(a) Number and Selection. The Council shall consist of seven (7) members, four (4) of whom shall be elected by wards, one (1) from each ward of the City, and three (3) of whom shall be elected by the electors of the City at large.
(b) Term. Members of Council shall serve for four (4) year overlapping terms as herein provided. Councilmen at Large shall be elected for four (4) year terms beginning with the general election to be held on Tuesday, November 5, 1963. Present Council members whose terms will expire on the third Monday in November, 1963, shall serve as Councilmen at Large until their successors are elected and qualified. Councilmen from wards shall be elected for four (4) year terms beginning with the general election to be held on Tuesday, November 7, 1961, and shall serve until their successors are elected and qualified.
(c) Wards. Within ninety (90) days after the effective date of the amendment to this section, and thereafter within ninety (90) days after the first day of October of the year following the decennial census year, the Council shall redivide the City into four wards. Wards so formed shall be as nearly equal in population as may be composed of contiguous and compact territory, and bounded by natural boundaries or street lines. When any territory is annexed to the City, the Council shall by ordinance declare it a part of the adjacent ward or wards.
(Amended June 2, l992)
Council men at Large shall have resided in the City, and Councilmen from the wards shall have resided in their respective wards, for at least one year next preceding their election. No Council member shall hold any other incompatible office or employment under the National, State or County government. A Council member who ceases to possess any of the qualifications herein required, or removes from his ward, if elected from a ward, or from the City, shall automatically vacate his office on the Council.
Vacancies in the office of Council member shall be filled by the selection of some qualified person by a majority of the remaining members of the Council. The person so selected shall serve until the next regular Municipal election occurring not less than 100 days after the vacancy occurs, when a successor shall be chosen by the voters for the remainder of the unexpired term, if any; if not, then for a full term.
The first Council members elected under this Charter shall receive for their services as such a salary of five dollars ($5.00) per meeting, not to exceed one hundred twenty dollars ($120.00) per year. The Council shall have power to change this salary, by ordinance, but no increase shall become effective unless adopted at least ninety days prior to a Municipal election and in no case shall such an increase be paid to any person who was a member of the Council at the time of its adoption, unless he is re-elected.
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