CHAPTER 356
FORMERLY
HOUSE BILL NO. 317
AN ACT TO AMEND THE MUNICIPAL CHARTER OF THE TOWN OF WYOMING (43 DEL. LAWS 189) TO AMEND THE DESIGNATION OF THE BOUNDARIES OF THE TOWN OF WYOMING; BRING THE ACT INTO COMPLIANCE WITH CHAPTER 75 OF TITLE 15 OF THE DELAWARE CODE; PERMIT TAXATION AND BORROWING BY THE TOWN OF WYOMING IN A MANNER CONSISTENT WITH THE GROWTH OF THE TOWN THROUGH ANNEXATION; AND MAKE OTHER MINOR CHANGES TO MAKE THE ACT CONSISTENT WITH THE PRACTICES OF THE TOWN OF WYOMING.
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. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by deleting the current “Section 1.” and inserting as a new “Section 1.” the following:
“Name and Territorial Limits.
Section 1. The municipal corporation of the State of Delaware shall hereafter be known as ‘The Town of Wyoming’. The boundaries of the Town of Wyoming are hereby established and declared as depicted on the most recent map entitled ‘Town of Wyoming Municipal Limits’ certified and dated by the Mayor and Secretary of the Town Council and of public record in the Kent County Recorder of Deeds Office. Such map shall, from time to time, be updated and revised to reflect intervening changes in the Town’s municipal boundaries and duly recorded, but failure to record such map shall not void an annexation.”.
Section 2. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by making the following changes to subsection 3.2. Candidates:
(a) The first sentence of Section 3.2(A) should be deleted and replaced with the following first sentence:
“Candidates for Mayor and members of the Town Council must be at least 21 years of age, a citizen of the State of Delaware, and a bona fide domiciliary of the Town for at least one year prior tot the date of the election.”
(b) Insert a new subsection 3.2(B) after subsection 3.2(A) as follows:
“(B) Candidates for Town office shall file a Certificate of Intention or a Statement of Organization as required by State law.”.
Section 3. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by deleting the first two words, “Council members” of the first sentence of subsection 3.3 and inserting the following language at the beginning of the sentence: “The Mayor and each member of the Town Council”.
Section 4. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, subsection 5(B) as follows:
(a) In the first sentence, “4:00 PM” shall be changed to read “4:30 PM”;
(b) In the second sentence, insert a period “(.)” after the phrase, “Said nomination shall be in writing signed by the nominee” and delete the remainder of the second sentence.
Section 5. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by deleting the current subsection “5(D)” and inserting a new subsection “5(D)” as follows:
(1) Every qualified citizen of the Town of the age of eighteen (18) years or upwards and registered to vote on the day of the election shall have a right to vote. A qualified citizen must have been a resident of the Town for at least thirty (30) days. The voter shall not vote for more candidates than are to be elected and shall mark the ballots with an X beside the name of each candidate, or follow the voting instructions provided at the polling place, which he or she desires to vote for.
(2) Every voter qualified, and duly registered, who shall be unable to appear to cast their ballots at any election for any reason permitted by State statute to vote by absentee ballot may cast a ballot at such election by absentee ballot to be counted in the total of such election. The Council may provide the rules and regulations for such absentee voting by ordinance for all elections, such rules and regulations to be consistent with State statutes governing Municipal Elections.”.
Section 6. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by deleting Section “5(E)” and renumbering Sections “5(F)” and “5(G”) as Sections “5(E)” and “5(F)”, respectively.
Section 7. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by deleting the current Section “6” and inserting as a new Section “6” the following:
“Organization and Annual Meeting of Council.
Section 6. The Council members-elect shall attend all meetings of the Town Council from the date of the election until the members-elect are sworn in as provided below. The first Monday in May following the annual election each year the Council shall meet, and the newly-elected officers shall assume the duties of office. Before entering upon the duties of their offices, the newly-elected members shall be sworn by a Notary Public, a Justice of the Peace, or by a holdover Member of the Council to faithfully and impartially perform their duties. At the organization and annual meeting, the Council shall organize and thereafter shall hold meetings at such times as hereinafter provided.”.
Section 8. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by deleting the current Section “14(A)” and inserting as a new Section “14(A)” the following:
(A) The Mayor of the Council shall be a member of the Council. The Town Council shall, at the annual meeting held on the first Monday in May next following the annual election, organize by electing a Vice Mayor, a Secretary and a Treasurer. The Town Council shall designate a Town Clerk, who shall also be the Collector of Taxes. The Council shall appoint a Town Solicitor, a Board of Assessment and an Auditor. The Mayor and Council shall also elect and appoint any such other officers, employees and agents of the Town which the Council deems proper and necessary for the proper conduct and management of the Town. Any appointed officer may be removed at any time by the Town Council for cause.”.
Section 9. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by deleting Section “15(1)” and inserting as a new Section “15(1)” the following:
“(1) Assessment valuation shall be determined by the Kent County Assessments.”.
Section 10. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by revising subsection “15(14)”as follows:
(a) Delete “$250,000” in the first sentence of subsection and replace with “$600,000”.
(b) Delete “$400,000”: in the first sentence and replace it with “$1,000,000”.
Section 11. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by revising Section 33 as follows:
(a) Delete the language reading “The Town Council may, by majority vote, in their discretion, when deemed necessary and advisable for the protection of the health, safety and welfare of the people of the Town of Wyoming, appoint a Board of Health.
A. The Board of Health for said Town of Wyoming shall consist of three members appointed by the Council to serve for one year and one of whom shall be a practicing physician in said Town; they shall report to the Council in writing whatever is deemed by the Board to be injurious to the health of the people of the Town and shall make recommendations to Council of whatever may contribute to useful, sanitary information.”.
(b) Renumber subsections ”33(B)”, “33(C)”, and “33(D)” as subsections “33(A)”, “33(B)” and “33(C)” respectively.”.
Section 12. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by renumbering Section “34, 35, and 36” as Sections “33, 34, and 35”, respectively.
Section 13. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by amending the current Section “37” by renumbering said section as Section “36” and by making the following revisions:
(a) In the first clause “One Hundred Dollars ($100);” shall be deleted and replaced with “Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000).”.
(b) At the end of the first clause, replace the semicolon “(;)”with a period “(.)” and delete the remainder of the Section.
Section 14. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by deleting the current Section “38” and Section “38B” , and inserting as a new Section “37” the following:
“Section 37. The Town Council of the Town shall have full power and authority to borrow upon the full faith and credit of the Town of Wyoming such sum or sums of money, not exceeding One Hundred Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($125,000.00) in the aggregate in any one fiscal year, when in the opinion of the majority of Council the needs of said Town demand it. Said Council may secure said sum or sums of money by promissory notes or certificates of indebtedness of the Town of Wyoming, duly authorized by resolutions of Council, and signed by the Mayor, or by the acting Mayor and by the Secretary, either with or without the corporate seal of the Town, affixed as requested by the bank or person advancing the money on said notes or certificates, and no officer nor member of the Council shall be personally liable for the payment of such notes or certificates because it is signed by them as officers of the Council, and is authorized by the resolution of the Council. Provided, however, that no borrowing of money shall be authorized by this Act in excess of the One Hundred Twenty-five Thousand Dollar ($125,000.000) limitation herein fixed, except that should the Town Council deem additional borrowing in excess of the amount herein provided to be for the benefit of the Town, the said Town Council shall cause a referendum to be held in the manner prescribed for other town elections, in which the qualified and legal voters of the Town, after full explanation and advertisement of the need for additional borrowing, may vote for or against the same. If after such referendum the majority of voters cast their votes for additional borrowing, the Town Council may borrow additional sums beyond the limit of One Hundred Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($125,000) notwithstanding repayment of prior borrowing has not been made.”.
Section 15. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by renumbering “Sections 39, 40, 41, 42 and 43” as “Sections 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42”, respectively.
Section 16. Amend Chapter 43, Volume 189, Laws of Delaware, as amended, by inserting as a new Section 43 the following:
“IMPACT FEE
Section 43. The Town Council may impose, upon new development or construction or upon first time occupancy of new construction such ‘impact fees’ as are reasonably and proportionally calculated to recover the cost of installing, enlarging, improving or expanding public or municipal improvements which have a rational nexus to such new construction; and/or to contribute to the costs of operations of those volunteer fire companies and/or ambulance/paramedic companies providing services within the Town.”.