Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 26

AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO REINCORPORATE THE TOWN OF MILLSBORO", BEING CHAPTER 203, VOLUME 25, LAWS OF DELAWARE, AS AMENDED, BY INCREASING THE NUMBER OF COMMISSIONERS; ESTABLISHING REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICTS; CHANGING QUALIFICATIONS FOR VOTERS AT ANNUAL ELECTION; AND CHANGING THE DATE OF THE ANNUAL ELECTION.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware (two-thirds of all Members elected to each House thereof concurring therein):

Section 1. Section 5, Chapter 203, Volume 25, Laws of Delaware, as amended, is hereby amended by striking all of said Section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

Section 5. There shall be seven Commissioners who shall elect from their own number a President, a Treasurer, and a Secretary. The Commissioners, at their first meeting in July, shall appoint an Alderman, a Board of Assessment, a Tax Collector and such other Officers, employees and agents of the Town which may be deemed proper and necessary for the proper conduct and management of the affairs of the Town. A member of the Board of Assessment may also be the Tax Collector.

Section 2. The first paragraph of Section 6, Chapter 203, Volume 25, Laws of Delaware, as amended, is hereby amended by striking out all of said Paragraph and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

Section 6. The qualifications for Commissioners of the Town of Millsboro shall be as follows:

(1) A bona fide resident of the United States and of the State of Delaware and a resident freeholder of the Town of Millsboro for at least one (1) year next preceding the annual election; and

(2)At least twenty-one (21) years of age; and

(0)A non-delinquent taxpayers of all taxes assessed by the Town of Millsboro for at least one (1) year next preceding the election; PROVIDED HOWEVER, that if territory is annexed and additional representative districts are created from which Commissioners will be elected and it would not be possible for persons who would be elected from these newly created representative districts to meet the qualifications of being a resident of the Town of Millsboro for a period of one (1) year next preceding the election and non-delinquent taxpayer of the Town of Millsboro for a period of one (1) year next preceding the election, such requirements shall be waived for the first general municipal election following annexation only.

Section 3. Section 9, Chapter 203, Volume 25, Laws of Delaware, as amended, is hereby amended by striking out all of said Section and substituting in lieu thereof the following:

Section 9. There are hereby created and established three (3) representative districts for the Town of Millsboro, as follows:

(1) District One: The area located East of United States Route 113 and South of Main Street to the Town limits;

(2) District Two: The area located East of United States Route 113 and North of Main Street to the Town limits;

(3) District Three: The area located West of United States Route 113 to the Town limits.

There shall be elected two Commissioners from each of the above-described representative districts and one (1) Commissioner who shall be elected at large.

Each qualified voter shall be permitted to vote in person for a candidate to be elected to each office. The present Commissioners of Millsboro shall continue to hold office during the respective terms for which they were elected or until their successors have been duly elected and qualified. On the second Saturday in June A. D. 1963, there shall be held a town election at which time there shall be elected one (1) Commissioner who shall reside in the Second District, two (2) Commissioners who shall reside in the Third District and one (1) Commissioner at large who may reside in any District. The Commissioner elected in June, A. D. 1963, from the Second District shall hold office for a period of three (3) years or until his successor is duly elected and qualified. The Commissioner elected in June, A. D. 1963, from the Third District who receives the largest number of votes shall hold office for a period of three (3) years or until his successor is duly elected and qualified and the Commissioner elected from the Third District in June, A. D. 1963, who received the next largest number of votes shall hold office for a period of one (1) year or until his successor is duly elected and qualified. The Commissioner elected at large in June, A. D. 1963, shall hold office for a period of three (3) years or until his successor is duly elected and qualified. At the annual election to be held on the Second Saturday in June, A. D. 1964, there shall be elected from the First District, one (1) Commissioner who shall hold office for a period of three (3) years or until his successor is duly elected and qualified and * one (1) Commissioner from the Third District who shall hold office for a period of three (3) years or until his successor is duly elected and qualified. At the annual election to be held on the second Saturday in June, A. D. 1965, there shall be elected from the First District, one (1) Commissioner who shall hold office for a period of three (3) years or until his successor is duly elected and qualified and one (1) Commissioner from the Second District who shall hold office for a period of three (3) years or until his successor is duly elected and qualified. At each subsequent annual election, the successors to those Commissioners whose terms shall have expired shall be elected to serve for a term of three (3) years. The Commissioners shall fill vacancies arising in their own membership as provided in Section 8 of this Charter. All Commissioners shall serve until their successors shall be duly elected and qualified.

Section 4. Section 10, Chapter 203, Volume 25, Laws of Delaware, as amended, is hereby amended by striking all of said Section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

Section 10. The general municipal election shall be held in the Millsboro High School in the Town of Millsboro on the second Saturday in June of each and every year from one o'clock in the afternoon until six o'clock in the evening, the first of said annual elections held pursuant to this Section shall be held on the second Saturday in June, A. D. 1963. The Commissioners shall, at least ten days before any general municipal 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. Prior to the date of the election, the Commissioners shall appoint either from the holding-over members of the Commissioners or from among the other qualified voters of the Town an inspector and two judges to act as a Board of Election. The members of the Board of Election shall decide upon the legality of the votes offered and shall keep a list of all voters thereat. 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 one year next preceding the day of election, and is a taxable thereof, and shall have paid a town tax within twelve months prior to the day of holding said election, shall have a right to vote. But no one shall be permitted to vote who has been declared a delinquent for the year next preceding the election. If territory has been annexed to the Town of Millsboro, it would not be possible for persons residing in the newly annexed territory at the first general municipal election following annexation to have resided in the said Town for a period of one (1) year next preceding the day of election nor to have paid a town tax within twelve (12) months prior to the day of election. Consequently, the above-stated qualifications shall be waived at the first general municipal election following the annexation of new territory for those persons who reside in the annexed territory and it shall be a sufficient qualification for those said persons to vote at the general municipal election if on the day of election, they are bona fide residents of the Town of Millsboro. Immediately after the election is closed the votes shall be publicly read and counted 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 elected. Immediately after such election the Board of Election, shall enter in a book to be provided for that purpose, minutes of such election, containing the names of the persons chosen and shall subscribe the same and give the candidates so elected certificates of their election. The book containing such minutes shall be kept and preserved by the Commissioners.

All elections shall be by ballot and the candidates who receive a plurality of the votes shall be declared to have been elected.

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.

Approved April 29, 1963.