USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > Laconia > Annual report of the receipts and expenditures of the city of Laconia, New Hampshire : for the year ending 1894 > Part 11
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The town of Gilford, after the passage of this act, shall con- stitute one school district, and Charles H. Sleeper, George P. Munsey, and William H. Weeks shall have the same powers to call the first meeting of said district as is now vested in the school board of Gilford, but said meeting may be held in the month of April, 1893.
SEC. 32. The appropriations of money made at the annual meeting in the town of Laconia on the 14th day of March, 1893, shall stand as the appropriations for expenditures dur- ing the current year in wards 1, 2. 3, 4 and 5 in the city of Laconia, for the purposes specified in the vote of the town, and shall be met by taxes assessed upon the polls and prop- erty in wards 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 ; and the city council, at its first meeting, or as soon thereafter as convenient, is directed to make such additional appropriations for expenditures to be made during the current year in ward 6 as said council may, by vote, determine ; said appropriations to be met by taxes assessed upon the polls and property in said ard W6. All money appropriated for city purposes (except for sewers in ward 6, as hereinbefore provided ;) after the end of the cur-
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rent year shall be raised by taxes assessed upon all the polls and property in the city of Laconia. If, from the taxes as- sessed and collected on the polls and property in Wards 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 for the expenditures of the current year, any unexpended balance remains at the end of the year, said balance shall be the property of said wards, and be applied to the payment of the debts assumed by said wards. If, from the taxes assessed and collected on the polls and property in Ward 6 for the expenditures of the current year, any unexpended balance remains at the end of the year, said balance shall be the property of said Ward 6, and be applied to the payment of the debt assumed by said Ward 6.
SEC. 33. In all assessments of state and county taxes, in- cluding the assessment of 1893, and until the legislature shall otherwise order, the city of Laconia shall pay $18.42, and the town of Gilford shall pay $1.85, respectively, on every thous- and dollars of public taxes ; and the state and county treas- urers shall issue their respective warrants accordingly.
SEC. 34. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to change the territorial limits of any senatorial, councillor, or congressional district.
SEC. 35. This act shall take effect on its passage.
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ORDINANCES.
Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Laconia as follows :
GENERAL PROVISIONS.
SECTION 1. All by-laws passed by the city council shall be termed ordinances, and the enacting style which shall be but once recited in each ordinance shall be : " Be it ordained by the city council of the city of Laconia as follows."
SEC. 2. All ordinances which shall be passed by the city council of the city of Laconia shall be engrossed or recorded by the city clerk in a fair and legible hand, without inter-linea- tion or erasure, and in the order in which they shall be passed in a book to be kept for that purpose, made of strong linen paper, securely bound with a proper margin and index, and to be lettered, " Record of Ordinances of the City of Laconia," which book shall be preserved in the office of the city clerk, subject to the inspection of the citizens of said city.
SEC. 3. All ordinances of the city council and such resolu- tions and orders as the city council may direct, shall be published in one or more newspapers printed and published in the city as the city council shall from time to time desig- nate.
SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the city clerk to preserve four copies of the ordinances and resolutions hereafter adopted by the city council by cutting the same from the newspapers in which they are printed from time to time, and pasting them into blank leaves of the revised ordinances, preserving the numbers thereof, and making reference thereto in the index to said ordinances as recorded in the city records, one copy thereof for the use of the mayor, another copy for the use of the council, the third copy thereof for the use of the city clerk's office and the fourth copy thereof for the use of the city solicitor.
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SEC. 5. First : The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinance in force before, or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.
Second : The repeal of an ordinance shall not effect any punishment or penalty incurred before the repeal took effect, or any suit, prosecution, or proceeding pending at the time of the repeal, for an offence committed under the ordinance repealed.
Third : Words importing the singular number may extend and be applied to several persons or things. Words import- ing the plural number may include the singular, and words importing the masculine gender may extend and be applied "to females and boards of the city.
Fourth : The word " street " shall include all public ways, alleys, lanes, courts, sidewalks and bridges thereon, and those parts of public places which form travelled parts of highways.
Fifth : The word " person " shall include corporations.
SEC. 6. Every ordinance and resolution of the city shall take effect on and after its passage unless otherwise provided.
CITY SEAL.
SECTION 1. The seal of the city shall be circular in form, shall bear a view of a lake and mountains, a mill, steamboat, railroad train, rising sun, a shield, wigwam and Indian stand- ing near the same, and the inscription, " Seal of Laconia, City on the Lakes, Inc. March 24, 1893."
FINANCES AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN EXPENDITURES.
SECTION 1. There shall be appointed at the commence- ment of each municipal term a standing committee on accounts and claims to consist of three members of the city council, which committee shall meet at least once in each month and carefully examine and audit all claims and ac- counts against the city which shall be laid before them, approved as provided in the following section, and shall allow. and pass the same if found to be correct and justly due.
SEC. 2. No account or claim against the city except judg- ments of judicial courts shall be received or acted upon by
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the committee on accounts and claims unless such account or claim shall be accompanied with the approval of the officer, committee, or agent authorized in behalf of the city, to make the contract, or cause the expenditure to be made.
SEC. 3. The city clerk shall receive all accounts and claims from persons having demands against the city which shall have been approved as provided in the foregoing section. He shall carefully examine all such accounts and claims and see that they are correctly cast and present the same folded, filed and numbered, to the committee on accounts and claims. He shall keep a book in such manner and form as the com- mittee shall direct wherein he shall enter the date and amount of every account and claim against the city as finally corrected and allowed by said committee, and also the name of the person to whom the same has been allowed, designating the fund or appropriation from which the same shall be paid.
SEC. 4. The city clerk shall also under the direction of the committee on accounts and claims keep a book or ledger in which he shall enter the various appropriations made by the city council, each under its appropriate head, and charge to each the different payments and expenditures which from time to time shall be made therefrom. Whenever any appro- priation shall be expended the city clerk shall immediately give notice to the mayor, the city council, and to said com- mittee on accounts and claims, and said committee shall pass no claim or account chargeable to any head or appropriation which has been expended until the city council shall have provided the means of paying the same. The city clerk shall open an account with the city treasurer, charging him with the amount of loans to the city and all sums of money paid to him on behalf of said city by the collector, or other officer or agent of the city, or by any person in any way indebted to the city, and also with all notes, bonds, mortgages, or other securities in the hands of the treasurer, or which may pass into his hands, belonging to the city, to the end that the amount and value thereof may at any time be seen on his books.
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SEC. 5. No money shall be drawn out of the city treasury except upon the written order of the mayor, addressed to the treasurer, and countersigned by the city clerk, and numbered so as to correspond with the account or claim it shall be drawn to pay; and no account or claim against the city, aris- ing from any contract or agreement for labor, or for the purchase or sale of any materials, goods, wares, merchandise, in which any member of the city council, or any officer or agent appointed by the city council, or either branch thereof, has been directly or indirectly interested in a private capacity, shall be approved by any committee, nor shall any order therefor be drawn upon or paid by the city treasurer, unless such contract or agreement shall have been authorized or ratified by the city council ; but such restriction shall not be construed to prevent the purchase of ordinary supplies from members of the city council who may be engaged in trade, nor the employment of the members of the council in their ordin- ary vocation, by duly authorized heads of departments ; and no account or claim for the hire of horses or carriages, or for any other thing where the credit of the city has been used shall be allowed unless incurred by the authority of the city council, or with the approval of the mayor nor unless proper vouchers therefor shall be presented by the person incurring the debt.
SEC. 6. In all bills against the city which shall be pre- sented for payment each item shall be specially set forth, and no claim shall be allowed for medical services unless such services were authorized by the overseer of the poor, and no claim exceeding ten dollars in amount shall be allowed and paid unless approved by the city council. The mayor is here- by authorized to draw orders on the treasurer for the payment of all accounts and claims allowed, as provided in this chap- ter ; but he shall not draw an order in payment for any services rendered or any materials furnished for any depart- ment beyond the sum specifically appropriated therefor by the city council.
SEC. 7. Any sum of money which shall have been specif- ically appropriated for the payment of principal or interest due
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on any note or other security of the city, or for the state and county taxes, may be drawn from the treasury and paid by the order of the mayor, for the purpose for which it was appropriated, without any action on the part of the committee on accounts and claims ; and whenever it shall be necessary to pay money in advance on contracts made, or for work begun but not completed, the mayor, upon being satisfied of such necessity, may draw his order upon the treasurer for a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars at any one time, taking security for the same.
SEC. S. Whenever any money shall be drawn from the treasury for the purposes specified in the preceding section the city clerk shall report the same and the amount thereof to the committee on accounts and claims at their next meet- ing, and shall charge the same under the appropriate head of expenditures.
SEC. 9. All city officers who shall in their official capacity receive any money on behalf of the city, shall pay to the treasurer the amount in their hands once in three months, or oftener if required, except the collector of taxes, who shall make such payment whenever the sum in his hands shall amount to five hundred dollars. All other persons who shall at any time have money in their hands belonging to the city shall forthwith pay the same to the treasurer.
SEC. 10. In all cases of the payment of money to the city treasurer he shall give his receipt for the amount to the per- son paying the same, which receipt shall be delivered to the city clerk and filed in his office, and the city clerk shall give to the person paying a certificate as evidence of such pay- ment. All city officers and agents receiving money in behalf of said city shall deliver to the city clerk, once in three months, a report of the amount received, and what disposition has been made thereof, except in cases otherwise provided.
SEC. 11. The city treasurer shall keep in a book provided for the purpose, an accurate and true account of all his receipts and payments on behalf of the city, making the same conform in mode of entry as near as may be with the accounts kept by
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the city clerk. He shall not pay any money out of the treasury except upon orders of the mayor, drawn in the form pre- scribed in the fifth section. He shall at the end of each six months certify to the city clerk all amounts by him paid for maturing bonds, interest, state or county taxes, or any other purpose for which he has not received an order countersigned by the city clerk, and the city clerk shall enter each of said amounts in the ledger under its appropriate head as provided in sec- tion four. He shall, when required, lay before the city coun- cil a statement of the condition of the treasury, and of all monies received and paid by him on city account. Whenever he is authorized by the city council to borrow money on the credit of the city, all notes and certificates of indebtedness given therefor shall be signed by the mayor and city treasurer and counter-signed by the city clerk, and all such notes and certificates shall be registered in books kept for that purpose in the offices of the city treasurer and city clerk respectively. Such registers shall describe such notes, and certificates by number, date and amount, the name of the person to whom payable, when payable, the rate of interest, and the date of the ordinance or resolution authorizing the same, and no such note or certificate shall be valid until such record shall be made : and the same when paid, with the date of the payment, shall be entered on each of said registers.
SEC. 12. There shall be appointed at the commencement of each municipal term a committee on finance, consisting of the mayor, and two members of the council, which committee shall negotiate all loans to the city which shall be authorized by the city council, and shall report the same to the city treas- urer.
SEC. 13. The committee on finance shall at the close of each financial year prepare and lay before the city council an estimate of the amount of money necessary to be raised for the ensuing financial year, under the various heads of appro- priations, and the ways and means of raising the same, and shall also at the close of each financial year prepare and lay before the city council a statement of all the receipts and ex- penditures of the preceding financial year, and in detail the
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amount of appropriation and expenditure for each department ; and said committee on finance, at the close of each financial year, and before making their annual report of receipts and expenditures, are hereby authorized to transfer from any un- expended balances of appropriations so much thereof as shall be required to supply such deficiencies as have been created by the necessary overdrawing of other appropriations of the same financial year, and said statement shall be accompanied with a schedule of the property, real and personal, belonging to the city, and the value thereof and the amount of the city debt.
SEC. 14. The committe on finance shall at the close of each financial year and as much oftener as they shall deem it expedient, examine and audit the accounts of the city treas- urer, and for that purpose shall have access to all the books and vouchers in his possession or in the possession of the city clerk or any other officer of the city. Said committee shall not only compare said accounts with the vouchers thereof, but shall ascertain whether all monies due the city have been collected and accounted for. They shall also examine all bonds, notes and securities in the treasurer's hands, belong- ing to the city, and make report thereof to the city council.
SEC. 15. The city treasurer shall make up his accounts to the first day of February, and the financial year shall begin on the first day of February in each year.
CITY CLERK.
SECTION 1. In addition to his duties prescribed by law the city clerk shall perform such duties in connection with his office as the city council shall from time to time fix and de- termine.
CITY SOLICITOR.
SECTION 1. The city council first elected shall elect by bal- lot as soon as may be a city solicitor, and thereafter annually in the month of March and after the second Tuesday therein by ballot elect a solicitor for the city of Laconia, who shall be a citizen thereof and an attorney and counsellor of the courts
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in this state. He shall hold his office for the term of one year and until his successor shall be chosen and qualified.
SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the city solicitor by himself or by some person by him duly authorized, for whose conduct, skill, and faithfulness he shall be accountable, to draft all bonds, deeds, obligations, contracts, leases, conveyances, agreements and other legal instruments of whatever nature which may be required of him by any ordinance or order of the mayor or city council, or which may be requisite to be done by the city of Laconia, and any person or persons with the city in its corporate capacity, and which by law, usage, or agreement the city is to be at the expense of drawing ; also to commence and prosecute all actions and suits of every kind that may be brought by the city before any tribunal : to appear in, defend, and advocate the rights and interests of the city in all actions and suits brought against the city, or its officers in their official capacity, wherein any estate, right, privilege, or ordinance, or act of the city or any violation thereof may be brought in question. He shall also appear before the leg- islature of this state, or before any committee thereof, and in behalf of the city, represent, answer for, and defend and ad- vocate the interests and welfare of the city whenever the same is affected. He shall, when required by the city council or any committee thereof furnish an opinion upon any legal question or subject which may be submitted to him. He shall at all times furnish legal advice to any officer of the city upon any subject touching the duties incumbent on such office. He may in his discretion, at the expense of the city, employ such assistance in the trial of causes, or in litigated cases, as the city council may by vote authorize. He shall, when requested by the mayor or city marshal, commence and prosecute before the public court any suit or complaint that may be brought by the order of either of said officers for the violation of any or- dinance of the city, or law of the state.
SEC. 3. The city solicitor shall receive for his 'services as such officer such salary as the city council may from time to
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. time determine. In all cases, however, when his attendance may be required out of the city his reasonable traveling ex- penses shall be allowed him.
OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
SECTION 1. As soon after the organization of the city un- der its act of incorporation as convenient, the city council shall elect by ballot a board of overseers of the poor, to con- sist of two members and thereafter annually in the month of March, and after the second Tuesday therein, the city council shall elect a board of overseers of the poor, to consist of two members to hold office for the term of one year and until their successors are chosen and qualified. In case of a vacancy in said board for any cause the city council shall elect a succes- sor to fill the vacancy.
SEC. 2. The overseers of the poor shall perform the same duties and be subject to the same liabilities as are now pre- scribed for and incumbent on overseers of poor of towns, and perform such other duties as the city council may prescribe. They shall receive such compensation or salary for their ser- vices as the city council may from time to time fix and deter- mine.
STREETS AND HIGHWAYS.
SECTION 1. The whole territory of the city shall consti- titute one highway district which shall be under the charge of a commissioner who shall be styled street commissioner.
SEC. 2. He shall be elected by ballot as soon after the organization of the first city council as convenient and there- after annually in the month of March and after the second Tuesday therein by the city council ; shall give bonds for the faithful discharge of his duty satisfactory to the city council, and shall hold his office for one year, subject to removal by the city council for sufficient cause. His official year shall begin on the fourth Tuesday of March annually. Said street commissioner shall be under the direction of the city council with reference to the expenditure of money and accountabili-
.
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ty therefor ; shall render monthly a detailed statement of his receipts and expenditures to the city council and file with the city clerk proper vouchers therefor.
SEC. 3. The street commissioner shall, under the direction of the city council, have the general charge of the highways, streets, lanes, sidewalks and bridges in the city, and to the making, amending and alteration thereof, and cause the same to be kept in good repair so as to be safe and convenient for travelers with their horses, teams and carriages at all seasons of the year. He shall have charge of all horses, teams, carts, implements of labor and stables in the city. He shall have charge of the construction and repairing of street drains and street surface sewers, and shall see that all nuisances or obstructions in any of the streets or highways under his care are forthwith removed, or give notice thereof to the mayor or city marshal. He may, under the direction of the mayor, make all necessary contracts for the supply of any labor or materials he may require in the discharge of his official duty. He shall judiciously expend such sums of money as may yearly be appropriated by the city council for the building and repairing of highways, and shall render an account of his expenditures monthly to the city council, containing a tabu- lar statement of the days upon which any labor has been preformed by any person for the city which shall be laid before the committee on accounts and claims.
SEC. 4. The street commissioner on assuming the duties of his office, shall receive from the city clerk, a book contain- ing a statement of the amount of the appropriation for the building and repair of highways, together with a statement of the amount due and unexpended of any former appropria- tion for the same purpose, in which book he shall keep an accurate account of all of his expenditures each month, and shall report the same to the city council monthly. He shall not at any time overdraw the appropriation for his district, or for the special purpose for which it was made; and should any such overdraft be made, the street commissioner shall be personally liable for the same.
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CITY ENGINEER.
SECTION 1. The city council first elected shall, as soon as convenient after its organization, by ballot, elect a city civil engineer, and thereafter annually in the month of March and after the the second Tuesday therein, shall elect a city civil enginear to hold office for the term of one year and until his successor is chosen and qualified.
SEC. 2. The said city civil engineer of the city shall have his office at such place as the city council shall prescribe. He shall, under the direction of the city council, have charge of all plans of public grounds, streets, sewers and main drains of the city, except such as pertain to the city system of house sewerage. He shall, by himself or assistants for whom he shall be responsible, make all surveys, estimates, admeasure- ments and levels ; and perform such other duties as shall be required of him by the city council. All books and papers containing files, notes and other memoranda shall be the property of the city.
SEC. 3. The said engineer shall receive such salary as the city council shall by ordinance determine.
BOARD OF HEALTH.
SECTION 1. The board of health first elected under the provisons of the city charter, shall orginaze by the choice of one of their members as chairman and another as clerk, and all succeeding boards of health of the city elected as provided by the terms of the charter shall immediately after their election and qualification, organize in the same manner.
SEC. 2. The board of health may adopt such rules and regulations for their own and the government of all sub- ordinate officers by them employed as they may deem ex- pedient, not repugnant to the laws of the state. They shall receive such compensation for their services as the city council shall prescribe.
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