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All members of Council shall have been electors of the Municipality for at least one continuous year immediately prior to the time of filing for office, and shall continue to be qualified electors of the Municipality during their respective terms of office. Members of Council elected from wards shall be electors of the ward from which they seek election at the time of filing for office and during their respective terms of office. No member of Council shall hold any other office or employment with the Municipality, except as otherwise allowed by this Charter or by ordinance of the Council.
Any member of Council who shall cease to possess or who violates any of the qualifications of office herein provided; who is finally convicted of a felony or misdemeanor invoking moral turpitude; or who fails to attend three consecutive regular meetings of the Council, unless such absence is excused by a majority vote of the members present at such meetings or a subsequent meeting of the Council, shall be subject to forfeiture of his or her office in the manner provided by Section 12.04 of this Charter. A member of Council shall not vote upon the question of his or her removal or whether his or her absence from a regular meeting shall be excused. Failure to maintain such qualifications shall not render void or ineffective any action of the Council in which such member participated.
The four wards, and the territory in each such ward, under the statutory form of government, as they are constituted on the effective date of this Charter, shall be the wards for the purpose of electing ward Council members under this Charter. However, ward boundaries may be re-established as hereinafter provided by this section.
After each recurring Federal census and within three months after the issuance of the Census Block Data, the Council shall, by ordinance, redivide the Municipality into wards, not exceeding four, in order to provide substantially equal population in each of the wards. In order to provide substantially equal population in each of the wards, the Council may, by ordinance, at any time, redivide the Municipality into four wards.
All wards so established shall be bounded, as far as practical, by County lines, streets, alleys, avenues, public grounds, canals, watercourses, Municipal boundary lines, centerlines of platted streets or railroads, or lot lines of platted subdivisions. Redivision of the Municipality into wards by the Council shall not terminate or otherwise affect the unexpired terms of ward Council members. However, at the next regular Municipal election at which ward Council members are to be elected following the redivision of the Municipality into wards, provided that such redivision is in full force and effect at least thirty days prior to the date for filing declarations of candidacy by ward Council members, ward Council members shall be elected from the wards as re-established under this section.
(Amended Nov. 2, 1993; Nov. 5, 2013)
At its first regular meeting in January, 1990, and in each even-numbered year thereafter, the Council shall meet for the purpose of organization. The Council shall adopt its own rules, regulations and bylaws, but such rules, regulations and bylaws shall not be in conflict with this Charter.
(Amended Nov. 8, 1988; Nov. 6, 2018)
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