(a) Composition. There shall be nine councilmembers. The councilmembers shall be nominated each from, and by, the respective voters of the district in which they reside and, shall be elected by the voters of the City at large. The City shall be divided into nine voting districts, which districts shall be established by Council by ordinance and changed from time to time by Council to reflect population changes.
(Passed by Council 6-17-80)
(b) Eligibility and Qualifications. Only qualified voters of the City shall be eligible to hold the office of councilman or councilwoman. Each councilmember shall, at the time of his announcement for office and during his term of office, reside within the district from which elected or appointed to office; provided, however, that no redistricting of the City shall affect the term of any incumbent councilmember during his then existing term of office. If a councilmember shall cease to possess any of these qualifications or shall be convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, his office shall immediately become vacant. The terms of councilmembers shall be four years except as otherwise provided in this Charter respecting the first election under this Charter. In no event shall any councilmember serve more than two consecutive full four-year terms.
(Ord. 1055. Passed 4-28-98; Ord. 1076. Passed 12-22-98.)
The Council shall elect, at the first meeting of a new Council one of its members to serve at the pleasure of the Council as Mayor, and it shall also elect from among its members a Deputy Mayor who shall at the pleasure of the Council act as Mayor during the absence or disability of the Mayor. The Mayor shall preside at all meetings of the Council, shall be recognized as head of the City government for all ceremonial purposes and by the Governor for purposes of military law but shall have no administrative duties. If the Deputy Mayor acts as Mayor, he shall be compensated as such as set out in Section 2.03
.
Beginning January 1, 2015, the salary of the Mayor shall be three hundred dollars for each regular meeting of the Council attended by him, not to exceed $7200 dollars in any fiscal year. Beginning January 1, 2015, the salary of each of the other Councilmembers shall be two hundred dollars for each regular meeting of the Council attended by him, not to exceed $4800 in any fiscal year. Until the maximum limit is reached, the salary of the Mayor and each of the Councilmembers shall be paid monthly as earned. Councilmembers shall receive their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties of office as approved by the Council. (Ord. 1580. Passed 12-18-12.)
(a) During his term of office no councilmember shall hold any other elected public office, nor shall be employed by the City in any other capacity and no former councilmember shall hold any compensated appointive City office or employment until one year after the expiration of the term for which he was elected to the Council. However, any member of any political executive committee shall not be deemed to hold an elected public office within the meaning of this section.
(b) Appointments and Removals. Neither the Council nor any of its members shall in any manner dictate the appointment or removal of any City administrative officer or employee whom the Manager or any of his subordinates are empowered to appoint, but the Council may express its views and fully and freely discuss with the Manager anything pertaining to the appointment or the removal of such officer or employee.
(c) Interference with Administration. Except for the purpose of inquiries and investigations under Section 2.09
, the Council or its members shall deal with City officers and employees who are subject to the direction and supervision of the Manager solely through the Manager, and neither the Council nor its members shall give orders to any such officers or employees, either publicly or privately. Violation of this provision shall provide grounds for removal from office.
(a) Vacancies. The office of a councilmember shall become vacant upon his death, resignation or removal from office in any manner authorized by law or forfeiture of his office.
(b) Forfeiture of Office. A councilmember shall forfeit his office if he (1) lacks at any time during his term of office any qualification for the office prescribed by this Charter, (2) violates any express prohibition of this Charter, (3) is convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, or (4) fails to attend three consecutive regular meetings of the Council without being excused by the Council as reflected in the minutes.
(c) Filling of Vacancies. A vacancy in the Council shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term, if any, at the next regular election following not less than 60 days upon the occurrence of the vacancy, but the Council by the majority vote of all its remaining members shall appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy until the person elected to serve the remainder of the unexpired term takes office. If the Council fails to do so within 30 days following the occurrence of the vacancy, the election authorities shall call a special election to fill the vacancy, to be held not sooner than 90 days and not later than 120 days following the occurrence of the vacancy and to be otherwise governed by the provisions of Article VII.
Notwithstanding the requirement in Section 2.11
that a quorum of the Council consists of five members, if at any time the membership of the Council is reduced to less than five, the remaining members may by majority action appoint additional members to raise the membership to five.
(Passed by Council 12-10-96)
(Passed by Council 12-10-96)
The Council shall be the judge of the election and qualifications of its members and of the grounds for forfeiture of their office and for that purpose shall have power to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths and require the production of evidence. A member charged with conduct constituting grounds for forfeiture of his office shall be entitled to a public hearing on demand, and notice of such hearings shall be published in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the City at least one week in advance of the hearing. Decisions made by the Council under this section shall be subject to review by the courts.
The Council shall appoint upon recommendation of the City Manager a person to serve as City Clerk at the will and pleasure of the Council. Except as otherwise provided in this Charter and subject to the supervision of the City Manager, the Clerk shall have the power, and it shall be his or her duty to:
(1) Give notice of and attend all meetings of the Council, keep the journal of its proceedings, authenticate by his or her signature and record in full in a book kept for the purpose all ordinances and resolutions of the Council, prepare and keep up to date an index of all such ordinances and resolutions, and keep all such records available for public inspection.
(2) Make and certify copies of any ordinance, resolution or order of the Council whenever required to do so, and affix the corporate seal of the City to any paper required to be sealed and make to any certified copy of any paper, order or proceeding which he may make.
(3) Prepare and cause to be served all notices required to be given to any person, firm or corporation, and after the proper service and return of any notice he shall file and preserve the same.
(4) Have custody of and keep available for public inspection the permanent records of the City and file and properly index all records of such City officers and departments as the City Manager may direct.
(5) Perform such other duties as may be required of him or her by this Charter, by general law, or by City ordinance or order of the City Manager not inconsistent with this Charter or with general law. (Ord. 1823. Passed 6-25-18.)
The Council may make investigations into the affairs of the City and the conduct of any City department, office or agency and for this purpose may subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony and require the production of evidence. Any person who fails or refuses to obey a lawful order issued in the exercise of these powers by the Council shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of not less than $50 or more than $500.
The Council shall provide for an independent annual audit of all City accounts including Fairmont General Hospital and other such boards or commissions, and may provide for such more frequent audits as it deems necessary. Such audits shall be made by a certified public accountant or firm of such accountants who have no personal interest, direct or indirect, in the fiscal affairs of the City government or any of its officers. The Council may, without requiring competitive bids, designate such accountant or firm annually or for a period not exceeding three years, provided that the designation for any particular fiscal year shall be made no later than 30 days after the beginning of such fiscal year. If the State makes such an audit, the Council may accept it as satisfying the requirements of this section.
(a) Meetings. The Council shall meet regularly at least twice every month at such time and place as the Council may prescribe by rule. Special meetings may be held on the call of the Mayor or of five or more members and, whenever practicable, upon no less than twenty- four hoursβ notice to each member. All meetings shall be open to the public; however, the Council may hold an executive session during a regular, special or emergency meeting, in accordance with the provisions of this section. During the open portion of the meeting, prior to convening an executive session, the Mayor, or in the absence of the Mayor, the presiding member of Council, shall identify the authorization under this section for holding the executive session and present it to the Council and to the general public, but no decision may be made in the executive session and no final action thereon shall be taken by Council until the matter is placed on the agenda.
An executive session may be held only upon a majority affirmative vote of the Council members present. Council may hold an executive session and exclude the public only when a closed session is required for any of the following actions:
(1) To consider:
A. Matters arising from appointment, employment, retirement, promotion, transfer, demotion, disciplining, resignation, discharge, dismissal or compensation of a City officer or employee, or prospective officer or employee unless the officer or employee or prospective officer or employee requests an open meeting; or
B. For the purpose of conducting a hearing on a complaint, charge or grievance against a City officer or employee, unless the public officer or employee requests an open meeting. General personnel policy issues may not be discussed or considered in a closed meeting. Final action by the Council for the appointment, employment, retirement, promotion, transfer, demotion, disciplining, resignation, discharge, dismissal or compensation shall be taken in an open meeting;
(2) To develop security personnel or devices;
(3) To consider matters involving or affecting the purchase, sale or lease of property, advance construction planning, the investment of public funds or other matters involving commercial competition, which if made public, might adversely affect the financial or other interest of the City; provided, that information relied on during the course of deliberations on matters involving commercial competition is exempt from disclosure under the open meeting requirements of this section only until the commercial competition has been finalized and completed; provided, however, that information not subject to release pursuant to the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act does not become subject to disclosure as a result of executive session.
(Passed by Council 9-14-99.)
(b) Rules and Journal. The Council shall determine its own rules and order of business and shall provide for keeping a journal of its proceedings. This journal shall be a public record.
(c) Voting. Voting, except on procedural motions, shall be by roll call and the yeses and noes shall be recorded in the journal. Five members of the Council shall constitute a quorum, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time and may compel the attendance of absent members in the manner and subject to the penalties prescribed by the rules of the Council. No action of the Council, except as otherwise provided in the preceding sentence and in Section 2.06
, shall be valid or binding unless adopted by the affirmative vote of five or more members of the Council.
(Passed by Council 9-20-83)
In addition to other acts required by law or by specific provision of this Charter to be done by ordinance, those acts of the City Council shall be by ordinance which:
(1) Adopt or amend an administrative code or establish, alter or abolish any City department, office or agency;
(2) Provide for a fine or other penalty or establish a rule or regulation for violation of which a fine or other penalty is imposed;
(3) Grant, renew or extend a franchise;
(4) Regulate the rate charged for its services by a public utility;
(5) Authorize the borrowing of money;
(6) Convey or lease or authorize the conveyance or lease of any lands of the City;
(7) Adopt with or without amendment ordinances proposed under the initiative power; and
(8) Amend or repeal any ordinance previously adopted, except as otherwise provided in Article VIII
with respect to repeal of ordinances reconsidered under the referendum power.
(a) Form. Every proposed ordinance shall be introduced in writing and the form required for final adoption. No ordinance shall contain more than one subject which shall be clearly expressed in its title. The enacting clause shall be βthe City of Fairmont hereby ordains ............β . Any ordinance which repeals or amends an existing ordinance or part of the City Code shall set out in full the ordinance, sections, or subsections to be repealed or amended, and shall include the matter to be omitted by enclosing it in brackets or by strikeout type and shall indicate new matter by underscoring or by italics.
(b) Procedure. An ordinance may be introduced by any member at any regular or special meeting of the Council. Upon introduction of any ordinance, the City Clerk shall read fully and distinctly the proposed ordinance in its entirety. When the introducer of an ordinance considers it to be of such technical nature, or of such length that the intent will be more fully understood in synopsis form the Council member may request the Clerk to read the synopsis in lieu of the entire ordinance. Provided however, the ordinance will be read in its entirety instead of in synopsis upon request of the majority of the Council members present. The City Clerk shall distribute a copy to each Council member and to the Manager, shall file a reasonable number of copies in the office of the City Clerk, and shall publish the ordinance together with a notice setting out the time and place for a public hearing thereon and for its consideration by the Council. At the commencement of the public hearing the Clerk shall read the title only of the proposed ordinance, unless a request is made by any person present at the public hearing that the proposed ordinance be read, upon which request the Clerk shall read fully and distinctly the proposed ordinance in its entirety. Copies of the proposed ordinance shall be made available to those in attendance at the public hearing. The public hearing shall follow the publication by at least seven days, may be held separately or in connection with a regular or special Council meeting and may be adjourned from time to time; all persons interested shall have an opportunity to be heard. After the hearing, the Council may adopt the ordinance with or without amendment or reject it, but if it is amended as to any matter of substance, the Council may not adopt it until the ordinance or its amended sections have been subjected to all the procedures hereinbefore required in the case of a newly introduced ordinance.
(Passed by Council 6-17-80; 11-15-83; 5-23-89)
(c) Effective Date. Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, every adopted ordinance shall become effective at the expiration of 30 days after adoption or at any later date specified therein.
(d) "Published" Defined. As used in this section, the term "publish" means to print in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the City: (1) the title of the ordinance and a brief summary thereof, and (2) the places where copies of it have been filed and the times when they are available for public inspection.
To meet a public emergency affecting life, health, property or the public peace, the Council may adopt one or more emergency ordinances but such ordinances may not levy taxes, grant, renew or extend a franchise, regulate the rate charged by any public utility for its services or authorize the borrowing of money except as provided in subsection 5.09
(b). An emergency ordinance shall be introduced in the form and manner prescribed for ordinances generally, except that it shall be plainly designated as an emergency ordinance and shall contain, after the enacting clause, a declaration stating that an emergency exists and describing it in clear and specific terms. An emergency ordinance may be adopted with or without amendment or rejected at the meeting at which it is introduced, but the affirmative vote of at least six members shall be required for adoption. After its adoption the ordinance shall be published and printed as prescribed for other adopted ordinances. It shall become effective upon adoption or at such later time as it may specify. Every emergency ordinance except one made pursuant to subsection 5.09
(b) shall automatically stand repealed as of the 61st day following the date on which it was adopted, but this shall not prevent re-enactment of the ordinance in the manner specified in this section if the emergency still exists. An emergency ordinance may also be repealed by adoption of a repealing ordinance in the same manner specified in this section for adoption of emergency ordinances.
The Council may adopt any standard code of technical regulations by reference thereto in an adopting ordinance. The procedure and requirements governing such an adopting ordinance shall be as prescribed for ordinances generally, except that:
(1) The requirements of Section 2.13
for distribution and filing of copies of the ordinance shall be construed to include copies of the code of technical regulations as well as of the adopting ordinance, and
(2) A copy of each adopted code of technical regulations as well as of the adopting ordinance shall be authenticated and recorded by the City Clerk pursuant to subsection 2.16
(a).
Copies of any adopted code of technical regulations shall be made available by the City Clerk for distribution or for purchase at a reasonable price.
(a) Authentication and Recording. The City Clerk shall authenticate by his signature and record in full in a properly indexed book kept for the purpose all ordinances and resolutions adopted by the Council.
(b) Codification. Within three years after adoption of this Charter and at least every ten years thereafter, the Council shall provide for the preparation of a general codification of all City ordinances and resolutions having the force and effect of law. The general codification shall be adopted by the Council by ordinance and shall be published promptly in bound or loose-leaf form, together with this Charter and any amendments thereto, pertinent provisions of the Constitution and other laws of the State of West Virginia and such codes of technical regulations and other rules and regulations as the Council may specify. This compilation shall be known and cited officially as the Fairmont City Code. Copies of the Code shall be furnished to City officers, placed in libraries and public offices for free public reference and made available for purchase by the public at a reasonable price fixed by the Council.
(c) Printing of Ordinances and Resolutions. The Council shall cause each ordinance and resolution having the force and effect of law and each amendment to this Charter to be copied promptly following its adoption, and the said copies of the ordinances, resolutions and Charter amendments shall be distributed or sold to the public at reasonable prices to be fixed by the Council. Following publication of the first Fairmont City Code and at all times thereafter, the ordinances, resolutions and Charter amendments shall be reproduced in substantially the same style as the Code currently in effect and shall be suitable in form for integration therein. The Council shall make such further arrangements as it deems desirable with respect to reproduction and distribution of any current changes in or additions to the provisions of the Constitution and other laws of the State of West Virginia, or the codes of technical regulations and other rules and regulations included in the Code.