USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Brockton > History of Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1656-1894 > Part 66
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"The position which our new city takes on the question of license for the sale of in - toxicating liquors is positive and plain, and indicates not only a desire but a purpose to curtail this traffic, which has been a discredit to our people, and a reproach upon the good name of our town. I trust, with this expression of the popular will a' d with offi- cers who should be in sympathy with the execution of the liquor as well as all other laws, that our first year's history as a city shall not be marred by the continuance of this evil, which now so threatens our welfare.
" The bonded debt of the city, December 31, 1881, was as follows:
" School house loan, 1871 $36,000.00
Water loan, 1878. 30,000.00
Brockton water loan, 1879 120,000.00
Brockton water loan, 1880 50,000.00
Total. $236,000.00
" Of the water loan of 1880, about $10,000 remains unexpended. Considering the demand which a rapid growth like ours makes upon the treasury for the construction of water works, for the building of new roads, and the widening and improving of the old, for the support and improvement of a fire department, for the building of new school houses and the many other expensive luxuries which a city implies, we ought to con- gratulate ourselves that our burden of debt is so light, and yet it ought not now to be increased unless urgent necessity requires.
"In conclusion I congratulate you that our business interests have been prospered the past year, that in substantial growth the past has far exceeded that of any previous year in our history. Go in whatever direction you will, cosy and comfortable dwellings and business structures are to be seen in process of erection. Many have thus provided themselves with homes the past year, and doubtless many more will find homes and employment within our borders during the year to come. And now that the horizon of our city's future is clearing of the smoke of the recent municipal campaign, do we not discover rising before us interests against which those of party weigh as nothing ; interests which are dear alike to every citizen of Brockton ? And does not the outlook reveal to you the necessity for harmony in council, zeal for the promotion of whatever is best calculated to secure and advance the welfare of all its citizens, for economy in expenditure, and fidelity to true business principles in the management of its business affairs ? Gentlemen of the City Council, to your hands do the people of this city 'com- mit this trust.' "
After the conclusion of his address, the mayor, in a few fitting words, introduced Governor John D. Long, who was greeted with enthusiastic applause, and said :
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CITY OF BROCKTON.
GOVERNOR LONG'S ADDRESS.
"I should think it fitting for the Governor of Massachusetts to be present in any case when a part of one of hier ancient towns takes on the form of a city. But to- day I come not merely in an official capacity, representing the commonwealth, but as an Old Colony descendant, and a resident of Plymouth county, to witness the in- auguration of the first mayor elected within her borders. It is an event which, trans- forming your town into a city of 15,000 inhabitants, with a valuation of nearly $7,000,000, marks the rapid growth and the centring of great manufacturing and busi- ness interests. It is a cause at once of pride and of solicitude-pride in the swift progress of which it is a mark, and solicitude for the welfare of those whom it will hereafter concern. A city is not a result : it is simply a means -- the means by which the convenience of its citizens, no longer promoted by the old forms, seeks new ones. For the town meeting, in which every voter has a voice, it substitutes a system of representation, and removes the administration of affairs one step further from the people. Its risks are those of less economy, and the tendency to let the public in- terest drift out of the public scrutiny into the hands of selfish combinations. I con- gratulate you, Mr. Mayor, my former associate in the House of Representatives, upon the great honor of being the first to hold the office, which you owe to your integrity and high character, and which has just been so gracefully transferred to you by the chairman of the retiring board of selectmen; and I congratulate the city of Brockton upon starting with so excellent a government in all its branches. But the history of all cities warns us that the time is almost certain to come in future years when, with the attention of your citizens withdrawn from public affairs, they will wake to find themselves afflicted with the same evils that have befallen their older sisters. There will then be overturn and renewed popular interest and added safeguards, and all will of course be well again. All progress and perfecting come from discipline. Mean- time, however, let the lessons of other municipalities warn us of the necessity of constant vigilance, of prudence in expenditure, of holding officials to sharp accountability and of sustaining them when they assume the responsibility and do right in spite of all obstacles, of fearless independence in city affairs, of electing only true men, and of the application of business principles. Then shall we have the full benefit of the ad- vantages of the city system-the growth, the activity, the generous abundance, the wholesome amusements, the literary culture, the schools, the churches, the halls, the charities, the great life of a great, well-governed and well-governing body of people. Then shall he be worthy of the Old Colony, worthy of our ancient Plymouth county, worthy of its commonwealth, worthy of grand old Bridgewater, a town unsurpassed in the worth of its stock of men, in the character of its people, in the contributions it has made to every department of the intelligent progress of Massachusetts. In this hope, and with the most cordial interest in this occasion, and in the opening future of the new city of Brockton, I bring to it and to you and its citizens, for the common- wealth and myself, a happy New Year, and many a happy New Year following this."
The mayor then introduced Bradford Kingman, Esq., the historian, who had prepared an elaborate account of the town from its first settle-
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ment, containing much new and interesting material concerning the growth and prosperity of the old town of Bridgewater, showing its relations to the "Old Colony of Plymouth."
Hon. Matthew H. Cushing, of Middleboro', member of the Executive Council, was introduced, and made an extremely happy and pleasant speech. He said he took great pleasure in being present at the first inauguration ceremonies of the oldest city in Plymouth county, though the youngest in the commonwealth, and he extended the heartiest congratulations of himself and his town. He was glad the town had not hastened to put off the childish garments of town government and assume the dignities of a city. He loved the old town- meeting, which had fitly been termed the poor man's congress, in which he could vote as liberal a supply for the education of his children as the man who pays the largest taxes. He was glad the town had allowed itself to develop till it had grown too populous for the town system, and was obliged to take on the larger form of government. He compared Brockton with Southern towns, where abundant water privileges were running to waste, while in Brockton the people not only used all their water, but most of it to make steam, and he believed their water board ยท had urged them not to use too much of it as a beverage ! This, how- ever, he understood to be a matter of economy. He compared the growth of Brockton with that of Middleboro', and repeated that Middle- boro' sends to Brockton her kindliest greetings.
The band played a lively galop, and before it was finished Congress- man Harris came in and was greeted with applause. As soon as the music was ended, Hon. Benjamin W. Harris, member of Congress, was introduced by Mayor Keith, and said he had not come to make a speech, and if he had he couldn't very well, as he had just driven over in the cold from East Bridgewater, and had not fully thawed out. He congratulated the new city on her present prosperity and future pros- pects, and said that she had a right to be proud, but we on the borders must not be ignored. We were a part of the same ancient Bridgewater. Only as long ago as 1700 Brockton had not an inhabitant in her territory. She settled her first minister in 1780, over a congregation of twenty-five members. He did not want to imply that Brockton was not entitled to honor, but to show that while behind at the start, she
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was ahead of all her sister towns at the present time. All are proud of it, He alluded to the slow increase of population up to 1860, and showed how it had increased with rapid strides, till in 1880 it had reached thirteen thousand six hundred and eight, and was now God knows how many. It was like a city rising out of the dust, and few towns even in the West have had an equal growth in ten years. He begged the citizens of Brockton in their just pride not to forget those who are of kin and participate in the benefits of their progress. He told them that, having thrown off the form by which every individual participated in the government, they had reached a point where they could exercise a power and control over municipal affairs no less im - portant, and even more responsible. He referred to the prosperity of the nation, and said there were a thousand municipalities rising as great and happy as Brockton in the general prosperity. The country was at peace, and had no army, no navy-if we need one. He had a notion that when we put the navy on wheels we should bring it to Brockton, where everything on wheels goes well. He continued for some time, finally exhorting the people to be always what they are to-day-happy, rich, prosperous; he knew that they would be distinguished for education, refinement, and intelligence, and that they would continue in the future as they have been in the past, a law-abiding, country-loving people.
The mayor then announced that the invited guests would be served to a collation in the theatre building at twelve o'clock, and the large audience dispersed to music by the band. The collation, which was served up in McLeod's best style, was partaken of by about sixty of the invited guests, including Congressman Harris and others, and was an extremely enjoyable affair.
ACT TO ESTABLISH THE CITY OF, BROCKTON.
Be it enacted, &c., as follows :
SECT. 1. The inhabitants of the town of Brockton shall continue to be a body politic and corporate under the name of the City of Brockton, and as such shall have, exercise, and enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers, and privileges, and shall be subject to all the duties and obligations, now incumbent upon and pertaining to the said town as a municipal corporation.
SECT. 2. The administration of all the fiscal, prudential, and municipal affairs of the said city, with the government thereof, shall be vested in one officer, styled the mayor,
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
one council of seven to be ealled the Board of Aldermen, and one council of twenty-one to be called the Common Council, which boards, in their joint capacity, shall be denom- inated the City Council; and the members thereof shall be sworn to the faithful per- formance of their respective duties. A majority of each board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and no member of either board shall receive any com- pensation for his services.
SECT. 3. The election of city and ward officers shall take place on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of December of each year; and the municipal year shall begin on the first Monday of January following.
SECT. 4. It shall be the duty of the selectmen of said town, as soon as may be after the passage of this act and its acceptance as herein provided, to divide said town into seven wards, so that they shall contain, as nearly as may be consistent with well defined limits to each ward, an equal number of voters in each ward, which division may be re- vised by the City Council within four years from the passage hereof. The City Council may, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and in every fifth year thereafter, make a new division of said wards, so that they shall contain, as nearly as may be con- sistent with well defined limits to each ward, an equal number of voters in each ward, according to the census to be taken in the months of May or June in said years.
SECT. 5. On the Tuesday next after the first Monday of December, annually, there shall be elected by ballot, in each of said wards. a warden, clerk, and three inspectors of elections, who shall be different persons, residents in the ward, who shall hold their offices one year, and until others are chosen and qualified in their stead. Said wardens shall preside at all ward meetings with the power of moderators in town meetings, and if at any meeting the warden is not present the clerk shall preside until a warden pro tempore is elected by ballot; if both the warden and clerk are absent, the senior in age of the inspectors present shall preside until a warden pro tempore is elected; and if all said officers are absent any legal voter in said ward may preside until a warden pro
tempore is elected. When any ward officer is absent, or neglects to perform his duty, his office shall be filled pro tempore. The clerk shall record all the proceedings and certify the votes, and deliver to his successor in office all such records and journals, together with all other documents and papers held by him in his said capacity. The inspectors shall assist the warden in receiving, assorting, and counting the votes. All said officers shall be sworn to a faithful discharge of their duties; said oath to be ad- ministered by the clerk to the warden, and by the warden to the clerk, and to the inspectors, or to either of said officers by any justice of the peace; a certificate of such oath shall be made by the clerk upon the ward records. All warrants for meetings of the citizens for municipal purposes shall be issued by the mayor and aldermen, and shall be in such form, and served and returned in such manner and at such times as the City Council shall direct. The compensation of the ward officers shall be fixed by concurrent vote of the City Council.
SECT. 6. The mayor and alderman are authorized, when no convenient ward room for holding ward meetings of the citizens of either of the wards of the city can be had within the territorial limits of such ward, to appoint and direct, in the warrants tor call- ing the ward meetings of such wards, the said meetings to be held in some convenient
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CITY OF BROCKTON.
and proximate place within the limits of any other of the wards of said city ; and for such purposes the place so assigned for the meeting of such ward shall be decmed and taken to be included in and part of said ward, as though the same was within the terri- torial limits thereof.
SECT. 7. The mayor shall be elected by and from the qualified voters of the city at large, voting in their respective wards, and shall hold his office for the municipal year next following liis election, and until another shall be elected and qualified in his place.
SECT. 8. One alderman and three common councilmen shall be elected by and from the voters of each ward, and shall at the time of their election be residents of the wards respectively in which they are elected; they shall hold their offices for the municipal year next following their election, and until a majority of the new board shall be elected and qualified in their places.
SECT. 9. On the Tuesday next after the first Monday of December, annually, the qualified voters in the several wards shall give in their votes by ballot for mayor. alder- man and common councilmen, in accordance with the provisions of this act, and all the votes so given shall be assorted, counted, declared and recorded in open ward meeting, by causing the names of persons voted for, and the number given for each, to be writ- ten in the ward record at length. The clerk of the ward, within twenty-four hours there- after, shall deliver to the persons elected members of the common council certificates of their election respectively, signed by the warden and clerk and a majority of the in- spectors of elections, and shall deliver to the city clerk a copy of the record of such elections, certified in like manner provided, however, that if the choice of members of the common council shall not be effected on that day in any ward, the meeting in such a ward may be adjourned from time to time to complete such election. The board of aldermen shall within ten days thereafter examine the copies of the records of the sev- eral wards certified as aforesaid, and shall cause the person who shall have been elected mayor to be notified in writing of his election; but if it shall appear that there is no choice, or if the person elected shall refuse to accept the office, the board shall issue warrants for a new election, and the same proceeding shall be had in all respects as are herein before provided for the election of mayor, and from time to time shall be re- peated until a mayor shall be elected and shall accept said office. In case of the de- cease, resignation or absence of the mayor, or of his inability to perform the duties of his office, it shall be the duty of the board of aldermen and common council, respectively, by vote, to declare that a vacancy exists, and the cause thereof; and thereupon the two boards shall meet in convention and elect a mayor to fill such vacancy ; and the mayor thus elected shall hold his office until the inability causing such vacancy shall be re- moved, or until a new election. Each alderman shall be notified in writing of his elec- tion by the mayor and alderman for the time being. The oath prescribed by this act shall be administered to the mayor by the city clerk, or by any justice of the peace. The aldermen and common councilmen elect shall on the first Monday of January, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, meet in convention, when the oath required by this act shall be administered to the members of the two boards present, by the mayor, or by any justice of the peace, and the certificate of such oath having been taken shall be entered on the journal of the mayor and aldermen and of the common council by their respect-
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
ive clerks. And whenever it shall appear that a mayor has not been clected previous to the first Monday of January aforcsaid, the mayor and aldermen for the time being shall make a record of that fact, an attested copy of which the city clerk shall read at the opening of the convention to be held as aforesaid. After the oath has been admin- istered as aforesaid, the two boards shall separate, and the common council shall be or- ganized by the choice of a president and clerk, to hold their offices respectively during the pleasure of the common council, the clerk to be under oath faithfully to perform the duties of his said office, and his compensation shall be fixed by concurrent vote of the city council. In case of the absence of the mayor elect on the first Monday of Jan- uary, or if the mayor shall not then have been elected, the city council shall organize itself in the manner herein before provided, and may proceed to business in the same manner as if the mayor was present; and the oath of office may, at any time there- after, in convention of the two boards, be administered to the mayor and any member of the city council who may have been absent at the organization. The board of alder- men may choose a president who shall preside at all meetings of the board and in joint convention of the city council in the absence of the mayor. Each board shall keep a record of its proceedings and judge of the election of its own members; and in case of failure of election, or in case of vacancy declared by either board, the mayor and aldermen shall issue their warrant for a new election.
SECT. 10. The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the city. He shall enforce the laws and regulations of the city, and have a general supervision of all the subordinate officers. And he may, whenever in his opinion the public good may require, remove, with the consent of the appointing power, except as provided in section twelve, any officer over whose appointment he has, in accordance with the provisions of this charter exercised the power of nomination. He may call special meetings of the boards of aldermen and common council, or either of them when in his opinion the interests of the city require it, by causing notice to be left at the usual place of residence of each member of the board or boards to be convened. He shall, from time to time, commun- icate to both boards such information and recommend such measures as the business and interests of the city may in his opinion require. He shall preside in the board of alder_ men, and in convention of the two boards. His salary for the first five years, under this charter, shall be fixed by the city council, but shall not exceed the sum of five hundred dollars per annum. Afterward it shall be fixed by the concurrent vote of the city council. It shall be payable at stated periods, but shall not at any time be increased or diminished during the year for which he is chosen. He shall receive no other compen- sation.
SECT. 11. Every ordi: ance, order, resolution or vote to which the concurrence of the board of aldermen and of the common council may be necessary, except on a question of a convention of the two branches or the election of an officer, and every order of either branch of the city council involving the expenditure of money, shall be presented to the mayor. If he approves thereof he shall signify his approval by signing the same ; but if he does not approve thereof, he shall return the ordinance, order, resolution or vote, with his objections in writing, to the branch of the city council in which it originated. Such branch shall enter the objections of the mayor at large on its records, and proceed to reconsider said
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ordinance, order, resolution or vote : and if, after such reconsideration. two-thirds of that branch, present and voting, notwithstanding such objections, agree to pass such ordinance, order, resolution or vote, it shall, together with the objections of the mayor, be sent to the other branch of the city council, if it originally required concurrent action, where it shall also be reconsidered; and if approved by two- thirds of the members present and voting, it shall be in force; but in all cases the vote shall be determined by yeas and nays ; and if such ordinance, order, resolution or vote is not returned by the mayor within ten days after it has been presented to him, the same shall be in force.
Sker. 12. The executive power of said city generally and the administration, with all the powers heretofore vested in the selectmen of Brockton, shall be vested in and may be exercised by the mayor and aldermen as fully as if the same were herein specially enumerated. The mayor and aldermen shall have full and exclusive power to appoint a constable or constables, and a city marshal and assistants, with the powers and duties of constables, and all other police officers, any of whom the mayor may remove, and fill the vacancy or vacancies so made, by appointment ; but at the next meeting of the board of aldermen lie shall nominate as provided in this act. And the mayor and alder- men may require any person, who may be appointed marshal or constable of the city, to give bonds for the faithful discharge of the duties of the office, with such security and to such amount as they may deem reasonable and proper, upon which bonds the like proceedings and remedies may be had as are by law provided in case of constables' bonds taken by the selectmen of towns. The compensation of the police and other subordinate officers shall be fixed by concurrent vote of the city council.
SECT. 13. In all cases in which appointments are directed to be made by the mayor or aldermen, the mayor shall have the exclusive power of nomination, being subject however to confirmation or rejection by the board of aldermen ; but if a person so nom- inated shall be rejected, the mayor shall make another nomination within one month from the time of such rejection. No person shall be eligible by appointment or election to any office of emolument the salary of which is payable out of the city treasury, who, at the time of such appointment or election, shall be a member of the board of aldermen or of the common council. All sittings of the mayor and aldermen, of the common council and of the city council, shall be public when they are not engaged in executive business.
SECT. 14. The city council shall annually, as soon after their organization as may be convenient, elect by joint ballot, in convention, a city clerk, treasurer, collector of taxes, one or more superintendents of streets, city solicitor, city physician, and city auditor, who shall hold their offices respectively for the term of one year, and until their success- ors shall be chosen and qualified ; provided, however, that either of the officers named in this section may be removed at any time by the city council for sufficient cause. Vacan- cies occurring in the above named offices may be filled by joint ballot of the city council at any time. The compensation of the officers mentioned in this section shall be fixed by concurrent vote of the city council.
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