CHAPTER 335
DELAWARE CITY
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 191, 45 LAWS OF DELAWARE "AN ACT TO REINCORPORATE THE TOWN OF DELAWARE CITY."
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of all Members elected to each Branch of the Legislature concurring therein):
Section 1. Section 4, Chapter 191, 45 Laws of Delaware is amended by adding a new paragraph to said section to read as follows:
To destroy os cause to be removed dwelling houses or other structures deemed by the Mayor and Council to be unsafe for public or private use or habitation due to fire hazard, structural weakness, or conditions dangerous to public health; the cost thereof to be entered in the regular tax book of said Town, against the name of the owner or owners of said property as soon as determined and to become a lien against the land on which said dwelling or structure was erected from the date of entry, and shall be collected in the same manner as hereinafter provided for the collection of taxes within the Town.
The new paragraph quoted above shall be placed immediately after the paragraph in said Section 4, Chapter 191, Laws of Delaware which presently reads:
To make and enforce within said town such fire, police and other regulations as are deemed expedient to protect persons and property, maintain the public peace, prevent crimes and promote the public morals;
Section 2. Section 4, Chapter 191, 45 Laws of Delaware is amended by striking out and repealing the next to the last paragraph in said section which begins "To make the violation of its ordinances a misdemeanor. . . ." and by substituting and enacting a new paragraph to read as follows:
To make the violation of its ordinances a misdemeanor in all proper cases, and to prescribe the punishment therefor by fine or imprisonment; provided that such fine shall not exceed One Hundred Dollars and such imprisonment a term of thirty days, excepting cases involving the violation of the motor vehicle code in the Town, where the Council of the Mayor and Council may enact ordinances providing penalties to those provided under State Law.
Section 3. Section 10, Chapter 191, 45 Laws of Delaware is amended by striking and repealing all of Section 10 and by substituting and enacting a new Section 10 to read as follows:
Section 10. The general municipal election shall be held in the Town Hall or some suitable building in said Town designated by the Mayor and Council on the first Tuesday in April of each and every year from one o'clock until seven o'clock in the afternoon. All persons desiring to be candidates at any municipal election shall file with the Secretary of the Council a written statement of their candidacy, at least, fifteen days prior to said election, and a vote cast for any person whose candidacy has not been filed, shall not be counted. The Secretary of the Council is authorized to accept a withdrawal notice signed by the candidate up until five days before the said municipal election. The Mayor shall, at least twenty days before any general election, give notice of such election, together with the officers to be elected thereat, by posting notices in five or more public places in said Town. There shall be an inspector and two judges, which judges shall also act as clerks at such election, elected by the Council. At such election every citizen of said Town, who shall have attained the age of twenty-one years and shall have resided in said Town for one year next preceding the day of election, and is a taxable thereof, shall have a right to vote; but no one shall be permitted to vote who has not paid all taxes due the said Town of Delaware City, ten days before the Town election. The inspector and judges of the election shall decide on the legality of the votes offered. Immediately after the election is closed the votes shall be read and counted in public, and the persons having the highest number of votes shall be declared duly elected and shall continue in office during the term for which they were chosen, or until their successors are duly chosen and qualified. Immediately after such election the persons under whose superintendence the election is held, shall enter in a book to be provided for that purpose, a minute of such election, containing the names of the persons chosen Mayor, Members of Council or Treasurer, and shall subscribe the same and give the persons so elected, certificates of their election. The book containing such minutes shall be kept and preserved by the Council. All elections shall be by paper ballot or voting machine, and a plurality of votes cast shall make a choice. A failure to hold an election on an election day, or the omission to execute any authority conferred by this act, shall not dissolve the corporation, but the authority of each officer shall continue until the next general municipal election.
In the event an election is not contested, it shall and may be lawful to open the polls at one o'clock, P. M., and to close them at two o'clock, P. M.
Section 4. Section 12, Chapter 191, 45 Laws of Delaware is amended by striking the period after the words "proper authority" as it appears on line 22 of said section and by substituting therefor a comma and by adding the following words and period, "excepting cases involving the violation of the motor vehicle code in the Town, where the Mayor is empowered to impose the same fines and penalty exercised by a Justice of the Peace in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware."
Section 5. Section 21, Chapter 191, 45 Laws of Delaware is amended by striking and repealing the first sentence of said paragraph 21 and by substituting and enacting in lieu thereof a new first sentence which shall read as follows:
The Council shall, on the first Monday of January of each year, elect an assessor who shall be a legally qualified voter of said town, and who shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, be duly qualified by oath or affirmation to perform the duties of his office to the best of his knowledge, and without favor or partiality.
Approved March 31, 1958.