CHAPTER 4647.-[No. 133.] AN ACT in Relation to the Appointment of Certain City Officers of the City of Ocala, Florida, by the City Council Thereof; Conferring on Said City Council the Power to Purchase and Operate Lighting Plant or Plants for Said City and its Inhabitants, and Conferring on Said City Council the Power to Issue Certain Evidences of Indebtedness of Said City, and to Refund the Present Outstanding Indebtedness Thereof; and Defining, Enlarging and Prescribing the Powers and Duties of the Mayor and City Council of Said City. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: SECTION 1. The corporate authority of the municipality known as the city of Ocala, shall be vested in a Mayor, a City Council, a Clerk, Treasurer, and such other officers as may be appointed or elected in pursuance of law. SEC. 2. The Mayor shall be elected by the qualified electors of the city at large. His term of office and powers shall Election be such as are now or may hereafter be prescribed by law, except as hereinafter provided. Mayor SEC. 3. In addition to the powers and duties of the Mayor of said municipality as now provided by law, it is hereby made his duty to execute the ordinances and laws of said Duty of Mayer. city, and to see that the police of said city properly perform their duties as such, and in order to enable said Mayor more completely to carry out the provisions of this section, he is especially vested with the right and power to at any time issue compulsory process and bring before him any and all persons who he has reason to believe or is advised of violations of the laws of said city in relation to the sale of liquor, the keeping of gambling and bawdy houses within the limits thereof, and it shall be his duty as such Mayor, if after such a investigation and examination he believe that any of said. ordinances are being violated, to furnish a list of the witnesses to the City Attorney of the said city,and direct him to institute proceedings for the prosecution of such offenders. SEC. 4. The said City Council shall be composed of nine councilmen, as is provided by law at this time; and in addi- City Comel tion to such powers as are now possessed by the City Council, it is especially provided that to enable the said City Council to investigate fully charges against its members or other city officers of said city or any other matters it may deem proper Council. pertaining to the general welfare of said city, the Mayor, at the request of the president or president pro tem of said City Council, shall issue subpoenas and compulsory process to Powers of 1897. City Council to elect city officers. Bonds and compensation of officers. Colice force. Council. compel the attendance of persons and the production of books and papers before said council, and any failure on the part of any person to whom such process is directed to attend, give evidence or produce books and papers therein required, shall be guilty of contempt of said City Council, and may be punished by said City Council by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the .council. EC. 5. The said City Council at its first regular meeting in May A. D. 1898, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and annually thereafter, shall meet for the purpose of electing all city officers elected by said City Council, and the person receiving a majority of the votes of said council for any such office shall be declared duly elected to such office for the term of one year from June first of the year in which election is held, except as hereafter especially provided. SEC. 6. At the first regular meeting of the said City Council in April A. D. 1898, or as soon thereafter as practicable, said City Council shall annually thereafter meet for the purpose of fixing the amount of the bonds and compensation of all such officers who are to be elected by said council at the meeting mentioned in the section of this act next preceeding this section, and such compensation when so fixed shall not be enlarged or diminished by said council during the term of any such officers. The said council shall also determine the character of the bonds to be required of all such officers at the time of fixing the amount thereof. SEC. 6. The police force of said city shall consist of a Marshal, and as many policeman as said council may deem necessary, who shall be elected and chosen at the time of electing other city officers as provided in Section 5 of this act, such officers to hold their respective offices for the term of one year as provided in the case of other city officers elected by said City Council, but they shall be removable at any time upon a two-thirds vote by said City Council, or for cause by a majority vote thereof. SEC. 8. The said City Council shall have the power to Powers of City prescribe the powers and duties of all officers of said city; to discontinue any of the officers not specially provided for by law, and to create such new offices as from time to time may seem to them necessary and advisable for the good government of said city and the administration of its affairs. Assessing and Collecting axes. SEC. 9. The said City Council shall have the power, by ordinances, to prescribe the time of assessing and collecting city taxes, the time of the opening and closing of the tax books within said city, the duties of the City Assessor in re lation to the assessment and return of property of inhabitants thereof in addition to the powers in relation to these matters already possessed by said City Council, or which may hereafter be conferred by law. SEC 10. Lands may be sold for unpaid taxes or may be certified to the city therefor in the same manner and under the same regulations as are now or may hereafter be provided in case of sale or certification of lands for State and county taxes in so far as the same may be applicable; and all redemption from tax sales and certification shall be made at the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Marion county, Florida, and all tax deeds based upon such sales or certification for city taxes, shall issue out of said Clerk's office, and shall be executed by said Clerk or his deputy, and all the privileges and rights which are now or may hereafter be acquired under any tax deed from the State of Florida, shall inure to and be vested in the said grantees under such city tax deeds, and the rules of evidence applicable to State tax deeds shall be applicable to tax deeds made in pursuance of any sale or certification for taxes by said city of Ocala. At SEC. 11. The Board of Equalization for said city shall be composed of five members, as now provided by law, who shall be elected in like manner and at the same time as is hereinbefore provided for the election of other city officers. the election by the City Council for city officers in May, A. D. 1898, there shall be chosen from each ward in said city, and from the city at large, one member of said Board of Equalization, the term of office of the members chosen at said election being as follows: Members from first and third wards for one year from June the first, 1898; members from second and fourth wards to hold for two years from June the first, 1898; the equalizer from the city at large to hold for one year from June the first, 1898, and annually thereafter there shall be an election by the said City Council to fill vacancies occurring in said board by reason of the expiration of the term of any of the members thereof, such members when elected to hold office for the term of two years from the first of June the year in which elected, except the equalizer for the city at large, who shall be elected for one year only. 1897. Unpaid taxes. Board of equalization. SEC. 12. The said City Council is hereby authorized and empowered to issue certificates of indebtedness of the said Certificates of city of Ocala for the purpose of taking up and cancelling all indebtedness. scrip of said city now outstanding and unpaid, and which is legally due from said city, and also for the purpose of procuring the cancellation of all judgments against said city now of record in any court, such certificates of indebtedness to be 1897. Warrar ts and scrip of city. Lighting city. Material, machinery, etc., to be property of city. payable in installments and to bear interest at a rate not to exceed eight per cent. per annum to be fixed by said City Council. Said City Council shall also prescribe the form of such certificates and the manner of their execution by ordi nance. SEC. 13. All ordinary warrants and scrip of said city shall hereafter be drawn only against the particular fund from which they are payable, and such fund at the time of the drawing of such warrants shall be an actual existing fund, and such warrants shall be paid by the Treasurer of said city upon presentation and demand, and any such warrants if drawn against any fund not an actually existing fund shall be evidence that the claim of the drawee has been audited and approved, and shall be held to show that the amount of such warrant is actually due and payable from said city to such drawee, and shall not be receivable by said city from any dues thereto unless therein specially specified. SEC. 14. The said City Council is hereby authorized and empowered, upon the approval of the majority of the registered voters of said city then residing therein, who own real estate or personal property of the value not less than two hundred dollars therein, and have paid their taxes for the year last due thereon, and otherwise a qualified elector, and actually voting at an election for that purpose, had, to purchase, erect, equip and operate such plant, machinery and materials as may be necessary and proper, in the opinion of said City Council, or its lawfully authorized agent or agents, for the purpose of lighting the streets, lanes and alleys of said city, and also for the purpose of supplying light to the inhabitants of said city for their private residences, stores and other property, and to do such other and further lighting as said City Council may deem proper and expedient, and to make such charges therefor to private consumers as said council shall deem fit and proper, the costs of all such machinery, materials and plant to be fixed by the vote allowing the purchase and erection of the same at a certain sum not to be exceeded by said council. SEC. 15. Said materials, machinery and plant, when so purchashed and in operation shall be the property of the city of Ocala, and shall not be sold, leased, incumbered or disposed of in any manner, nor shall the operation thereof by said city council be delayed or hindered in any way, except upon the approval of the voters mentioned in the preceeding section of this act. 1897. Superintendent of lighting plant. Proviso. SEC. 16. There shall be elected by at least a majority vote of the whole number of the council a superintendent of said lighting plant, whose name shall be suggested by the Mayor of the said city and filed with the City Clerk at least one regular meeting preceeding the meeting at which he is to be voted for; Provided, however, If the said party who shall have been suggested shall fail, after five ballots of the council, to receive a majority vote of the whole council, then the said council shall have the power to consider the name of some other person for said position, and upon such person receiving two-thirds of the whole vote of the City Council he shall be declared elected; And provided further, That upon a Proviso. two-thirds vote of the members present at any such meeting, the said council may adjourn the same from time to time as it may see fit. Term of SEC. 17. Said superintendent shall be elected for a term to be approved by the council in not less than the sum of one Bond. The council shall prescribe the amount and form of said Approved June 3, 1897. CHAPTER 4648-[No. 134.] AN ACT to Define the Boundaries of the Town of St. Petersburg, Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: SECTION 1. That the boundary of the town of St. Peters burg shall be as follows: Beginning at a point where the Boundary. south line of section (19) nineteen, township 31 south of |