CHAPTER 310. AN ACT to incorporate the City of Columbus. ARTICLE I. 1. Boundaries of the city of Columbus. 2. Corporate powers of the city. 3. City to be divided into three wards. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: § 1. All that district of country contained within the following limits, to-wit: Beginning at a point in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi river, agreeable to the present northern boundary of the town of Columbus, and running with said northern boundary line to a point where the eastern boundary line of said town intersects or crosses said northern boundary line; thence with said eastern line to a point where said line connects with the southern boundary line of said town of Columbus ; thence along said line to a point where the said line connects with or opposite to the present eastern line of Kentucky city; thence with said last named line to a point to intersect with the present southern boundary line of Kentucky city; and thence with said line to a point in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi river, is hereby erected into a city, by the name of the city of Columbus. § 2. That the inhabitants of the city of Columbus, as the same extends and is laid out above, be, and they and their successors forever are hereby, constituted a corporation and body politic, in fact and in law, by the name and style of the city of Columbus, and by the same name shall have perpetual succession; shall sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in all courts of law and equity, and in all actions whatever; and may purchase and hold property, personal and real, within said city; and may sell, lease, or dispose of the same for the benefit of the city; and may purchase, receive, and hold property, real and personal, beyond the city limits, to be used for the burial of the dead of the city, also for the erection of quarantine and hospital for the reception of persons infected with contagious and other diseases; also for a poor-house, work-house, or house of correction; and may sell, lease, or dispose of such property for the benefit of the city; they shall have and use a common seal, and may break, change, alter, and make a new seal at pleasure. Divided into 3. The city of Columbus shall be divided into three wards, the boundaries whereof shall be as laid down in this three wards. charter, and may be by the said council changed from time to time as they shall see fit, having regard to the number of free white male inhabitants, as also to the value of real estate embraced within said wards, as near as may be to 1860. 1st ward. insure a just and fair representation from each of said wards. § 4. The first ward shall embrace all that section of terBoundary of ritory of the town of Columbus, commencing at the northern boundary of said town, running southwardly along the Mississippi river to a point opposite the center of Henry street; thence eastwardly along the center of said Henry street eastwardly to the center of Back street; thence northerly along the center of Back street until you reach the center of the street south of college lot; then along the center of said street eastwardly to the extreme eastern boundary of the town of Columbus; thence northerly along the eastern boundary of said town until the same reaches the northeast corner of said town; thence westwardly along said northern boundary to the place of beginning; and this shall be known as the first ward. 2d ward. The second waid shall commence at a point on the MisBoundary of sissippi river, opposite the center of Henry street, and being the southwest corner of the first ward; thence southernly down the bank of the Mississippi river to a point on said river opposite the center of Dabney street; thence eastwardly along the center of Dabney street to a connection in the center of Back street; thence northernly along the center of Back street to the center of the first street running eastwardly; thence along the center of said street until it strikes opposite lot No. 864; thence southernly along the street until it reaches the southern boundary of the town; thence eastwardly along the town boundary to the southeast corner of the town boundary; thence northwardly along the eastern boundary of the town until you strike the center of the street running south of college lot, it being the southeast corner of ward No. 1; thence westwardly along the center of said street to the center of Back street; thence southernly along the center of Back street till you connect with the center of Henry street; thence to the beginning. 3d ward. The third ward shall commence at the southwest corner Boundary of of second ward; thence along the center of Dabney street to the center of Back street; thence northernly with the center of Back street to the first street running eastwardly; thence with the center of said street to a point opposite lot No. 864, in the center of the street lying west of said lot; thence southernly along the center of said street to the southern boundary of the town; thence westwardly along the southern boundary of the town of Columbus to a point where the eastern boundary of Kentucky city connects with the town of Columbus; thence southernly along the eastern boundary of Kentucky city to the southeast corner of said city; thence westwardly along said southern boundary of said city to the center of the main channel of the Mississippi river; thence northernly with the said channel of the river to the beginning. ARTICLE II-Of the City Council. § 1. There shall be a board of city council, to consist of two councilmen to be elected from each ward. Term of office. § 2. The councilmen to the number of two shall be chosen ward. by the qualified voters of the several wards for one year. § 3. No person shall be elected councilman from any of the wards of the city of Columbus unless he be a citizen of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and shall have resided within the limits of the city six months next preceding his election, and be a bona fide resident of the ward for which he is elected. Qualification of councilmen. Removal from § 4. If any councilman shall, after his election, remove from the ward for which he was chosen, his office shall ward to vacate thereby be vacated. § 5. The board of councilmen shall elect one of their number to be president of the board, whose term of office shall continue for one year; and shall also have power to appoint a clerk, and such other officers as to them may seem necessary for the transaction of their business. § 6. Said board of councilmen shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, and shall determine contested elections. office. To elect president, clerk, and other officers. Board of councilmen to judge "qualifications of members. Quorum. § 7. The majority of the board shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as the board may prescribe. § 8. Said board may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and with the concurrence of two thirds of all the members of the board, expel a member, but not the second time for the same offense. To keep journal of proceed § 9. The board of council shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and as soon as practicable, publish the same ings, and have in a newspaper of the city having the largest circulation. same published. Vacancies § 10. All vacancies which may occur shall be filled by election in such manner as shall be provided for by ordi- how filled. nance. § 11. Each member of the city council, after his election, shall, before entering on the duties of his office, take and subscribe an oath that he will support the constitution of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the provisions of this charter, and that he will faithfully demean himself in office. § 12. There shall be twelve sessions of the board of city council in each and every year, to-wit: On the first Monday of each and every month, at such place as may be provided for by ordinance. 1860. § 13. Upon the passage of all bills appropriating money, or bills imposing taxes, increasing, lessening, or abolishing nays shall be license, and of all bills for borrowing money, the yeas and nays shall be entered on the journals. When yeas & called. § 14. A majority of all the members elected shall be Majority of necessary to pass a tax-bill, bills appropriating money which shall amount to a sum over two hundred and fifty dollars, and all such bills as shall have effect in any manner to increase or diminish the city revenue. members necessary to pass a bill appropriating over $250, appropriations ARTICLE III--of the Legislative Powers. § 1. The appropriations of the city council for the payAmount of ment of interest, for improvements, and for city expenses not to exceed during any one fiscal year, shall not exceed the amount of the amount of the increase of the preceding fiscal year; but it shall be the preceding lawful for said council to apply any surplus moneys in the the increase of year. Powers & duties treasury to the extinguishment of the debt of the city, (or the creation of a sinking fund for the payment of said debt,) or to the completion of the city water-works; but said council shall apply the revenue received from wharfage, (deducting expenses of collecting the same, and other incidental expenses attendant thereto,) to the improvement of the wharf, until the same is completed. § 2. The mayor and city council shall have power within of mayor and the city, by ordinance: city council. 1. To levy and collect taxes, not exceeding one and one half of one per centum, upon all property made taxable by law for State purposes, within the city. 2. To borrow money on the credit of the city. 3. To appropriate money and to provide for the payment of the debt and expenses of the city. 4. To make regulations to prevent the introduction of contagious diseases into the city; to make quarantine laws for that purpose and enforce the same within five miles of the city. 5. To establish hospitals and make regulations for the government of the same. 6. To make regulations to secure the general health of the inhabitants; to prevent, abate, and remove nuisances at the expense of the owners or occupants of the parties upon whose grounds they may exist. 7. To provide the city with water, and to erect hydrants, fire-plugs, and pumps in the streets, within or beyond the limits of the city, for the convenience of the inhabitants of the city and environs. 8. To open, alter, abolish, widen, extend, pave, or otherwise improve, clean, and keep in repair, streets, alleys, avenues, lanes, wharfs, and public grounds and squares; but the mayor and city council shall not open or establish a street, lane, avenue, alley, or other public way through the grounds lying and being situate therein without the written assent of a majority of the owners or occupants living on said property immediately adjacent to said streets, alleys, or other public way. 9. To establish, erect, and keep in repair, bridges, 10. 17. culverts, and sewers, and regulate the use of the same; to 1860. |