Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, the legislative powers of the municipality shall be vested in an elected Council of seven members. One of these shall be known as the Mayor and the remaining six as Councilmembers. All shall be elected at large for four-year terms in accordance with Article V of the Charter.
Any qualified elector who has been a resident of the municipality or of territory annexed thereto for a period of one (1) year immediately prior to the date of election and who is not the occupant of an incompatible office under the federal, state, county, or municipal government, shall be eligible to serve as a member of Council or as Mayor.
(a) A Councilmember or Mayor who ceases to be a qualified resident or who accepts and enters upon the performance of duties of an incompatible office shall automatically vacate the position as Councilmember or Mayor.
(b) No former Councilmember or Mayor holding office within twenty-eight (28) days of the effective date of this Charter shall hold any appointive office or employment with the municipality for which compensation is authorized until one year after leaving office.
(c) No Councilmember or Mayor shall have any interest in the profits or emoluments of any contract, job, work or service for which monies of the municipality are expended. (Amended November 6, 1984)
(d) Council shall be the sole judge of the qualifications of its members.
The newly elected Councilmembers shall subscribe to the Oath of Office set forth in Section 9.01 of this Charter immediately following the certification of election and prior to Dec. 31 of that year. On January 1 following each municipal election, or within fourteen (14) days thereafter, the Council shall meet for the purpose of organizing. At this meeting, or as soon thereafter as the Council finds feasible, the Council shall:
(a) Elect a Vice Mayor, who shall be a member of Council and who shall act as Mayor with full authority in the temporary disability of the Mayor, or when requested to so act by the Mayor during the latter's temporary absence from the municipality. The Vice Mayor shall be elected at a reorganization meeting of Council for a two-year term and may not be removed from that office by Council except as provided by Sections 2.03, 2.11, and Article VI of this Charter.
(b) Appoint a clerk, also to be known as the Clerk of Council, whose duty it shall be to keep the journal and other records of the Council and to perform other duties as the Council may require.
All legislative power of the Municipality shall be vested in the Council, except as otherwise provided by this Charter and the Constitution of the State of Ohio. Without limitation of the foregoing, the Council shall have and possess the following powers:
(a) The power to levy taxes and incur debts.
(b) The power to establish departments, boards and commissions and fix compensation.
(c) The power to provide for an independent audit of the accounts and records of the Municipality, without competitive bidding, which may be in addition to audits by state officers and agencies as may be required under the general laws of Ohio.
(d) The power to conduct investigations and to inquire into the conduct of any office, department, divisions, bureau, board, commission or any officer or employee of the Municipality in the performance of their public powers, duties, responsibilities, and functions.
(e) The power to grant any franchise, including franchises to public utilities; by ordinance adopted by a vote of not less than five members of the Council.
(f) The power to appoint, suspend, or remove, by a motion adopted by a vote of not less than five members of Council, the members of any board or commission of the Municipality, whether the board or commission is created by this Charter or by ordinance or resolution.
(g) Issue subpoenas for witnesses and to require the production of books and papers which may be necessary in the conduct of any hearing or investigation.
(a) The Council shall meet regularly at least once in every month as prescribed in its rules. Special meetings may be held on the call of the Mayor or of a majority of members. Whenever practicable, every member shall be given at least twelve (12) hours notice of each special meeting. All meetings shall be public. Council may recess to a closed session for the purpose of discussing any matter which would tend to defame or prejudice the reputation of any person, or matters of a confidential nature provided that the general subject matter for consideration is expressed in the motion calling for such session, and that final action thereon shall not be taken by the Council until the matter is placed on the agenda.
(b) A majority of the members of Council shall constitute a quorum.
(c) The Council shall determine its own rules and order of business and shall provide for keeping a journal of its proceedings. The journal shall be a public record.
(d) Action of Council shall be by ordinance, resolution, or motion. Every action of a general and permanent nature, or granting a franchise, or levying a tax, or appropriating money, or contracting a debt, or for the purchase, lease or transfer of public property, or establishing an offense and fixing a penalty therefor shall be taken by ordinance. All other action may be by resolution or motion. Any member of Council may, at a regular or special meeting, introduce any ordinance, resolution or motion.
(e) Each ordinance or resolution shall contain only one subject, which shall be expressed in its title; provided that appropriation ordinances may contain the various subject, accounts, and amounts for which monies are appropriated, and that ordinances and resolutions which are codified, recodified or published in book form are not subject to the limitation of containing one subject.
(f) Except on procedural motions voting shall be by roll call and the yeas and nays shall be recorded in the journal. The affirmative votes of at least a majority of the members of Council shall be required for every action.
(g) Every ordinance shall be fully and distinctly read on three different days, unless each member has previously been furnished a copy thereof, in which case it can be read by title only. By an affirmative vote of five (5) members of Council, the Council can suspend the rule requiring the reading of an ordinance on three different days.
(h) Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, each ordinance approved by the Council will be effective at the end of thirty days following passage, or such longer period as is determined by the Council. If the Council determines that an ordinance should be passed on an emergency basis, the reasons for declaring such ordinance to be an emergency measure shall be set forth in one section of the ordinance, which section shall be passed only upon a yea and nay vote upon a separate roll call with at least five (5) of the membership voting affirmatively. No ordinance prescribing rates and charges by a public utility, or granting a franchise, or levying a tax, shall be passed as an emergency measure. An emergency ordinance shall become effective immediately upon passage, or at such later time as it may specify.
(i) Council shall not have the authority to delegate its legislative power.
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