and said election shall in all other respects be conducted as municipal elections in said city are now conducted by law, and the results thereof shall be determined in the manner now provided by law for the determination of the election of mayor. If a plurality of the valid ballots deposited as aforesaid shall favor the adoption of plan three, so-called, on said ballot, and provided further, if the number of ballots favoring plan three, so-called, on said ballot shall also constitute more than fifty per cent of the total number of valid ballots cast at said election, then this act shall take effect as herein provided and the mayor shall forthwith make proclamation of the fact. Sec. 4. Date when effective. So much of this act as authorizes the submission of the acceptance of this charter to the voters of the city of Portland shall take effect as provided in the constitution of the state, but it shall not take further effect unless adopted by the voters of the city of Portland as hereinbefore provided. If adopted by the voters of the city, then this act for the purpose of nominating and electing officers hereunder shall take effect on the date of its adoption by the voters, and for all other purposes this act shall take effect on the second Monday in December in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-three. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. Sec. 5. Ordinances not inconsistent continued in force. All ordinances in force at the time when this charter takes effect, not inconsistent with the provisions of this charter, shall continue in force until amended or repealed. All rules and regulations of the municipal officers of the city of Portland in force at the time when this charter takes effect, not inconsistent with the provisions hereof, shall continue in force until amended or repealed. Sec. 6. Existing contracts not invalidated, unless inconsistent. All rights, actions, proceedings, prosecutions, and contracts of the city or any of its departments, pending or unexecuted when this charter goes into effect and not inconsistent therewith shall be enforced, continued or completed in all respects as though begun or executed hereunder. Sec. 7. Term of office, officers, boards. All officials, officers, trustees, members of commissions or departments, hereafter to be appointed or elected under the provisions of this charter by the city council or city manager, whose term of office has not been herein otherwise provided for, shall not serve out their present terms but shall continue in office only CHAP. 110 until their successors are appointed or elected, and qualified as provided in this act. The term of office of the present members of the board of overseers of the poor, board of health, park commission, and recreation commission shall terminate on the second Monday in December, nineteen hundred and twenty-three; and the term of office of the present members of the city hall music commission and trustees of Evergreen cemetery shall terminate at the same time and the first appointments of successors to the two latter boards shall be for terms of one, two, and three years respectively, and thereafter for three years or for the unexpired term. The terms of the present members of the board of registration of voters shall not be affected by this act. Approved April 4, 1923. Chapter 110. An Act to Amend Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty of the Private and Special Laws of Nineteen Hundred and Eleven, Relating to a Close Time on Lobsters in the Waters of Winter Harbor in Hancock County. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: P. & S. L., 1911, c. 260; relating to close time on lobsters in waters of Winter Harbor, amended. Chapter two hundred and sixty of the private and special laws of nineteen hundred and eleven is hereby amended by striking out all of said chapter and inserting in place thereof the following: 'Sec. 1. Close time on lobsters; penalty. No person or persons shall set any trap or other device used for catching lobsters between the first day of July and nine o'clock in the forenoon August thirty-first of each year, under a penalty of five dollars for each trap, or other device set within the following described limits: In any of the waters of Winter Harbor in Hancock county inside of a direct line from Schoodic Island whistling buoy, thence northwest by west to Egg Rock whistling buoy, and thence northeast by north to Jordan's Island bar. 'Sec. 2. P. L., 1897, c. 285, sec. 48, made applicable. All fines and penalties provided for by this act may be recovered as provided by section forty-eight of chapter two hundred and eighty-five of the public laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-seven.' Approved April 4, 1923. WASHBURN TOWN MEETING- -NASH STREAM IMPROVEMENTS. 625 CHAP. 111 Chapter 111. An Act to Legalize and Make Valid the Proceedings of the Town Meeting of the Town of Washburn, Held on March Twenty-sixth, Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-three. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: Town meeting held March 26, 1923, ratified. The town meeting of the town of Washburn, held on the twenty-sixth day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-three, is hereby ratified and made legal and valid and all the proceedings of said meeting are hereby ratified, confirmed and made legal. Approved April 4, 1923. Chapter 112. An Act Relating to Improvements on Nash Stream and the East and West Branches Thereof in Coplin Plantation, and in the Township of Redington in the County of Franklin. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine, as follows: Sec. 1. Authorized to erect and maintain dams for log driving purposes; locations. Albion L. Savage of Stratton in the county of Franklin and state of Maine, his associates, successors and assigns are hereby authorized and empowered to locate, erect and maintain in Nash stream and the east and west branches thereof, on land owned by Hollingsworth & Whitney Company and others in Coplin Plantation, and land owned by Chandler and Hovey or others in the township of Redington in the county of Franklin and state of Maine, anywhere on said Nash stream, or the east and west branches thereof, between and including the dam on the east branch of said Nash stream and located on or near the south line of said Coplin Plantation, and including the dam on the west branch of said Nash stream, and located about one-fourth of a mile south of the south line of said Coplin Plantation, and the north line of said Coplin Plantation, such dams as may be necessary, including the two dams above mentioned and already erected and maintained by him, to raise a head of water to facilitate the driving of logs, pulpwood and other lumber, down said Nash stream and the east and west branches thereof; and to build side dams, piers and rack booms, remove rocks, and make other improvements on said Nash stream and the east and west branches thereof, and their tributaries, within the limits of said Coplin Plantation, and in the township of Redington only to the dams above mentioned and already built, for the purpose of facilitating the driving of logs, pulpwood and other lumber down the same. Sec. 2. Right of eminent domain conferred. Said Albion L. Savage, his associates, successors and assigns, are hereby authorized and empowered to take lands and materials necessary to build and maintain such dams |