CHAPTER 207.
OF THE CITY OF WILMINGTON.
AN ACT to Revise and Consolidate the Statutes relating to the City of Wilmington.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of each branch thereof concurring):
LIMITS AND CORPORATE POWERS.
SECTION 1. The City of Wilmington shall be bounded
as follows, viz: Beginning at the Delaware river at a point one thousand (1000) yards eastwardly from a stone set in the middle of the westerly bank of said river, in a line with the northerly side of Thirteenth street extended; thence by a line forming an extension of said street without any change of course thereof to the easterly side of the Brandywine creek; thence along the same about one and a quarter miles to the old ford above the head of tide-water, and continuing along said side of said creek about thirty-three hundred (3300) feet, or until it reaches a point sixty-nine hundred and sixty-eight (6968) feet (measured at right angles) from the northerly side of Front street extended, westwardly; thence north fifty-eight degrees west, and parallel with Front street to a line intersecting Front street at right angles at the distance of twenty-three hundred and thirty (2330) feet westerly from the center of Broome street; thence along said line south thirty-two degrees west and parallel with Market street sixty-nine hundred and sixty-eight (6968) feet to the northerly side of Front street extended, twenty-three hundred and thirty (2330) feet westerly from the center of Broome street; thence continuing the same course over Front street to a point sixteen hundred and ninety (I690) feet from the southerly side thereof; thence south fifty-eight degrees east and parallel' with Front street to the northerly side of the Christiana turnpike road; thence by a line running southerly and at right angles to said turnpike to a marked stone set in the bank at the southerly side of Christiana river; thence easterly parallel with Front street to the Delaware river aforesaid to a point therein one thousand yards from a marked stone set in the middle of the western bank of said river, and thence thereby northerly to the place of beginning; extended as follows; viz: by a line beginning at a stone at the westerly side of the Brandywine creek at the point where the northerly boundary line boundaries intersects the same; thence easterly by a line running perpendicularly to and crossing the Wilmington and Great Valley turnpike road at right angles to a point intersected by a line running perpendicularly to the Philadelphia turnpike road; thence by said last mentioned perpendicular line southeasterly to a stone in the middle of said Philadelphia turnpike road about ninety feet northeasterly from Price's run; thence southeasterly and parallel to Vandever avenue to the northerly side of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad; thence by a line southeasterly and parallel to Thirteenth street to its intersection in the River Delaware with the northerly extension of the present water line or front of said city, and thence thereby southerly to its intersection with the northerly side of Thirteenth street; and further extended as follows, namely: By a line beginning at a point where the main roadway or tracks of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company intersects the southerly city line; thence southwesterly along the center of said roadway of the said Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company to line of lands of Henry Latimer; thence northwesterly along the line of said lands to a point where the said line extended crosses the center of the Wilmington and Newport turnpike road, and thence in a strait line northwesterly to the corner stone which marks the southwesterly boundary of the City of Wilmington, at the intersection of Beach and Union streets. Within the limits of the City of Wilmington, established by this act, the Mayor and Council of Wilmington shall be vested with all power, rights, privileges and immunities which before this time belonged to them as a municipal corporation; all the laws, ordinances and regulations in force within the former city limits, not modified or repealed by the provisions of this act and not locally inapplicable, shall be extended and applied to the territory comprised within the boundaries set forth in this act.
SECTION 2. The style and name of the corporation of the said city shall be "The Mayor and Council of Wilmington;" and by that name they shall be and are hereby made able and capable in law, to have, take, purchase, receive, possess, enjoy and retain, to them and their successors, lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods, chattels and effects, of what kind, nature or quality soever, and the same to sell, grant, demise, alien or dispose of, to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, answer and be answered, defend and be defended, in all courts of law and equity or any other place whatsoever, and also to make, have and use a common seal; and the same to break, alter and renew at their pleasure, and generally to have all the privileges and franchises incident to a corporation or body politic.
CITY OFFICERS.
SECTION 3. The city officers shall be a Mayor, a Council to be composed of two members from each ward of said city; a President of said council who shall be ex officio a member and the presiding officer of said council; a Treasurer, an Auditor, a Solicitor, a High Constable, two Assessors who shall also be Collectors, one Inspector and two assistant Inspectors of election for each election district, and such other officers as the council by ordinance shall create and appoint.
SECTION 4. No person shall be eligible to any office who it not, at his election, a citizen of the state and a resident of the city. The mayor must have resided in the city two years next before his election. A member of council must also have resided in the city two years before his election, and must additionally be, at the time of his election, a resident in the ward in which he is elected and a freeholder in the city.
No ordained clergyman, or ordained minister of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be eligible to any office established under or by virtue of this act.
SECTION 5. Every officer of said city, before he enters upon the duties of his office, shall take an oath, or affirmation, to support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Delaware, and that he will perform the duties of the office to which he has been elected, or appointed, with fidelity.
The oath or affirmation may be administered by any holding-over member of council to the president-elect, who,
after being sworn or affirmed, may administer the oath or affirmation to new members of the city council, and in case of his absence the same may be administered by the president pro tempore.
MAYOR.
SECTION 6. At the city election to be held on the first Saturday in June, A. D. 1885, and on the same day in every third year thereafter, the voters in the respective election districts shall vote for a mayor, who shall be elected by a plurality of all the votes cast in the several election districts. The mayor shall hold office for the term of three Years, commencing on the first day of July succeeding his election.
SECTION .7. The mayor is hereby constituted a conservator of the peace within the said city, and it shall be his duty to take care to have the laws and ordinances of the said city faithfully executed. He shall have the custody of the seal of the corporation and the right of affixing the same.
SECTION 8. The mayor shall have power to take and certify under his hand and seal of office the acknowledgment of deeds, and letters of attorney, and the private examination of married women parties to such deeds, in like manner as a judge or notary public may do; for which service he shall receive a fee of seventy-five cents, and no more, whether there be one or more parties to the deed.
SECTION 9. The mayor shall also have .authority within the city, in like manner as a preacher of the gospel, to solemnize marriages, and shall keep a like register, and certify an extract therefrom to the recorder of New Castle county in like manner, and shall receive the same fee, and be subject to the same penalties touching the solemnization of marriage, and the keeping a registry thereof, as is a preacher of the gospel under the existing or any subsequent laws of this State.
SECTION 10. In case of the temporary absence of the mayor from the city, or temporary disability to perform the functions of his office, the president of council shall, during the continuance of such absence or disability, assume and discharge the duties of mayor pro tempore, with all the powers and authorities of the mayor for the time being. In case of the inability of the president of council to act as mayor pro tempore, council shall make appointment of a mayor pro tempore from the members of council to act during such temporary absence, or inability to act, of the said mayor.
SECTION 11. In case of the death, removal from the city, resignation, or refusal to act, of the mayor or any other elective officer of said city, or in case of the removal of any member of council out of the ward for-which he was elected, the council shall make temporary appointments to supply such vacancies until the same can be filled by election under the provisions of this act. Such election shall be for the unexpired term of such officer, and shall take place at the first city election occurring more than nine days after the commencement of such vacancy, unless such vacancy shall occur in the last year of the term of said officer, in which case the temporary appointment of council shall be for the unexpired term of said officer, and until his successor shall be duly elected and qualified. The provisions of this section shall apply to any elective office to which a person who has been elected thereto shall be found ineligible, or shall fail to give bond for the faithful performance of the duties of his office (when such bond is required by law) before the time fixed for entering upon the duties of his office.
SECTION 12. The seal now used as the seal of office of the said mayor shall continue to be used as such until the same shall be changed, altered, or renewed by the council.
SECTION 13. The mayor may be removed by a vote of two-thirds of the whole council after a fair and impartial trial upon which he shall by such trial be found guilty of the charge or charges preferred against him. The reasons for the removal shall be entered on the journal.
Municipal court.
SECTION 14. From and after the first day, of June, A. D. 1883, there shall be and is hereby established within the said city a court of record and of law which shall be known by the name, style and title of "The Municipal Court for the City of Wilmington," and it shall be the duty of the Governor, before the first day of June aforesaid, to appoint and commission a city judge who shall have power and authority to hold and keep said Court of Record. No person shall be eligible to the office of City Judge unless he be a man learned in the law and of at least seven years standing as a practicing attorney in the Superior Court of this State. The city judge shall hold his office for the term of twelve years, unless sooner removed by the General Assembly. Upon his appointment he shall take the oath of office prescribed by Article VIII of the Constitution of this State. The terms of said court shall commence on the first Monday in each and every month and may be continued by adjournment as may be required. It shall be the duty of the council of said city, and the same is hereby authorized and directed, immediately after the passage of this act, to provide some suitable place in the city hall, or such other place as the council shall provide, for the holding of said municipal court, and all expenses of said court for books, records, writs, and other papers necessary for the said court, shall be paid by the council upon a bill presented to the same, verified by the affidavit of the City judge, and shall be paid in the same manner as other bills against said city are now paid. In case of the sickness or other temporary disability of the city judge, the associate judge of the Superior Court, resident in New Castle county, may, if he deem it necessary, either hold the said municipal court himself or designate in writing, some suitable person who when so appointed shall have all necessary power and authority to do so. In the absence of the city judge, or any person so authorized to hold said court, the clerk thereof shall open and adjourn said court from day to day.
SECTION 15. The said municipal court shall have sole and exclusive jurisdiction to inquire of, hear, try, and finally determine all those criminal matters and offenses enumerated in the fifteenth section of the sixth article of the amended Constitution, and committed within said city, and to punish all persons convicted of said offenses, or any of them, agreeably to the laws of this State; and shall, except where in this Act otherwise provided, have sole original jurisdiction to inquire of, hear, try, and determine all offenses which shall be committed within said city against any of the laws, ordinances, regulations or constitution of said city, and to punish the offender or offenders as by the said laws, ordinances, regulations, or constitution shall be prescribed; and also to impose fines according to law, and to levy the same, and to award process, take recognizance for keeping the peace for being of good behavior, and for appearance, or otherwise, or to commit the prisoner, as occasion shall lawfully require, without being accountable to the State for any fines or amercements to be imposed for the said offenses, or any of them, except such as are, or shall be, by law, made payable into the State treasury for offenses against the State. The said court shall have authority to punish contempt, and to issue all process necessary for the exercise of its jurisdiction, which process may be executed in any part of the State and it shall be the duty of all constables of said city to execute the same when placed in their hands, and any failure to properly execute the same shall be punishable as a contempt of said court. Whenever any person shall be brought before any justice of the peace, or before the city judge sitting as a committing magistrate, charged with the commission of any of the offenses enumerated in the fifteenth section of Article VI of the Constitution of this State within the limits of the City of Wilmington, it shall be the duty of every such justice, and of the city judge sitting as aforesaid, to bind the person so charged, with sufficient surety for his appearance at the next term of the said municipal court, and if he do not give such surety, shall commit him for trial by such court. Such justice, and the city judge sitting as aforesaid, shall also bind material witnesses for their appearance without surety, unless he believes the witness will not appear and that the loss of his testimony ought not to be risked, in which case he may require surety and may commit the witness if it be not given.
SECTION 16. Prosecutions in the said municipal court shall be by information, without indictment by grand jury or trial by petit jury.
SECTION 17. The solicitor of said corporation for the time being shall be ex officio the prosecuting officer in the said municipal court, ,provided that the Attorney-General of the State shall have the right to prosecute in person, or by his deputy; and there shall be taxed for the appearance of said city solicitor a fee of two dollars, payable into the city treasury as provided in Section 27.
SECTION 18. The city judge shall appoint a suitable person to al as clerk of the said municipal court, who shall hold his said office of clerk at the pleasure of the said judge. The said clerk shall have care of the records of said court and the records of all proceedings had before said city judge, and he shall receive all fees, fines and costs arising out of any proceedings had in said court, or before said judge, and shall pay the same over as is hereinafter prescribed by law. He shall, within ten days after his appointment, give bond with sufficient surety or sureties to be approved by the said city judge in the sum of three thousand dollars to faithfully execute all the duties of the said office during his continuance therein, and in default of so doing the said city judge shall proceed to make a new appointment to said office.
SECTION 19. The fee for the attendance of a witness in said court, provided the witness is an inhabitant of said city shall be fifty cents per day. In all other cases, and for all other services, the fees shall be the same as are provided for like services by Chapter 125 of amended Revised Code.
SECTION 20. There shall be no appeal from said municipal court to the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Jail Delivery, except in the case hereinafter provided; but the proceedings of the said municipal court shall be subject to revision by the Superior Court in and for New Castle county upon writs of certiorari, and after its judgments shall be affirmed, or reversed, the said municipal court may proceed to execution, or otherwise, as shall according to law appertain; provided that before the issuing of such writ of certiorari the party applying for the same shall enter into a recognizance to the Mayor and Council of Wilmington, in a penalty and with surety to be approved by the prothonotary of said Superior Court, and with condition that the said party, so applying for the same, shall prosecute said writ with effect, or otherwise that he will in all things abide the judgment of the said municipal court if he shall fail to make his plea good or the same be affirmed by the Superior Court; which recognizance shall be entered upon the docket succeeding the entry of the certiorari and shall be a part of the record of the same.
SECTION 21. Upon an information in the municipal court for a nuisance (other than a nuisance against the public health) affecting the public streets, lanes, or alleys of the or alleys of the city, if the party against whom the same is filed shall, by affidavit, claim a right of property in that part of the street, lane, or alley, in which the offense is alleged to have been committed, either in himself or those under whom he holds, and shall also aver, in the said affidavit, that the said claim of property is made in good faith for the purpose of defense and not for delay, proceedings in said court shall be stayed, and the clerk shall forthwith transmit to the clerk of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Jail Delivery in and for New Castle county a copy of the record, under the seal of the municipal court, to be filed in the said Court of General Sessions, and thereupon the case shall be proceeded in at the next term of the said court upon the information set forth in the copy of the said record, in like manner and with like effect as upon an indictment for the like offense.
SECTION 22. Before staying proceedings under the foregoing section, the municipal court shall cause the party against whom the information is filed to enter into a recognizance to the State of Delaware to appear in the said Court of General Sessions, at the next term thereof, and plead to the said information.
SEcTION 23. Upon failure of a defendant to satisfy any judgment which may be rendered by the municipal court
against him for the violation of a city ordinance, it shall be within the discretion of the municipal court to commit the defendant to the custody of the high constable until the judgment shall be fully satisfied; but any person so committed may, within three days thereafter, appeal from any judgment so rendered against him to the Superior Court for New Castle county. Such person appealing shall enter into recognizance with sufficient surety in such sum as the said municipal court shall determine, conditioned for the due prosecution of the appeal and for the payment of any judgment which may be rendered in said court against the appellant or his executors or administrators. The filing of a transcript, modes of trial, and forms of proceeding shall be as in cases of appeal from the judgments of justices of the peace.
SECTION 24. The said city judge shall, immediately upon his appointment, procure, or cause to be procured, a seal for said municipal court, and a further seal as city judge, with suitable designs; and said seals shall be the seal of said court and the seal of the said city judge respectively until altered or renewed by the council, at the request, in writing, of said city judge. The cost of procuring the said seals shall be paid by the council when certified to be correct by the said city judge.
SECTION 25. All fees for the attendances for the prosecution in any criminal case or proceeding had in the said municipal court in which it shall be determined by the said court that the said case or proceeding ought to be dismissed as against the defendant therein, shall be paid out of the city treasury; provided that nothing in this section shall authorize the payment of witness fees to any person who shall at the same time be a high or other city constable. The payment of such fees shall be by a warrant of the clerk of said court, directed to the city treasurer, setting out the case in which and the person to whom such fee is due, and such warrant shall be signed by the judge of said court and approved by the city auditor. The said warrant shall be made payable to the person to whom such witness fees are due.
SECTION 26. The city judge is hereby constituted a Conservator of the peace within the City of Wilmington, and shall have power, as a committing magistrate, to commit for trial at the proper court all persons charged with a breach of any of the laws of this State, or with a breach of any of the laws, ordinances, regulations or constitution of the City of Wilmington. He may also punish by fine, not exceeding ten dollars, all breaches of the peace committed within said city punishable by any law of this State and not herein made cognizable by the municipal court for said city, where the offense is not of a high or aggravated nature, if after a hearing, he shall be satisfied that the case ought not to be submitted to a higher jurisdiction; otherwise he shall commit or bind the defendant for his appearance at the proper court to answer the charge, and shall also bind the witnesses for their appearance, and may require surety of them if necessary. The fees to be charged for services under this section shall be the same as those authorized to be charged by justices of the peace in like services, and shall be collectable in like manner, for the use of the city, as provided in Section 27. The process issued by the said city judge, sitting as a committing magistrate, shall be the same as is issued by justices of the peace in like cases, and all such process may be directed to the city constables and shall be executed by them in like manner as process issued out of the said municipal court, and any failure to properly execute said process shall be punishable by said city judge as a contempt.
SECTION 27. The Same fees, costs and charges which in any similar proceeding are now taxable for the services of the mayor or any justice of the peace shall be taxed for the services of the judge of the said municipal court, and all fees, costs and charges which are so taxed, and all fees, costs, and charges, including the fee for the attendance of the city solicitor, together with witness fees for the services or attendance of any high or other city constable in said court, shall be and are hereby made payable into the city treasury; and it shall be the duty of the clerk of said court to make out, by the first Tuesday of every month, a detailed statement of the causes tried in the said Municipal court during the month last past, having set out therein an itemized account of all fines, costs, charges and fees by this act made payable into the city treasury and in his hands, which statement shall be approved by the city auditor. Upon such approval the said clerk shall forthwith pay into the hands of the city treasurer all such fines, fees, costs and charges in his hands.
SECTION 28. The said judge of the municipal court shall also have power to take and certify under his hand and the seal of the municipal court, acknowledgments of deeds, mortgages, and letters of attorney, and the private examinations of married women parties to such deeds and mortgages, in like manner as a notary public may do; for which duty there shall be charged a fee of seventy-five cents, and no more, whether there be one or more parties to the deed, and such fees shall be paid to the clerk for the use of the city.
COUNCIL.
SECTION 29. The council shall consist of twenty-two members to be elected for two years, so that there shall be two members of council from each ward, and in addition thereto there shall be a president of council, who shall be elected biennially by a plurality of all the votes cast in the several wards. The president of council shall be the presiding officer and a member of the said council: To the end that eleven members of council shall be chosen annually in regular order, besides supplying vacancies, the following rule shall be observed in the election of members of council, viz: At the annual election in June, A. D. 1883, there shall be elected, in each of the wards of the city, one member of council to hold office for the term of two years, and at the election annually thereafter, in each ward, one member of council for two years, besides the election for the city at large of the president of council, who shall be elected at the city election occurring in June A. D. 1884 and biennially thereafter, the present president of council and the present members of council respectively holding their several offices during their respective terms as is now provided by law. The above provisions shall be taken and construed to be subject to the provisions in Section II, preceding.
SECTION 30. The council shall hold a meeting for organization annually on the Tuesday evening next ensuing the annual city election, and shall further meet at least once in every month at such time or times and place as it shall appoint. Special meetings may be called by the mayor upon his own motion, or shall be called at the request of five members. The sittings of the council shall be public. It shall be the judge of the election returns and qualifications of its members, and of all other officers of the corporation. It shall choose its officers except where otherwise provided for in this charter. It shall determine the rules of its proceedings and keep a journal of the same. Twelve members shall constitute a quorum to do all business. No ordinance shall be passed without the concurrence of a majority of all the members of the council and unless it shall have had at least two readings at a previous stated meeting or meetings, nor shall any ordinance be repealed unless notice shall have been given and entered on the journal of the council at a stated meeting that at the next succeeding stated meeting an ordinance would be introduced for such repeal. All questions shall, upon the call of two members, be taken by ayes and noes, which shall be entered upon the journal. All elections for officers to be appointed by the same, shall be by ballot and by a majority of votes of all the members of the council.
SECTION 31. The members of council shall constitute the legislative body of said city, and shall be denominated, when assembled, "The Council." The council shall have power to enact ordinances to preserve the health of the city, and to prevent the introduction of infectious or contagious diseases, for which purpose its jurisdiction shall extend to any distance within one mile of the limits of the city. The council may also pass ordinances to define and remove nuisances; to ascertain and fix the boundaries of streets, squares, lanes and alleys, or to repair and amend the same, and provide for the paving thereof, or to alter, extend, or widen any street, square, lane, or alley, or open and lay out new ones, subject to the provisions in that behalf hereinafter contained; to regulate and fix the ascent and descent of all streets, lanes, and alleys; to direct the paving of footways and to prescribe the width thereof; to direct the laying out of gutters and to prescribe the depth thereof; to prescribe the extent of steps, porches, cellar doors and other inlets to buildings; to provide night watches and for the lighting of streets at the expense of the corporation, and generally to prescribe and regulate the use of the highways, streets, squares, lanes and alleys of the city, and to have and exercise control over the same, subject to the provisions in that behalf hereinafter contained and to the general supervision and control of the General Assembly; to provide for the regulation of auctions and auctioneers; for cleaning docks and regulating wharves of the city; also to regulate public amusements; to fix and declare the weight of bread and size of brick; to regulate the cordage of wood and bark, and to determine what may be esteemed merchantable; to appoint wood-corders and establish their fees; to regulate party walls; to provide for the safety of the citizens, and for that purpose may prescribe the height, thickness of walls and material of buildings and the mode of erecting the same within said city, and for providing for and securing the safety of the inmates thereof, and may make provision for the enforcement of such regulations; to erect market houses, and to provide for and regulate markets; to provide against the adulteration of milk and cream sold or brought to be sold in the said city, and to provide for the proper inspection of the same; to provide for the proper lighting of the streets, squares, lanes and alleys of said city, and in its discretion to provide for the payment of the expenses thereof; to regulate the sweeping of chimneys and establish the rate therefor; to appoint gaugers, inspectors of salted provisions, and inspectors and measurers of lumber, and to establish their fees; to provide for the weighing of hay, and for the measuring or weighing of coal, lime, grain, or any other matter sold in the said city; to regulate the storage of gunpowder or any other dangerously combustible matter. They shall have power to lay and cone fines on the owners or harborers of any dog or hog which may be found at large in any of the streets, lanes, or alleys of the city aforesaid, and in general shall have power to do all those matters and things for the well-being of the said city which shall not be in contravention of any existing laws of this State or the constitution thereof. Every bill which, after the passage of this act, shall have passed the council, shall, before it becomes an ordinance of said city, be presented to the mayor of said city. If he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to the council, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal and proceed to reconsider it. If after such consideration two-thirds of all the members of the council shall agree to pass the bill, and it shall be so passed, it shall become an ordinance of said city. If any bill shall not be returned to the council by the said mayor within ten days (Sundays excepted) after the same shall have been presented to him, the same shall become an ordinance in like manner as if he had signed it. In all such cases the votes of council shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of the council. The council shall not have power to pass any ordinance exempting any individual from the operation of any general ordinance or municipal regulations.
CITY TREASURER.
SECTION 32. At the city election to be held on the first Saturday in June, A. D. 1884, and on the same day in every second year thereafter, the voters in the respective election districts shall vote for a city treasurer who shall be elected by a plurality of all the votes cast in the several election districts. The city treasurer shall hold office for the term of two years, commencing on the first day of July succeeding his election.
SECTION 33. The city treasurer shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, give bond to "The Mayor and Council of Wilmington," in such amount as shall be determined by the Council, with surety to be approved by the mayor and president of council, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office, with a warrant of attorney for the confession of judgment thereto annexed.
SECTION 34. All moneys belonging to the city which shall come into the hands of the city treasurer, shall be by him deposited, every day, in some incorporated banking institution or institutions to be designated by council, in the name of "The Mayor and Council of Wilmington," generally, except in the case of money-proceeds arising out of a bonded debt authorized by the General Assembly for a specific purpose or use, in which case such money-proceeds shall be deposited in the name of the Mayor and Council of Wilmington for the special purpose or use for which the debt was authorized and shall only be drawn out for such special purpose or use. All moneys so deposited shall be drawn out only on an order signed by the president and clerk of council, and countersigned by the city auditor and city treasurer, or in case of the absence or temporary disability of either, then by such person as the council may designate by resolution and the others.
SECTION 35. The city treasurer shall furnish to the council, at each stated meeting, an itemized statement of all moneys received by him during the period between such stated meeting and the one immediately preceding, together with the aggregate amount paid out of the city treasury during said week and the balance remaining therein at the time of making said statement. If the city treasurer shall pay any money out of the city treasury contrary to the provisions of this act, he shall forfeit and pay to the corporation for every such offense, a fine of five hundred dollars, and he and his sureties shall be liable to the city upon his official obligation for any money so paid out by him.
SECTION 36. The city treasurer shall perform such other duties as are hereinafter prescribed by this a6.1, or by such ordinance or ordinances as council shall from time to time enact, and which are not inconsistent with the provisions of this act. The council may enforce by suitable penalties any duties enjoined by this act or by such ordinance or ordinances aforesaid, except where penalties are provided by this act.
CITY AUDITOR.
SECTION 37. At the third stated meeting in June, A. D. 1884, and on the same day in every third year thereafter,
council shall elect a person to discharge the duties of city auditor. The city auditor shall hold office for the term of three years, commencing on the first day of July after his election. The present city auditor shall hold office until the first day of July, A. D. 1884.
SECTION 38. The city auditor, before entering upon the duties of his office shall, with sufficient surety or sureties,
become bound to the city by a joint or several obligation, to be, with surety or sureties therein, approved by the finance committee, with a condition therein for the faithful performance of his duty; and shall, so often as the council shall direct, make return to the city treasurer, under oath or affirmation of each item of the moneys received by him, and immediately pay the amount in his hands to the city treasurer.
SECTION 39. The duties of the city auditor shall be such as are prescribed by this act, or as the council shall,
by ordinance not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, from time to time prescribe, and council may enforce the same by suitable penalties. Among his other duties the city auditor shall examine all bills against the city and indorse them as correct before they are presented to council for payment. He shall also examine and countersign all drafts or orders upon the city treasurer before they shall be paid, and withhold his signature in case the draft or order is made without sanction of law, without any appropriation therefor by council regularly made, is drawn against a wrong fund, or with any, circumstances of fraud actually or presumably attached thereto, in all of which cases he shall report his action and the grounds therefor to council at its ensuing meeting. Council shall thereupon duly, carefully and publicly consider the case, and shall sustain or overrule his action by a direct vote by yeas and nays upon the question; whereupon it shall be the duty of the city auditor, in case he shall be overruled, to countersign the said draft or order, in which case he shall be exonerated from all imputation or responsibility in the premises.
CITY SOLICITOR.
SECTION 40. At the third stated meeting in June, A. D. 1884, and on the same day in every third year thereafter, council shall elect a city solicitor. The person so elected city solicitor must be an attorney and counsellor of the Superior Court of this State, who shall have been admitted to practice therein at least five years prior to his election, and shall also be a solicitor in the Court of Chancery. The city solicitor shall hold office for the term of three years, commmencing on the first day of July after his election. The present city solicitor shall hold office until the first day of July, A. D. 1884.
SECTION 41. The city solicitor shall be the legal adviser of all the departments of the government of said city, and shall have charge of all the legal business thereof, and no fees shall be paid by any of said departments for any legal services to any person who shall have been employed without the approval of said city solicitor. The said solicitor shall perform such duties as are prescribed by this act and by such ordinance or ordinances as council shall from time to time enact, and which are not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, and council may enforce the performance of said duties by suitable penalties, except where penalties are provided in this act.
CITY CONSTABLES.
SECTION 42. The mayor for the time being, shall have the power and authority and shall appoint the high constable and other city constables, and shall have the power to supply by new appointments all vacancies ,that may occur in said office of constable, and may, in his discretion, remove or suspend any constable from office. The number of city constables, so to be appointed, shall be defined by ordinance. The high constable, and the other city constables shall assist the mayor in carrying into effect the ordinances of the city, and shall perform all such duties as may be prescribed by act of the General Assembly, or by the ordinances of the city. They shall possess like powers within the county of New Castle as are possessed by the constables of the county.
SECTION 43. No person shall be appointed, or after the passage of this act continued, a city constable who is not a citizen of the United States, or who has been convicted of crime, or who cannot read and write understandingly in the English language, or who shall not have resided within the State at least one year preceding his appointment. Nor shall any person be appointed such constable, except upon the certificate of the physicians who shall be for the time being members of the board of health, or a majority them, that he has been found upon examination to be physically sound and is in their judgment qualified to discharge the duties of the office, that his weight is not less than one hundred and thirty pounds, and that his height is not less than five feet four inches.
SECTION 44. The mayor may appoint, and cause to be sworn in, any number of patrolmen to do duty at any place in the city designated by and at the charge and expense of the person or persons who may ask for such appointment, and may change or remove them at pleasure. They shall be subject to and obey the orders, rules and regulations governing city constables, and conform to the general discipline and special regulations of the police department.
SECTION 45. The Mayor may, upon any emergency, or apprehension of riot or mob, take command of the police force and appoint as many special constables as he may deem advisable. During their Service the special appointees shall possess the powers and perform the duties of other city constables, and shall receive such compensation as shall be authorized by the mayor, not exceeding that of the officers of the regular force performing corresponding duties. The mayor shall have power to summon the posse comitatus for the preservation of the public peace and hold and employ such posse subject to his direction.
SECTION 46. No high or other constable shall, while on duty, enter any drinking saloon or other place where liquors are sold to be drunk on the premises, except for the purpose of discharging the duties of his office, under penalty of immediate dismissal. No such constable shall be a member of any political committee, or delegate to any political convention, or shall be present at any such convention, or at any primary, special or general election except in full official uniform (discharging the duties of his office as constable) or shall, at such place or in any public place, engage in any political solicitation, nor shall any such constable, nor any special constable, on the day of any ele6tion held within the limits of said city, be within the distance of thirty feet of any voting place, except for the purpose of depositing his vote or to quell an actual disturbance of the public peace, nor shall he in any manner attempt to influence a voter as to the casting of his ballot; and any violation of the provisions of this section shall work a forfeiture of his position and it shall be the duty of the mayor to dismiss him from office and enter upon record the cause of such dismissal, and he shall not be eligible for reappointment. Any violation of the provisions of this section shall also be a misdemeanor, and any such constable being convicted thereof shall forfeit and pay to the State of Delaware a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months, or both, at the discretion of the court. Upon complaint made against any such constable, to the municipal court, verified by affidavit, if said constable, after hearing, shall be committed or bound for his appearance at the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Jail Delivery to answer the charge, such constable shall be suspended from his office pending his trial. Upon conviction ipso facto he shall forfeit his office.
SALARIES AND FEES.
SECTION 47. The salaries of the several officers herein provided for shall be fixed from time to time by ordinance, payable monthly, and shall not be less per annum than the following amounts respectively:
Mayor - Fifteen hundred dollars;
Judge of Municipal Court - Fifteen hundred dollars;
President of Council - Two hundred dollars;
Clerk of City Council - Fifteen hundred dollars;*
City Solicitor - Twelve hundred dollars;*
City Treasurer - Twelve hundred dollars;
City Auditor - Twelve hundred dollars;*
Chief Engineer of the City - Two thousand dollars;*
Clerk of Municipal Court - Six hundred dollars;
Each Member of Board of Health - One hundred dollars;
Each Executive Officer of Board of Health - Five hundred dollars;*
Registrar of Deaths, Births and Marriages - Eight hundred dollars;
Member of Board of Assessment, Revision and Appeals - Three hundred dollars;
High Constable - Twelve hundred dollars;
City Constables, each - Seven hundred and twenty dollars;
Member of Council - $1 for each meeting of council, and fifty cents for each committee meeting he shall attend, and, the chairman of each committee shall keep a record book in which he shall enter. the attendance of all members of the committee of which he is chairman, and report the same monthly to the clerk of the council.
The salaries of officers of the city, other than those above designated, shall be established by ordinance; but the council shall not have power to augment or reduce the salary of any officer for and during the period for which he shall have been elected or appointed; provided, that with respect to any person who may be in office at the time of the passage of this act, the council may, if the sum herein named shall be deemed by said council inadequate as compensation for the duties herein or hereafter imposed upon any officer, increase any of said salaries by ordinance passed prior to the first day of September next ensuing the passage of this act.
No officer whose salary is fixed by this act, or by ordinance of said council, shall receive any fees or emoluments in addition thereto, except such fees as are provided in this act; but all fees or emoluments pertaining to said offices, except as aforesaid, shall be 'paid monthly by the persons receiving the same to the city treasurer for the use of the city, taking his receipt therefor, which sum so received shall be reported to the council by said treasurer at the next stated meeting of council after the receipt thereof. Provided however, that whenever any city official is called by city business outside of the city limits; council shall allow to such city official his actual traveling expenses and such other reasonable compensation as may by council be deemed proper.
SECTION 48. It shall be the duty of the- high constable of said city, or other person who may be the keeper of the prison cells in said city, or in charge thereof, to receive and lock up and safely keep in said cells .any person committed by any judgment or sentence of the municipal court of said city, or of any justice of the peace resident of said city, for the violation of any of the provisions of the laws of this State, or of the provisions of this act, or of the ordinances of said city, for temporary confinement, until such person, committed as aforesaid, may be taken to the common .jail of New Castle county by the officer to whom such person may have been committed, and the actual cost for all meals, medical attendance and medicines furnished such person so committed as aforesaid, by the said high constable, or other person keeper of said cells or in charge thereof; shall be paid by the council, after an itemized bill thereof, verified by the affidavit of the person furnishing the same, audited by the city auditor in the same manner as other bills against the said city are now paid, shall have been presented to the said city.
WARDS AND ELECTION DISTRICTS.
SECTION 49. The City of Wilmington shall be divided into eleven wards, as follows:
The First Ward shall consist of all that part of the city lying and being south of Sixth street, and bounded on the east by a line passing southerly through the middle of Market street extended to the southerly city line, and on the west by a line passing southerly through the middle of Washington street extended to the southerly city line;
The Second Ward shall consist of all that part of the said city east of Market street and south of Third street;
The Third Ward shall consist of all that part of the said city lying and being south of Sixth street and bounded on the east by a line passing southerly through the middle of Washington street extended southerly to the point of intersection with the middle of West Liberty street extended, on the west by a line passing southerly through the middle of Adams street to the point of intersection with the middle of West Liberty [street] extended, on the west by a line passing southerly through the Middle of Adams street to the point of intersection with the middle of Maryland avenue, and having for its general southerly boundary a line commencing at the point of intersection of the middle of Adams street with the middle of Maryland avenue ; thence along the middle of Maryland avenue to its intersection with the middle of West Liberty street extended, southeasterly to its intersection with the middle of Washington street extended southerly;
The Fourth Ward shall consist of all that part of the said city lying and being east of Market street and between Third street and Sixth street;
The Fifth Ward shall consist of all that part of the said city lying and being west of Market street and -between Sixth street and Ninth street;
The Sixth Ward shall consist of all that part of the said city lying and being east of Market street and west of Poplar street, between Sixth street and Brandywine river;
The Seventh Ward shall consist of all that part of the said city lying and being west of Market street and between
Ninth street and the northerly boundary line of the said city as established by an act of the General Assembly, passed at Dover, March 7th, A. D. 1861;
The Eighth Ward shall consist of all that part of the said city lying and being east of Poplar street and between Sixth
street and the Brandywine river;
The Ninth Ward shall consist of all that part of the said city lying and being north of the northerly boundary line established as aforesaid;
The Tenth Ward shall consist of all that part of the said city lying and being west of Adams street and bounded on the north by Sixth street, and on the south by Linden street;
The Eleventh Ward shall consist of all that part of the said city lying and being within the following boundary lines, to wit: Beginning at the intersection of the middle of Linden street with the westerly city line; thence along the middle of Linden street easterly to its intersection with the middle of Maryland avenue ; thence along the middle of Maryland avenue northeasterly to its intersection with the middle of West Liberty street; thence southeasterly along the middle of West Liberty street extended to its intersection with Washington street extended southerly; thence southerly along the middle of Washington street extended to its intersection with the present southerly city line; thence by the said southerly city line northwesterly to its intersection with the center of the main roadway or tracks of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, and thence by the extended boundaries as described in Section I of this act to the corner stone marking the city line at the intersection of Beech and Union streets, and thence northerly by the present city line to Linden street, the place of beginning.
Wherever a street is named as a boundary in this section, the center or middle thereof shall be understood.
*SECTION 50. For the purpose of holding elections for city, state and county Officers, in Wilmington city and hundred, the city shall be divided into twenty-six election districts as follows, to wit:
(*Amendment – Chapter 208, current volume)
All that portion of the First Ward lying and being south of Third street shall form the First Election District;
All that part of the First Ward lying and being north of Third street shall form the Second Election District;
All that part of the Second Ward lying and being south of the Christiana creek or river shall form the Third Election District;
All that part of the Second Ward lying and being north of the Christiana creek or river shall form the Fourth Election District;
All that portion of the Third Ward lying and being south of Fourth street and east of Madison street shall form the Fifth Election District;
All that portion of the Third Ward lying and being south of Fourth street and west of Madison street shall form the Sixth Election District;
All that portion of the Third Ward lying and being north of Fourth street shall form the Seventh Election District;
All that portion of the Fourth Ward lying and being west of Lombard street shall form the Eighth Election District;
All that portion of the Fourth Ward lying and being east of Lombard street shall form the Ninth Election District;
All that portion of the Fifth Ward lying and being east of Washington street shall form the Tenth Election District;
All that portion of the Fifth Ward lying and being west of Washington street and east of Adams street shall form the Eleventh Election District;
All that portion of the Fifth Ward lying and being west of Adams street shall form the Twelfth Election District;
All that portion of the Sixth Ward lying and being south of Eighth street shall form the Thirteenth Election District;
All that portion of the Sixth Ward lying and being north of Eighth street and south of Tenth street shall form the Fourteenth Election District;
All that portion of the Sixth Ward lying and being north of Tenth street shall form the Fifteenth Election District;
All that portion of the Seventh Ward east of- Franklin street and south of a line beginning at the intersection of Delaware avenue and Franklin street, thence along Delaware avenue easterly to its intersection with Eleventh street, and thence along Eleventh street easterly to its intersection with Market street, shall form the Sixteenth Election District;
All that portion of the Seventh Ward lying and being east of Franklin street and north of a line beginning at the intersection of Delaware avenue and. Franklin street, thence along Delaware avenue easterly to its intersection with Eleventh street, and thence along Eleventh street easterly to its intersection with Market street, shall form the Seventeenth Election District;
All that portion of the Seventh Ward lying and being west of Franklin street shall form the Eighteenth Election District;
All that portion of the Eighth Ward lying and being south of Eighth street shall form the Nineteenth Election District;
All that portion of the Eighth Ward lying and being north of Eighth street and south of Tenth street shall form the Twentieth Election District;
All that portion of the Eighth Ward lying and being north of Tenth street shall form the Twenty-first Election District;
All that portion of the Ninth Ward lying and being east of Thatcher street extended southerly to the Brandywine creek or river shall form the Twenty-second Election District;
All that portion of the Ninth Ward lying and being west of Thatcher street extended southerly to the Brandywine creek or river shall form the Twenty-third Election District;
All that portion of the Tenth Ward lying and being north fourth of Second street shall form the Twenty-fourth Election District;
All that portion of the Tenth Ward lying and being south of Second street shall form the Twenty-fifth Election District;
The Eleventh Ward, as at present defined and bounded, shall form the Twenty-sixth Election District.
Whenever a street is mentioned as a boundary in this section, the centre line or middle thereof shall be understood.
*SECTION 51. The polling places in the several election districts above designated shall be as follows:
(*Amendment – Chapter 208, current volume)
In the First Election District, at the house situated on the northeast corner of Second and Tatnall streets;
In the Second Election District, at the house situated on the northeast corner of Second and Orange streets;
In the Third Election District, at the house situated on the southeast corner of Heald and Apple streets;
In the Fourth Election District, at the house known as the "Felton House," on the southeast corner of Second and Walnut streets;
In the Fifth Election District, at the house situated on the northeast corner of Christiana and Madison streets;
In the Sixth Election District, at Witsil's store, on the southwest corner of Front and Madison streets;
In the Seventh Election District, at the house situated on the southeast corner of Fifth and Madison streets;
In the Eighth Election District, at the house on the northwest corner of Fourth and French streets;
In the Ninth Election District, at the house situated on the southwest corner of Fifth and Spruce streets;
In the Tenth Election District at the LaFayette Hotel, situated on the southwest corner of Ninth and Shipley streets;
In the Eleventh Election District, at the house situated on the northeast corner of Sixth and Madison streets;
In the Twelfth Election District, at some convenient place in said district, to be chosen by the inspector and assistant inspectors of said district, or any two of them;
In the Thirteenth Election District, at the Askew building, situated on the northeast corner of Seventh and Market streets;
In the Fourteenth Election District, in the building now owned by McLear and Kendall, situated on east side of King street, below Ninth street;
In the Fifteenth Election District, at the house situated on the southwest corner of Fourteenth and King streets;
In the Sixteenth Election District, at the house situated on the southwest corner of Tenth and Orange streets;
In the Seventeenth Election District, at the school house known as the Howard School, situated on the east side of Orange street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets;
In the Eighteenth Election District, at the house known as the "Logan House;"
In the Nineteenth Election District, at the house situated on the northwest corner of Sixth and Church streets;
In the Twentieth Election District, at the house situated on the northeast corner of Eighth and Kirkwood streets;
In the Twenty-first Election District, at the house situated on the southwest corner of Eleventh and Lombard streets;
In the Twenty-second Election District, at the house situated on the southeast corner of Thirteenth and Heald streets;
In the Twenty-third Election District, at the house known as the "Brandywine Academy;"
In the Twenty-fourth Election District, at the house situated on the southeast corner of Third and Van Buren streets;
In the Twenty-fifth Election District, at the house situated on the northeast corner of Chestnut and Van Buren streets;
In the Twenty-sixth Election District, in the house situated at the northwest corner of Maryland avenue and Beach street.
Whenever, for any reason, any of the polling places designated above cannot be secured, the inspector and assistant places inspectors, or any two of them, shall have power to choose some convenient place in the district to be used as a polling place. At the places named in this section shall be held the general election, all special elections for members of the General Assembly and representative or representatives in Congress, election for electors of president and vice president of the United States, and elections for assessors of Wilmington hundred, and for inspectors and assistant inspectors of said districts.
CITY ELECTIONS.
SECTION 52. All elections shall be by ballot, and a plurality of votes cast shall make a choice.
SECTION 53. At all city elections every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, having resided within said city for three months next previous to the election and in the election district where he offers to vote for thirty days next preceding the election, and being otherwise qualified to vote at all State elections, and none others, shall be entitled to vote. If any person who may have had his domicile in said city shall actually remove to another place with the intention of remaining there an indefinite time as a place of domicile, he shall thereby lose his qualification of residence, notwithstanding he may entertain a floating intention to return at some future time.
SECTION 54. At every annual city election in June qualified voters of each election district shall elect from among themselves an inspector and two assistant inspectors of election, who shall act as such for the election in such election district in the following year. The qualified voters of each ward shall, at the same time, choose a member of council for their ward, resident in the ward. A Member moving out of his ward shall thereby lose his office, and the city council shall fill the vacancy. For choosing the assistant inspectors of election each voter shall vote for one person as assistant, and the two persons having the highest number of votes thus given shall be elected. Any ticket containing the name of more than one person for assistant inspector shall not be counted as to that office.
SECTION 55. If any inspector and assistant inspector of election for any election district, or two of them, shall die, remove, resign, refuse, or be unable to act, so that there shall not be two of said officers to preside and advertise a place of election for the election district, the city council shall, by appointment, supply such vacancy. And if at the time for opening any election the inspector or an assistant inspector of election, be not present at the place of election, the voters there may, without ballot, by plurality choose a person to supply the place of such absent inspector or assistants.
SECTION 56. Before opening the election, the inspector and assistant inspectors of election shall take the following oath, or affirmation, to be administered by the inspector to the assistants respectively, and by either of the assistant inspectors to the inspector, viz; "I do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) that I will, this day, in conducting the city election of Wilmington, determine and act, in every particular, with impartiality and faithfulness, and that I will not do or consent to the doing of any wrong; in any respect, and that I will cause, to the best of my ability, a true return of the election to be made. So help me God; (or so I solemnly affirm.)"
SECTION 57. Upon closing the election, the inspector and assistants of election of each election district shall count the votes cast in such election district, depositing each ballot as it is counted in a box provided for that purpose. Before separating, they shall make a certificate under their hands, or the hands of a majority of them, showing the persons elected as inspector and assistants of election for such election district, and also showing the state of the vote for mayor, president of -council, member or members of council, assessor, and city treasurer, (when they or any of them shall have been voted for according to law) setting forth, particularly, the name of every person voted for and said offices respectively, and the number of votes cast for each. The said certificate shall be sealed up by the officers making the same, as also the box containing the ballots deposited as aforesaid, and said certificate and box shall be safely .delivered by the said officers, or one of them, to the clerk of the council in his office on the day following the day of election, before the hour of ten o'clock in the forenoon; and for this purpose it shall be the duty of said clerk to be present in his office from the hour of eight o'clock to the hour of ten o'clock in the forenoon of such day. In case, for any cause, the clerk of council shall fail to attend at such time and place, the president of council, and in case of his failure, the mayor for the time being, shall attend and receive, take charge of and safely keep said certificates and boxes until delivered to the clerk of council, or to the council at their next stated meeting. If in any district there be no choice of inspector, or of assistant inspectors, by reason of any two or more persons having an equal and the highest number of votes for the same office, the inspector and assistant inspectors holding such election shall so certify on their return to council, whereupon the council shall at their next meeting proceed to elect, and without unnecessary delay shall elect one of said candidates to such office for which he was a candidate. This section shall be construed subject to the provisions of Section 55, relating to assistant inspectors.
SECTION 58. The council, at their next meeting after an election as aforesaid, shall examine the returns thereof and proclaim the persons elected. If there be no choice for mayor, president of council, city treasurer, assessor, or for member of council in any of the wards by reason of two or more candidates having an equal and the highest number of votes for either of said offices, the council shall proceed to elect one of said candidates to such office for which he is a candidate.
SECTION 59. The clerk of the council shall carefully keep the ballot boxes, to be delivered to him as aforesaid, for two months, subject, during that period, to the order of the city council for the purpose of examination in case of a contested election; and for default herein, or in case he shall in the meantime open or without the order of council suffer said boxes or any of them to be opened, or said certificates or any of them to be tampered with or destroyed, or shall otherwise make default in securely keeping said ballot boxes and .certificates of election, the said clerk shall forfeit and pay to the State of Delaware a fine, of one thousand dollars, or suffer imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both at the discretion of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Jail Delivery.
SECTION 60. If any candidate for any of the offices before mentioned shall choose to contest the right of any person proclaimed to have been elected to such office, such candidate shall, within thirty days next after such election, cause to be presented to the council his petition, in writing, setting forth, particularly, the grounds and specifications upon which such election is contested, together with an affidavit that such petition is not for the purpose of vexation and delay, but that he does verily believe that he has just ground for contesting such election, and shall also at the same time cause to be delivered to the person whose election is contested a true copy of such petition. Upon the filing of such petition and affidavit, the council shall appoint a day, not less than ten nor more than fifteen days from the filing of such petition and affidavit, for hearing and determining the same, giving public notice thereof in two newspapers published in the City of Wilmington; if so many be published at the time; and upon the day appointed for such hearing, the said city council shall sit in the city hall, in the presence of such citizens and others as may choose to be present, shall hear the allegations and proofs of the parties, and shall determine according to the very right of the matter. Evidence shall be confined to the grounds and specifications set forth in the petition. The council shall have power to issue subpoenas, signed by the president of the council for the time being, and attested by the clerk, for persons and papers, to administer oaths and affirmations, to examine witnesses, to inspect the returns of the election and, if necessary, to open the ballot boxes, count and tally the votes, and to do all other things requisite to arrive at a full and perfect knowledge as to the right of the case. The decision of the council, signed by its officers, shall be published in two newspapers printed in the City of Wilmington, and shall be final and conclusive.
SECTION 61. If at any election held under this chapter, any inspector, assistant inspector of election, or other person who shall conduct the election, shall, knowingly and willfully take and receive, or advise and consent to the taking and receiving of the vote of any person not entitled to vote at such election, or shall knowingly and willfully reject, or advise and concur in rejecting the vote of a person entitled to vote at such election, or shall use any fraud, falsehood, or deceit in doing and performing any' of the duties, matters, or things required of him in this act, or the ordinances of said city touching said election, 'or shall refuse or willfully neglect to perform any of the said duties, matters or things, every such inspector, assistant inspector, or-other person, shall, for every such offense, upon conviction thereof in the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Jail Delivery in and for New Castle county, forfeit and pay to the State a fine of two hundred dollars. If any person not entitled to vote at any such election shall vote at any such election, or if any person shall vote or offer to vote more than once at any such election, or if any person shall vote in any election district in which he has not resided for thirty days next preceding such election, or if any person shall influence or attempt to influence any voter in giving his vote by any reward, gift, or benefit,' or promise of favor or advantage, every such person shall, for every such offense, upon conviction thereof as aforesaid, forfeit and pay to the State a fine of fifty dollars.
SECTION 62. 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 a new election can be legally held.
SECTION 63. Any person duly elected to an office under the provisions of this act, who shall refuse or neglect to serve in such office, shall forfeit and pay a fine of fifteen dollars. Provided, That no person shall be required to serve two terms in succession.
THE FISCAL CONCERNS OF THE CITY.
SECTION 64. The council, in the month of July in each year, shall publish, for three days, in all the daily newspapers printed in the City of Wilmington, a summary of the fiscal concerns of said city for the previous year, setting forth the whole amount of the existing debt of the city, by certificate, bond, note, or otherwise, the rate and amount of interest paid and when payable, the purpose for which each loan was created, the date of the ordinance under which each loan was issued, the amount issued and the amount outstanding at the time of publication; also the whole receipts of the treasury for the same year, the sources from which derived, and the amount received from each source, and the total payments made during the year on account of the several appropriations.
SECTION 65. The fiscal year of the City of Wilmington shall hereafter begin on the first clay of July. The council shall, on or before the first stated meeting in May in each year, cause to be prepared and laid before them estimates of the probable revenue and expenses of the city for the ensuing year, and an ordinance shall be passed at the last stated meeting in May of each year making appropriations for the expenses of the ensuing fiscal year, based, as nearly as may be, upon the said estimates, and the appropriations shall be specified and arranged under, the heads or items designated in the said estimates. Unless some extraordinary occasion, not anticipated at the passage of the aforesaid ordinance, shall require further appropriations, the expenditures of the year under any head, or item of appropriation, shall not exceed that item of appropriation; and if further provision be required in addition to the .appropriation to be made at the last stated meeting in May, ,as aforesaid, the extraordinary occasion, or necessity for the same, shall be set forth in the ordinance making the additional appropriation, and such ordinance shall not pass by less than the vote of two-thirds of all the members of council, a record of which vote shall be made upon the journal. Such vote shall be by yeas and nays.
SECTION 66. No money shall be paid from the treasury unless the same shall have been appropriated as aforesaid, and unless the order or draft for the payment of the same shall show upon its face the head or item of appropriation against which it shall be drawn except in the case of money proceeds arising out of a bonded debt authorized by the General Assembly for a specific use or purpose, in which case the order or draft for the payment of the same shall show on its face the fund against which it is drawn, and the specific use and purpose for which the same was created, and in the latter case the money shall be drawn upon the resolution of council, countersigned as other cases.
SECTION 67. Whenever any extraordinary appropriation shall be made by the council, the amount so appropriated shall be paid out of the, taxes, rents, or receipts of the fiscal year then current, if the same shall be sufficient; and in case the amount of any extraordinary appropriation shall be in excess of the taxes, rents, or receipts of the city for the fiscal year in which such extraordinary appropriations shall be made, such excess shall be provided for and included in the appropriations made and taxes levied for the succeeding fiscal year. To meet any extraordinary appropriation under this section, the council may temporarily borrow from the banks, or other sources, such sums as may be needed for such purpose without incurring the penalties provided for under Section 71 subsequent.
SECTION 68. In any donations or appropriations to fire companies of Wilmington by the council, the amount granted shall not exceed twenty-five hundred dollars to any one company, annually, except that said council may grant an additional sum, not exceeding two hundred dollars, annually, to the Washington Fire Company for the hook and ladder apparatus of said company.
SECTION 69. The clerk of the council shall publish, in two newspapers of the said city, a copy of the ordinances making appropriations for the year, together with the estimates for the year; immediately after such ordinances are passed, and in like manner a copy of any ordinance making additional appropriations; and for default in the performance of this duty he shall forfeit and pay a fine of fifty dollars.
SECTION 70. Upon all questions before the council touching the borrowing of money, the vote shall be by ayes and noes, and shall be entered upon the journal; but the Mayor and Council of Wilmington shall not have power or authority to borrow money for any purpose whatever except in such cases as are or may be expressly authorized by law.
SECTION 71. The funded debt of said city shall not exceed the sum now authorized by law except as may hereafter be provided by act of the General Assembly, and the said funded debt being so limited, the Mayor and Council of Wilmington, or the Council of Wilmington, shall have no power, or authority, to borrow money, or contract or create any debt or liability, or to make any ordinance for borrowing money or contracting or creating debt or liability, (except ordinary debts and liabilities in the common course of :carrying on the work and business of the said city, to be paid out of the taxes; rents, or receipts of the year for the time then current,) and if the said debts and liabilities shall not be so paid, the same shall bind the members of council for the time then being personally, other than those shown by the journal of the council to have been absent or to have voted in the negative when the ordinance, order, or proceeding under which, the debt or liability arose was passed or had making them jointly and severally, responsible; and any member of council who shall vote to borrow any money, or contract any debt or liability contrary to the provisions of this section, shall be deemed guilty of dereliction in duty, and shall thenceforth be deemed and be incapable of holding any office of honor, profit or trust under this a& or created by or existing under any law of the State of Delaware.
SECTION 72. When any part of the said funded debt is redeemed, there shall not, on that account, be any addition to said debt on any pretense whatsoever unless authorized by the General Assembly, but the said debt shall decrease, by regular diminution under such redemption, until the whole shall be discharged. Provided, that if, through calamity or casualty, the city hall, or the water works, or any part thereof, shall be destroyed, or injured beyond the available means or ability of the city treasury at the time to repair or replace, the Mayor and Council of Wilmington, under authority of an ordinance of the council to be passed with the concurrence of three-fourths of all the members, shall have power to borrow, on temporary loan, a sum to be specified in such ordinance for repairing or replacing the property or work injured, or making a suitable substitute therefor, which sum shall be applied to that purpose and no other, and shall be payable in such time, times, or manner as the ordinance shall prescribe.
ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION OF TAXES.
SECTION 73. The Council of Wilmington shall, at its first stated meeting in the month of May, A. D. 1883, choose, by ballot, from the citizens of Wilmington having a right to vote at the city elections and owners of real estate in the city to the assessed value of not less than one thousand dollars, three persons to constitute the Board of Assessment, Revision and Appeals for the City of Wilmington. The terms of office of the members of the board of assessment, revision and appeals, as heretofore constituted, shall expire on the day of the first stated meeting of council in May, A. D. 1883.
SECTION 74. The members of said board shall not be members of the council, or of the board of public education in Wilmington, or engaged in business as real estate agents. Immediately after their election the members of the said board shall draw lots for their respective terms of office; the said terms to expire in one, two and three years from the day of their election. The council shall, at its first stated meeting in the month of May, A. D. 1883, and in every year thereafter, elect from the citizens, as aforesaid, one member of the board of assessment, revision and appeals for the term of three years and until a successor is elected; provided that the minority of the members of said council shall always be entitled to have and elect one of the members of said board of the same political party as themselves. Should any vacancy occur in the said board by reason of the death,resignation or refusal to serve of any person or persons so chosen, or by reason of any other cause, such vacancy shall be filled by the council for the unexpired portion of, the term for which such election was or should have been made.
SECTION 75. The said persons so chosen shall, during their term of office as aforesaid, constitute a Board of Assessment, Revision and Appeals for the City of Wilmington. They shall, before entering upon the duties of their office, take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Delaware, and to perform the duties of the office to which they have been appointed with fidelity.
SECTION 76. The said board of assessment, revision and appeals, or a majority of them, shall determine and do any of the acts hereinafter mentioned. They shall exercise a general and supervisory power over the assessors and collectors for the city, and shall cause them to make a faithful, full, fair and complete assessment of all the property in their respective districts liable to taxation, as hereinafter provided. The said board may adopt such rules and regulations as they may deem expedient to produce fairness, equality and completeness of assessments, and shall have full power, at any time, to examine the assessments while the assessors and collectors are making them, and cause them to be conformed to such rules and regulations as: the said board may have adopted in the premises.
SECTION 77. There shall be elected, at the city election, in the year 1883, and in every third year thereafter, two Assessors and Collectors for the City of Wilmington for the term of three years each, one of whom shall reside in and be voted for and elected in and for that portion of the city north of Sixth street, the other one in and for that portion of the city which lies south of Sixth street. Whenever a street is named as a boundary in this section, the center thereof shall be understood. The assessors shall be also the collectors of the city for their respective districts, and as such shall give bonds as provided in Section 97 of this act. A failure to elect by reason of two or more persons voted for the office of assessor and collector having a legal and at the same time the highest number of votes for such office shall be deemed a failure to hold an election as to such officer, and thereupon the city council at its next meeting shall elect such officer.
SECTION 78. No person shall be elected an assessor and collector as aforesaid, who shall not have been, for at least six months before his election, the owner of a. freehold estate within the said city, the value of which, according to the city assessment made next before his election, shall be at least five hundred dollars clear of all encumbrances.
SECTION 79. The city assessment for tax shall be completed by the assessors by the second day of January of each year, and the taxes collected by the thirty-first day of December in the succeeding year, to which time the authority of an assessor and collector whose term of office has otherwise expired may extend, for the purpose of collecting outstanding amounts; and for any amounts remaining upon his duplicate uncollected at that time, and not sufficiently accounted for and allowed for errors, delinquencies or otherwise by the finance committee of the council, the said assessor and collector and his sureties may be held accountable upon their bond.
SECTION. 80. All real estate within the said city shall be assessed, except real estate belonging to the United States, the State of Delaware, New Castle county, or the City of Wilmington, cemeteries and burying grounds, churches and meeting hopes belonging to any religious society and used for public worship, real estate owned and used for charitable purposes by the associations known as the "Trustees of the Home for Friendless and Destitute Children in the City of Wilmington," "Home for Aged, Women," "Sisters of Charity," and buildings ,owned and occupied by fire companies. The assessment Of real estate shall be made according to a certain rate in and upon every hundred dollars of the estimated value of the property assessed, if sold for cash, and so pro rata. The real estate shall be described with sufficient particularity to be clearly identified, the principal improvements thereon, if any, to be also specified. Real estate, the owner or owners of which, cannot be found or ascertained, may be assessed to "owner unknown." Every Male citizen above the age of twenty-one years shall be rated for a capitation or poll-tax in addition to the assessments of his real estate, at a capital not exceeding two thousand dollars nor less than one hundred dollars.
SECTION 81. The Assessors and Collectors shall complete the assessment for the said city in each year by the second day or January, on or before which day they shall deliver the same to the said Board of Assessment, Revision and Appeals for the City of Wilmington. The board, upon receiving such assessment, shall forthwith examine it, with power to revise, alter, or add any assessment on or before the ensuing twentieth day of January. After receiving said assessment the board shall cause it to be filed in the office of the clerk of the council, who thereupon shall give public notice, by advertisements printed in two newspapers and posted in the most public places within the city, that such assessment, being completed, is filed in his office for public inspection, and also designating the time appointed by this act for the sitting of said board for appeals. Such notice shall be continued until the time for sitting of said board for appeals as aforesaid.
SECTION 82. On the first day of February (or if that be Sunday then on the day following) the said board shall sit to hear appeals from assessments, and shall continue to sit for that purpose for fifteen successive days, or for so long as may be necessary to adjudge appeals. Upon appeals the said board shall have power to alter any assessments and to make additional assessments, and to determine and to do whatever may appertain to justice and right. Appeals may be filed, in writing, in the clerk's office, or made directly to the said board. No appeal shall be received or heard, or adjudication of appeal made, nor shall the assessment list be altered or added to after the tenth day of March. Provided that real estate not assessed by the assessors and collectors may be assessed by the said board -at any time before the day 'of the city election, previous notice of such intended assessment, designating the time at which the same will be made, being given by the said board, in writing, to the owner or owners, or if he, she, or they be absent from the city, then to the person or persons in possession of the premises. And provided also, that the said board, at any time before the day of the city election, after the assessments shall be completed, upon the application of any person who was residing within the city before the completion of the assessments and was omitted therefrom, shall rate such person for a capitation or poll tax, and shall thereupon cause his name to be added to the assessment lists. Real estate assessed, or persons rated as herein provided after the completion of the assessments, shall be so assessed or rated upon both the city and school assessment lists. Such real estate, or persons being so assessed or rated, shall thereupon be liable to pay taxes for the current year at the rate per centum which shall have been determined by the; city council, and necessary additions shall be made to the lists provided for in Section 84 of this charter. The assessment books or lists shall be the property of the city and shall be kept in the office of the clerk of council.
SECTION 83. To the end that the sums necessary to be raised for public schools in Wilmington may be assessed and collected by the same proceedings had for collecting the city tax and as -constituting a part of the city tax, the -said board shall, as, soon as the city assessments shall have been completed as aforesaid, and before the thirtieth day of May in each year, cause to be made an assessment to be called the school assessment, which shall be made as follows, viz: The assessment of real estate within the city shall be taken from the assessment of real estate on the city assessment; and the assessment of personal estates and persons, to wit: stock, plate and the rates for capitation or poll taxes, shall be transferred from the assessment list of Wilmington hundred standing in the Levy Court of New Castle county for the time then being. It shall be necessary to transfer amounts only, without specification or particulars. No appeals shall be taken from the assessment so made, and there shall be no variation of the assessments transferred; but if there be any person in Wilmington hundred legally liable to be assessed for personal property, or rated for capitation or poll tax, not .found on the assessment list of Wilmington hundred, the said board may assess such person for personal property and rate him for such a capitation or poll tax on the school assessment as to law and right, shall appertain, giving to such person due notice and opportunity to be heard.
SECTION 84. The assessments being so settled as aforesaid, the said board shall, on or before the first day of June, lay the same before the Council of Wilmington, who shall, without delay, determine the whole amount of money necessary to be raised for the use of the city by taxation during the year of said assessment, and shall apportion such amount among the several persons and estates assessed upon the city assessment, according to a certain rate in and upon every hundred dollars of the said assessment, and so pro rata. The council shall also, at the same time, "include'' the sum necessary to be raised for the use of the public schools of the said city by taxation during the year last aforesaid, and shall apportion such amount among the several persons and estates assessed upon the school .assessment, according to a certain rate in and upon every hundred dollars of the said assessment, and so pro rata; and the amount so apportioned shall be collected under the provisions hereinafter contained as other city taxes, and shall constitute part of the city taxes within all the provisions of law applicable to the same. The clerk of the council shall thereupon immediately make out a correct list for each district of the city, showing the names of persons and estates assessed upon both the aforesaid assessments, with the whole amount of tax laid upon the several persons and estates under the foregoing provisions, and the said lists, with the warrant of the council to collect the taxes thereon, being signed by the president of council and countersigned by the clerk, shall be delivered to the said assessors and collectors respectively on or before the thirtieth day of June, whereupon it shall be the duty of the said assessors and collectors to forthwith collect and receive the taxes thereupon.
SECTION 85. At the request of any person paying a tax which has been assessed upon his person or property, the assessor and collector shall make out and deliver to him a bill, showing, in addition to the amount of tax, how much of it is laid upon his person and personal property as shown by the school assessment list, and how much of it is laid upon his real estate, and if it is laid upon more than one parcel of real estate, then how much of it is laid upon each parcel, describing each parcel according to the description thereof appearing upon the city assessment list. All books and papers filed in the office of the clerk of the council, touching the assessment, receiving or collection of taxes, shall be open to the inspection of any person interested in the same.
SECTION 86. The council shall have power, by ordinance, to enjoin upon the clerk of council and the assessors and collectors any duties in addition to those in this act specified touching the assessment and collection of taxes which it shall deem necessary or proper for carrying into effect the provisions of this act touching and concerning the same, and may enforce, by suitable penalties, any duties so enjoined by this act or by such ordinance as aforesaid.
SECTION 87. Upon the delivery to an assessor and collector of such lists, with the warrant of the council to collect such taxes, he and his sureties, his and their executors and administrators, shall become and are hereby declared to be responsible for the whole amount of money which it shall be his duty to collect, subject only to such just allowances as shall be made to him or them upon settlement with the finance committee, as hereinafter is provided.
SECTION 88. All city taxes assessed as aforesaid, paid during the month of July shall be entitled to an abatement by the assessors and collectors of five per centum; all such taxes paid during the month of August shall be entitled to no abatement; all such taxes paid during the month of September shall be increased by the addition of five per centum to the amount thereof; taxes not paid until after the month of September shall be increased by the addition of five per centum to the amount thereof.
SECTION 89. If any assessor and collector die, or remove from the said city or district in and for which he shall have been elected as aforesaid, or become incapable of performing his duties, the council may, upon petition by the sureties of such assessor and collector and being satisfied that it is a proper case for relief, appoint another person to collect the residue of the unpaid taxes, and may compel the delivery to such person of the list and warrant, or cause a new one to be issued to him, bond with surety being first, given as required by this act from the original assessor and collector. And thereupon such other person so appointed, and his sureties, his and their executors, and administrators, shall become responsible for the uncollected taxes, subject to allowances as herein provided. Such appointment-shall not discharge the sureties of the first assessor and, collector from any part of their original responsibility, but all sums, collected by the substituted assessor and collector shall be credited to him. All the powers, duties and liabilities of the first assessor and collector shall devolve upon the substituted assessor and
collector and his executors and administrators upon final settlement with the finance committee as herein provided. The said committee shall make a just apportionment between the original assessor and collector, or his representatives, and the substituted assessor and collector of the compensation allowed for the collection of taxes.
SECTION 90. All taxes for city and school purposes which may hereafter be lawfully assessed on real estate in the City of Wilmington shall constitute a prior lien thereon from their- said assessment until the "thirty-first day of December in the succeeding year," and may, with all incidental costs and expenses be levied by sale thereof as hereinafter provided. The said, lien shall be fully paid and satisfied before any recognizance, mortgage, judgment, debt, obligation or responsibility which the real estate may become charged with or liable to from and after the passing of this act. In case any dilatory or adverse legal proceedings by or on behalf of any delinquent taxable against said assessor and collector, or against the Mayor and Council of Wilmington, should delay or prevent the collection of the tax beyond the thirty-first day of December in the succeeding year after its assessment, the lien of such tax on the real estate therein provided shall continue and be extended for a period of six months after the termination of such dilatory or adverse proceedings, or for so much thereof as may be necessary to complete the collection of said tax as provided for in Section 91 of this act.
SECTION 91. If any person, assessed as aforesaid, shall neglect or refuse to pay the sum which any assessor and collector shall be required to collect from him, or any part thereof, for ten days after demand made, the said assessor and collector shall levy and make the same by distress and sale of the delinquent's goods and chattels, rendering the over-plus, if any, after deducting reasonable charges, to the owner or owners thereof, or if no such distress can be found by the assessor and collector, the said tax may be collected from, or levied upon, the goods and chattels of any of his tenants, if such there be, who shall be allowed to set off the amount thereof against any demand for rent on the part of such delinquent landlord, or if there be not rent sufficient to cover the amount so paid, or levied, it may be recovered by such tenants from the landlord, with costs. And if any grounds, buildings, or estate belong to a minor or minors, or person, or persons absent from the city, the tax laid upon the assessment of such grounds, buildings, or estate may be collected from the person or persons having the care of such grounds, buildings, or estate, and the receipt of the assessor and collector for money so paid shall be a sufficient voucher to all executors, administrators, guardians, trustees, or attorneys, against those whom they represent. If any person or persons from whom any tax is required to be collected, or their executors, administrators, guardians, trustees, or attorneys cannot be found or shall refuse to pay the tax as aforesaid, and no goods or chattels of such person sufficient to satisfy such ; tax can be found, and the same cannot be collected from any tenant or tenants of such person, or if the owner or owners, or other proper person or persons, having the care and charge over any real estate assessed and described as belonging to "owner unknown," as aforesaid, cannot be found, the assessor and collector shall make and deliver to the solicitor for said city a certificate of the facts under oath or affirmation, together with a brief description of the real estate on which said tax shall have been assessed, and the name or names of the person (if known) against whom as owners of said real estate said tax has been assessed; and the said solicitor shall file the said certificate in the office of the prothonotary of the Superior Court of New Castle county, and judgment shall thereupon be entered therein in favor of "The Mayor and Council of Wilmington" on said described real estate and against the said owner or owners thereof if known, and a writ of levari facias shall forthwith be issued thereon, by virtue of which it shall be the duty of the sheriff of said county to advertise
and sell the said real estate upon which said taxes have been assessed, under like proceedings as by law are required in the sale of lands and tenements under execution process, and make return thereof to the next regular term of the said Superior Court after the issuing of said writ, and the court may inquire into the circumstances and regularity, of the proceedings and either approve the sale or set it aside. If the court approve of said sale, the sheriff shall make a deed to the purchasers, which shall convey all interest and property in and to the real estate so sold: If the sale be set aside and the said tax be still a lien on said real estate, the court may order another sale, and so on until the tax be collected. Such disposal of the surplus proceeds of said sale shall be made by the court as may be deemed just. No sale shall be approved if the owner be ready at court to pay the taxes and costs, and no deed shall be made until the expiration of two years from the time of sale, within which time the owner or owners, his or their heirs, executors or administrators, shall have power to redeem the said, real estate so sold on payment to the purchaser or purchasers, his or their heirs or assigns, of the amount of the purchase money and costs and twenty per cent interest. Proceedings for redeeming land so sold as aforesaid shall be by petition to the said Superior Court, and the said court shall have full power to make all proper rules and orders thereon. If no such grounds, buildings, or estate be found, the assessor and collector shall take the body of such delinquent person and deliver him to the keeper of the common jail of New Castle county, to be detained in safe custody until the said tax, with costs, be paid, or such person be legally discharged. All the powers herein vested in an assessor and collector shall devolve upon and be exercised by his executors and administrators, except in cases where a substitute shall be appointed, as provided in Section 88 of this act. On the first Saturday of September, in each year, the assessors and collectors shall advertise, in two of the daily newspapers of the City of Wilmington, a full list of the persons whose taxes as aforesaid for the preceding year are at that date unpaid, together with a brief description of the real estate taxed, and shall, within two weeks thereafter, make and deliver the certificates required by this section to the solicitor for said city, for all such taxes assessed on real estate as aforesaid which shall not then have been paid.
SECTION 92. It shall be the duty of the said assessors and collectors, on demand and tender of fees, to furnish certificates, under their respective hands and official seals, of all such taxes which are a lien on real estate in their respective districts. The fee shall be twenty-five cents for each certificate. The duties required of the assessors and collectors under this section shall be one of their obligations covered by the conditions in their official bonds.
SECTION 93. Every assessor and collector shall pay to the payments to the city treasurer, or make deposits in bank to the credit of "The Mayor and 'Council of Wilmington" of the sums he shall from time to time collect, at such times and in such manner as the council may by ordinance direct.
SECTION 94. Every assessor and collector shall appear before the finance committee at such time or times and place as they shall appoint and produce to them the list of taxes as aforesaid, together with his receipts for payments to the treasurer or certificates of deposit as aforesaid, and thereupon the said committee shall ascertain and determine whether, after a just allowance for errors, delinquencies, or otherwise any and what sum is due and unpaid from such assessor and collector to the city. The said committee, or a majority of them, shall make and sign two certificates of their determination in the premises, one of which shall be delivered to the assessor and collector and the other to the city treasurer. If by such certificates any balance appears to be due and unpaid to the city the assessor and collector shall pay the same within fifteen days thereafter, and if such balance be not so paid, the city treasurer shall certify the fact to the city solicitor, who shall forthwith take legal process for the collection of the same from the assessor and collector and his sureties.
SECTION 95. The salaries or compensation of the said assessors and collectors shall be established and regulated by the said council and paid upon warrants authorized by the said council to be drawn on the treasury of said city.
SECTION 96. The said board shall have full power to examine the books of plans of the said city in the office of the chief engineer of said city.
SECTION 97. Each of the said assessors and collectors shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take an oath or affirmation similar to that hereinbefore prescribed to be taken by the members of the said board of assessment, revision, and appeals, and shall give bond to "The Mayor and Council of Wilmington," with freehold security to be approved by the mayor and president of council, in the amount to be determined by the council, conditioned for the faithful assessment of his district and collection of the taxes assessed therein, and for the faithful performance of all the other duties of his office that may be prescribed by the said council, and with a warrant of attorney for the confession of judgment thereto attached. Such bonds must be given by the assessors and collectors within five days after their election.
SECTION 98. The council shall not have power to release or exempt any person or persons who are liable to taxation from their proper share or proportion of the taxes of the city either by commutation for services, by gratuity, or otherwise.
SECTION 99. There may be assessed and collected by the Mayor and Council of Wilmington, for the use of the city, an annual tax upon each horse, mule, ass, or animal of the horse kind, owned or kept within the limits of the City of Wilmington, and the council shall have power by ordinance to prescribe the manner of assessing and collecting the same.
SECTION 100. The Mayor and Council of Wilmington shall have power and authority to levy and collect taxes upon all telegraph, telephone and electric-light poles and other erections of like character erected within the limits of the City of Wilmington, and the council may, by ordinance, prescribe the mode of levying and collecting the same. In case any of the owners or lessees of any such poles or erections erected within said city shall refuse or neglect to pay the taxes that may be levied upon such poles, the council shall have authority to cause the same to be removed and may institute suit to recover the amount of taxes so levied and the expenses incident to the removal of such poles or erections.
SECTION 101. All bonds of the City of Wilmington which have heretofore been issued, or which shall hereafter be issued under any ordinance of said city and by authority of any law of this State, shall be exempt from taxation under any law of this State, and from and after the passage of this act no county tax shall be collected from any persons holding the bonds of said city for or on account of said bonds.
REGISTRATION OF REAL ESTATE WITHIN THE CITY.
SECTION 102. The Chief Engineer of the City of Wilmington, under an ordinance and appropriation by council, shall cause to be made books of plans of the said city, divided into sections so far as the streets of the said city are or shall be laid out, which shall show the situation and dimensions of each property therein, with the city numbers thereof, who are the owners, with such succession of blank columns as will permit the names of future owners to be entered therein, with the dates of transfer and with index for recording such names alphabetically; and the person or persons who shall be employed to perform such duty shall have access to all books in the recorder of deed's office, and all records of the courts, and in the register's office, and may take copies or extracts thereof without any charge therefor.
SECTION 103. The original books, when made, shall be kept in the fire-proof of the department of surveys of the said city, and the chief engineer shall keep up the said books so as to show at all times who are the owners of the lots on the plans (and said books shall at all times be accessible to the assessors of said city), and said books shall be kept in such manner as not to destroy the evidence of the ownership at any previous time, but by additions which will show the subdivisions of property and the owners thereof as transmissions of title may take place; and the chief engineer may furnish copies of the said books, or parts thereof, for such price as may be fixed by council, for the use of the city, and his certificate shall be received in evidence as and for such proof as the assessment books would be; and lithographed copies of the said books may be multiplied and sold for the profit of the said city.
SECTION 104. To enable the chief engineer of the city to keep up the said books of plans, it shall be the duty of every seller and buyer of ground upon the planned plot of the City of Wilmington to make report to him of every conveyance made, with the precise dimensions and locality of the premises, and so doing the same shall be recorded without charge and noted on the deed of conveyance by said chief engineer or assistant; but if said seller and buyer shall both omit said duty, the recorder of deeds of the county of New Castle shall not admit the deed of conveyance to record in his office without charging twenty-five cents for each lot described therein, and it shall then be his duty to furnish the proper description of such lot or lots, with the date of conveyance and name of grantor or grantee, within one month, into the office of the department of surveys, under the penalty of one dollar for each omission, to be recovered as penalties for taking unlawful fees are recovered for the use of houses and lands at judicial sales, and of every one to whom the said city; and it shall be the duty of every purchaser of an allotment in partition shall have been made, and every devisee by will, to make return to the chief engineer of the purchase he has made, or allotment he has received, and of all devises made to him by will, with descriptions as aforesaid, which said chief engineer shall receive without charge, but if he shall not have done so simultaneously with the completion of his purchase, or on partition effected, or if on probate of any will the devisee shall not have done so, as to any houses or lands in the said city purchased, allotted or devised, it shall be the duty of the clerk or prothonotary of the proper court under whose authority such judgment or partition shall have been made, and for the register of wills, to furnish such descriptions as are above required of the recorder of deeds, so far as the wills to be proved in his office shall enable him to do so, for the like charge and under the same penalty; and the clerk or prothonotary and register may make such charges against such purchaser or party taking in partition, or devisee, on delivery of the deed certifying proceedings in partition or granting probate of the will, and that whether the same be in trust or for any estate for life only, or otherwise, unless the party interested shall produce to him or them the certificate of the chief engineer that such duty has been performed.
SECTION 105. If neither the seller nor buyer, devisee, nor heir, or other party who has acquired title to houses and lands in the said city shall have furnished the description of the property sold as aforesaid, both he who may have parted with and he who acquired title shall be liable for the taxes thereafter assessed thereon, without right of reclamation of contribution thereof either against the other.
SECTION 106. And should the chief engineer apprehend that conveyances, or devises, or descents of houses or lands shall have taken place without being reported to him, be shall cause search to be made therefor and perfect his book of plans; and every person found delinquent for six months after acquiring title as aforesaid in making report as aforesaid shall be liable to a fine of five dollars, to be recovered by said engineer in the name of the city as debts of that amount are by law recoverable.
SECTION 107. The chief engineer shall preserve on file, arranged alphabetically and according to date; all reports made to him of descriptions of houses and lands, and for twenty-five cents shall give his certificate at the foot of a duplicate of the description of the designated property or properties when a duplicate of description shall be produced to him with the certificate written out for his signature, and his certificate shall be evidence for the receiver of it; and any clerk, prothonotary, or register, and all others, that this law has been complied with.
REGISTRAR OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES.
SECTION 108. The council shall appoint, on the first Thursday of July, A. D. 1886, and on the first Thursday of July in each fifth year thereafter, a City Registrar, who shall be register of deaths, births and marriages, and secretary of the board of health. His term of office shall be five years. The present city registrar shall continue to hold office (and perform the same duties as are now by law prescribed) until the first Thursday of July, A. D. 1886, and until his successor shall be appointed as provided in this section.
SECTION 109. The said registrar shall keep a separate record of deaths, births and marriages, with a correct alphabet of reference of every name and page. The said registrar shall also perform such other duties as the council shall from time to time direct properly appertaining to his office, and shall be subject to removal by the council for just cause. The said council shall furnish the registrar a suitable office and also find all necessary books, blanks and stationery.
SECTION 110. It shall be the duty of the parents of the child, midwife, nurse, or one of them, or such person as council shall determine, within ten days after the birth of any child, to file notice thereof with said registrar; such notice to contain a full, truthful and complete statement of all such facts as may be required by the registrar, and be filled out and written in and upon such blank or blanks as may be furnished by the registrar. It shall be the duty of the officiating clergyman, or magistrate, or other person performing any marriage ceremony, within five days thereafter, to file a notice thereof, in writing, with said registrar, containing a full, truthful and complete statement of all such facts as may be required by the registrar, and to be filled out and written on such blank or blanks as may be furnished by the registrar. It shall be the duty of every physician who has attended any person deceased during last illness, or, in case there shall have been no attending physician, then it shall be the duty of the householder in whose family any death occurs, and in case of any inquest being had it shall be the duty of the coroner holding such inquest, to make return to the said registrar of the facts of such death; such return to be in writing and to contain a full, truthful and complete statement of all such facts as may be required by the registrar, and to be filled out and written on such blank or blanks as may be furnished by the registrar. Upon the return of such certificate the said registrar shall issue a permit, signed by him, authorizing the removal for burial of the body of the person deceased; and no keeper of any hearse, or hackney coaches, or other person, shall receive, carry or convey said body from any premises, and no undertaker or other person shall remove or assist in the carrying or conveying of said body from any premises, and no sexton, undertaker or other person shall bury or assist in the burial of any body except upon the production to him or them of such certificate duly issued by the registrar. It shall be the duty of any undertaker, or other person, before they shall remove any dead body from the city, to obtain a health permit from the registrar, and to file a notice containing a full, truthful and complete statement of all such facts as may be required by the registrar, to be filled out and written on such blank or blanks as may be furnished by the registrar.
SECTION 111. Any person neglecting or refusing to comply
with any of the provisions of the immediately preceding three sections, and any person violating any of its provisions, shall be subject to a fine of ten dollars for every such violation or neglect or refusal, to be recovered in the municipal court of said city in the name of the registrar and paid into the city treasury.
SECTION 112. The registrar shall have a seal of office, and his records of deaths, births and marriages, or certified copies thereof under his hand and seal of office, shall be competent evidence in all cases. The council shall have full power to enact all ordinances in its discretion necessary and proper to effect the purposes of the immediately preceding four sections.
VACATING OF ROADS.
SECTION 113. No public or private road included within the limits of said city shall hereafter be vacated, either upon the application of the city council or of any person interested, unless notice of the intention to apply, either to the General Assembly, or to the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Jail Delivery, to vacate such public or private road, be first published for the period of thirty days in two of the newspapers published in said city prior to such application; and when any such road shall have been vacated as aforesaid, any person sustaining injury thereby may apply to the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Jail Delivery in and for New Castle county to appoint three disinterested and impartial persons to value the damages which he has sustained, and the damages so assessed shall be paid by the city council aforesaid before said road so vacated shall be closed up or obstructed.
STREETS.
SECTION 114. The several posts and mark-stones now set and fixed in the earth in the middle of the streets of said city, as well as all such other posts and mark-stones as shall from time to time be set and fixed in the earth by the city surveyors or regulators, shall in all cases and in all courts of law within this State be deemed, taken and allowed as landmarks. And if any person shall willfully pluck up or remove any of said posts or mark-stones such persons shall, for every such offense, forfeit and pay a fine of one hundred dollars; and the council may reward the informer of such offense by allowing him a portion of said penalty not exceeding a moiety thereof.
SECTION 115. It shall be lawful for the council, from time to time and as occasion may require, by ordinance passed for the purpose by a vote of two-thirds of all the members thereof for the time being, further to extend or to widen any street, square, lane, road, or alley laid down upon the map, plan, or ground plot of said city, and likewise to lay out all necessary new streets, squares, lanes, roads, or alleys within said city, except where heretofore expressly prohibited by legislative enactment still subsisting.
SECTION 116. Before any property or ground shall be taken or occupied for the purpose of extending, widening, laying out or opening any street, square, lane or alley under the provisions of this act, the owner or owners of such property or ground shall be paid or tendered such damages as they shall respectively be entitled to receive, which damages shall be assessed as follows, viz: Upon the written application of the mayor, under the direction of the council, and reasonable notice to the persons interested if residing in the city, the associate judge of the Superior Court of this State, resident in New Castle county, shall issue a commission under his hand, directed to five impartial freeholders of said county, commanding them to assess the damages that may result from the extending, widening, laying out or opening of such street, square, lane or alley to the owner or owners of property or ground necessary to be taken or occupied therefor, taking into consideration all the circumstances of benefits and convenience as well as of detriment to result to such owner or owners, and to make return of their proceedings to the said judge at a time therein appointed. The freeholders named in such commission, being first sworn or affirmed as in said commission shall be directed, shall view the premises, and they or a majority of them shall assess the damages aforesaid, and shall make return in writing of their proceedings in the premises to the said judge, who shall file the same in the office of the clerk of the council. The return upon one commission shall not be conclusive; but upon application by the mayor as aforesaid, or of any person interested, within fifteen days after the filing of such return, the judge shall issue a commission of review, appointing five other freeholders as aforesaid; with like instructions as were contained in the first commission; provided that if a review be granted upon the application of a person or persons interested, the review shall extend only to the assessment of damages made in respect to the person or persons making such application. If the return to a commission of review vary in the damages assessed from the return to the original commission, the judge shall grant a second commission of review upon the application of the mayor as aforesaid, or of any person interested in the return to the commission of review, within ten days after the filing of such return. If a review be not applied for in due time, the return to the original commission shall be conclusive as to the amount of damages. If the return to any two commissions correspond as to the amount of damages, such amount shall be conclusive. But if there be more than one return and none conclusive, under the foregoing provisions, the judge shall confirm such one of them as he shall deem most just, and the return so confirmed shall be conclusive. The judge may set aside a return to a commission for gross inequality or inequity, in which case he shall issue another commission in its place. The judge shall have power to fill any vacancy in a commission. There shall be allowed to the commissioners for their services three dollars per day, to be paid by council. The amount of damages being so ascertained, the council may pay or tender the same to the person or persons entitled thereto within two calendar months after the same shall have been finally ascertained, or if the person or persons so entitled reside out of or are absent from the city during said period of two months; then the same may be deposited to his or her credit in the Farmers' Bank of Delaware at Wilmington within said time, and thereupon the said property or ground may be taken or occupied for the use aforesaid. Whenever damages shall have been assessed to any owner or owners of property for the opening, extending or widening of any street, square, lane or alley, and the council shall fail, omit or neglect to pay or tender the amount of said damages to the person or persons entitled to the same, or to deposit the same in the manner and within the time herein provided for such payment or tender or deposit, no further application or proceedings shall be made or had for the opening, extending or widening of said street, square, lane or alley, through or upon the same land or premises for which said damages were assessed, until after the expiration of one year from and after the said assessment. In any proceedings hereafter taken for extending any street, no person or persons shall be entitled to any damages for any house, building or structure hereafter placed or erected within the City of Wilmington upon any ground lying between lines drawn from the building lines of such street to the limits of the city in the direction which the said street would take if extended as laid down on the map or plan of the City of Wilmington.
SECTION 117. In any proceeding taken for extending, widening, laying out, or opening any street, square, lane, or alley under the provisions of this act, the commission to be issued by the Associate Judge of the Superior Court of this State resident in New Castle county in furtherance of that purpose, in addition to the requirements of Section 116 preceding, shall contain a further command that (after assessing the damages that may result from the extending, widening, or laying out or opening of such street, square, lane, or alley to the owner or owners of property or ground necessary to be taken or occupied therefor, taking into consideration all the circumstances of benefit and convenience as well as of detriment to result to such owner or owners) they estimate the probable entire cost of such contemplated improvement, including damages to owners of property necessary to be taken or occupied therefor, and after giving timely notice of their time and place of meeting and opportunity to persons interested residing in the city to be heard; that they make an allotment, apportionment, assessment and division of such portion as they shall deem just and reasonable of such estimated cost upon and among the persons, properties, interests and estates which will, in their judgment, or that of a majority of them, be specially benefited by such improvement, according and in proportion to the quantity and extent of such benefit, according to their best judgment. In forming such judgment all those shall be deemed specially benefited by such proposed improvement who, in the judgment of the freeholders, commissioners, may be benefited thereby beyond the value of any detriment which can occur to them thereby, or who may be benefited thereby without any detriment therefrom, and in either case beyond the benefit which inures to the citizens of said city or property owners therein generally by reason of such improvements. The commissioners having made such allotment, apportionment, assessment and division of such portion of such estimated cost, shall make return thereof to the said judge, who shall file the same, with the assessment of damages, in the office of the clerk of the council, who shall submit the same to the council for its approval or disapproval; and upon approval by the council of any assessment for benefit, the clerk of said council shall immediately enter such approved assessment in the record or lien book kept for that purpose. And the same being so recorded shall at once constitute and be evidence of a debt for that amount and in that behalf from the person assessed to the Mayor and Council of Wilmington, and shall further, from the time of its entry as aforesaid, be and remain a lien upon the lands and buildings, interest and estate in respect of which such assessment for benefit was made, and as such lien shall have priority over any lien, encumbrance or conveyance made or suffered by the owner or owners of such property after the recording of such assessment as aforesaid; and for the collection thereof, the said Mayor and Council of Wilmington may proceed as in other cases for the collection of debts, or in the manner provided for the collection of claims or liens for paving, and the provisions of the law in that behalf, both in regard to the process, notice, advertisement, sale, conveyance, title; costs and disposal of proceeds of sale, shall apply to the proceedings herein provided for,
except that any residue to which the owner of any property sold shall be entitled may, instead of being paid into the Farmers' Bank of Delaware at Wilmington, be placed in the city treasury, and be held by the city for account of the person who shall be justly entitled thereto and paid to such person on demand; and in case the amount so as aforesaid assessed, collected and retained by the city for the purpose of effecting such improvement as aforesaid shall not be required and expended therefor within twelve calendar months after the payment thereof into the city treasury, the whole amount may be demanded and sued for or otherwise recovered from the city by the persons respectively entitled thereto. The return to one commission for assessment for benefit shall not be conclusive, but in regard to reviews, appointment of other commissioners, returns and confirmations, the city and other persons interested shall have the same rights, and the judge the same power and authority, and the effect of confirmation, and the costs, shall be the same as in the case of proceedings for assessment of damages to the owner or owners of property or ground necessary to be taken or occupied therefor for extending, widening, laying out, or opening streets, squares, lanes or alleys under Section 116 of this act. For all the purposes of the foregoing proceedings, when a bill is required to be presented, notice given, or demand made, it may be presented, tendered, given or made to the actual owner of the property in regard to which such proceeding is taken or any one of them, where it is owned by more than one, or to any person occupying, having use or charge of the property, or in case it be unoccupied and the owner unknown or not residing in the said city, such bill may be presented, notice given, or demand made, by setting up or leaving on the premises, or by one advertisement, in a newspaper published in said city, a notice setting forth the substance of such claim, bill, demand or notification; and such proceeding shall have the same effect as if a personal service thereof had been duly made and returned. In case of a corporation owner or occupant of land benefited or to be benefited by such contemplated improvement, such presentation, notice, or demand may be made to or upon the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer or any director thereof, either personally or by letter mailed to the proper address.
SECTION 118. The council are hereby authorized, in their discretion, to cause any street to be paved between the curb lines, agreeably to the true regulation of said street, under the direction of the street committee, and the cost and expense of such paving and keeping the same in good order and repair shall be paid by the city and provided for by general taxation. The provisions of this section shall not diminish, or in any way alter the liability of any person to the said "The Mayor and Council of Wilmington, or the lien upon any land or buildings for the expense of paving the beds of streets done prior to its passage.
FOOTWAYS, GUTTERS, ETC.
SECTION 119. Upon the application of fifteen freeholders residing or holding property in any street, lane or alley in said city, or if there be less than fifteen freeholders residing or holding property as aforesaid, then upon the application of a majority of such freeholders, the council are hereby authorized, in their discretion, to issue their precept, signed by the president of said council and directed to the street commissioner, commanding him to cause the footways and gutters of such street, lane or alley to be paved with bricks or stone, as the case may require, and to fix curbstones therein, agreeably to the proper ground plan and regulation of said city. The cost and expense of the paving and the curbing of the footways shall, upon the completion of such paving and curbing, be forthwith assessed by the city auditor upon all the owners of property bordering or fronting on the streets where it is so paved and curbed according to the number of feet contained in the street line of the property of such owners respectively; and he shall lay such assessment before the council at its first stated meeting after the completion of the work. If such assessment shall be approved by the council, the clerk of the council shall immediately enter the said approved assessment in a record book to be kept for that purpose, and the same being so recorded shall, from the time of its entry as aforesaid, be and remain a lien upon the lands and buildings of each of said owners fronting on such street as aforesaid to the extent of the amount of his approved assessment, and as such lien shall have priority against any lien, encumbrance or conveyance made or suffered by the owner or owners of such property after the recording: of such assessment as aforesaid; and the city auditor shall forthwith present to each of said owners or other persons having charge of said property a bill for the proportion of such expense assessed to such owner, and if the amount of said bill be not paid within sixty days after such presentation thereof it shall be the duty of the mayor of said city to issue his warrant directed to the said city auditor, commanding him to levy the same, with all costs thereon, upon the grounds or buildings of such owner fronting on such street as aforesaid, which said grounds or buildings, or any part thereof, shall be sold by said city auditor, at public auction, upon ten days' notice in two newspapers published in said city, and a deed from said city auditor shall convey to the purchaser of said grounds or buildings as full and complete a title to said premises, in fee simple or otherwise , as if the same were executed by said owner thereof; and it shall be the duty of said city auditor, out of the purchase money of the said premises so sold as aforesaid, to pay all costs arising from said process and sale to the parties entitled thereto respectively, and to pay to the city treasurer the amount of said approved assessment so assessed to such owner as aforesaid, for which he shall take and the city treasurer shall give duplicate receipts, one of which shall be retained by said city auditor and the other shall be by him forthwith transmitted to the chairman of the finance committee. the residue of said purchase money shall be immediately deposited by said city auditor in the Farmers' Bank of Delaware at Wilmington to the credit of the owner of the property so sold, for which said city auditor shall take from the cashier of said bank a certificate of deposit, and file the same in the office of the clerk of the council; and the said city auditor shall make return under his hand of his proceedings under such warrant as aforesaid into the office of said clerk, to be there filed by said clerk, who shall also enter said return upon the record of said assessment to kept by him as aforesaid.
SECTION 120. The owner of any ground may pave his, her or their own front or fronts, provided it be completed within twenty days from the day of fitting the curb stone and notice thereof given to such owner, if such owner reside in said city, by writing, under the hand of said commissioner, served personally or by being left at his or her dwelling house; but the curbstones shall in all cases be furnished and fixed by the said commissioner.
SECTION 121. The council shall have full power and authority to compel the paving of footways between the curbstone and the building line in front of lots whereon is erected and any dwelling-house, office, place of business, railing, fence, stone or brick wall, or permanent structure of any kind, also in front of such vacant lots as in their discretion should be paved to the full breadth as aforesaid, and to regulate and prescribe the mode of paving footways and the material to be used therein. The space between the curb and building line on footways where, in the discretion of the council, the owner may not be obliged to pave to a greater breadth than five feet from the curbstone, shall be covered with gravel to the depth of at least six inches and leveled in conformity with the part that is paved. Provided, however, that any persons owning land on any street who may desire to fix curbstones in front of their property may have the privilege of purchasing and fixing the same under the supervision of the street commissioner upon application to the city council, and the city council may grant or refuse any such application in its discretion.
SECTION 122. Upon the completion of any paving or curbing as aforesaid, the street commissioner shall give to the owner of the property so curbed and paved a certificate that it has been done according to the proper ground plan and regulation of the city, and shall deliver a duplicate of such certificate to the clerk of the council, who shall record the same in a book to be kept for that purpose, and carefully file and preserve the certificate; and no owner of property to whom such certificate is thus given shall be liable for any change or error of regulation, or subsequent curbing or paving of the same property by the council, but the expense of the same shall be defrayed by the city.
SECTION 123. The city surveyors and regulators are authorized and required to lay out proper gutters, channels and conduits for carrying off the waters in said city.
SECTION 124. So much of all ordinance of the freemen, resident inhabitants of the borough of Wilmington, in general town meeting legally called and met, entitled "An ordinance to establish the regulation of the ascents and descents of the streets, lanes and alleys within the borough of Wilmington, and for other purposes," as the same is particularly set forth in the third section of an act of the General Assembly entitled "An act to vacate and discontinue the street called Water street in the borough of Wilmington, from Market street westwardly to the line of said borough, and for other purposes," passed at Dover, January 24th, 1801, as provides for the width of footways and pavements, the depth of gutters, the height of curbs, and the extent of steps, porches, cellar-doors, or other inlets to buildings, in the streets, lanes or alleys of the said city, shall be and the same is hereby declared to be of force for the said several purposes; provided that the mayor and the council may widen the footways on any or all the streets in said city, on the application in writing of the owners of the major part of the ground fronting on said street or streets, the admeasurement of said ground to be taken in feet parallel with the curbstone; provided further, nevertheless, that council shall have power in its own discretion to cause the pavements or footways on the northerly side of Water street, or any other part thereof, to be widened to any breadth not exceeding, in the whole, twelve feet.
WHARVES.
SECTION 125. The council are hereby declared to have and shall have authority in their discretion to let or demise, for any terms of years not exceeding ten and subject to such rents and reservations as they may deem expedient, the landings at the ends of the streets terminating upon the Brandywine creek or the Christiana creek; provided that all demises heretofore made by the council of any such landing as aforesaid, or permission given by the council for making such improvements as aforesaid, are hereby confirmed and declared to be and the same shall be valid and effectual where they have not expired by their own limitation or in due course.
CITY MAP.
SECTION 126. The map or plan of the city made under the requirements of Section 28 of Chapter 376, Vol. II, Delaware Laws, showing all the streets, squares, lanes and public alleys of the said city, with their several dimensions, ascents and descents, and which, upon its completion and approval by the council, was required to be signed by the mayor and president of the council, sealed with the corporate seal, and deposited and kept in the clerk's office, and a duplicate of which, in like manner signed and sealed, was required to be deposited and kept in the office for recording deeds in and for New Castle county, and which map and the duplicate thereof were by the said a& made public records, and the same, or an office copy thereof, made competent evidence, shall be deemed and taken to be the true map, plan, or ground plot of said city; and all the streets, squares, lanes and alleys of the city shall be and remain as they shall be laid down upon said map, with such extensions and alterations as have been or may hereafter be made by authority of the laws of this State. The ascents and descents of all streets, lanes and alleys within the city shall be regulated and fixed conformably to said map; but the council may by ordinance (to be passed by a vote of two-thirds of all the members thereof for the time being) regulate and fix the ascents and descents of all streets, lanes and alleys within the said city the ascents and descents of which are not marked and laid down on the aforesaid map or plan.
STEAM-POWER OR HEATING PIPES UNDER STREETS.
SECTION 127. In case of the introduction into, through, under or along the streets of the city, with the consent of the council, of steam-power or heating pipes, or underground telegraph, telephone or electric-light wires, the council shall require, before such work shall commence, payment into the treasury of the city as a guarantee, or some other satisfactory security, that the streets shall not be unnecessarily torn up or obstructed, or kept or left out of repair, or travel unwarrantably impeded, and that the city shall be indemnified against loss, and it shall further require a bond, with personal security thereon, to " The Mayor and Council of Wilmington," with warrant of attorney for the entering judgment thereon, in such sum as the council may deem proper, conditioned to indemnify and save harmless any and all persons, inhabitants of the said city, their persons, goods, chattels, lands and tenements from loss, damage or expense, from or by reason of the introduction into the streets of the said city of such steam-power or heating pipes, or underground telegraph, telephone or electric-light wires, which bond shall be held by the said city for the use of any and all persons who may be aggrieved or suffer loss, damage or expense by reason of the premises, to be accorded to them upon petition of the person aggrieved, under such restrictions as the council may impose; and the council may, when in its judgment the public interests may so require, cause, at the expense of the parties laying or owning the same, such pipes or wires to be removed in whole or in part, or impose such restrictions upon the use thereof as it may think fit in reference to the public interests.
SECTION 128. The Council of Wilmington shall, by a two-thirds vote of all the members thereof; have power and authority, by ordinance, to authorize the construction of railroad tracks, for the use of cars propelled either by steam or horse-power, for the purpose of affording business or manufacturing establishments within said city greater facilities for the shipment and -receipt of freight on any of the streets of said city; and in like manner may authorize such alteration in the grade of any street as may be necessary for the proper construction and maintenance of such railway, and may further provide, in like manner, that any owner of land fronting upon such railway may construct a convenient siding or turnout into and upon his premises; provided, however, that all expense of construction, grading, paving, keeping in repair, and removing such railway tracks or sidings, shall be paid by the person or persons, firms or corporations for whose use or benefit the same shall be so constructed or thereafter used; and provided further, that nothing herein contained shall authorize the connection of any such railway track with the track or tracks of any railway company without an agreement in writing with such railway company, and when any connection shall be so made with the tracks of any such company, no other or greater right shall be acquired by the parties interested to have such conne6tion maintained than shall be expressly stipulated in said agreement; and provided further, that nothing herein contained shall be taken to impair, take away or abridge the right of any person aggrieved by such action or license to his remedy at law or in equity for any such grievance or impairment of right sustained by him against the said persons, firms or corporations.
SECTION 129. The council may by such ordinances provide and establish such regulations and restrictions as it may deem proper for the grading, construction, paving, use and keeping in repair of such tracks and sidings; and may further, at any time when in its judgment the further continuance of such tracks are subversive or destructive of the rights of the citizens to the full and proper use of any streets as common and public highways for their convenience as means of passage and modes of egress and regress to and fro, forthwith, at the proper cost and charges of the persons, firms, or corporations locating the said railroad tracks or sidings, order and cause the entire or partial removal of such tracks and sidings.
SECTION 130. The council shall inquire into the condition and direct the repairs of the several pumps and wells within the city; and any pump or well which remains out of repair for three months next after notice given by direction of the council to the owner or owners thereof shall become forfeited to the corporation, to beheld as its property and maintained and repaired at the public charge, or abandoned, at its discretion.
PARTY WALLS AND FENCES.
SECTION 131. The city council shall, from time to time appoint three or more discreet and skillful persons to be city surveyors and regulators, who, upon application made to them, shall enter upon any lands in order to set out the foundations and regulate the walls to be built between party and party within the said city, as to the breadth or thickness thereof, which foundation shall be laid equally upon the lands of the persons between whom such party wall is to be made; and the first builder shall be reimbursed one moiety of the charge of such party wall, or for so much thereof as the next builder shall have occasion to make use of, before such next builder shall use or break into said wall, and the charge or value thereof shall be determined by the said regulators, or any two of them. Either party may appeal to the council at its next stated meeting, which shall finally adjust the matter and make such order for the payment of costs as it shall deem just.
SECTION 132. If any person shall begin or lay the foundation of any party wall or other building, as aforesaid, except in conformity to the provisions of the foregoing section, every such person, as well employer as masterbuilder, shall, for such offense, forfeit and pay a fine of fifty dollars.
SECTION 133. The city surveyors and regulators, or any two of them, shall regulate all partition fences within said city; such fences shall be made in the manner generally used and kept in good repair at the equal expense of the parties, to be recoverable in the municipal court as debts of like amount are recoverable before a justice of the peace; provided that the costs of making the same do not exceed twenty-five dollars for every hundred feet in length, and so in proportion, unless the owners or possessors, between whom such fence is erected, otherwise agree.
DRAINAGE.
SECTION 134. The council shall have the entire jurisdiction and control within the limits of said city of the drainage thereof, and may pass ordinances for the opening of gutters, drains and sewers within the limits thereof, and the regulating and maintaining, cleansing, and keeping the same and the natural water courses, runs and rivulets within the said limits open, clear and unobstructed, and for that purpose may authorize the entry upon private land, and by general regulations prescribe the mode in which they shall be opened, maintained, cleansed, and kept open and unobstructed, and who shall bear the expense thereof, and may, in its discretion, assess the costs thereof upon the persons and property, real and personal, of those particularly benefited thereby, or of those owning or holding lands through or along which said sewers, drains or water-courses shall flow or pass, and prescribe the mode of collection thereof. Provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed to authorize the taking of private property for public use without just compensation.
SECTION 135. The city council shall also have the right to alter and change the course or direction of any of the natural water courses, runs, or rivulets within the limits of said city, and for that purpose to enter upon, take and occupy lands, tenements and hereditaments. Before any property or ground shall be taken or occupied for such purpose the owner or owners of such property or ground shall be paid or tendered such damages as they shall be respectively entitled to receive, which damages shall be assessed, paid, or tendered in the same manner as in the case of the taking of ground or property for extending, widening, laying out, or opening of streets. The cost of such alteration or change shall be estimated, and any allotment, apportionment, assessment, or division of any portion thereof, as the freeholders may deem just and reasonable, shall be made upon and among the persons, properties, interests and estates specially benefited by such alteration or change, and collected and made a lien in the mode provided in the case of extending, widening, laying out or opening any street, as provided for in this act.
BOARD OE HEALTH.
SECTION 136. It shall be the duty of the mayor of said city, and he is hereby authorized and directed, annually, on the first Thursday in May, to appoint a Board of Health for said city, which board shall consist of the port physician, two other physicians, one practical plumber and one general business man. The chief engineer of the surveying department of said city shall be ex officio a member of the board of health without salary as such. The said board shall appoint its own president and treasurer from among its members, and shall have power and authority to appoint two executive officers for the term of one year, who shall be vested with like powers as city constables. The secretary of the board shall keep the minutes of the meetings of the board, and shall perform all such duties as shall be assigned to him by said board. Three members shall constitute a quorum to do business. The said mayor shall have power to fill all vacancies in said board occurring by death or otherwise and may remove, for sufficient cause, any member of said board which it is his duty to appoint.
SECTION 137. The said board shall be invested with all powers, the powers and authority which the council might or could exercise relative to the object of their institution, and with all powers and authority conferred and duties enjoined upon members of boards of health by the laws of the State, and by the ordinances of said city, for the preservation of the public health within said city, or within one mile thereof. And the said board of health, upon complaint that a nuisance has been created, erected or continued and is continued within said city, or within one mile of the boundaries thereof, which may prove injurious to the health of the inhabitants thereof; shall hear and determine such complaint, and if necessary view and examine the matter or thing complained of; and if the said board shall adjudge the place or thing complained of to be a nuisance, whereby the health of the inhabitants of said city is or may be injured, the said board shall give directions to cleanse, remove, abate or remedy the same to the person or persons causing or producing such nuisance, or to the owner or owners, agents, tenants or occupier of the premises whereon the said nuisance exists; and if the person or persons, owner or owners, agents, tenants, or occupant to whom such direction is given shall not observe and fulfill the same within the time therein prescribed by said board, the said board shall have power to order the said directions to be carried into effect by some officer of the board or other person to whom the service may be committed, and the expenses thereof shall be paid by the person to whom the direction was originally given; but if the same shall not be paid by said person on demand, the same shall be paid by the treasurer of the board, who shall have the right to recover the same with interest and costs from the person who ought to have paid the same as aforesaid, as debts of like amount are recoverable.
Any owner or owners, agent, tenant or occupant of the premises, who shall fail, neglect, omit or refuse to comply with the directions of said board as aforesaid shall, in addition to the penalties above mentioned, forfeit and pay a fine of not less than one dollar nor more than twenty dollars for every such offense, to be recovered in the municipal court of said city in the name of The Mayor and Council of Wilmington, and in default of the payment thereof shall be committed to jail until said fine and costs are paid or otherwise discharged by law. From the judgment of said court in such cases there shall be no appeal.
SECTION 138. Whenever the said Board of Health shall declare any street, lane alley, vacant lot, or other place belonging to the City of Wilmington to be a nuisance, injurious to the health of the inhabitants thereof; the said board shall have power to notify the executive officer of the board of health of said city to abate and remove said nuisance within such time as said board may, in such direction designate. If said executive officer of the board of health shall neglect, omit or refuse to comply with such directions as aforesaid, the board of health shall have power and authority to have the same abated, removed or cleansed by such officer or person as said board may appoint, and the cost thereof, being approved by the board as aforesaid, shall be paid by the council of said city in the same manner as other bills are paid by said city, and the bills so paid as aforesaid shall by said council be charged to the appropriation for cleaning and repairing streets of said city.
BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
SECTION 139. The charter of the Board of Public Education in Wilmington, and the various supplements thereto now in force (except as hereinafter altered), shall continue and be in full force, and the same is hereby extended and continued for the term of twenty years from the passage of this act; and the said corporation, with all the rights, powers, privileges, franchises and immunities which are now vested in it by any law of this State, is hereby continued, extended and shall be held in full force and operation for the term of twenty years from and after the passing of this act.
SECTION 140. The Board of Public Education in Wilmington shall hereafter consist of two members from each of the wards in the City of Wilmington. Said members must have been bona fide freeholders in said city during at least one month before the election qualified voters in the ward for which they are chosen, and they shall be chosen by ballot by the inhabitants of the ward who shall have been assessed for and paid the school tax for the City of Wilmington for the preceding year and who shall be otherwise qualified to vote at all city elections. A plurality of votes shall elect. No member of the council shall be a member of the board of public education. The board of public education shall appoint a place of holding the election in each ward, and give notice thereof in the different newspapers published in the City of Wilmington for ten days previous to the time of said election, and also give at least four days' notice of it by handbills, under the name of the secretary of the board, posted in four or more of the most public places in the ward. The election of members of the board shall be held on the first Saturday of May in each and every year. The election shall be held in the afternoon, the polls opened at twelve o'clock, or within thirty minutes thereafter, and close at six o'clock. The inspector and assistant inspectors of the city election in their respective wards shall hold the election of members of the board of public education in the respective wards (in wards, however, containing two districts, the inspector and assistant inspectors residing in the district in which the polling places are situated shall hold the said election), and if they refuse, or are not at the place of election at the time of opening the polls, the voters present shall, by plurality, without ballot, choose an officer for holding the election in place of the one or more refusing or not present. The officers holding the election shall, before opening the election, each take an oath or affirmation, as follows:
I, _______, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that in holding the election this day for a member or members of the Board of Public Education, I will faithfully and impartially discharge my duty, and make true certificates thereof and deliver the same according to law, so help me God (or, so I solemnly affirm).
The inspector is authorized to administer this oath or affirmation to the assistants, and either of them to him, or to each other. Within two days after any election the certificates of it shall be delivered, under the hands of the officers holding the election, to wit: one to the secretary of the board and one to the member-elect, which certificates, shall be made out and signed by the officers holding the election immediately after counting the votes. The board shall be the judge of the election of its members. The present members of the board shall continue to hold the offices to which they were by the provisions of law heretofore in force respectively elected, until the regular and due expiration of the terms thereof, the same as if this act had not been passed. On the first Saturday in May, A. D. 1883, an election shall be held, at which shall be chosen one member for each ward for the term of two years, and persons to fill vacancies then existing for any unexpired term; and annually thereafter, on the first Saturday in May, elections shall be held for one member for each ward to hold office for two years, and as well to fill vacancies. Moving out of the ward vacates the office of the member. All vacancies shall be filled by the board till the next election, when members shall be chosen to fill vacancies.
SECTION 141. If any person not having a right to vote at any election held under this act shall vote at such election, or if any person shall vote in a ward in which he does not reside, or if any inspector or assistant shall knowingly take the vote of a person not having a right to vote, or shall neglect or refuse to make and deliver certificates of any election as required by the next foregoing section, every such person, inspector and assistants shall forfeit and pay the sum of fifty dollars ($50.00), to be adjudged on indictment and conviction in the Court of General Sessions in and for New Castle county, and to be paid to the board aforesaid for the benefit of the schools under their charge.
SECTION 142. The board aforesaid shall continue to be a corporation by the name of "The Board of Public Education in Wilmington," and shall be capable in law to take, purchase, hold, sell, grant, demise or otherwise dispose of lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods, chattels and effects' and shall have control and authority over all the public schools in the City of Wilmington, and shall increase the number and improve the condition thereof, and do all as necessary for establishing and maintaining said schools as they shall deem judicious and expedient until there are sufficient public schools to accommodate all the children and minors whose parents guardians or masters desire for them the benefit. Provided the schools for white children and minors shall be separate and distinct from the schools provided for colored children and minors. They shall have no banking powers. Twelve members shall form a quorum. They shall have power to make by-laws, to appoint all teachers and fix the amount of their salaries, and may dismiss them at any time for incompetency, cruelty, neglect of duty, or immorality; shall direct what branches of learning shall be taught in each school and what books shall be used therein; they may prescribe and enforce such rules and conditions as they may deem proper for the admission of pupils to the school, and may suspend or expel from the schools all pupils found guilty of refractory or incorrigible conduct. They shall appoint visiting committees, make regulations, and have stated monthly meetings. The officers of the board shall be a president, who must be a member; a secretary, treasurer, and such other officers and agents as may be found necessary. The board may appoint a person not a member of the same secretary thereof, prescribe his duties, require from him bonds with surety for their faithful performance if deemed expedient, and allow him compensation for his services by stated salary or otherwise, as may be considered proper. A treasurer may be appointed, not being a member. He shall, before entering on the duties of his office, give bonds to the board in such amount as shall be determined by the board, with surety or sureties to be approved by the board, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office as treasurer. The said offices of secretary and treasurer may be united and held by one person. The said board shall, during the month of April in each year, cause to be prepared and laid before them estimates of their probable revenue and expenses for the ensuing fiscal year, which estimates they shall lay before the council on or before the first stated meeting of council in May following. At the time of presenting to council said estimates of revenue and expenses, the said board shall, if necessary, also in addition thereto present to council an estimate, not to exceed twenty thousand dollars, for the erection or extension of school houses and for furniture and heating apparatus for the same. The said board, early in June in each year, after the council shall have made the appropriation for the use of the public schools for the following fiscal year as hereinafter mentioned, shall make apportionment and appropriations for their expenditures for that year, based as nearly as may be upon the estimates made by them in April previous, and such apportionment and appropriations shall be specified and arranged under the heads or items designated in the said estimates. The expenditures of the year, under any head or item of appropriation, shall not exceed that item of appropriation unless the same be voted for by two-thirds at least of all the members of said board, a record of which vote shall be made upon the minutes. Under no circumstances shall the appropriation for the erection or extension of school houses, and for furniture and heating apparatus for the same, be used for any other purpose. The said board shall have no power or authority to borrow money or contract or create any debt or liability except ordinary debts and liabilities incurred in executing the duties imposed on them by law, to be paid out of the said appropriation made by council and the receipts of the year for the time then current; no money shall be paid from the treasury of the board unless the same shall have been appropriated as aforesaid. If the treasurer of the board shall pay out of the treasury any money, or draw any order for the payment of any money contrary to this provision, he shall forfeit and pay a fine of five hundred dollars, and he and his sureties shall be liable to the board upon his official obligation for any money so paid out by him.
SECTION 143. The said board shall, during the month of July in each year, cause to be published, in the daily newspapers of the City of Wilmington, a full report of their accounts and proceedings during the past year, setting forth aggregates under appropriate heads. They shall also depute one of their members to attend with and lay their accounts and vouchers before the council at the next regular meeting following such publication and also to settle with the State Auditor.
SECTION 144. The council shall, every year, when determining the amount necessary to be raised on the persons and estates in the city for public use, also include the sum necessary to be raised on the persons and estates for executing the foregoing provisions; provided that the amount to be raised for current school expenses as aforesaid in any one year shall be exclusive of the amount designated for the erection or extension of school houses and for furniture and heating apparatus for the same. The amount collected for school purposes shall be paid into the city treasury as other taxes are paid. At the time of making the annual appropriations for public use the council shall also make an appropriation for current school expenses equal in amount to that annually computed and laid before said council by the " Board of Public Education in Wilmington;" provided that the sums so computed and appropriated shall be exclusive of the amount designated for the erection or extension of school houses and for furniture and heating apparatus for the same; and provided further, that any demand made by the board upon the council for ordinary and current expenses, exclusive of the amount required for the erection or extension of school houses and for furniture and heating apparatus for the same, shall not exceed eighty thousand dollars ($80,000) for the fiscal year A. D. 1883-4; and the increase shall not, for any succeeding fiscal year, be greater than five per centum additional upon the aggregate amount for the fiscal year preceding; and provided farther, that the amount demanded for erection or extension of school houses and for furniture and heating apparatus for the same shall not exceed twenty thousand ($20,000) for any one year. Council may also, in making appropriations for the use of the Board of Public Education for the fiscal year A. D. 1883-4, include therein the further sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000) to erect fire escapes upon the school buildings, and to complete the payment of expenses incurred in the extension of school building No. 4 in the City of Wilmington. The amount of the appropriations for current school expenses so made by the council shall be paid in full, in twelve equal installments, on the second Monday in each and every month during the year, by the city treasurer, upon orders drawn by the aforesaid board under the hand of the president, attested by the secretary. The amount designated for the erection or extension of school houses and for furniture and heating apparatus for the same shall be paid by the city treasurer to the treasurer of the board on or before the first day of August of the fiscal year for which the same was so designated and raised.
SECTION 145. The said board shall have right to draw dividends from time to time made and entered to the credit of the School Districts Nos. 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 ½ i in New Castle county in the account of the Trustee of the School Fund with said districts respectively;and it shall be the duty of the said trustee to pay said dividends upon an order signed by the president of said board and attested by the secretary, accompanied by a certificate signed and attested in like manner that the said board has received for the benefit of public schools under their charge a sum equal to the aggregate of the sums required to be paid in every of the said districts in order to the drawing of the said dividends, the said board being substituted for the school committee of the united school districts composed of the school districts aforesaid.
SECTION 146. No member of the board of education shall directly or indirectly, be concerned or interested pecuniarily in any bid, order, or contract, made to, with, by or for said board. They shall have no pay or emoluments nor be allowed compensation for any service.
SECTION 147. Each member, before entering upon office, shall take the following oath or affirmation: I, ______, do
solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have been a bona fide freeholder in the City of Wilmington for the period of one month prior to my election and a qualified voter in the ward for which I am chosen a member of the Board of Public Education in Wilmington; that I will diligently and faithfully perform the duties of a member of said board according to the best of my knowledge and judgment, and that I will not be controlled in any vote or action as a member of said board from political or partisan considerations. Such oath or affirmation may be administered by the president, secretary, or any member of the board as well as by any officer by law authorized to administer oaths or affirmations.
FINES, FORFEITURES AND PENALTIES.
SECTION 148. All fines and forfeitures incurred under this act, or under any ordinance of said city, shall, except in cases otherwise provided for by law, be enforced, collected and paid into the city treasury for the use of the corporation.
SECTION 149. The printed copies of the ordinances and resolutions of the Council of Wilmington, whether of a public or private nature, published by authority of council, shall be admitted as evidence thereof in all courts and on all occasions; and in pleading it shall not be necessary to recite or draw them out at large.
SECTION 150. Nothing in this act shall be construed to affect or in any manner impair the existing provisions of law relating to "the sinking fund'' for the payment of the city debt of Wilmington, or the validity of any existing debt or security of the said city or of the Board of Public Education in Wilmington, or the existing provisions of law for the payment thereof.
SECTION 151. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with or manifestly superseded and supplied by the provisions of this act are hereby repealed, except as to the provisions contained in schedule A, hereunto subjoined, which are continued in force until they shall have expired by virtue of the limitations therein contained.
SECTION 152. This act shall be deemed and taken to be a public act, and shall be construed most favorably for the corporation.
Schedule "A," referred to in the preceding act.
LIMITED EXEMPTIONS FROM TAXATION.
WHEREAS all that portion of the Second, Eighth and Ninth Wards in the City of Wilmington, hereinafter described, is very sparsely inhabited and has very few buildings thereon erected, and derives very little, if any, benefit from being included in the limits of the city; the said portion of the Second Ward being described as follows : Beginning in the center line of the Wilmington and Western railroad on the southeasterly side of the Christiana river; thence with the center line of said railroad in a southeasterly direction to the line of the west side of French street; thence with the said side of French street in a northeasterly direction to the southwest side of the Christiana river; thence down the same and binding thereon to the westerly side of Church street; thence with the said side of Church street southwesterly to the center line of the said Wilmington and Western railroad; thence with the center line of said railroad to the easterly side of Heald street; thence with said side of Heald street southwesterly to the northeasterly side of D street; thence by the said side of D street southeasterly to the northwesterly side of Goodman street; thence by the said side of Goodman street northeasterly to the easterly side of Christiana avenue; thence by said side of said avenue to the southerly side of Commerce street; thence by said side of Commerce street easterly to the Christiana river; thence down the said Christiana river and binding thereon to its mouth at the River Delaware, and thence down the Delaware river and binding thereon in a southerly direction to the city line; thence with said city line in a northwesterly direction to the southeasterly side of the Christiana river; thence down the Christiana river and binding thereon to the place of beginning. The said portion of the Eighth Ward being described as follows: Beginning at a point in the centre line of Eighth street extended, at the Preamble. distance of seven hundred and fifty-nine feet eight inches easterly from the center of .Buttonwood street; thence north twenty-one degrees and fifteen minutes east, one hundred and fifty-two feet eight inches to the southerly bank of the Brandywine creek; thence down said creek and binding thereon to its mouth at the Christiana river; thence up the said Christiana river and binding thereon to a point which bears from the first-mentioned point or place of beginning south twenty-one degrees and fifteen minutes west; thence with the said bearing reversed, (north twenty-one degrees and fifteen minutes east), to the place of beginning. The said portion of the Ninth Ward being described as follows: Beginning at a point on the northeasterly side of Brandywine creek and in the southeasterly side of Washington street ; thence northwesterly by the said side of Washington street to the southwesterly side of Twenty-sixth street; thence with the said side of Twenty-sixth street southeasterly to the northwesterly side of Jessup street; thence southwesterly by the said side of Jessup street to the southwesterly side of Vandever avenue; thence by the said side of Vandever avenue southeasterly to the division line between the lands of Jessup & Moore and lands late of William Thatcher, deceased thence with said division line southwesterly to the Brandywine creek; thence down said creek and binding thereon to the northeasterly side of Fourteenth street; thence by said side of Fourteenth street southeasterly to the northwesterly side of Thatcher street; thence northeasterly by the said side of Thatcher street to the southwesterly side of Vandever avenue; thence southeasterly by the said side of said avenue to the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad thence in a southerly direction by the several courses of the old marsh lane to the point of its intersection with Thirteenth street; thence westerly by the middle of said Thirteenth street to its intersection with Bowers street; thence southerly by the center line of said Bowers street extended to the Brandywine creek; thence down the said creek by the several courses thereof to the Christiana river; thence down the Christiana river and binding thereon to its mouth at the River Delaware; thence up the Delaware river in a northerly direction to the city line; thence by the said city line in a westerly and southwesterly direction to the northeasterly side of Brandywine creek, and thence down the said Brandywine creek by the several courses thereof to the place of beginning; therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Stale of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of each branch thereof concurring herein):
Sub. § 1. That the Mayor and Council of Wilmington shall, by the city council, after the assessment has been made in each year for city and school purposes of the persons and estates in the said part of the Second, Sixth* (*So enrolled and so in original bill.)and Ninth Wards, levy and coned from the said persons and estates, taxes for both city and school purposes, in full of all taxes, at a rate not exceeding one-half of the rate levied on persons and estates in the remaining parts of said city.
Sub. § 2. Be it fur/her enacted, That this act shall take effect from the date of its passage and continue in force until the thirty-first day of December, A. D. eighteen hundred and eighty-six, and no longer.
Sub. § 3. The real estate of any person or persons, or body corporate, within the limits of the portions of the Second, Eighth and Ninth Wards of the City of Wilmington, hereinafter described, upon which any manufactory or other industrial improvements for the employment of labor is now or may hereafter be erected after the passage of this act, shall be exempt for a period of ten years, after the same shall hereafter have been erected and be first assessable, from assessment and taxation for state, county or municipal purposes. The said exemption to apply only to the land occupied by such manufacturing or other industrial improvements and necessary to their operation. In the event of any question as to the quantity actually necessary for this purpose it shall be determined by the city council. The portions of said wards to be embraced within the provisions of this act are described as follows, to wit: In the Second Ward beginning in the center line of the Delaware Western railroad on the southeasterly side of the Christiana river; thence with the center of said railroad in a southeasterly direction to the line of the west side of French street; thence with the said side of French street in a northeasterly direction to the southwest side of the Christiana river; thence down the same and binding thereon to the westerly side of Church street; thence with the said side of Church street southwesterly to the center line of the said Delaware Western railroad ; thence with the center line of said railroad to the easterly side of Heald street; thence with said side of Heald street southwesterly to the northeasterly side of D street; thence by the said side of D street southeasterly to the northwesterly side of Goodman street; thence by the said side of Goodman street northeasterly to the easterly side of Christiana avenue ; thence by said side of said avenue to the southerly side of Commerce street; thence by said side of Commerce street easterly to the Christiana river ; thence down the said Christiana river and binding thereon to its mouth at the River Delaware; thence down the Delaware river and binding thereon in a southerly direction to the city line; thence with said city line in a northwesterly direction to the southeasterly side of the Christiana river; and thence down the Christiana river and binding thereon to the place of beginning. In the Eighth Ward, beginning at a point in the center line of Eighth street extended, at the distance of seven hundred and fifty-nine feet and eight inches easterly from the center of Buttonwood street; thence north twenty-one degrees and fifteen minutes east one hundred and fifty-two feet and eight inches to the southerly bank of the Brandywine creek; thence down said creek and binding thereon to its mouth at the Christiana river; thence up the said Christiana river and binding thereon to a point which bears from the first-mentioned point or place of beginning south twenty-one degrees and fifteen minutes west; thence with the said bearing reversed (north twenty-one degrees and fifteen minutes east) to the place of beginning. And in Ninth Ward beginning at a point on the northeasterly side of Brandywine creek and in the southeasterly side of Washington street; thence northeasterly by the said side of Washington street to the southwesterly side of Twenty-sixth street; thence with the said side of Twenty-sixth street southeasterly to the northwesterly side of Jessup street; thence southwesterly by the said side of Jessup street to the southwesterly side of Vandever avenue; thence by the said side of Vandever avenue southeasterly to the division line between the lands now or formerly of Jessup & Moore and lands late of William Thatcher, deceased; thence with said division line southwesterly to the Brandywine creek; thence down said creek and binding thereon to the northeasterly side of Fourteenth street; thence by said side of Fourteenth street southeasterly to the northwesterly side of Thatcher street; thence northeasterly by the said side of Thatcher street to the southwesterly side of Vandever avenue; thence southeasterly by the said side of said avenue to the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad; thence in a southerly direction by the several courses of the old marsh lane to the point of its intersection with Thirteenth street; thence westerly by the middle of said Thirteenth street to its intersection with Bowers street; thence southerly by the center line of said Bowers street extended to the Brandywine creek ; thence down the said creek by the said courses thereof to the Christiana river; thence down the Christiana river and binding thereon to its mouth at the river Delaware; thence up the Delaware river in a northerly direction to the city line; thence by the said city line in a westerly and southwesterly direction to the northeasterly side of the Brandywine creek, and thence down the said Brandywine creek by the several courses thereof to the place of beginning. Also beginning at the intersection of the middle of Tenth street with the Brandywine river on the westerly side of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad; thence easterly and along said Tenth street to said Philadelphia; Wilmington and Baltimore railroad; thence northeasterly and along said railroad one hundred feet to a corner; thence by a straight line easterly to the center of Tenth street at its intersection with the Brandywine creek; and thence by said creek by its several courses to the place of beginning.
That the real estate in the territory taken into the corporate limits of the City of Wilmington by virtue of the extension of the boundaries thereof by and under the provisions of an at entitled "An act to further amend the Charter of the City of Wilmington," passed at Dover, April 7, A. D. I881, for the space of three years from and after the passage of said act, shall be subject to taxation for municipal and school purposes for the City of Wilmington at the rate of only one-third the regular tax rate levied and laid upon real estate in other portions of said city; and for the following three years thereafter at the rate of only one-half the regular tax rate levied and laid upon real estate in other portions of said city.
Sub. § 4. That the present officers of the City of Wilmington shall continue in office until others shall have been duly elected or appointed and qualified under and in accordance with the provisions of this act.
Passed at Dover, April 13, 1883.