SECTION 1. The Mayor and Aldermen shall constitute the City Council of the City. The City Council shall meet at such time and place as they shall, by resolution, direct. The Mayor, when present, shall preside at all meetings of the City Council, and shall have only a casting vote. In his absence, any one of the Aldermen may be appointed to preside.
SECTION 2. No member of the City Council shall be appointed to or be competent to hold any office of which the emoluments are paid from the City treasury or paid by fees directed to be paid by any act or ordinance of the City Council, or be directly or indirectly interested in any contract, the expense or consideration whereof, is to be paid under any ordinance of the City Council, or be allowed to vote in any matter in which he is directly interested, personally or pecuniarly.
SECTION 3. The City Council shall hold twelve (12) stated meetings, one in each month, during the year; and the Mayor or any two (2) Aldermen may call special meetings, by-notice to each of the members of the City Council, served personally or left at their usual place of abode. The said City of Lake Forest shall not at any time issue City bonds for a greater amount than five thousand (5,000) dollars, or for any sum, if the indebtedness of said City amounts to five thousand dollars, without submitting the question of issuing such bonds to a vote of the legal voters of said City; which vote or election shall be held as elections are now held under this charter for the election of such officers of the corporation as by this act are required to be elected by a vote of the people. If there is a majority in favor of issuing bonds, then it shall he lawful for the corporation, acting through the proper officer, to issue bonds. Petitions and remonstrances may be presented to the City Council, and they shall determine the rule of their own proceedings, and be the judges of the election and qualification of their own members, and shall have power to compel the attendance of absent members.
First–To borrow money on the credit of the City, and issue the bonds of the City therefor; but no sum of money shall be borrowed at a higher rate of interest than the rate allowed by law; nor shall a greater sum or sums be borrowed, or at any time outstanding the interest upon the aggregate of which shall exceed the one-half of the City revenue arising from the ordinary taxes within the City for the year immediately preceding; and no bonds shall be issued or negotiated at more than ten (10) per cent below par value; and, when so issued and negotiated, the interest on the same shall not exceed eight per cent per annum.
Second–To appropriate money and provide for the payment of the debts and expenses of the City. To provide for the payment of all proper expenses incurred by officers of the City in discharge of any duties imposed upon them by their respective offices; and in all cases when offenders against the law are apprehended, by the officers of said City or by other person by said officers employed, it shall be the duty of the City Council to provide for the payment of the reasonable expenses incurred in said service, including the compensation of the persons so employed.
Third–To make regulations to prevent the introduction of contagious diseases into the City; to make quarantine laws for that purpose, and to enforce them within the City.
Fourth–To make regulations to secure the general health and comfort of the inhabitants; to prevent, abate and remove nuisances, and punish the authors thereof by penalties, fines and imprisonment; to define and declare what shall be deemed nuisances, and authorize and direct the summary abatement thereof; to prevent indecencies within the corporation, and on Lake Michigan within one mile of the shore thereof and to license and authorize the erection of piers or wharves extending into said lake.
Fifth–To provide the City with water; to maker regulate and establish public wells, pumps and cisterns, hydrants and reservoirs, in the streets, within the City, or beyond the limits thereof, for the extinguishment of fires and the convenience of the inhabitants, and to prevent the unnecessary waste of water.
Sixth–To have the exclusive jurisdiction, control and power over the streets, alleys and highways of the City, and to abate and remove any encroachments or obstructions thereon; to open, alter, abolish, widen, extend, straighten, establish, regulate grade, clean or otherwise improve the same; to put drains and sewers therein, and prevent the encumbering thereof, in any manner, and protect the same from any encroachment or injury.
Seventh–To establish, erect, construct, regulate and keep in repair bridges, culverts and sewers, sidewalks and crossings, and regulate the construction and use of the same, and abate any obstructions or encroachments thereof; to establish, alter, change and straighten the channels of the water courses and natural drains in the streets and avenues of the City, and to sewer the same or to wall them up and cover them over.
Eighth–To provide for lighting the streets and erecting lamp posts and lamps therein, and regulate the lighting thereof, and, from time to time, create, alter or extend lamp districts; to exclusively regulate, direct and control the laying and repairing the gas pipes and gas fixtures in the streets, alleys and sidewalks.
Ninth–To establish markets and public buildings of the City, and provide for the government and regulation thereof, and their erection and location.
Tenth–To provide for the enclosing, regulating and improving all public grounds and cemeteries belonging to the City; and to direct and regulate the planting of and preserving of ornamental and shade trees, in the streets or public grounds, and the preservation of the same from injury an private grounds or property.
Eleventh–To erect and establish one or more hospitals and dispensaries, and control and regulate the same; to purchase and procure, for the use of the city, fire engines, and to organize and equip a fire department, and to make such rules, regulations and provisions concerning the sane and for the prevention of fires, generally, within said City, as said City Council may deem proper; and may require of the inhabitants of said City, in and about their dwellings and on their lands, such precautions as will tend to avert loss or injury by fire.
Twelfth-To prevent the encumbering of the streets, alleys, sidewalks or public grounds, with carriages, wagons, carts, wheelbarrows, boxes, lumber, timber, firewood, posts, awnings, signs, or any other substance or material whatever; to compel all persons to keep the snow, ice, dirt and other rubbish from the sidewalks and street gutters in front of premises occupied by them.
Thirteenth–To license, tax and regulate merchants, commission merchants, inn-keepers, brokers, money-brokers, insurance brokers and auctioneers, and to impose duties on the sale of goods at auction; to license, tax, regulate, suppress and prohibit hawkers, peddlers, pawnbrokers, grocery keepers, and keepers of ordinaries, theatrical or other exhibitions, shows and amusements.
Fourteenth–To licenses tax, regulate and suppress hackmen, draymen, omnibus drivers, porters and all others pursuing like occupations with or without vehicles, and prescribe their compensation; and to regulate and restrain runners for stages, cars and public houses.
Fifteenth–To license, tax, regulate, prohibit and suppress billiard tables, pin alleys; to suppress and restrain disorderly houses, tippling shops and saloons, bawdy houses, gaming and gambling houses, lotteries and all fraudulent devices and practices, and all playing of cards, dice and other games of chance, with or without betting, and to authorize the destruction of all instruments and devices used for the purpose of gaming.
Sixteenth–To authorize the proper officer of the City to grant and issue licenses for all proper purposes, and to direct the manner of issuing and registering thereof, and the fees and charges to be paid therefor. No license shall be granted for more than one year; and not less than three (3) dollars nor more than five hundred (500) dollars shall be charged for any license under this act, and the fees for issuing the same shall not exceed one dollar.
Seventeenth–To license, restrain regulate and prohibit the selling or giving away of any intoxicating or malt liquors, by any person, within the City; to forbid and punish the selling or giving away of any intoxicating or malt liquors to any child, minor, apprentice, servant or Indian.
Eighteenth–To prevent, restrain and punish forestalling and regrating; to regulate the inspecting and vending of fresh meats, poultry and vegetables, of butter, lard and other provisions, and the place and manner of selling fish and inspecting the same.
Nineteenth–To regulate, license and prohibit butchers, and to revoke their licenses for malconduct in the course of trade.
Twentieth–To regulate the keeping and conveying of gunpowder and other combustible and dangerous materials, and the use of candles and lights in barns, stables and outhouses.
Twenty-first–To establish standard weights and measures, and regulate the weights and measures to be used within the City, in all cases not otherwise provided by law; to require all traders and dealers in merchandise or properly, of any description, which is sold by measure or weight, to cause their measures and weights to be tested and sealed by the City sealer, and to be subject to his inspection. The standard of such weights and measures shall be conformable to those established by law of this state.
Twenty-second–To regulate and provide for the inspecting and measuring of lumber, shingles, timber, posts, staves, heading and all kinds of building materials, and for the measuring of all kinds of mechanical work, and to appoint one or more inspectors or measurers.
Twenty-third–To provide for the inspection and weighing of hay, lime and stone-coal, and the place and manner of selling the same; to regulate the measurement of firewood, charcoal and other fuel, to be sold or used within the City, and the place and manner of selling the same.
Twenty-fourth–To regulate the inspection of beef, pork, flour, meal and other provisions, salt, whiskey and other liquors, to be sold in barrels, hogsheads and other vessels or packages; to appoint weighers, gaugers and inspectors, and prescribe their duties, and regulate their fees: provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to require the inspection of any articles enumerated herein, which are to be shipped beyond the limits of the state, except at the request of the owner thereof or his agent.
Twenty-fifth–To regulate the weight and quality of bread, to be sold or used within the City.
Twenty-sixth–To regulate the size and quality of bricks to be sold or used within the City, and the inspection thereof.
Twenty-seventh–To prevent and suppress any riot, rout, affray, noise, disturbance or disorderly assembly, in any public or private place within the City.
Twenty-eighth–To create, establish and regulate the police of the City; to appoint watchmen and policemen, and prescribe their duties and powers.
Twenty-ninth–To prohibit, prevent and suppress horse-racing, immoderate riding or driving in the streets, and to authorize persons immoderately riding or driving, as aforesaid, to be stopped by any person; to prohibit and punish the abuse of animals; to compel persons to fasten their horses or other animals, attached to vehicles, or otherwise, while standing or remaining in the streets.
Thirtieth–To restrain and punish vagrants, mendicants, street beggars and prostitutes.
Thirty-first–To regulate restrain or prohibit the running at large of horses, cattle, swine, sheep, goats and geese, and to authorize the distraining, impounding and sale of the same, for the costs of the proceedings, and the penalty incurred, and to impose penalties on the owners thereof.
Thirty-second–To prohibit and restrain the rolling of hoops, flying of kites, or any other amusements or practices tending to annoy persons passing on the streets or sidewalks, or to frighten horses or teams; to restrain and prohibit the ringing of bells, blowing of horns or bugles, crying of goods, and all other noises, performances and practices tending to the collecting of persons on the streets and sidewalks, by auctioneers and others, for the purpose of business, amusement or otherwise.
Thirty-third–To do all acts and make all regulations which may be necessary or expedient for the promotion of health and suppression of disease.
Thirty-fourth–To compel the owner or occupant of any grocery, cellar, soap or tallow chandler, or blacksmith shop, tannery, stable, privy, sewer or other unwholesome or nauseous house or place, to cleanse, remove or abate the same, as may be necessary for the health, comfort and convenience of the inhabitants.
Thirty-fifth–To direct the location and regulate the management and construction of breweries, tanneries, blacksmith shops, foundries, livery stables and packing houses; to direct the location and regulate the management and construction of, and restrain, abate and prohibit, within the city and to the distance of one mile from the limits thereof, distilleries, slaughtering establishments, establishments for steaming or rendering lard, tallow, offal and such other substances as may be rendered, and all other establishments or places where any nauseous, offensive or unwholesome business may be carried on.
Thirty-sixth–To regulate the burial of the dead; to establish or regulate one or more cemeteries; to regulate the registration of births and deaths; to direct the returning and keeping of bills of mortality, and to impose penalties on physicians and sextons and others for any default in the premises.
Thirty-seventh–To provide for the taking of an enumeration of the inhabitants of the City.
Thirty-eighth–To erect and establish a workhouse or house of correction make all necessary regulations therefor, and appoint all necessary keepers or assistants, in such workhouse, or house of correction, may be confined all vagrants, stragglers, idle and disorderly persons, who may be committed thereto by any proper officer; and all persons sentenced by any criminal court or magistrate in and for the City or for the County of Lake, for any assault and battery, petit larceny, or other misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in any county jail, and any person who shall fail or neglect to pay any fine, penalty or costs imposed by any ordinance of the City for any misdemeanor, breach of any ordinance of the City, may instead of being committed to the County Jail of Lake County, be kept therein, subject to labor and confinement.
Thirty-ninth–To authorize and direct the taking up and providing for the safe keeping and education, for such periods of time as may be deemed expedient, of all children who are destitute of proper parental care, wandering about the streets, committing mischief, and growing up in mendicancy, ignorance, idleness and vice.
Fortieth–To fill up, drain, cleanse, alter, relay, repair and regulate private drains, sinks and privies; direct and regulate their construction, and cause the expense thereof to be assessed and collected in the same manner as sidewalk assessments,
Forty-first–To have exclusive right and power to direct and control the laying and construction of horse railways, railroad tracks, switches bridges, turn-outs in the streets and alleys, and the location of depot grounds within the City; to require that railroad tracks, bridges, turn-outs, and switches shall be so constructed and laid as to interfere as little as possible with the ordinary travel and use of the streets and alleys, and that sufficient space shall be left on either side of said tracks, for the safe and convenient passage of teams and persons; to require railroad companies to keep in repair the streets through which their track may run, and to construct and keep in repair suitable crossings at the intersection of streets and alleys and ditches, sewers and culverts, when the City Council shall deem necessary; to direct and prohibit the use and regulate the speed of locomotive engines within the inhabited parts of the City; to prohibit and restrain railroad companies from doing storage or warehouse business, or collecting pay for storage; and no railroad or horse railroad shall run or pass through any part of said City, without the consent of the City Council of said City.
Forty-second–To provide for the erection of a pier or piers on the shore of Lake Michigan, and a break-water or other means of preventing the encroachments on said shore by the water of the lake; and shall have the further power to charter or incorporate a pier or dock company, granting to said company all proper franchise relating to the construction and use of a dock or docks upon said shore of said Lake.
Forty-third–The City Council shall have power to pass, publish, amend and repeal all ordinances, rules and police regulations, not contrary to the constitution of the United States or this states for the good government peace and order of the City and the trade and commerce thereof, that may be necessary or proper, to carry into effect the powers vested by this act in the corporation, the City government or any department or officer thereof; to enforce the observance of all such rules, ordinances and police regulations, and to punish violations thereof by fines, penalties, and imprisonment in the county jail, City prison or workhouse, or both, in the discretion of the court or magistrate before whom conviction may be had; but no fine or penalty shall exceed five hundred (500) dollars, nor the imprisonment six (6) months, for any offense, and such fine or penalty may be recovered with costs, in an action of debt, in the name or for the use of the City, before any court having jurisdiction and punishment inflicted; and any person upon whom any fine or penalty is imposed shall stand committed until the payment of the same and costs, and, in default thereof, may be imprisoned in the County Jail, City prison or workhouse or required to labor on the streets or other public works of the City, for such time and in such manner as may be provided by ordinance.