SECTION 4. COUNCIL MEETINGS.

   The Council shall hold at least one regular meeting in each calendar month. A majority of the members of the Council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at any meeting of the Council, but a lesser number may adjourn the meeting from time to time and compel the attendance of absent members. At any meeting at which a quorum is present, any ordinance or resolution may be passed or adopted, or any other action taken, by the affirmative votes of four members of the Council unless a larger number be required by the provisions of this Charter or by the laws of Ohio. The Clerk of the Council shall keep a record of its proceedings in a Journal in which the yea or nay vote of each Councilperson voting on an ordinance or resolution shall be entered. The Journal of Council shall be available for public inspection at all reasonable times and all meetings of the Council and Committees thereof shall be open to the public unless an executive session is called as authorized by the Ohio Revised Code.

(Amended 11-7-89; 11-5-02.)

SECTION 5. GENERAL ORDINANCES.

   The Council shall by ordinance make provision for:

   (a)   The time and place of regular meetings of the Council;

   (b)   The method of calling special meetings of the Council;

   (c)   The form and method of enactment of its ordinances and adoption of its resolutions;

   (d)   The method of giving public notice of the enactment of its ordinances and adoption of its resolutions, and of any other of its acts or proceedings which it deems proper to publish;

   (e)   The procedure for making public improvements and levying assessments, including the procedure for combining two or more public improvements, and the levying of assessments therefor, in one proceeding if the Council finds that it will be economical and practical to undertake such improvements jointly;

   (f)   The advertising and awarding of contracts;

   (g)   Such other general regulations as the Council may deem necessary, including regulations as to the custody and use by the Clerk of Council of an official seal.

SECTION 6. EFFECTIVE DATE OF ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS.

   Each ordinance providing for the appropriation of money, or for an annual tax levy, or for improvements petitioned for by the owners of a majority of the foot frontage of the property benefitted and to be specially assessed therefor, and any emergency ordinance or resolution necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, shall take effect, unless a later time be specified therein, upon its signature by the Mayor, or upon the expiration of the time within which it may be disapproved by the Mayor, or upon its passage after disapproval by the Mayor, as the case may be. No other ordinance or resolution shall go into effect until thirty days after its final passage by the Council. Each emergency measure shall contain a statement of the necessity for such emergency action and shall require the affirmative votes of at least five members of the Council for its enactment. No action of the Council in authorizing any change in the boundaries of the City, or the surrender or joint exercise of any of its powers, or in granting any franchise, or in contracting for the supply to the City or its inhabitants of the product or service of any utility, whether municipally owned or not, shall be taken as an emergency measure.

SECTION 7. REMOVALS AND VACANCIES.

   The Council may remove any member of Council for failing or ceasing to possess any of the qualifications established by this Charter for his/her office or for the conviction while in office of any crime involving moral turpitude, upon the concurrence of at least five members of Council, but no such removal shall be made until the accused member shall have been given a written copy of the charges against him/her and an opportunity to be heard at a public hearing with at least ten days' notice of the time and place of such hearing.

   Whenever the office of a Councilperson shall become vacant, the vacancy shall be filled by a majority vote of all the remaining members of the Council; and if the vacancy shall not be so filled within forty-five days, the Mayor shall fill it by appointment. Each Councilperson so elected or appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold office for the balance of the unexpired term or until the beginning of the term of a successor elected for the unexpired term as hereinafter provided. A successor shall be elected for the unexpired term at the next Municipal election if (a) such election shall occur more than two years prior to the expiration of the unexpired term, and (b) the vacancy shall have occurred more than one hundred twenty days prior to such election.

(Amended 5-8-73; 11-5-02.)