MYRTLE POINT CITY CHARTER
To provide for the government of the City of Myrtle Point, Coos County, Oregon; and to repeal all charter provisions of the city enacted prior to the time that this charter takes effect.
Be it enacted by the people of the City of Myrtle Point, Coos County, Oregon:
Section 1. Title of Enactment. This enactment may be referred to as the City of Myrtle Point Charter of 1985.
Section 2. Name of City. The City of Myrtle Point, Coos County, Oregon shall continue to be a municipal corporation with the name “City of Myrtle Point.”
Section 3. Boundaries. The city shall include all territory encompassed by its boundaries as they now exist or hereafter are modified pursuant to law. The custodian of the city records shall keep an accurate up-to-date description of the boundaries and make copies of this charter and the boundary description available for public inspection.
Section 4. Powers of the City. The city shall have all powers which the constitution, statutes and common law of the United States and of this state expressly or impliedly grant or allow municipalities, as fully as though this charter specifically enumerated each of those powers.
Section 5. Construction of Charter. In this charter, no mention of a particular power shall be construed to be exclusive or to restrict the scope of the powers which the city would have if the particular power were not mentioned. The charter shall be liberally construed to the end that the city may have all powers necessary or convenient for the conduct of its municipal affairs, including all powers that cities may assume pursuant to state law and to the municipal home rule provisions of the state constitution.
Section 6. Where Powers Vested. Except as this charter provides otherwise, all powers of the city shall be vested in the council.
Section 7. Council. The council shall be composed of a mayor and six (6) councilors elected from the city at large.
Section 8. Councilors. The councilors in office at the time this charter is adopted shall continue in office each until the end of their terms of office as fixed by the charter of the city in effect at the time this charter is adopted. At each biennial general election after this charter takes effect, three (3) councilors shall be elected each for a term of four (4) years.
Section 9. Mayor. At each biennial general election a mayor shall be elected for a term of two (2) years.
Section 10. Other Officers. Additional officers of the city may be appointed and removed by the council as it deems necessary.
Section 11. Salaries. The council shall fix the amount of compensation for city officers and may approve a compensation plan for city employees.
Section 12. Qualifications of Officers. No person shall be eligible for an elective office of the city unless at the time of such person’s election, he or she is a qualified elector within the meaning of the state constitution and has resided in the city during the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the election. The council shall be final judge of the qualifications and election of its own members subject, however, to review by a court of competent jurisdiction.
Section 13. Meetings. The council shall hold regular meetings at least once a month in the city at a time and at a place that it designates. Regular and additional meetings of the council shall be held in accordance with procedures prescribed by state law and general ordinance. The council shall adopt rules for the government of its members and proceedings.
Section 14. Quorum. A majority of the incumbent members of the council shall constitute a quorum for its business, but a smaller number may meet and compel the attendance of absent members in a manner provided by ordinance.
Section 15. Record of Proceedings. The council shall cause a record of its proceedings to be kept.
Section 16. Meetings to be Public. All deliberations and proceedings of the council shall be public except as otherwise authorized by state law.
Section 17. Mayor’s Function at Council Meetings. The mayor shall be chairman of the council and preside over its deliberations. The mayor shall have a vote on all questions before it and shall be authority to preserve order, enforce the rules of the council and determine the order of business under the rules of the council.
Section 18. President of the Council. At its first meeting after this charter takes effect and thereafter at its first meeting of each odd numbered year, the council shall elect a president from its membership. In the mayor’s absence from a council meeting, the president shall preside over it. Whenever the mayor is unable to perform the functions of office, the president shall act as mayor.
Section 19. Vote Required. Except as this charter otherwise provides, the concurrence of a majority of members of the council voting when a quorum of the council is present shall decide any questions before it. No council member present at the council meeting shall abstain from voting without first stating at the meeting his or her reasons.
Section 20. Mayor. The mayor shall appoint the committees provided by the rules of the council. The mayor shall sign all approved records of the proceedings of the council. The mayor shall have no veto power and shall sign all ordinances passed by the council within three days after their passing.
Section 21. Municipal Judge. The council may appoint a municipal judge and such pro- tem judges as it considers necessary to serve at the pleasure of the council. The municipal judge shall hold within the city a court known as the Municipal Court for the City of Myrtle Point, Coos County, Oregon. The court shall be open for the transaction of judicial business at times specified by the council. All area within the city shall be within the territorial jurisdiction of the court. The municipal judge shall exercise original and exclusive jurisdiction of all crimes and offenses defined and made punishable by ordinances of the city and of all actions brought by ordinances of the city. The municipal judge shall have authority to issue process for the arrest of any person accused of an offense against the ordinances of the city, to commit any such person to jail or admit him to bail pending trial, to issue subpoenas, to issue any process necessary to carry into effect the judgments of the court. When not governed by ordinances or this charter, all proceedings in the municipal court for the violation of a city ordinance shall be governed by the applicable general laws of the state governing justices of the peace and justice courts. The city may have the duties of the municipal judge performed by the regular and pro-tem judges of a state court.
Section 22. Other Officers. Duties of other city officers shall be prescribed by the council.
Section 23. Regulations of Elections Generally. Except as this charter provides otherwise, and as the council provides otherwise by ordinance, the general laws of the state apply to city elections.
Section 24. Tie Votes. In the event of a tie vote for candidates for an elective office, the successful candidate shall be determined by a public drawing of lots in a manner prescribed by the council.
Section 25. Commencement of Terms of Office. The term of office of a person elected at a biennial general election shall commence the first of the year immediately following the election.
Section 26. Oath of Office. Before entering upon the duties of office, each officer shall take an oath or shall affirm that the officer will support the constitutions and laws of the United States and of the State of Oregon and will faithfully perform the duties of office.
Section 27. Nominations. Nominations for elective office for the City of Myrtle Point shall be made pursuant to the general ordinances of the city.
Section 28. What Creates a Vacancy. An office shall be deemed vacant upon the incumbent’s death, adjudicated incompetence, conviction of a felony, resignation, or recall from office; upon the incumbent’s ceasing to possess the qualifications necessary for office; or upon the failure of the person elected or appointed to an office to qualify therefor within three days after the time for his term of office to commence; and, in the case of the mayor or a councilor, missing three (3) consecutive regular council meetings without the council’s consent and upon the council’s declaration of the vacancy.
Section 29. Filling of Vacancies. Vacancies in elective offices of the city shall be filled by appointment by a majority of the remaining members of the council. The appointee’s term of office shall begin immediately upon appointment and shall continue until a successor is elected at the next biennial general election and qualifies for office, or if no successor is then elected and qualifies, the appointee shall serve until the end of the term for which the appointment was made.
Section 30. Enacting Clause. The enacting clause of all ordinances hereafter enacted shall be: “The City of Myrtle Point ordains as follows:”.
Section 31. Mode of Enactment.
(1) Except as subsections (2) and (3) of this section provide otherwise, every ordinance of the council shall, before being put upon its final passage, be read fully and distinctly in open council meeting on two different days.
(2) Any ordinance may be introduced, read twice, once in full and once by title, and put on its passage at a single meeting by unanimous vote of all members of the council present at the meeting.
(3) An ordinance may be enacted at a single meeting of the council upon first being read once by title only if a least five days prior to the scheduled reading a copy is provided for each council member, and copies are available for public inspection in the office of the custodian of city records. Any section of an ordinance changing substantially the legal effect of the ordinance as previously circulated shall be read in full in open council meeting prior to being adopted by the council.
(4) Upon the final vote on an ordinance, the ayes and nays of the members of the council shall be taken and recorded in the journal. Upon the enactment of an ordinance, the mayor shall sign it, with the date of its passage and the mayor’s name and title of office, and immediately thereafter the custodian of city records shall sign it with the date of his or her signature and the title of the office.
Section 32. Effective Date. All ordinances enacted by the council shall take effect thirty (30) days after their passage unless a later day is fixed therein, in which event they shall take effect at such later date, subject to referendum if legislative. Provided, however,
(a) an ordinance making appropriations and the annual tax levy, or
(b) a special ordinance relative to local improvements and assessments thereof shall take effect immediately upon its passage or any special date less than thirty (30) days after passage specifically fixed in such ordinance. The council may, by declaring an emergency, provide an effective date of an ordinance earlier than thirty (30) days after passage or that it take effect immediately upon its final passage upon a unanimous vote of the members present and voting.
Section 33. Condemnation. Any necessity of taking property for the city by condemnation shall be determined by the council and declared by a resolution of the council describing the property and stating the uses to which it shall be devoted.
Section 34. Improvements. The procedure for making, altering, vacating or abandoning a public improvement shall be governed by general ordinance or, to extent not so governed, by the applicable general laws of the state. A remonstrance by the owners of two-thirds of the property to be specially assessed for a proposed public improvement shall suspend action regarding the improvement for six (6) months. For the purpose of this section “owner” shall mean the record holder of legal title to the land except that if there is a purchaser of the land according to a recorded land sale contract or memorandum thereof, or according to a verified writing by the record holder of legal title to the land filed with the custodian of city records, the said purchaser shall be deemed the “owner.”
Section 35. Special Assessments. The procedure for levying, collecting and enforcing the payment of special assessments for public improvements or other services to be charged against real property shall be governed by general ordinance.
Section 36. Bids. Except as otherwise authorized by state law or general ordinance, all municipal contracts shall be based on competitive bids.
Section 37. Existing Ordinances Continued. All ordinances of the city consistent with this charter and in force when it takes effect shall remain in effect until amended or repealed.
Section 38. Repeal of Previously Enacted Provisions. All charter provisions of the city enacted prior to the time that this charter takes effect are hereby repealed.
Section 39. Time of Effect of Charter. This charter shall take effect July 1, 1985.