payment has not been made in compliance with the provisions of such ordinance. The liens of the amounts of such special assessments may be enforced by bill in equity, and any number of liens arising under the provisions of one ordinance may be enforced in any by one proceeding in equity. The Town shall have and collect a lien upon any properties affected by such special assessment for reasonable attorney's fees for the collection of unpaid special assessment after the collection thereof shall have been entrusted to an attorney by resolution of the Town Council. The town shall have the power to erect school houses and maintain public schools and charge a reasonable tuition fee for pupils. 1911 qualifica Sec. 36. All persons who shall possess the qualifica- Voter's tions requisite to an elector at a general State election, tions. and shall have paid his poll taxes, as provided by law and as prescribed for State elections, and shall have resided. in the Town for six months next preceding the election, and shall have been registered in the municipal registration as shall be prescribed by ordinance, and all persons who shall possess the qualifications requisite to an elector at a general State election in St. Johns County, and shall have paid their poll taxes, as provided by law and as prescribed for State elections, and shall have spent at least two weeks in the town in the twelve months preceding the election, and shall own real estate in the town, and shall have registered in the municipal registration, as shall be prescribed by ordinance, shall be a qualified elector of the town of such election; and Provided, That the State and county registration shall not be required to qualify an elector of the town. The Town Council Elections. shall provide for holding all elections of town officers, and for canvassing the votes votes and certifying the results thereof. The person receiving the highest vote shall be entitled to the office. The election shall be held as near as may be in accordance with law governing elections for State officers, and the same form of ballot shall be used as is now provided by law for use in elections for State officers. Any person desiring his name Candidates. to be printed upon the official ballot as candidate for any office shall, not less than fifteen days before the election, file with the Town Clerk a petition signed by ten or more qualified electors of said town, asking that his name be placed upon the official ballot as a candidate for such office. The Town Council shall have the official ballots prepared and printed, and shall place upon the official ballot the name of those for whom petitions have been filed within the time herein provided, and no others, but shall leave upon such ballots sufficient space for other names to be written in by the voters. Sec. 37. All officers of said town, before entering upon the duties of their office, shall take and subscribe to an oath to faithfully perform the duties of their office. Sec. 38. Any officer of said town may be impeached by the Town Council and removed from office for misfeasance, malfeasance of nonfeasance in office, or for drunkenness or habitual intoxication, by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of all the members of the Town Council. Should charges be preferred against any officer, the same procedure shall be had and observed as provided in this Act in case of charges against the Mayor. Sec. 39. The officers of the Town of Bunnell shall have and exercise all powers conferred by general law upon municipal officers, not inconsistent with the terms of this Act. The said officers shall have the power to condemn lands and their appurtenances for the same purpose and in the same manner as is set forth and provided in Section 1040 of the General Statutes of the State. Sec. 40. The Town Council shall have exclusive power to make all public improvements and expenditures authorized by ordinances, but shall let all contracts for over two hundred dollars to the lowest responsible bidder. Sec. 41. The Town Council shall not employ or contract with the Mayor or any councilman or with any other town official. Sec. 42. No suit shall be maintained against the town for damages arising out of its failure to keep in proper condition any sidewalk, pavement, viaduct, bridge, street or other public place, unless it shall be made to appear that the damage alleged was attributable to the gross negligence of the town, and that written notice of such damage was, within thirty days of the receiving of the injury, given to the Mayor with such reasonable specifications as to time and place and witnesses as would enable the town officials to investigate the matter; and no verdict shall in any suit be given for an amount exceeding com pensation damaged to the plaintiff directly attributable to such negligence on the part of the town and not caused by contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff. It shall be the duty of the Mayor, upon receiving any such notice, to at once investigate the matter and lay the facts, supported by the evidence, before the Town Coun. cil in a written report, and the Town Council shall have the right, and upon the written request of the person injured, it shall be the duty of the Town Council to investigate the matter, and it may, by ordinance, make such reasonable settlement of any such damages as may be agreed upon between the Town Council and the person so damaged, which settlement must be approved by twothirds of all the members of the Town Council. 1911 office, etc. Sec. 43. The number, powers, duties, terms of office Terms of and time and manner of election or appointment of any and all boards and officers of the Town of Bunnell created by State Legislature or by town ordinance, excepting only the legislative powers and duties of the Town Council, may be amended and changed for any and all boards and officers, whether created by State Legislation or town ordinance, may be abolished and new boards and offices created by ordinance adopted by the affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of all the members of the Town Council and approved by the Mayor, or passed over his veto, and at a general or special municipal election approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of all the qualified electors who shall have voted on the proposition; Provided, That not less than fifty per cent. of the qualified voters shall have voted on such proposition; and Provided, That once a week for three weeks next preceding such election such ordinance or ordinances shall have been published in a newspaper published in St. Johns County, Florida, or posted in the Town Hall and two other public places in said town; and Provided, further, That the town electors shall be given an opportunity at such elections to vote separately on each amendment upon the proposed change as to each office to be affected; and Provided, further, That this Act shall not deprive the Town Council of the power to create and abolish any office not created or recognized by State Legislation of by ordinances approved by the votes of the electors of the town. 1911 Governor to cers. Powers of officers appointed. Sec. 44. That the Governor shall appoint one person as Mayor, five persons as Town Councilmen, one person appoint offi- as Town Clerk and Tax Collector and one person as Town Treasurer of the said Town of Bunnell and the persons so appointed shall be and constitute the officers of said Town of Bunnell and shall hold office until their successors are elected at the first election of officers provided for in this Act and shall qualify. Persons so ap pointed by the Governor shall be qualified electors of said town, and shall take the oath of office prescribed in his Act, and the Town Clerk and Town Treasurer shall give such bond as may be required by the Town Council. When such officials appointed by the Governor shall have qualified as herein prescribed they shall have and exercise all the duties, functions and powers provided for and conferred by this Act upon the government and officers of said town. The officers so appointed and qualified shall have the power to levy a tax upon all taxable real and personal property in said town for the year 1911, and prepare and complete assessment and tax rolls and books in the manner provided for in this Act, and the taxes so levied and assessed shall be and become a lien in the property against which the same shall be assessed, and shall become due and payable and shall be collectable in the same time and manner prescribed and provided in the foregoing sections of this Act; Provided, The valuation at which said property is assessed shall not exceed the valuation at which the said property is assessed for the purpose of State taxation, and the rate of taxation shall not exceed one per cent. upon such valuation. The said officers shall have the power to license and tax privileges and occupations in the manner and within the limitations provided for in this Act. In order to meet the expenses of the town government until taxes sufficient therefor are collected, the Mayor and Town Council so appointed may from time to time contract for and borrow money at a rate of interest not exceeding eight per cent. per annum; Provided, That the total amount so borrowed from time to time shall not exceed the sum of one thousand dollars. For the amount so borrowed, the Town Clerk shall, upon the order of the Town Council, draw his warrant or warrants under the corporate seal of the town upon the Town Treasurer, and the same, when coun tersigned by the President of the Town Council, shall become and be valid evidence of debt against the said Town of Bunnell. Sec. 45. This Act shall take effect and become a law upon its passage and approval by the Governor. Approved June 2, 1911. 1911 CHAPTER 6333—(No. 214). AN ACT to Establish the Municipality of the Town of Be it Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: limits. Section 1. A municipality to be called and known as Territorial the Town of Callahan is hereby established in Nassau County, the territorial boundaries of which shall be as follows: Commencing at the northwest corner of the northeast quarter of Section thirty, in township two, north of range twenty-five east; thence run east one mile; thence south one mile; thence west one mile; thence north one mile to point of beginning; the same being one mile square, and containing all those certain lands described within the boundary lines of a certain map of Callahan made by James M. Dancey on the 15th day of August, 1907, and filed in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, in and for Nassau County, Florida, on the 8th day of June, A. D. 1908; the above described lands being in Sections twenty-nine and thirty and the Seymour Pickett Grant Section forty, in township two, north of range twenty-five east, Nassau County. Sec. 2. Said corporation shall have perpetual succession, may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, may purchase, lease, receive and hold property real and personal, within said town, and may sell, lease or otherwise dispose of the same for the benefit of the town; and may purchase, lease, receive and hold property, real and personal, beyond the limits of the town, to be used for the Perpetual succession, sue and be sued, etc. |