(A) (1) Every officer and every deputy, before entering on the officer’s or deputy’s official duties, shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the state, and that the officer or deputy will faithfully discharge the duties of such office.
(2) An attorney and a deputy attorney shall take the oath required under division (A)(1) above before taking office.
(B) Every town officer, except the members of the Town Council, shall likewise execute a bond to the approval of the President, payable to the town, in accordance with the following:
Official | Mandatory (M) or Optional (O) | Approval |
Clerk-Treasurer | M | Town Council President |
Council | O | Council |
(1) The amount of the bond of the Clerk-Treasurer will be an amount equal to $15,000 for each $1,000,000 in receipts in the office during the last complete fiscal year, with a minimum amount of $15,000 and a maximum amount of $300,000. All other bond amounts will be set by the Town Council; however, no bond may be less than $8,500. Approval means that the approving official certifies that the amount of bond is correct according to the law or the applicable ordinance.
(2) The bond forms are to be prescribed by the State Department of Insurance and filed with the County Recorder within ten days after their approval. I.C. 5-4-1-1 et seq. also allows, but does not mandate, a town to purchase “blanket bonds” covering remaining officials and employees.
(C) Any person who shall not file his or her oath, or oath and bond as the case may be, with the proper officer within ten days after the beginning of the term for which he or she shall have been elected or appointed shall be deemed to have refused to serve, and the office shall be deemed to be vacant.
Statutory reference:
Individual or blanket bonds for employees, see I.C. 5-4-1-18