| Board of Public Service | 22 |
Section 1. There shall be a Board of Public Service, consisting
of the President of said Board, and four Directors, who shall
be known as Director of Public Utilities, Director of Streets
and Sewers, Director of Public Welfare and Director of Public
Safety. They shall be the heads of and exercise supervision over
their respective departments hereby created, as follows: Department
of the President, Department of Public Utilities, Department of
Streets and Sewers, Department of Public Welfare and Department
of Public Safety. They shall each receive a salary of eight thousand
dollars per annum.
Sec. 2. The President of the Board and the Directors of Public
Utilities and of Streets and Sewers shall be engineers of technical
training, of at least ten years experience, and qualified
to design as well as direct engineering work.
Sec. 3. Any member of the Board of Public Service may designate
any officer in any department under said Board to act as his deputy,
but such deputy shall have no vote on the board.
Sec. 4. The Board of Public
Service shall meet at least once each week at its office. The
President of the Board shall preside at its meetings. A majority
of said Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of
business, but no final action shall be taken in any matter concerning
the department of any absent member unless such matter has been
made the special order of the day. Said Board shall furnish through
its President to the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen such data
and information as may be required, or which it may from time
to time deem necessary; prescribe rules and regulations necessary
and proper to carry out its functions; appoint a secretary and
such other employees as may be provided by ordinance; and keep
a record of its proceedings which shall be open to the public.
Final action on any matter shall be taken by yeas and nays and
entered on its record. An abstract of its proceedings shall be
published in the paper or papers doing the City publishing.
Sec. 5. The Board of Public Service shall have power:
(a) To exercise supervision and control over the aforesaid department and the heads thereof.
(b) To grant permits to occupy or use portions of any public ground, highways, streets, alleys, or other public places, consistent with the public use thereof and not inconsistent with any law or general ordinance, including permits for switch connections, and any such permit may be revoked by said Board at will; but this power shall never be deemed to vest in said Board the right to grant franchises.
(c) To grant permits, according to such general rules and regulations as may be provided by general ordinance, in relation to any private business required by ordinance to have a permit as a condition of or in connection with its conduct or operation.
(d) To accept or reject grants or dedications, absolute or conditional, of highways, streets, boulevards, parkways, alleys or other property for any public use. No plat of any addition or subdivision, or any plat or map attached to any deed, shall be filed or recorded in the Recorder's office unless the same shall first be approved by the Board as to public highways, streets, boulevards, parkways, alleys or other public places represented thereon, and the grades thereof, except plats accompanying judgments or orders of court in partition and other suits where such plats form a part of such proceedings.
(e) To establish the grades of the center line of all public highways, streets, boulevards, parkways and alleys. Upon demand of the owner of the property abutting on any public highway, street, boulevard, parkway or alley, the Board shall determine the grade of the line of said public highway, street, boulevard, parkway or alley forming the boundary line of such property.
(f) To control and conduct any and all engineering construction and reconstruction work undertaken by the City, and to supervise all such work in which the City is interested. All plans and specifications for such work shall be prepared under the direction of the Board and be subject to its approval.
(g) To make such recommendations, exercise such powers and perform such duties as may be required of it by this Charter or by ordinance.
Sec. 6. Said Departments shall have divisions as herein established. The head of each department shall appoint all heads of divisions in his department and all officers and employee in his department not assigned to a division. The head of each division shall manage his division and appoint all officers and employee therein.
Sec. 7. All departments under the Board of Public Service shall co-operate, and the employee or assistants in any one department or division may, under the order of the Board, be temporarily utilized by any other department or division. All questions as to the distribution of powers or duties between such departments shall be determined by the Board.
Sec. 8. The Board may at any time, with the approval of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, appoint specialists or experts in connection with any public work or improvement for which an appropriation has been made and pay for their services out of such appropriation.
Sec. 9. DEPARTMENT OF THE PRESIDENT. The Department of the President shall have charge and supervision of all public work and improvements undertaken by the City or in which the City is interested and prepare all plans and specifications therefore, except where such supervision, work or preparation is herein or by the Board of Public Service otherwise assigned or provided.
10. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES. The Department of Public Utilities shall have general supervision over the maintenance, equipment, operation and service, and the assessment of rates and charges, of all public utilities owned or operated by the City. It shall execute or cause to be executed all ordinances regulating the construction, reconstruction, extension, maintenance, equipment, operation, service or rates of public utilities operating under franchises, licenses or permits, or compelling extensions of facilities for such service. The Director of said department shall make investigations and reports in relation to any of the foregoing matters as may be provided by ordinance or required by the Board of Public Service, and in connection therewith shall have power to subpoena witnesses and order the production of books and papers relating thereto. He shall have charge of the supervision of City lighting, and of the municipal electric lighting plants and electrical equipment in City buildings.
Sec. 11. There shall be a Water Division in this department and the head thereof shall be known as the Water Commissioner. It shall have under its special charge the operation and maintenance of the water works and of all facilities for the acquisition and distribution of water. It shall assess water rates as may be provided by ordinance and make out the bills therefore and deliver same to the Comptroller who shall deliver them to the Collector, take his receipt therefore and charge him therewith on the Comptroller’s books.
As long as any of the “St. Louis Water Bonds” or renewals thereof or bonds issued on the special credit of the water works or facilities remain unpaid the water rates shall be fixed at prices that will produce revenue sufficient at least to pay the running expenses of the water division and the interest on all such bonds and renewals.
Sec. 12. The accounts of all public utilities owned and operated by the City and dependent for their revenues upon the sale of their products or services shall be kept separate and distinct from all other accounts of the City, and shall contain proportionate charges for all services performed for such utilities by other departments, as well as proportionate credits for all services rendered.
Sec. 13. DEPARTMENT OF STREETS AND SEWERS. The Department of Streets and Sewers shall include street and sewer divisions.
(a) The Street Division shall have charge of the repairing, cleaning and maintenance of all public highways, streets, boulevards, alleys, bridges, wharves and levees; the sprinkling of streets and the collection and disposal of garbage, ashes and refuse, and except as otherwise provided by law or ordinance shall have charge of the enforcement and execution of all ordinances relating to any of the matters referred to in this section or to the harbor.
(b) The Sewer Division shall have charge of the repairing, cleaning and maintenance of all sewers and drains and the disposal of sewage.
Sec. 14. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE. The Department of Public Welfare shall include divisions of health, or hospitals, of parks and recreation, and of correction.
(a) The head of the division of health shall be known as the Health Commissioner. Said division shall have general supervision over the public health and shall see that the laws and ordinances in relation thereto are observed and enforced, and for that purpose the Health Commissioner is authorized and empowered, with the approval of the Director of Public Welfare, to make such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with this Charter or any law or ordinance, as will tend to preserve or promote the health of the City; to enter into, or to authorize and require any employee or police officer to enter into, and examine any building, lot or place within the City, and to ascertain the conditions thereof so far as the public health may be affected by it; and to declare and abate nuisances as herein or by law or ordinance provided. Where, in the judgment of said Commissioner, the existence of a nuisance is plain and its continuance a danger to public health, he may declare such nuisance and danger, and enter such declaration in the records of his office. He shall then immediately abate such nuisance without notice. In all other cases before abating a nuisance on private property he shall give a hearing, after notice thereof given either personally to the owner or his agent or by posting on or near the premises whereupon he may declare the nuisance and order its abatement. In case such nuisance is not abated as ordered, he shall abate the same. In case of abatement of nuisance on private property, the cost thereof may be assessed and collected as a special tax and be a lien on such property as may be provided by ordinance. Any person causing or maintaining any nuisance shall be liable to the City in a civil action for the expense incurred in abating such nuisance. Failure to abate a nuisance after an order so to do as aforesaid shall constitute a misdemeanor, punishable as may be provided by ordinance.
Whenever any malignant, infectious or contagious disease is prevalent
in the City, or will probably become so, the Mayor may proclaim
such facts to the inhabitants, and thereupon anything in this
Charter or any ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding, the
Health Commissioner, with the approval of the Director of Public
Welfare and the Mayor, shall have power, until the Mayor shall
proclaim that the occasion thereof is past, to take such steps,
use such measures and incur such expense as may in the opinion
of the Commissioner be necessary to avoid, suppress or mitigate
such disease.
Said Commissioner shall keep a record of his acts and orders
and shall file in his office all petitions, documents and papers
belonging thereto. Copies of such records, petitions, documents
and papers when certified by him or as may be provided by ordinance
shall be prima facie evidence in any court of the facts therein
contained.
All police officers shall observe the sanitary conditions in
their districts and, through the Chief of Police, shall report
to the Health Commissioner promptly, any disease or nuisance in
the City.
The health division shall have charge of the registration of
all births and deaths within the City. It shall have charge of
the markets, the quarantine and the morgue, and the Health Commissioner,
with the approval of the Director of Public Welfare, shall make
all necessary rules for the government thereof.
(b) There shall be a Division of Hospitals, which shall include
and have under its special charge and supervision the operation
and maintenance of all the hospitals, infirmaries, medical laboratories,
dispensaries and other charitable institutions of the City. The
head of said division shall be known as the Hospital Commissioner.
(c) There shall be a Division of Parks and Recreation, which,
except as may be otherwise herein or by law provided, shall have
supervision and control of all public parks and places and of
all facilities, provided by the City for recreation, amusement
or instruction, and execute all ordinances of the City relating
to the management or use thereof. It shall also exercise such
supervision and control as may be provided by ordinance over public
recreative functions, amusements and entertainments not conducted
by the City. The head of said division shall be known as the Commissioner
of Parks and Recreation. He shall appoint and control the City
Forester.
(d) There shall be a Division of Correction, which shall include
and have under its special charge and supervision the operation
and maintenance of all detentive, penal and corrective institutions
of the City. The head of said division shall be known as the Commissioner
of Correction.
(e) The Board of Aldermen may by ordinance include in the Department
of Public Welfare and make provision: for research and publicity
concerning the causes of poverty; delinquency, crime and disease,
or concerning other problems relating to the public health, morals
and welfare, and to promote the education of the City with regard
thereto; for free legal aid; for a municipal lodging house; for
a City free employment bureau; and provide for such officer or
officers in charge thereof as may be necessary.
Sec 15. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY. The Department of Public
Safety shall include the following divisions:
(a) When the City is permitted by law to establish and maintain
a police department, such department shall be a division hereunder.
The head of said division shall be known as Police Commissioner.
He may be removed, with or without cause, by the Director of Public
Safety or by the Governor of the State.
(b) When the City is permitted by law to establish and maintain
an excise department such department shall be a division hereunder.
The head of said division shall be known as Excise Commissioner.
He may be removed, with or without cause, by the Director of Public
Safety or by the Governor of the State.
(c) There shall be a division of Fire and Fire Prevention, which shall manage, control and conduct the fire department, and take all proper steps for fire prevention or suppression. The head of said division shall be known as Chief of the Fire Department. In case of emergency, with the approval of the Director of Public Safety, he may purchase or hire whatever may be required for the emergency with or without authority or appropriation by ordinance therefore. He or any assistant in charge at any fire shall have the same police powers at such fire as the Chief of Police, under such regulations as may be prescribed by ordinance. He may appoint a Fire Marshal, whose duty it shall be, subject to the Chief of the Fire Department, to investigate the cause, origin and circumstances of fires and the loss occasioned thereby and assist in the prevention of arson. The Chief of the Fire Department shall have charge of the fire and police telegraph and telephone systems.
(d) There shall be a Division of Weights and Measures, which shall execute all ordinances regulating or relating to weights and measures or the inspection thereof. The head of said division shall be known as the Commissioner of Weights and Measures.
(e) There shall be a Division of Building and Inspection. It
shall superintend all buildings belonging to or under the control
of the City and have charge of the condemnation of unsafe buildings
and the prevention of the use of buildings while unsafe, the granting
of building permits, the inspection of all buildings in course
of construction, the enforcement of all building ordinances; the
supervision of all plumbing; the abatement of the smoke nuisance;
and the inspection of all boilers, elevators and mechanical plants.
The head of said division shall be known as the Building Commissioner.
| Public Welfare Boards | 28 |
Section 1. The Mullanphy Fund shall be administered by a Board of three members to be appointed by the Mayor for terms of one, two and three years, respectively. Each year thereafter the Mayor shall appoint one member for a term of three years. Members shall hold office until their successors qualify. The Board may appoint such employee as may be provided by ordinance.
Sec. 2. There is hereby established a Complaint Board to consist of three members to serve without compensation. Said members shall be appointed by the Mayor for terms of one, two and three years, respectively. Each year thereafter the Mayor shall appoint one member for a term of three years. Members shall hold office until their successors qualify. Said Board shall employ a secretary, and may appoint such other employees as may be provided by ordinance. It shall receive complaints against any department, board, division, officer or employee of the City, or against any public utility corporation and examine the same. It shall recommend to the proper City or State authorities any action deemed advisable.
Sec. 3. Provision may be made in accordance with law or ordinance
for: (a) a Board of parole and Probation; (b) a Board of Children's
Guardians; (c) a City Art Museum, and (d) a Zoological Park.
| Department of Finance | 29 |
Section 1. The Department of Finance shall include the office of the Comptroller and the Assessment, Collection, Treasury and Supply Divisions.
Sec. 2. THE COMPTROLLER. The Comptroller shall have the qualifications
and forfeit his office for the causes provided with regard to
the Mayor; receive a salary of eight thousand dollars per annum;
give bond to the City for not less than three hundred thousand
dollars, and appoint one deputy comptroller and such other deputies
and employees as may be provided by ordinance. The Comptroller
shall be the head of the Department of Finance and exercise a
general supervision over its divisions, over all the fiscal affairs
of the City and over all its property, assets and claims and the
disposition thereof. He shall preserve the credit of the City,
and for that purpose, or in case of any extraordinary emergency
of any kind, he may, with the approval of the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment, and with or without any ordinance or other
authority or appropriation therefore, draw warrants on the treasurer
or effect temporary loans to pay debts and
judgments and other liabilities of the City, or to meet any such
emergency, charging such warrants to any excess balances in appropriations
made by the general annual appropriation bill and specifically
reporting his action to the Board of Aldermen at its first meeting
thereafter. He shall have a seat and a voice but no vote in the
Board of Aldermen. He shall be the general accountant and auditor
of the City and the records of his office shall show the financial
operations and condition, property, assets, claims and liabilities
of the City, all expenditures authorized and all contracts in
which the City is interested. He shall require proper fiscal accounts,
records, settlements and reports to be kept, made and rendered
to him by the several departments and offices of the City, including
the license collector's office so far as consistent with law,
and shall control the continually audit the same, and prescribe
forms, rules and regulations therefore and require their observance.
He shall regulate the making of all requisitions for supplies.
Except as by this Charter or by law or ordinance otherwise provided
he shall prescribe and the City. He shall audit all pay-rolls,
accounts and claims against the City and certify thereon the balance
as stated by him and draw claim, or any part thereof, except for
the preservation of the credit provided, shall be audited against
the City unless certified by the officer having knowledge of the
facts, and authorized by law or ordinance, and the amount required
for payment of the same appropriated for that purpose by ordinance
and in the Treasury. He shall see that no contract liability is
incurred except for the preservation of the City's credit, or
in case of emergency, as herein before provided, without previous
authority of law or ordinance. He shall at least monthly, adjust
the settlements of all officers engaged in the collection of revenue.
He may temporarily transfer employees from one division of the
department of finance to any other shall receive and preserve
in his office all books, vouchers and papers relating to the fiscal
affairs of the City. He may destroy any documents, books, vouchers,
papers or cancelled blank forms pertaining to any department,
board or office if he, the City Counselor and the head of such
department, board or office certify that they are useless and
the Board of Estimate and Apportionment so directs. He shall keep
a register of all delinquent and special tax bills or other claims
of the City in the nature of liens on property and shall release
any such bill or claim thereon on proof of payment thereof.
Sec. 3. Any officer or employee in the Comptroller's office may
be designated by him to draw warrants upon the Treasury with the
same effect as if signed by the Comptroller, such designation
to be in writing, in duplicate, filed with the Mayor and in the
treasury division; provided, that the Mayor may make such designation
if the Comptroller be absent or disabled and there be no one in
his office designated to act. Any such designation may be revoked
by the Comptroller while acting as such by filing the revocation
in duplicate with the Mayor and in the Treasury Division.
Sec. 4. ASSESSMENT DIVISION. The Assessment Division shall consist
of the Assessor and such deputy assessors and employees as may
be provided by ordinance.
Sec. 5. The Assessor shall have the qualifications provided with
regard to the Mayor; receive a salary of five thousand dollars
per annum and before entering upon the duties of his office, take
an oath similar to that required by law of county assessors. He
shall be the head of the Assessment Division; appoint the deputy
assessors and employees in his division; preserve all maps, plats,
books and papers belonging to said division; cause all plats to
be prepared, altered and corrected as required by law; receive
lists, statements or returns of property; and furnish blanks and
information to those desiring to appeal to the Board of Equalization.
Sec. 6. Each deputy assessor shall take the same oath as the
Assessor and have the same powers, subject to his control, and
shall have been a resident of the City for five years next before
appointment.
Sec. 7. The Assessor and his deputies before entering upon their
duties shall give bond to the State; the Assessor for twenty thousand
dollars and the deputies each for five thousand dollars, or such
other sums as may be fixed by ordinance. Each bond shall be executed
in duplicate and one forwarded to the State Auditor, the other
deposited with the Comptroller.
Sec. 8. The Assessor, or his
deputies under his direction, shall severally assess all the taxable
property, real or personal, within the City in the manner provided
by law, and for that purpose the Assessor may divide and assign
the work or any of it among them. They shall commence their assessment
on the first day of June in each year, and complete the same,
and the deputies make their final reports thereof to the Assessor,
on or before the first day of January next following. The Assessors
shall see that the assessment is made uniform and equal throughout
the City.
Sec. 9. The Assessor shall make up the assessment books in proper
alphabetical order from the reports made by the deputy assessors,
the lists or statements made of property, his own view, or the
best information he can otherwise obtain, and complete said books
on or before the third Monday in March of each year.
Sec. 10. There shall be a Board of Equalization consisting of
the Assessor, who shall be its president, and four taxpaying,
property-owing citizens resident in the City of ten years next
before their appointment, who shall be appointed annually by the
Mayor on or before the second Monday in March. Each member shall
take an oath similar to that required by law of members of County
Boards of Equalization. Their compensation shall be fixed by ordinance.
Sec. 11. Said Board shall have the power and duty to hear complaints and appeals, and to adjust, correct and equalize the valuations and assessments of any taxable property, real or personal, within the City and to assess and equalize the value of any taxable property, real or personal, within the City and to assess and equalize the value of any taxable property, real or personal, omitted from the assessment books then under examination by them, and to adjust and correct the assessment books accordingly; provided, that if said Board proposes to increase any assessment or to assess any such omitted property, it shall give notice of the fact to the person owning or controlling the property affected, his agent or representative, by personal notice, by mail, or by advertisement, specifying when and where a hearing shall be granted.
Sec. 12. When the assessment books are completed the Assessor
shall give two weeks; notice in at least two daily newspapers
that said books are open for inspection, and stating when the
Board of Equalization will be in session.
Sec. 13. The said Board shall meet on or before the third Monday
in March, annually, and remain in continuous session for at least
three hours in the forenoon and at least three hours in the afternoon
of each day, except Sunday, for four weeks and no longer. It shall
have power to subpoena witnesses and order the production of books
and papers, and any member may administer oaths, in relation to
any matter within its jurisdiction. It shall hear and determine
all appeals summarily, and keep a record of its proceedings and
shall remain in the assessment division.
Sec. 14. Any person may appeal in writing to the Board of Equalization
from the assessment of his property, specifying the matter of which
he complains.
Sec. 15. After the assessment books have been corrected the Assessor
shall make an abstract thereof showing the amount of the several
kinds of property assessed and specifying the amount of value
of all taxable property within the City, and certify thereon that
the same is a true and correct abstract of all such property
in the City so far as he has been able to ascertain. One copy
of the abstract, verified by his oath, shall be delivered on or
before the fourth Monday in May to the Mayor, and another to the
State, school and city taxes and include in said books such matter
as the law shall provide or the Comptroller require. The Assessor
shall then cause tax bills to be made out for such taxes in such
form as the law shall provide or the Comptroller prescribe, and
deliver them with a duplicate schedule thereof to the Comptroller,
who shall compare said bills with said books and schedule and
test the footings, and then officially stamp said bills and deliver
them with one schedule to the collector, and take his separate
receipts; one for the aggregate of said bills, and another for
the State Taxes, which last receipt the Comptroller shall transmit
to the State Auditor.
Sec. 16. The Comptroller shall
hear and determine all complaints of manifest error in the assessment
of property for taxes, and in all cases when it shall appear that
any property, real or personal, has been erroneously assessed,
cause the same to be corrected on the assessment books, and certify
to the State Auditor all such corrections for credit to the Collector.
The Comptroller shall perform all duties and acts within the City,
in regard to the “land delinquent list,” the “sale
of land for taxes,” and the assessment books and tax bills
that are imposed on county courts by general law; and make out
the “back tax books” and the back tax bills required
by law.
Sec. 17. The costs and expenses of the assessment of each year
shall be paid by the City. The Comptroller shall, as soon as the
amount is ascertained, certify the same to the State Auditor and
obtain his warrant in favor of the City for one-half thereof as
provided by law.
Sec. 18. The day after any instrument affecting the title to
real estate is filed in the office of the Recorder of Deeds, the
Recorder shall deliver to the Assessor an abstract thereof and
to the Board of Public Service a copy of such abstract. The Assessor
shall promptly change the plats in his division accordingly.
Sec. 19. COLLECTION DIVISION. The Collection Division shall consist
of the Collector and such deputies and employee as may be provided
by ordinance.
Sec. 20. The Collector shall have the qualifications provided
with regard to the Mayor and be the head of the Collection Division.
He shall receive such compensation as may be provided by law or
ordinance. He shall collect all State, City and school taxes,
wharfage, water rates and dramshop licenses, and may collect special
assessments, and, unless otherwise provided by ordinance, all
indebtedness and claims due the City, and daily pay the same to
the City Treasurer, except the State taxes which shall be paid
by him as provided by law, and except the school taxes which shall
be paid by him to the Board of Education of the City monthly,
or oftener when required in writing by the Treasurer of said Board.
He shall collect license taxes as permitted by law. He shall appoint
the deputies and employee in his division. Each deputy shall have
all the powers of the Collector, subject to his control.
Sec. 21. The Collector, before entering upon the duties of his
office, shall give bond to the State, as required by law, and
to the City, as may be required by ordinance. Said bond to the
State shall be executed in duplicate and one filed with the Comptroller
and the other with the State Auditor.
Sec. 22. The payment of all City and school taxes may be enforced
in like manner as may be provided by law for enforcing the payment
of State taxes.
Sec. 23. TREASURY DIVISION. The Treasury Division shall consist
of the Treasurer, and such deputies and employees as may be provided
by ordinance.
Sec. 24. The Treasurer shall have the qualifications provided
with regard to the Mayor and be the head of the treasury division.
He shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum;
before entering upon the duties of his office, give bond to the
City for at least one hundred thousand dollars; and appoint the
deputies and employee in his division. He shall receive and keep
the money of the City and pay out the same on warrants drawn by
the Comptroller and not otherwise. All money belonging to the
City received by any officer or agent thereof shall be deposited
daily in the Treasury. Division unless otherwise provided by law
or ordinance, and any delinquency in this respect shall be reported
promptly by the Treasurer to the Mayor and to the Comptroller.
The Treasurer shall deliver duplicate receipts for all money received,
one to the party paying, the other to the Comptroller, stating
the source, the amount, and to what account credited. The Treasurer
shall daily report the balance in the treasury to the Comptroller
and to the Mayor.
Sec. 25. Depositaries of the City funds shall be selected and
deposits made therein as provided by law or by ordinance recommended
by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
Sec. 26. SUPPLY DIVISION. The
Supply Division shall consist of the Supply Commissioner and such
deputies and employee as may be provided by ordinance.
Sec. 27. The Supply Commissioner shall be the head of the Supply
Division, receive a salary of five thousands dollars per annum;
give bond as required by ordinance; and appoint the deputies and
employees in his division.
Sec. 28. The Comptroller, Supply Commissioner and President of
the Board of Public Service shall personally or by deputy constitute
the Board of Standardization, whose duty it shall be to classify
and standardize all supplies and materials purchased by the City
or used for municipal purposes, and prepare precise specifications
for all supplies to be purchased through the Supply Division.
The Board may maintain such laboratories or other methods of testing
as may be necessary.
Sec. 29. Supplies for all departments, boards or offices, exclusive of material for public work or improvements, shall be purchased only through the Supply Division, according to such standards and specifications, if any, adopted or prepared by the Board of Standardization, and by advertising for proposals therefore. Bids may be for one or more or all the articles advertised for, but there shall be a specific bid on each article. The award may be made to the lowest bidder for any article or to the lowest bidder for the entire requisition or any part thereof; but the Board of Standardization may reject any or all bids or any part of any bid. The Supply Commissioner may contract for supplies in any amounts or for any periods as may be approved by the Board of Standardization, and subject to the provisions of this Charter. In cases of emergency, to be determined by said Board, purchases may be made without advertising. Purchases in amounts not exceeding five hundred dollars under any one contract may also be made, with the written approval of the Comptroller, without advertising, after securing competitive bids, but there shall be no division of requisitions or contracts for the purpose of securing this privilege. The Supply Commissioner shall inspect and receipt for all supplies.
Supplies shall not be ordered or contracted for by the Supply
Division unless the Comptroller shall certify that a fund is applicable
for payment thereof.
Sec. 30. The Supply Commissioner shall have general supervision
of the public printing and publishing and shall see that it is
executed as may be provided by ordinance, letting the contract
or contracts to the lowest bidder in conformity with the provisions
of this article so far as they may be applicable. Until otherwise
provided by ordinance and except in condemnation proceedings,
all newspaper publishing shall be in at least two daily newspapers,
one in the English and one in the German language. Provision may
be made by ordinance for the City doing its own printing and publishing.
| Board of Estimate and Apportionment | 36 |
Section 1. There shall be a Board of Estimate and Apportionment which shall consist of the Mayor, Comptroller and President of the Board of Aldermen. It shall keep a record of its proceedings and appoint an employee of the Comptroller’s office to act as secretary
without additional compensation.
Sec. 2. The head of every department, board or office shall furnish
to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment such statements of
receipts and expenses and estimates of receipts and requirements,
of such department, board or office, as said Board of Estimate
and Apportionment may require.
Sec. 3. The Board of Estimate and Apportionment shall submit
to the Board of Aldermen, at the beginning of its annual session
or as soon thereafter as possible, a statement showing the estimated
receipts and requirements of each department, board or office
for the current fiscal year and a comparative statement of receipts
and expenses during the previous year, first, however, affording
taxpayers an opportunity to be heard thereon as may be provided
by ordinance.
It shall also annually submit and recommend to the Board of Aldermen a bill appropriating the amounts deemed necessary for the use of each department, board and office for the current fiscal year and a bill establishing the City tax rates for the current year; provided, that the appriations for payment of salaries and compensation of officers and employees may, in the discretion of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, be embodied in a separate bill. The Board of Aldermen shall immediately proceed to the consideration of said bills and shall meet from day to day until they are finally acted upon. If such tax rates be not established by ordinance on or before the forth Monday in May of any year, the rates for the current year. The Board of Aldermen may reduce the amount of any item in such appropriation bill, except amounts fixed by statute or for the payment of principal or interest of the City debt or for meeting any ordinance obligations, but it may not increase such amount nor insert new items.
Sec. 4. All appropriations shall be specific and in detail and be segregated according to the functions or kinds of work for which the money is appropriated.
Sec. 5. Except in the general appropriation bill and bills providing for the payment of the principal or interest of the public debt, no appropriation shall be made from any revenue fund in excess of the amount standing to the credit of such fund, and no appropriation shall be made from any fund for any purpose to which the money therein is not lawfully applicable.
Sec. 6. Any accruing, unappropriated City revenue may be appropriated from time to time by ordinance recommended by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment; and whenever an appropriation exceeds the amount required for the purpose for which it has been made, the excess or any portion or portions thereof may by ordinance recommended by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment be appropriated to any other purpose or purposes.
Sec. 7. All unexpended appropriated money, not appropriated by special ordinance for a specific purpose, shall at the end of the current fiscal year revert to the fund or funds from which the appropriation was made.
Sec. 8. A fiscal year as mentioned in this Charter shall commence
on the second Tuesday in April of each year, or at such other
time as may be provided by ordinance recommended by the Board
of Estimate and Apportionment.
| City Bonds | 37 |
Section 1. Some of the purposes, hereby specifically authorized for which the bonds of the City may be issued and given, sold, pledged or disposed of on the credit of the City or solely upon the credit of specific property owned by the City or solely upon the credit of income derived from and property used in connection with any public utility owned or operated by the City or upon any two or more such credits are the following: For the acquiring of land; for the purchase, construction, reconstruction or extension of water works, public sewers, buildings for the fire department, bridges and viaducts, subways, tunnels, railroads, street railroads, terminals, ferries, docks, wharves, warehouses, gas or electric light works, power plants, telephone and telegraph systems, or any other public utility; for hospitals, insane asylums, orphan asylums, poorhouses, industrial schools, jails, workhouses, and other charitable, corrective and penal institutions; for court houses, and other public buildings, public parks, parkways, boulevards, grounds, squares, river and other public improvements which the City may be authorized or permitted to make, for paying, refunding or renewing any bonded indebtedness of the City, and for the establishment of a local improvement fund to be used for the purpose of paying in cash for local improvements, such fund to be replenished from time to time by the payment into it of the proceeds of special assessments made on account of such local improvements. The foregoing enumeration shall not be construed to limit any general provision of this Charter authorizing the City to borrow money or issue and dispose of bonds, and such general provisions shall be construed according to the full force and effect of their language as if no specific purposes had been mentioned; and the authority to issue bonds for any of the purposes aforesaid is cumulative and shall not be construed to impair any authority to make any public improvements under any provisions of this Charter or of any law.
Sec. 2. Bonds may be so issued as to be payable serially subject to call.
Sec. 3. No bonds of the City except bonds for paying refunding or renewing bonded indebtedness, and except bonds payable only from proceeds of special assessments for local improvements, shall be issued without the assent of two-thirds of the voters of the City voting at an election to be held for that purpose. All forms, proceedings and other matters with respect to any such election and the amounts, purposes, issue and disposition of bonds may be prescribed by ordinance recommended by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
It shall not be necessary in the ordinance calling the election, in the notice of election, in the question submitted, or on the ballot, or in any of the matters preceding the said election, to state the amount of bonds proposed to be issued for each purpose, but it shall be sufficient if the ordinance and notice of election state the total amount of bonds proposed to be voted upon at the said election and in general language the purpose or purposes for which such total amount of bonds is to be issued, and if two-thirds of the voters of the City voting at such election assent to the issuance of such amount of bonds, then such amount may be issued and such bonds or the proceeds thereof may from time to time by ordinance recommended by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, be appropriated in any amount or amounts to the purpose or purposes for which such total amount was voted.
Sec. 4. The Board of Aldermen shall annually levy a tax which will yield not less than one million two hundred thousand dollars to be used exclusively for the payment of the bonded indebtedness of the City existing on the seventh day of April, 1890, and renewals thereof and interest thereon. That portion of each such annual tax levy not required for the payment of the interest maturing during the year on said bonded indebtedness and renewals, shall be credited to and shall constitute a sinking fund to be used exclusively for the payment of said bonded indebtedness and renewals, such levy need not be made except for such interest after the amount in such sinking fund is sufficient to pay all such bonded indebtedness and renewals at maturity. The Board of Aldermen shall annually levy taxes sufficient to meet the sinking fund and interest requirements of each bond issue.
Sec. 5. In addition to the foregoing, until there is a sufficient sum in a sinking fund or funds to pay the “St. Louis Water Bonds” and renewals thereof and applicable thereto, the whole net income from the water works in excess of what may be necessary for (1) the ordinary construction, reconstruction, extension, operation and repair of the water works and facilities, (2) the interest on said water bonds, and (3) the running expenses of the water division, shall be credited to, and with the sinking funds heretofore created therefore constitute, a sinking fund to be used exclusively for the payment of said “St. Louis Water Bonds” and renewals.
Sec. 6. The Board of Estimate and Apportionment shall administer all sinking funds and in the course thereof may purchase with any sinking fund, as an investment therefore, bonds of the City: State or United States, preferably City bonds, and may provide for the payment of maturing bonds out of the sinking fund created therefore, and to that end sell bonds held in such sinking fund; provided, that all bonds purchased with the particular sinking fund created therefore shall not be regarded as an investment or be reissued, but shall be canceled. Bonds forming part of any sinking fund and not required to be canceled shall be deposited in a safe deposit vault in the City to which access can be had only by at least two members of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment jointly, one of whom shall be the Comptroller. All interest earned on investments or deposits belonging to any sinking fund shall belong to such fund. Whenever the amount in any sinking fund exceeds an amount sufficient to pay all the bonds for which such fund is created, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment may transfer the excess to other sinking funds.
Sec. 7. All warrants for the payment of bonded indebtedness or
for disbursements out of any sinking fund shall be approved by
the Mayor and President of the Board of Aldermen.
Published on the web:
August 1997