Public Welfare and Health.

   Section 50.   The mayor as director of public safety shall appoint a director of public welfare who shall be the health officer of the city and shall, under the direction and control of the mayor enforce all ordinances and laws relating to the health of the public, and shall perform all duties and have all powers relative to the public health exercised in municipalities by health officers. He shall have charge of and manage all charitable, correctional and recreational agencies belonging to the municipality. He shall have charge of the inspection and supervision of all public amusements and entertainments. He shall have charge of the sanitary inspection and supervision of the production, transportation, storage and sale of foods and foodstuffs. He shall have charge of the preservation and promotion of the public health, the prevention and restriction of disease, the prevention, abatement and suppression of nuisances, the enforcement of isolation and quarantine regulations. He shall enforce and prosecute all laws, ordinances and regulations, relative to the public welfare for the violation of which penalties are imposed now in force or which may hereafter be established or enacted by council or general law. The mayor shall make all needful rules and regulations for the government of this department of public safety as prescribed by ordinance or the general laws of the State, and in cases of epidemic or other emergency, such additional rules as may be necessary for the public health.