SECTION 33 . CITY CONTROVERSIES.

   When required to do so by resolution of the Council, the Director of Law shall prosecute or defend for and in behalf of the City, all complaints, suits and controversies in which the City is a party, and such other suits, matters and controversies as he shall by resolution or ordinance, be directed to prosecute or defend.

SECTION 34 . DUTIES.

   In addition to the duties imposed upon the Director of Law by this Charter or required of him by ordinance in accordance therewith, he shall perform the duties which are imposed upon city solicitors by the general laws of the State, beyond the competence of this Charter to alter or require.

SECTION 35 . SALARY.

   The salary of the Director of Law shall be fixed by the Council and it shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he was chosen, nor at any other time except in an even numbered year. The salary of the Director of Law first elected under this Charter shall be fixed by the outgoing Council.

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND PUBLIC RECORD

SECTION 36 . QUALIFICATION AND SALARY.

   The Director of Finance and Public Record shall be an elector of the City of Ashland, his salary shall be fixed by the Council and it shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he was chosen, nor at any other time except in an even-numbered year. The salary of the Director of Finance and Public Record first elected under this Charter shall be fixed by the outgoing Council.

(Approved by Voters 11-5-63)

SECTION 37 . DUTIES.

   The duties of the Director of Finance and Public Record shall include the keeping and supervision of all accounts, and the custody and collection of all public moneys, rents and property belonging to or due the City; the making and collecting of special assessments; the issuance of licenses upon the order of the Mayor; the collection of license fees; the control, funding and payment of the public debt of the City; and such other duties as the Council may require.

   (EDITOR'S NOTE: Former Section 38 was repealed and Sections 39 through 47 renumbered as Sections 38 through 46 by the voters on November 7, 1989.)

SECTION 38 . ACCOUNTING PROCEDURE.

   Accounting procedures shall be devised and maintained for the City adequate to record in detail all transactions affecting the acquisition, custodianship and disposition of values, including cash receipts and disbursements; and the recorded facts shall be presented periodically to officials and to the public in such summaries and analytical schedules in detailed support thereof, as shall be necessary to show the full effect of such transactions for each fiscal year upon the finances of the City and in relation to each department of the City government, including distinct summaries and schedules for each public utility or building owned or operated.

SECTION 39 . ACCOUNTS.

   The Director of Finance and Public Record shall be the chief accounting officer of the City. He shall install and maintain accounting procedures in conformity with the next preceding section of this Charter, and prescribe the methods of keeping accounts by all departments and the form of report to be rendered to the Department of Finance and Public Record. He shall require that reports be made to him by each department, showing the receipts of all moneys by such department and disposition thereof. He shall keep an account of all appropriations made by the Council and all expenditures made or contracted to be made under such appropriations.

SECTION 40 . EXAMINATION OF ACCOUNT.

   The Director of Finance and Public Record shall, upon the death, resignation, removal or expiration of the term of any officer, examine the accounts of such officer and if such officer be found indebted to the City, he shall immediately give notice thereof to the Council and the Director of Law, and the latter shall forthwith proceed to collect the same.

SECTION 41 . PAYMENT OF CLAIMS.

   No warrant for the payment of any claim shall be issued by the Director of Finance and Public Record until such claim shall have been approved by the Mayor, and the Mayor and his sureties shall be liable to the City for all loss or damage sustained by the City by reason of the negligent or corrupt approval of any claim against the City by him. Whenever any claim shall be presented to the Director of Finance and Public Record he shall have power to require evidence that the amount claimed is justly due and that such claim is in conformity to law and ordinance. For that purpose the Director of Finance and Public Record may summon before him any officer, agent, or employee of any department, or any other person, and examine him upon oath or affirmation relative thereto, which oath or affirmation he may administer.

   If the Director of Finance and Public Record shall draw a warrant for any claim contrary to law or ordinance he and his sureties shall be individually liable for the amount thereof.