any of said offices, nor to any other office which may be established by ordinance, nor shall any person be entitled to vote at any city elecction, who shall not be a qualified elector according to the constitution and laws of this state, and who shall not have resided in said city for at least thirty days next preceding the election.

voting more

SEC. 5. Any person voting in more than one ward in this city at any Penalty for one election, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on than once. conviction shall be punished by fine not excceding five hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, and shall for ever be deprived of the privilege of voting in any election for the city officers.

common council.

SEC. 6. The members of the common council elected under this act Meetings of shall assemble within five days after their election, and the mayor shall preside over their meetings, but shall have no vote, and in case of his absence, death, or disability, the council may elect a president, pro tempore, from their own body, to preside over them for the time being, and shall elect some suitable person as secretary of the council. They shall, by ordinance, fix the times and places of holding their stated meetings, and may be convened by the mayor at any time, by giving each member of the council verbal notice, or by leaving a written notice at their usual places of residence. A majority of all the members elected shall constitute a quorum to do Quorum. business, except as herein otherwise provided, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as the council may previously by ordinance have prescribed. They shall judge Powers of of the qualifications, elections, and returns of their own members, and the other officers elected under this act, and determine contested elections. They may determine rules for their own proceedings, punish any member or other person for disorderly conduct in their presence, and with the concurrence of two-thirds of the members elected expel any member; but not a second time for the same cause. They shall cause to be kept a journal of their proceedings, and at the desire of any member shall cause the yeas and nays to be taken and entered on any question, and their proceedings shall be public.

council.

SEC. 7. The said city council shall have power to make by-laws Ordinances. and ordinances not repugnant to the constitution and laws of the United States or of this state; to prevent and remove nuisances; to provide for licensing, regulating or restraining theatrical and other amusements; to fix and collect a license tax on all theatres, or other places of amusement; trades, professions, and business not prohibited by law, having regard to the amount of business done by each person

Publication of city laws.

or firm thus licensed; to license gambling houses or tables; to establish and regulate markets; to establish a board of health; to cause the streets to be cleaned and repaired; to provide for the making and improving of sidewalks, and the regulation thereof; to impose, for the benefit of the city, fines, penalties and forfeitures for breaches of city ordinances; to provide for the punishment of breaches of the city ordinances, and to determine what are nuisances; but no fine shall be imposed of more than five hundred dollars, and no offender be imprisoned for a longer term than sixty days; to levy and collect taxes; to lay out, extend, alter or widen streets and alleys; to alter, improve, keep and repair and have full control of the levee; to establish and regulate a police to be subject to the supervision of the mayor; to make appropriations for any object of city expenditure; to erect and maintain poor-houses and hospitals for the support of the indigent, sick and insane; to prevent the introduction and spread of diseases; to erect, repair and regulate wharves, and the rates of wharfage, whether wharves are constructed or not; to regulate the landing and stationing of steamboats, rafts, and all water craft or hulks, and to charge and collect such fees, tonnage, duties or tax upon such steamboats, rafts, water craft or hulks, as they shall deem proper to impose; and also to charge and collect, for the occupancy of such landing or landings, berth or berths, as shall be assigned to the said steamboats, rafts, water craft or hulks, such fees or tax for such landing or landings, berth or berths, as the said council shall impose; to provide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires, and to organize fire companies, and to regulate the storage of gunpowder and such other combustible materials as might endanger the city by fire. They shall have power to create a captain of police, and such other officers as they may deem necessary, and to prescribe their duties and compen sation, subject to the provisions of this act; to prevent and restrain any riot or disorderly assemblage in any street, house, or place of the city; and may by ordinance provide for the formation of a chaingang, for persons convicted of crime; they shall fix a tariff of fees for the direction of all officers that may be by ordinance required; to charge and collect fees, specifying the fee which shall be charged for each particular item of service; and to pass such other by-laws and ordinances for the regulation and police of said city as they may deem necessary. All by-laws and ordinances shall be published in some newspaper printed in the city. (1)

(1) Amendment inserted from Stat. 1852, page 195.

SEC. 8. All legal process against the city shall be served on the Process to be mayor, and in his absence on the mayor pro tempore.

served on mayor.

tion may be

SEC. 9. In no case shall the corporation be garnisheed for any When corporadebts due or to become due by said corporation on contracts for city garnished. improvements, except for debts incurred for said improvements, and all tools and other property while being used upon any public improvements in the city shall be exempt from execution and attachment, except for materials furnished or for work done on such improvement.

SEC. 10. All appropriations shall be by ordinance, and all contracts Appropriations. and conveyances may be made in such manner as directed by the council, subject to the approval of the mayor; or, in case of his disapproval, by a two-third vote of all the members of the council elected.

filled.

SEC. 11. When any vacancy shall occur in any city office, the Vacancies, how council shall order an election to be held for the purpose of filling said vacancy, unless it should occur within sixty days of the regular annual election, when it shall be filled by the council.

all accounts

SEC. 12. All accounts and demands against said city (except such Council to audit as are specified in section nineteenth) shall be passed upon, and if against city. found correct, allowed by the common council, and an order made that such demands be paid, upon which the mayor shall draw his warrant, countersigned by the secretary of the council, upon the treasurer, in favor of the owner or owners, specifying for what purpose and by what authority it is issued, and out of what fund it shall be paid, and the treasurer shall pay the same out of the proper fund.

receipts and

SEC. 13. It shall be the duty of the common council to publish in Statement of one or more public newspapers printed in the city, one month before payments to be published. the annual election for city officers in each year, for the general information of the citizens of the city of Sacramento, a full and detailed statement of the receipts and expenditures of the city during the year ending on the last of the month previous to that in which the publication is made, and in every such statement the different sources of the city revenue, and the amount received from each; the several appropriations made by the common council, the objects for which the same were made, and the amount of moneys expended under each; the money borrowed on the faith and credit of the city; the authority under which each loan was made, and the terms on which it was obtained, shall be clearly and particularly specified.

borrow money.

SEC. 14. The city council shall have power by ordinance to borrow Council may money and pledge the faith of the city therefor: Provided, the aggregate amount of the debts of the city shall never exceed its annual estimated revenue.

May provide for collection of taxes.

Amount of taxes.

Additional expenditures.

additional loans.

SEC. 15. The council may by ordinance provide for the assessment and collection of the taxes semi-annually, but no tax shall be levied on the inhabitants of the city or on their property at any meeting of the council which consists of less than two-thirds of the whole number elected: Provided, such assessment shall not exceed two per cent. per annum on real and personal property, unless by express consent of the people said two per cent. to be in addition to and exclusive of the revenue now authorized to be collected from licenses and wharfage.

SEC. 16. If, in the opinion of the common council, more money shall be required for municipal purposes than is authorized to be levied and collected, as above specified, it shall be the duty of the common council to inform the mayor, who shall issue his proclamation to the people, stating the amount of money thus required, and the purposes and objects for which it is to be expended, at least ten days before Mode of creating the question shall be voted on by the qualified electors of the city, and on the day of election the electors may prescribe by their votes the manner in which the said amount shall be raised, whether by col lection during the current year, or by loan. If a majority of votes authorize the collection or loan, the said sum shall be collected, or borrowed, as the case may be, but not otherwise. Whenever a loan Councils to effect is authorized to be made, the common council shall have power to effect the same for a term not less than five nor more than thirty years, at a rate of interest not exceeding ten per cent. per annum; and if necessary, may levy and collect an additional tax sufficient to meet the interest to accrue upon said loans: Provided, always, the common council shall reserve to itself the right to redeem and call in such loan, or any portion thereof, at any time, by giving at least ninety days' public notice in one of the public journals published is the city of Sacramento. The common council shall have power to pledge the faith and credit of the city of Sacramento for the payment of the principal and interest of any money borrowed under this act, and in pursuance of a vote of the poll of said city. (1)

the loan.

Liquidation.

The faith and credit of the city pledged.

Tax sales.

SEC. 17. Real and personal property may be sold for taxes or assessments due the city aforesaid by the collector of city taxes; and the said city, in its corporate capacity, shall have the power to purchase and hold property sold for the non-payment of such taxes or assessments. In all cases where default shall be made in the payment of any taxes or assessments levied thereon in conformity with law, the city collector shall, if real estate, give notice by publication in some newspaper

(1) Amendment inserted from Stat. 1852, p. 194.

published in said city, at least once a week for four successive weeks; and if personal property, publish a notice of the same, of at least five days, by posting the same on the door of the said collector's office; and upon the expiration of such notice, shall proceed to sell a sufficient amount of such real or personal property to pay the amount of the taxes or assessments due thereon, together with the expenses attending the same; which expenses shall in no case exceed the sum of ten per cent. on the amount of taxes or assessments due thereon. The collector as aforesaid shall deliver to such purchaser a description of all property by him so purchased, the amount of the taxes or assessments, and expenses thereon; for which certificate he shall be entitled to receive from such purchaser the sum of two dollars. If the property so sold shall be personal property, the title to the same shall vest absolutely in the purchaser thereof; but if real estate, any person or persons may, at any time within six months after the date of such sale, have the right to redeem the same, by depositing with the city treasurer, for the benefit of such purchaser, the amount of such tax or assessment, and the expenses thereon, including the cost of such certificate, together with fifty per cent. damages on such aggregate amount. At any time after the expiration of six months from the date of such sale, the title to any real estate sold under the provisions of this act, and not redeemed in conformity herewith, shall remain absolutely in such purchaser or his legal representatives; and the city collector aforesaid shall, on the demand of such person, make and execute to him a deed, duly acknowledged for the same; for which deed the said collector shall be entitled to receive the sum of five dollars, and said deed shall thenceforth be received in any court in this state as prima facie evidence of legal title in such purchaser or his successor in interest. (1)

duties of

Special

SEC. 18. Special assessments may be made by ordinance for the Powers and grading, paving, planking, draining, or in any wise improving or repair- common council ing any portion of the streets or alleys of said city on the parts of lots assessments. situated on the line of such proposed improvement, as follows: to the depth of seventy-five feet on the easterly side of Front street, seventyfive feet on either side of the alley running through the blocks situated between Front and Second streets, eighty feet on either side of the streets and alleys running in an easterly and westerly direction, twenty feet on either side of the cross streets of said city, from and inclusive of Second street to Thirty-first street: Provided, two

(1) Amendment inserted from Stat. 1853, pp. 38 9.