(A) The Board of Trustees may require from all officers and servants, elected or appointed, bonds and security for the faithful performance of their duty. Official bonds of the municipality shall be in form joint and several and shall be made payable to the municipality in such penalty as the Board of Trustees may set by resolution, provided that the penalty amount on any bond shall not fall below the legal minimum, when one has been set by the state, for each particular official. All official bonds of the municipal officials shall be executed by the principal named in those bonds and by at least two sufficient sureties who shall be freeholders of the county, or by the official as principal and by a guaranty, surety, fidelity, or bonding company, provided that no municipal official, while still in his or her official term of office, shall be accepted as surety on any other official’s bond, contractor’s bond, license bond, or appeal bond under any circumstances. Only companies that are legally authorized to transact business in this state shall be eligible for suretyship on the bond of an official of the municipality. All these bonds shall obligate the principal and sureties for the faithful discharge of all duties required by law of that principal and shall inure to the benefit of the municipality and any persons who may be injured by a breach of the conditions of the bonds. No bond shall be deemed to be given or complete until the approval of the Board of Trustees and all sureties are endorsed in writing on that instrument by the Chairperson and Municipal Clerk pursuant to the approval of the Board of Trustees. The premium on any official bond required to be given may be paid out of the General Fund or other proper municipal fund, upon a resolution to that effect by the Board of Trustees at the beginning of any municipal year.
(B) All official bonds, meeting the conditions herein, shall be filed with the Municipal Clerk for his or her official records, and it shall be the duty of the Municipal Clerk to furnish a certified copy of any bond so filed upon the payment of a fee, which shall be set by resolution of the Board of Trustees. In the event that the sureties on the official bond of any officer of the municipality, in the opinion of the Board of Trustees, become insufficient, the Board of Trustees may, by resolution, fix a reasonable time within which that officer may give a new bond or additional sureties as directed. In the event that the officer should fail, refuse, or neglect to give a new bond or additional sureties to the satisfaction and approval of the Board of Trustees, then the office shall, by that failure, refusal, or neglect, become vacant, and it shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees to appoint a competent and qualified person to fill the office. Any official who is re-elected to office shall be required to file a new bond after each election.
(1991 Code, § 1-301)
Statutory reference:
Bonds generally and similar provisions, see Neb. RS 11-103 through 11-118
Power to regulate offices, see Neb. RS 17-604