Source:Charter of the City of Pensacola, 1895
In 1895, a new charter for the City of Pensacola was set forth by the Florida Legislature. This replaced the Provisional Municipality of Pensacola that had been established in 1885. The 1895 charter was enacted by Chapter 4513 of the Laws of Florida 1895. The act was entitled:
- AN ACT to Provide for the Creation of the City of Pensacola, Now Known as the Provisional Municipality of Pensacola, and for Government of Said City of Pensacola, and to Provide for its Officers and Their Terms of Office, and to Provide for the Support and Maintenance of Said Government and Improvement of Said City.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
Introduction
Section 1.
That the inhabitants of the city of Pensacola are hereby created corporate by the name and style of the city of Pensacola, with the power to govern themselves by such ordinances and resolutions for municipal purposes as they may deem proper, not to conflict with this act, nor the constitution and laws of this State, nor the United States; with power to contract and be contracted with; to sue and be sued; to defend and be defended in all courts; to acquire property for municipal purposes by purchase or otherwise; to hold the same and all property and effects now belonging to them, either in their own name or the name of others, to the use of the city, for the purposes and intents for which the same were granted or dedicated; to use, manage, improve, sell, and convey, rent, or lease the said property, and have the like powers over property hereafter acquired; to have a common seal, and change it at pleasure, and act with or without a seal.
Section 2.
In said city there shall be a legislature, an executive and a judicial department. Neither of these departments shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others, except as permitted in this act.
Legislative.
Section 3.
The legislative power of said city shall be in a board of twelve aldermen which shall be styled the council.
Section 4.
Aldermen shall be selected by the qualified voters of the city as hereinafter provided, and so selected so that three shall be residents of and qualified voters in each of the four election precincts now established. Two aldermen shall be selected from each precinct by the voters of their respective precincts, and one alderman from each precinct shall be elected by the voters of the city at large.
Section 5.
Members of the Council shall hold their office for four years except that at the first election under this act, the alderman elected from each precinct receiving the smallest vote shall serve for two years, and the two aldermen elected at large who receive the smallest votes shall serve for two years, but after this first election under this act the term of all shall be four years. Aldermen shall be at least twenty-four years of age. They shall hold no other civil salaried office or employment, state or federal. They shall not be directly or indirectly interested in any contract with said city, or in any application therefor, or a candidate or hold any office or employment for pay in any company or corporation which holds or is an applicant for any contract with the city under which money is to be paid by the city. No person while in arrears to the city for money collected shall be a member of the council. Before any member shall take his seat in either board, he shall make an oath or affirmation that he has the qualifications and is free from the disqualifications prescribed herein.
Section 6.
The mayor shall preside at meetings of the board. The board shall elect from its members a mayor pro tem, annually. The mayor shall not vote upon any question in meetings of council except in event of a tie.
Section 7.
The board shall judge the eligibility and the election of its members, adopt rules for its proceedings, and punish its members for disorderly conduct. Two-thirds of the members elect concurring, the board may expel a member for malfeasance or misfeasance in office after trial as hereinafter provided or upon conviction of any infamous crime. Vacancies in the board shall be filled by the council until the next regular election when an alderman shall be elected to fill the unexpired term.
Section 8.
A majority of the aldermen shall form a quorum of the board, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day. The attendance of members may be enforced by rules or ordinances with appropriate fines. The council shall meet on the first Thursday succeeding each biennial election. It may adjourn this first meeting for not longer than ten days. The board shall hold their meetings in such rooms in the city as may be provided by ordinance, and the place of meeting shall not be changed except by an ordinance, for which two-thirds of the board have voted.
Section 9.
The board shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and immediately after the adjournment of each session the proceedings thereof, including a monthly statement of collections and disbursements, shall be published once in a daily paper printed in the city.
Section 10.
All ordinances shall be published in a newspaper published in the city once a week, for four weeks.
Section 11.
All official papers, proceedings and records of the former officers, and councils and commissioners, and of the present and succeeding officers, councils and boards of the city, under previous charters, and under this act are hereby declared public records, and as such shall be preserved and be entitled to all faith and credit of public records. Official copies thereof may be read in all courts as public records. The courts in this State shall take judicial cognizance of the ordinances of the city, and the printed copy officially published by the city may be read as evidence in any trial in which the same may be competent evidence without proof of the due passage and approval of said ordinances. Until the publication of the ordinances of the city, a certified copy from the comptroller's office of an ordinance may be read with the same effect as if it had been officially published.
Section 12.
Members of the council shall be exempt from serving on juries, and from military duty during their term. For anything said in debate they shall not be elsewhere questioned.
Section 13.
No ordinance shall be passed until it shall have been read in full three times, and free discussion allowed thereon; and no ordinance shall be read more than once on the same day unless by consent of two-thirds of the members present.
Section 14.
No member of the council, during the term for which he was chosen, shall be eligible to any office, by appointment, or by election of said council.
Section 15.
All officers or agents of the city, in any of its departments not herein required to be otherwise elected or appointed, shall be elected or appointed in such manner as may be prescribed by ordinance.
Section 16.
Executive and ministerial officers, unless otherwise provided in this act, shall be removable by the board of aldermen, sitting as a court, under oath or affirmation, upon charges preferred by the mayor or any two members of the board, and, in case of the mayor, upon charges preferred by a majority of the board. No person so tried shall be removed from office without the concurrence of two-thirds of the aldermen; and when a person has been so removed from office, he shall be ineligible thereto during the term for which he has been elected.
Section 17.
The council shall have power to pass ordinances imposing fines not exceeding five hundred dollars for any designated misdemeanor, or imprisonment for not exceeding sixty days, or both.
Section 18.
Th» council shall have power to pass, for the government of the city, any ordinance not in conflict with the constitution of the United States, the constitution of Florida, and statutes thereof.
Executive.
Section 19.
The executive power shall be vested in the mayor and in the board and departments authorized by this act. The mayor shall be elected by the qualified voters of the city on the first Tuesday of June, 1895, and at the regular election every two years thereafter as hereinafter provided.
Section 20.
The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the city. Any person shall be eligible to the office who is twenty-five years of age, and who has been a citizen and resident of the State three years, and a resident of the city two years next before the election.
Section 21.
No person shall be mayor who is, directly or indirectly, interested in any contract with the city as principal or surety.
Section 22.
If two or more candidates for mayor receive the same number of votes, and this number of votes is greater than the number of votes cast for any other candidate, one of them shall be chosen mayor by a vote of the majority of all the members of the council, in session, immediately after its organization.
Section 23.
When a vacancy shall take place in the office of mayor the mayor pro tempore chosen by the council, by the votes of a majority of the members elected, shall perform the duties of mayor. The mayor pro tempore chosen by the council shall serve until the regular election for mayor.
Section 24.
Should the mayor be temporarily absent, or unable to discharge his duties, his office shall be administered by the mayor pro tem, who shall continue to discharge the duties of the office during the continuance of the disability, or the absence of the mayor. His compensation shall be the same as the mayor, and the sum so paid must be deducted, in whole, from the salary of the mayor.
Section 25.
The mayor shall take office on the first Thursday after the first Tuesday in June, or as soon thereafter as is practicable, his predecessor acting until he qualifies.
Section 26.
It shall be the duty of the mayor:—
First—To be vigilant and active in causing the ordinances of the city and the laws of the State to be executed and enforced.
Second—To communicate to the council, at least once a year, a statement of the finances and general condition of the affairs of the city, and also such information in relation to the same as the council may from time to time require.
Third—To recommend by message, in writing, to the council all such measures connected with the affairs of the city as he shall deem expedient.
Fourth—To fill, with the consent of the board of aldermen, all vacancies in executive and ministerial offices not herein provided for. He shall with the consent of the board appoint the city clerk.
Fifth—He shall act an police judge as hereinafter provided.
Section 27.
He shall exercise a general supervision over all the executive and ministerial officers of the city, and see that their official duties are honestly performed. He may require from them statements in writing concerning the discharge of their duties.
Section 28.
He may, by a written order, giving his reasons therefor, remove from office any head of a department, or other officer or employee appointed by him. A copy of said order shall be sent to the board of aldermen at its next meeting. Unless such order be disapproved by the board of alderman within thirty days, said order shall stand. He may suspend any officer or employee of the city for cause provided he files within twenty-four hours for action of council written charges, and convenes the board within forty-eight hours for the purpose of considering same.
Section 29.
Except a resolution to adjourn, every proposed ordinance or resolution which has passed the council shall be presented to the mayor, and if he approves it, he shall sign it, and then it shall be obligatory; but if he disapproves it, he shall return it with his objections in writing to the board, and said board shall then reconsider the same, and if two-thirds of the members-elect concur in adopting it again, it shall be obligatory; but in such cases the votes in the board shall be taken by yeas and nays, and recorded in the journal. Should the mayor withhold a proposed ordinance or resolution beyond the next regular meeting after its presentation to him, it shall be obligatory as if signed.
Section 30.
The mayor may disapprove of any item or items of any bill making appropriations, and the part or parts of the bill approved shall be the law, and the item or items disapproved shall be void, unless repassed according to the rules and limitations prescribed by law for the passage of bills over the mayor's veto.
Section 31.
The mayor shall, as often as he may think proper, appoint a competent person to examine, without notice, the affairs and accounts of any city department, trustees, officer or employee, and the money, securities and property belonging to the city in the possession or charge of such department, trustee, officer or employee, and report to him the result of such investigation.
Section 32.
The mayor may convene the council at any time.
Section 33.
The mayor shall have the same power to administer oaths or affirmations that justices of the peace and other judicial officers of the state have.
Section 34.
The mayor shall receive a salary not exceeding twelve hundred dollars a year.
Section 35.
The mayor shall have power to purchase all articles needed by the city in its several departments. If the amount to be expended be over one hundred dollars, the council must approve before the purchase is made. He shall report the purchases made by him at each meeting of council.
