CHAPTER 548
REORGANIZATION OF STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
AN ACT PERTAINING TO THE STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT AND PROVIDING FOR ITS REORGANIZATION, COMPOSITION AND MEMBERSHIP, FOR THE RATIFICATION OF THE ACTS OF THE STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT CREATED BY CHAPTER 268 OF VOLUME 50 LAWS OF DELAWARE, REPEALING SAID CHAPTER 268 OF VOLUME 50 LAWS OF DELAWARE AND ABOLISHING THE OFFICES THEREIN CREATED, AND AMENDING CHAPTER 1 OF TITLE 17 OF THE DELAWARE CODE.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:
Section 1. Chapter 268 of Volume 50 Laws of Delaware (Senate Bill No. 285, as amended, of the 118th General Assembly) is hereby repealed. The State Highway Department and the offices of members of the State Highway Department created by said Chapter 268 of Volume 50 Laws of Delaware are hereby abolished.
Section 2. All acts and actions of the State Highway Department created by Chapter 268 of Volume 50 Laws of Delaware and all acts and actions of the members of such State Highway Department created by such Chapter 268, as recorded or reflected in the minutes or other records of the Department, are hereby ratified, confirmed, approved and declared to be valid and effective acts and actions of the Department and the members thereof, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the act or action of such Department and the members thereof in appointing Garrett E. Lyons as Director and Leroy F. Hawke and J. Henry Topkis as associate members of the Delaware Interstate Highway Division pursuant to Section 2 of Chapter 492 of Volume 50 Laws of Delaware (Senate Bill No. 472 of the 118th General Assembly).
§ 111. Composition; appointment; term; qualifications; vacancy
(a) The State Highway Department that existed on June 8, 1955 is reestablished and continued with all of the powers, duties and property that it had on that date or which were thereafter conferred upon or acquired by the Department created by Chapter 268 of Volume 50 Laws of Delaware.
The Department shall consist of twelve members. There shall be three resident members from each county and three members-at-large resident at any place in the State. No more than two resident members from any county and no more than eight members of the Department shall belong to the same political party. Each member of the Department shall be, when appointed, a citizen of the United States, a qualified voter of the State, and a resident of the State for at least three years preceding the date of his appointment. Each member of the Department appointed as a resident member from a county of the State shall during his term of office be a resident of that county. A member of the Department shall not be during his term of office a member of any state, county or district political committee.
(b) Upon the expiration of the term of any member of the Department, the Governor, by and with the consent of a majority of the members elected to the Senate, shall appoint a successor for a term of six years from the date of expiration of the term of his predecessor. No appointment of a member to succeed a member whose term of office has expired shall be complete or effective unless and until the nominee has been confirmed by the Senate.
(c) In case of a vacancy in the Department for any reason other than the expiration of the term of office, the remaining members of the Department shall fill such vacancy for the unexpired term by selecting a properly qualified person.
Section 4. § 114 of Title 17 of the Delaware Code is amended to read as follows:
A majority of the members of the Department shall constitute a quorum. A majority of the members present at any meeting and constituting a quorum shall be sufficient for any action by the Department.
Section 5. § 116 (a) of Title 17 of the Delaware Code is amended by deleting from the first line thereof the commas and the words "at least 3 members concurring".
Section 6. § 118 of Title 17 of the Delaware Code is amended by deleting from the first line thereof the commas and the words "at least 3 members concurring".
Section 7. § 151 (b) of Title 17 of the Delaware Code is amended by substituting the words "two-thirds of the" for the figure "5" in the second line of said § 151 (b).
Section 8. The members of the Department who were serving as such on June 8, 1955 shall continue to be and are hereby appointed as members of the Department until the expiration of the respective terms of office to which they were last appointed by the Governor Each of such persons is designated as a resident member of the Department for the County of his residence. There are hereby appointed, as additional members of the Department the following persons, viz:
Robert D. Thompson of Sussex County, for a term expiring on May 1, 1958, hereby designated as a member-at-large ; Edward Kelly of Kent County, for a term expiring on May 1, 1959, hereby designated as a resident member for Kent County ; Thurman Adams of Sussex County, for a term expiring on May 1, 1960, hereby designated as a resident member for Sussex County; Samuel J. Fox of Kent County, for a term expiring on May 1, 1961, hereby designated as a member-at-large ; and Benjamin Ableman of New Castle County, for a term expiring on May 1, 1962, hereby designated as a member-at-large.
Section 9. On the first Monday after this Act becomes effective, at 3 o'clock P. M., the members of the Department shall convene at the offices of the Department at Dover. The members appointed by this Act shall present a certified copy of this Act and the same shall be accepted as sufficient evidence of their authority to hold the offices to which they were respectively appointed by this Act. At such meeting the members shall
elect one of their members to be chairman of the Department.
NOTE : This bill became a law on December 5, 1955 without the approval of the Governor and in accordance with Section 18, Article 3 of the Constitution of Delaware.