CHAPTER III — Council#

Sec. 1. — Composition; compensation.#

The council shall consist of seven members elected as provided in chapter III. They shall receive in full compensation for their services a salary to be fixed as provided the general laws of the commonwealth.

(Acts 1966, Ch. 114, § 1; Acts 1978, Ch. 39, § 1)

Sec. 2. — Exercise of vested powers.#

All powers vested in the city shall be exercised by the council except as otherwise provided herein.

Sec. 3. — To constitute continuing body.#

The said council shall be a continuing body and no measure pending before the council shall abate or be discontinued by reason of the expiration of the term of office or removal of the members of the council, or any of them.

Sec. 4. — Election and terms of president (ex officio mayor), vice-president (ex officio vice-mayor) and members of boards and commissions; quorum; journal; etc.#

(a) On the first Tuesday in January next following the regular municipal election, or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, the newly elected council shall proceed to choose by majority vote of all the members thereof one of their number to be president, who shall be ex officio mayor, and another as vice-president, who shall be ex officio vice-mayor, of the council, each of whom shall serve for a period of two years from the first day of the January next following the election and until their successor or successors have been elected and qualified; provided, however, that the terms of the president and vice-president set to expire on June 30, 2012, shall be extended to December 31, 2012, and until their successors have been elected and qualified.

(b) Appointment of boards and commissions; enumeration, term. The school board, library board, and dock commission shall each consist of five members of the board of such regional free library system as are permitted under the inter-jurisdictional contract establishing the regional library system as that contract may be amended from time to time.

The council shall appoint the members of such boards and commissions as are provided for in this charter, or as may be established by the council or by general law on a date and for such terms as may be established by ordinance.

The members of the boards and commissions shall serve until their successors have been appointed and qualified.

(c) Elections to be by viva voce vote; rules of procedure; punishment of members for misconduct, etc.; quorum; eligibility of members for other office; journal of proceedings. All elections by the council shall be viva voce and the vote recorded in the journal of the council.

The council may determine its own rules of procedure; in the absence of established rules of procedure, Robert's Rules of Order shall prevail. Council may punish its members for misconduct and may compel the attendance of members in such manner and under such penalties as may be prescribed by ordinance. It shall keep a journal of its proceedings. A majority of all the members of the council shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time.

No person, now a member or who may hereafter be elected to the council, shall during his tenure of office, or during the term for which he was elected as such member, be eligible to any office to be filled by the council by election or appointment.

(Acts 1952, Ch. 426, § 1; Acts 1962, Ch. 462, § 1; Acts 1978, Ch. 39, § 1; Acts 1979, Ch. 317, § 1; Acts 2009, Ch. 484, § 1; Acts 2011, Ch. 797, 853; 2019, cc. 109, 207)

Sec. 5. — Powers and duties of president.#

The president of the council shall preside at meetings of the council, and perform such other duties consistent with his office as may be imposed by the council. He shall be entitled to a vote, but shall possess no veto power. He shall be recognized as the official head of the city for all ceremonial purposes, by the courts for the purpose of serving civil process, and by the governor for military purposes. He may use the title of mayor in any case in which the execution of contracts or other legal instruments in writing, or other necessity arising from general laws of the state may so require; but this shall not be construed as conferring upon him the administrative or judicial functions, or other powers or functions, of a mayor, under the general law of the state. In time of public danger or emergency, he may, with the consent of the council, take command of the police and maintain order and enforce the laws, and for this purpose may deputize such special policemen as may be necessary. During his absence or disability his duties shall be performed by the vice-president of the council.

The powers and duties of the president of the council shall be such as are conferred upon him by this charter, and by general law, together with such others as may be conferred by the council in pursuance of the provisions of general law and of this charter.

Sec. 6. — Rules of procedure; meetings to be open to public; conflicts of interest.#

The council shall have power, subject to the provisions of this charter, to adopt its own rules of procedure. Such rules shall provide for the time and place of holding regular meetings of the council, which shall not be less frequently than one in each month. They shall also provide for the calling of special meetings by the mayor, the city manager, or any member of the council, and shall prescribe the method of giving notice thereof, provided that the notice of each special meeting shall contain a statement of the specific item or items of business to be transacted, and no other business shall be transacted at such meetings except by the unanimous consent of all members of the council.

No ordinance, resolution, motion or vote shall be adopted by the council except at a meeting open to the public, and except motions to adjourn, to fix the time and place of adjournments, and other motions of a purely procedural nature, and except where the public interests may require executive sessions.

No member of the council shall participate in the vote on any ordinance, resolution, motion or vote in which he, or any person, firm or corporation for which he is attorney, officer, director, or agent, has a financial interest other than as a minority stockholder of a corporation, or as a citizen of the city.

Sec. 7. — Effective date of ordinances and resolutions; emergency measures.#

All ordinances and resolutions passed by the council shall be in effect from and after thirty days from the date of their passage, except that the council may by the affirmative vote of five of its members pass emergency measures to take effect at the time indicated therein. Ordinances appropriating money for any emergency may be passed as emergency measures, but no measure providing for the sale or lease of city property, or making a grant, renewal or extension of a franchise or other special privilege, or regulating the rates to be charged for any public utilities shall be so passed.

(Res. of 12-1-15(1); Acts 2016, Chs. 154, 313)

Sec. 8. — Legislative procedure.#

Except in dealing with questions of parliamentary procedure the council shall act only by ordinance or resolution, and all ordinances except ordinances making appropriations, or authorizing the contracting of indebtedness or the issuance of bonds or other evidences of debt, shall be confined to one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in the title. Ordinances making appropriations or authorizing the contracting of indebtedness or the issuance of bonds or other obligations and appropriating the money to be raised thereby shall be confined to those subjects respectively.

The enacting clause of all ordinances passed by the council shall be, "Be it ordained by the council of the City of Hopewell." No ordinance unless it be an emergency measure, shall be passed until it has been read at two regular meetings not less than one week apart, or the requirement of such reading has been dispensed with by the affirmative vote of five of the members of the council. No ordinance or section thereof shall be revised or amended by its title or section number only, but the new ordinance shall contain the entire ordinance or section as revised or amended. The ayes and nays shall be taken upon the passage of all ordinances or resolutions and entered upon the journal of the proceedings of the council and every ordinance or resolution shall require, on final passage, the affirmative vote of at least four of the members. No member shall be excused from voting except on matters involving the consideration of his official conduct, or where his financial or personal interests are involved.

In authorizing the making of any public improvement, or the acquisition of real estate or any interest therein, or authorizing the contracting of indebtedness or the issuance of bonds or other evidences of indebtedness (except temporary loans in anticipation of taxes or revenues or of the sale of bonds lawfully authorized), or authorizing the sale of any property or rights in property of the City of Hopewell, or granting any public utility, franchise, privilege, lease or right of any kind to use public property or easement of any description or any renewal, amendment or extension thereof, the council shall act only by ordinance; provided, however, that after any such ordinance shall have taken effect, all subsequent proceedings incident thereto and providing for the carrying out of the purposes of such ordinance may, except as otherwise provided in this charter, be taken by resolution of the council.