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In case of a vacancy on the council for any reason, the Mayor and Council, within 45 days, shall elect from the same ward in which the vacancy occurred some qualified person to fill such vacancy for the unexpired term. In case of a vacancy in the office of Mayor for any reason, the council within 45 days, shall elect some qualified person to fill the vacancy until the next regular town election. Any vacancies on the council or in the office of mayor shall be filled by the favorable votes of a majority of the remaining members of the Mayor and Council. The results of any such vote shall be recorded in the minutes of the council. In the event no one is appointed within the specified 45 day period, the Board of Election Supervisors for the Town will arrange for a special election.
Regular meetings of the Council shall be held on the first and third Monday of every month at such time as they may fix. If that Monday falls on a Town holiday, the meeting will be held on the next calendar day. The Council may, by a majority vote, change or cancel a meeting by advertising this change in a paper of local circulation at least once, at least six days prior to the new meeting date. However in no case will the Council hold fewer than one regular meeting a month. Additional special meetings of the Council may be called by the Mayor and two members of the Council, or three members of the Council, upon reasonable notice being given to each member of the Council. Notice of additional meetings will be published at least once where time permits or posted in designated public place as soon as they are called. The Mayor and Council may, at its discretion, call for a closed meeting when the business to be conducted concerns matters considered appropriate for closing a meeting of a public body under the Public Information Act, Article 76A [24] of The Annotated Code of Maryland. The results of the discussion of a closed meeting, but not the discussion itself, shall be recorded and placed in the journal. The rules of the Council shall provide that residents of the Town shall have a reasonable opportunity to be heard at any open meeting of the Council with regard to any municipal question.
At all meetings of the Mayor and Council, the Mayor and two Councilmembers shall constitute a quorum, or in the absence of the Mayor, three Councilmembers present and voting shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and three affirmative votes shall be necessary for the passage of an ordinance, law, resolution or measure of any description at all times. Upon every vote the yeas and nays shall be called and recorded.
The Council shall determine its own rules and order of business. It shall keep a journal of its proceedings and enter therein the yeas and nays upon final action of any question, resolution, or ordinance, or at any other time if required by any one member. The journal shall be open to public inspection.
No ordinance shall be passed at the meeting at which it is introduced. At any regular or special meeting of the Council 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, or its consideration deferred to some specified future date. In case of emergency, the above requirement may be suspended by the affirmative votes of four members of the Council. Every ordinance, unless it be passed as an emergency ordinance, shall become effective at the expiration of twenty calendar days following approval. A brief but fair description for each ordinance shall be published at least twice in a newspaper or newspapers having general circulation in the municipality. An emergency ordinance shall become effective on the date specified in the ordinance.
If, before the expiration of twenty days following passage of any ordinance, a petition is filed with the Town Manager containing the signatures of not less than twenty per centum (20%) of the qualified voters of the town and requesting that the ordinance or any part thereof, be submitted to a vote of the qualified voters of the town for their approval or disapproval, the council shall have the ordinance, or the part thereof requested for referendum, submitted to a vote of the qualified voters of the town at the next regular town election or, in the council's discretion, at a special election occurring before the next regular election. No ordinance or the part thereof requested for referendum, shall become effective following the receipt of such petition until and unless approved at the election by a majority of the qualified voters voting on the question. An emergency ordinance, or the part thereof requested for referendum, shall continue in effect for sixty days following receipt of such petition. If the question of approval or disapproval of any emergency ordinance, or any part thereof, has not been submitted to the qualified voters within sixty days following receipt of the petition, then the operation of the ordinance or the part thereof requested for referendum, shall be suspended until approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting on the question at any election. Any ordinance or part thereof, disapproved by the voters, shall stand repealed. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any ordinance, or part thereof, passed under the authority of Section 53 of this Charter, levying property taxes for the payment of indebtedness, but the provisions of this section shall apply to any ordinance, or any part thereof, levying special assessment charges under the provisions of Section 77 and 78 of this Charter. The provisions of this section shall be self-executing, but the Council may adopt ordinances in furtherance of these provisions and not in conflict with them.
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