(1) The executive and administrative power of the City, as it now exists, shall be exclusively vested in and exercised by a Mayor and such other officers, departments, boards and commissions as are designated and authorized in this charter. The Mayor and other executive or administrative officers shall be elected or appointed as provided in this charter.
(2) Any additional executive and administrative power which may be conferred on the City by amendment of the Constitution or by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall be vested in and exercised by the Mayor and, as far as practicable, by the officers, departments, boards and commissions designated in this charter. The Council shall by ordinance distribute among such officers, departments, boards and commissions such new powers and duties, but to the extent that this is not practicable, it may create additional offices, boards and commissions for the exercise of such powers and the performance of such duties and provide for the appointment of new officers or members of new boards or commissions. Any such additional offices, boards and commissions shall in all respects be subject to this charter. In the case of new officers whose primary duties are to assist the courts, the appointive power may be vested in the judges thereof; and if the primary duties of any new board or commission relate to the functions of any department, such board or commission shall be constituted a departmental board or commission within such department.
ANNOTATION
Sources: No specific source.
Purposes: 1. This section vests the executive and administrative powers in the executive and administrative branch of the government.
2. Subsection (2) looks forward to City-County consolidation. Any additional executive and administrative powers acquired by such a constitutional amendment are to be exercised by officers and agencies designated in the Charter, as the Council may determine. If such a division of new powers proves to be impracticable, new offices, boards and commissions, but not new departments, may be created to take over such powers but such new agencies would be subject to all the other provisions of the Charter, including, for example, civil service requirements. Wherever possible each new board and commission is to be attached to a City department.