C\J 
 

 
 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 Class 
 
 
 
 
 
THE CHARTER 
 
 OF THE 
 
 City of Tacoma 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 ADOPTED OCTOBER 16, 1909 
 
CHARTER 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CITY OF TACOMA 
 
 STATE OF 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 FRAMED AND SUBMITTED BY THE BOARD OF FIFTEEN FREE- 
 HOLDERS ELECTED JUNE 8, 1909, UNDER AND IN ACCORD- 
 ANCE WITH SECTION 10, ARTICLE 11, OF THE STATE 
 CONSTITUTION AND AN ACT OF THE LEGISLA- 
 TURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, 
 APPROVED MA3CH 4TH, A. D. 1895, 
 
 ENTITLED 
 
 " AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE CITIES OF THE FIRST CLASS 
 
 TO ALTER, CHANGE, REVISE, ADD TO OR REPEAL 
 
 THEIR RESPECTIVE CHARTERS;" AND 
 
 FILED BY SAID BOARD WITH THE 
 
 CITY CLERK ON THE 7th DAY 
 
 OF AUGUST, 1909, 
 
 Submitted to and Adopted by the Voters of the City of Tacoma 
 
 at a Special Election held on the 16th 
 
 day of October, A.D. 1909. 
 
 TACOMA. WASH. 
 Allen a Lamborn Printing Co. 
 1909 
 

THE CHARTER 
 
 OF THE 
 
 City of Tacoma 
 
 PREAMBLE. 
 We, the people of the City of Tacoma, a city of the first 
 class of the State of Washington, under the authority of the 
 Constitution and Laws of the State of Washington, do hereby 
 adopt, publish and declare this to be our City Charter. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 NAME, BOUNDAMES, POWERS, BIGHTS AND LIABILITIES. 
 
 Section 1. Name, Boundaries and Wards— Th^ municipal 
 corporation now existing and known as the ''City of Tacoma," 
 shall remain and continue to be a body politic and corporate, 
 under the same name and vdth the same boundaries, divided into 
 the same wards, as now existing (except as in the next section of 
 this Charter provided), with power and authority to change its 
 boundaries in the manner authorized by law. 
 
 Sec. 2. Boutidaries Extend to Middle of Sound.— In addi- 
 tion to said boundaries, the powers and jurisdiction of the City 
 of Tacoma are hereby declared to extend over any and all tide- 
 lands intervening between any part of the heretofore existing 
 boundaries of the City and the waters of Commencement Bay 
 and Puget Sound, and over said waters to the middle line of 
 said Bay and Sound, in every manner and for every purpose 
 that such powers and jurisdiction could be exercised if such tide- 
 lands and waters had been specifically included within the City 
 limits prior to the adoption of this Charter, the City of Tacoma 
 hereby adopting and availing itself of all of the powers and 
 jurisdiction conferred by Chapter III, Laws of Washington, 
 1909. 
 
 Sec. 3. Rights and Liahilities.— (a) By the name of the 
 ''City of Tacoma," the City shall have perpetual succession and 
 shall own, possess and hold all property, real and personal, here- 
 tofore owned, possessed or held by the City of Tacoma, and 
 
 228616 
 
4 THEI CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 shall assume, manage and dispose of all trusts in any way con- 
 nected therewith; 
 
 (&) Shall succeed to all the rights and liabilities and shall 
 acquire all benefits, and shall assume and pay all valid bonds, 
 legal obligations and indebtedness of said City of Tacoma; by 
 that name may sue and defend, plead and be impleaded in all 
 courts and places, and in all matters and proceedings ; may have 
 and use a common seal and alter the same at pleasure ; may pur- 
 chase, receive, hold and enjoy, or sell and dispose of real and 
 personal property. 
 
 Sec. 4. Powers.— Tlae City of Tacoma shall have power— 
 
 First— To provide for general and special elections for ques- 
 tions to be voted upon, and for the election of officers ; 
 
 Second — To provide for levying taxes on real and personal 
 property, for corporate uses and purposes, and to provide for 
 the payment of all the debts and expenses of the corporation; 
 provided, that all taxes, whether general or special, exclusive of 
 assessments for street improvements and construction of sewers, 
 shall not exceed one and five-tenths per centum (1.5%), in any 
 one year, of the assessed valuation on the property of said City, 
 except as provided in Sec. 6 of this Charter. 
 
 Third— To control the finances and property of the corpora- 
 tion, and to acquire, by purchase or otherwise, such lands and 
 other property as may be necessary for corporate uses, and to dis- 
 pose of any such property as the interests of the corporation may 
 from time to time require ; 
 
 Fourth— To borrow money for corporate purposes on the 
 credit of the corporation, and to issue negotiable bonds therefor, 
 on such conditions and in such manner as prescribed in this 
 Charter ; 
 
 Fifth— To issue bonds in place of, or to supply means to 
 meet, maturing bonds or other indebtedness, or for the consolida- 
 tion or funding of the same ; 
 
 Sixth— To purchase or appropriate private property within 
 or without the corporate limits for corporate uses, upon making 
 just compensation to the owners thereof, and to institute and 
 maintain such proceedings as may be authorized by the general 
 laws of the State for the appropriation of private property for 
 public use; 
 
 Seventh— To lay out, establish, open, alter, widen, extend, 
 grade, pave, plank, establish grades, or otherwise improve 
 streets, avenues, alleys, sidewalks, wharves, parks, and other 
 public grounds, and to regulate and control the use thereof, and 
 to vacate the same, and to authorize or prohibit the use of elec- 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON « 
 
 tricity at, in or upon any of the said streets, or for other pur- 
 poses, and to prescribe the terms and conditions upon which the 
 same may be used, and to regulate the use thereof ; 
 
 Eighth— To change the grade of any street, highway or al- 
 ley, within its corporate limits, and to provide for the payment 
 of damages to any abutting owner or owners who shall have 
 built or made other improvements upon such street, highway or 
 alley at any point opposite to the point where such change shall 
 be made in reference to the grade of such street, highway or 
 alley as the same existed prior to such change ; 
 
 Ninth— To authorize or prohibit the locating and construct- 
 ing of any railroad or street railroad in any street, alley or 
 public place in the City, and to prescribe the terms and condi- 
 tions upon which any such railroad or street railroad shall be 
 located or constructed; to provide for the alteration, change 
 of grade, or removal thereof; to regulate the moving and oper- 
 ation of railroad and street railroad trains, cars and locomotives 
 within the corporate limits, and to provide for the protection of 
 persons and property against injury in the use of such railroads 
 or street railroads, and to fix the rate of fare; 
 
 Tenth— To provide for making local improvements and 
 to levy and collect special assessments on property benefited 
 thereby, and for paying the same or any portion thereof ; 
 
 Eleventh— To acquire by purchase or otherwise, lands foi- 
 public parks within or without the limits of the City, and to 
 improve the same; 
 
 Twelfth— To construct and keep in repair bridges, viaducts, 
 and tunnels, and to regulate the use thereof; 
 
 Thirteerith— To determine what work shall be done or im- 
 provements made at the expense, in whole or in part, of the 
 owners of the adjoining, contiguous or proximate property, or 
 others specially benefited thereby ; provided, the manner of mak- 
 ing and collecting asse^ments therefor shall be as prescribed 
 in this Charter; 
 
 Fourteenth— To provide for erecting, purchasing, appropri- 
 ating or otherwnse acquiring water works, gas works or electric 
 light plants within or without the corporate limits of said City, 
 to supply said City and its inhabitants with water and light, 
 or to authorize the construction of same by others, and to regu- 
 late and control the use and price of the water or light so sup- 
 plied ; 
 
 Fifteenth— To provide for lighting the streets and all public 
 places, and for furnishing the inhabitants of the City with gas 
 or other lights, and to erect or otherwise acquire, and maintain 
 
6 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 the same, or to authorize the erection and maintenance of such 
 works as may be necessary and convenient therefor, and to reg- 
 ulate and control the use thereof ; 
 
 Sixteenth — To establish and regulate markets, and to pro- 
 vide for the weighing, measuring and inspection of all articles 
 of food and drink offered for sale thereat, or at any other place 
 within its limits, by proper penalties, and to enforce the keep- 
 ing of proper legal weights and measures by all vendors in the 
 City, and to provide for the inspection thereof ; 
 
 Seveniieenth— To erect and establish hospitals and pest- 
 houses and to control and regulate the same; 
 
 Eighteenth— To erect and establish work-houses and jails 
 and to control and regulate the same, and to provide for the 
 working of prisoners confined therein; 
 
 Ni7ieteenM—To provide for the establishment and main- 
 taining of reform schools for juvenile offenders; 
 
 Twentieth— To provide for the establishment and mainten- 
 ance of public libraries, and to appropriate annually not ex- 
 ceeding ten per centum of all moneys collected for fines, penal- 
 ties and licenses, for the support of a City library which shall, 
 under such regulations as shall be prescribed by ordinance, be 
 open for use by the public; 
 
 Tioenty-first-To regulate the burial of the dead and to 
 establish and regulate cemeteries within or without the corporate 
 limits and to acquire land therefor by purchase or otherwise ; to 
 cause cemeteries to be removed beyond the limits of the corpora- 
 tion, and to prohibit their establishment within two miles of the 
 boundaries thereof; 
 
 Twenty -second— To direct the location and construction of 
 all buildings in which any trade or occupation offensive to the 
 senses or deleterious to public health or safety shall be carried 
 on. and to regulate the management thereof, and to prohibit the 
 erection or maintenance of such buildings or structures, or to the 
 carrying on of such trades or occupations within the limits of 
 the City or within the distance of two miles beyond the bound- 
 aries thereof ; 
 
 Tiventy-third— To provide for the prevention and extin- 
 guishment of fires, and to regulate or prohibit the transportation, 
 keeping or storage of all combustible or explosive materials with- 
 in its corporate limits, and to regulate and restrain the use of 
 fire-works ; 
 
 Twenty- fourth— To establish fire limits and to make all 
 such regulations for the erection and maintenance of buildings 
 or other structures within its corporate limits, as the safety of 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 7 
 
 persons or property may require, and to cause all such buildings 
 and places as may from any cause be in a dangerous state, to be 
 put in safe condition ; 
 
 Tice7ity-fifth— To regulate the manner in which stone, brict 
 and other buildings, party walls and partition fences shall be 
 constructed and maintained; 
 
 Twenty-sixth— To deepen, widen, dock, cover, wall, alter or 
 cliange the channels of waterwaj^s and courses, and to provide 
 for the construction and maintenance of all such works as may 
 be required for the acc^j 'imodation of commerce, including 
 canals, ferries, slips, public landing places, wharves, docks and 
 levees, and to control and regulate the use thereof ; 
 
 Tiventy-seventli—To control, regulate or prohibit the an- 
 chorage, moorage and landing of all water crafts and their car- 
 goes, within the jurisdiction of the corporation ; 
 
 Twenty -eighth— To fix the rates of wharfage and dockage, 
 and to provide for the collection thereof, and to provide for the 
 imposition and collection of such harbor fees as may be consis- 
 tent with the laws of the United States: 
 
 Twenty-mnth — To license, regulate, control or restrain 
 wharfboats, tugs and other boats used about the harbor or with- 
 in its jurisdiction : 
 
 Thirtieth— To require the owners of public halls or other 
 buildings to provide suitable means of exit; to provide for the 
 prevention and abatment of nuisances, for the cleaning and 
 purification of water courses and canals, for the drainage and 
 filling up of ponds and private property within its limits, when 
 the same shall be offensive to the senses or dangerous to health ; 
 to regulate and control and to prevent and punish the defile- 
 ment or pollution of all streams running through or into its cor- 
 porate limits, and for a distance of five miles beyond its corpor- 
 ate limits, and on any stream or lake from which the water sup- 
 ply of said City is taken, for a distance of five miles beyond its 
 source of supply; to pro\ade for the cleaning of areas, vaults, 
 and other places within its corporate limits, which may be so 
 kept as to become offensive to the senses or dangerous to the 
 health, and to make all such quarantine or other regulations as 
 may be necessary for the preservation of the public health, and 
 to remove all persons afflicted with any infectious or contagious 
 disease to some suitable place to be provided for that purpose ; 
 
 Thirty- first— To declare what shall be a nuisance and to 
 abate the same, and to impose fines upon parties who may create, 
 continue or suffer nuisances to exist; 
 
8 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 Thirty -second— To license, regulate and restrain the selling 
 or giving away of malt, vinous, fermented, intoxicating or mixed 
 liquors, and to revoke a license or refuse to issue a license to any 
 person to deal in the same, and to prescribe limits within which 
 no license for the sale of such liquors shall be granted ; 
 
 Thirty-third— To grant license for any lawful purpose, and 
 to fix the amount to be paid therefor, and to provide for revok- 
 ing the same; provided, that no license shall be granted to con- 
 tinue for longer than one year from the date thereof ; 
 
 Thirty -fourth— To regulate the carrying on within its cor- 
 porate limits of occupations which are of such a nature as to 
 affect the public health or the good order of s^d City, or to dis- 
 turb the public peace, and which are not prohibited by law, and 
 to provide for the punishment of all persons violating such reg- 
 ulations, and all persons who knowingly permit the same to be 
 violated in any building or upon any premises owned or con- 
 trolled by them; 
 
 Thirty -fifth— To restrain and provide for the punishment of 
 vagrants, mendicants, prostitutes, and other disorderly persons; 
 
 Thirty -sixth— To provide for the punishment of persons 
 guilty of disorderly conduct and of practices dangerous to the 
 public health or safety, and to make all regulations necessary 
 for the preservation of public morality, health, peace and good 
 order within its limits, and to provide for the arrest, trial and 
 punishment of all persons charged with violating any of the 
 ordinances of said City; but such punishment shall in no case 
 exceed the punishment provided by the laws of the State for 
 misdemeanors ; 
 
 Thirty -seventh— To project or extend its streets over and 
 across any tide-lands within its corporate limits, and along or 
 across the harbor areas of said City, in such manner as will best 
 promote the interests of commerce; 
 
 Thirty-eighth — To regulate or prohibit the sale or other dis- 
 position of opium, cocaine and other narcotics and drugs of a 
 like or similar nature, and to suppress and prohibit the smoking 
 of opium and the use of cocaine and other narcotics of a like 
 or similar nature, except upon prescription of regular licensed 
 and practicing physicians of good standing; 
 
 Thirty -ninth— To regulate and prevent domestic and other 
 animals from running at large; to license, tax, regulate and re- 
 strain the keeping of dogs within the City limits ; and to author- 
 ize the distraining, impounding and sale of the same for the 
 penalty incurred and the costs of the proceedings, or to author- 
 ize their destruction; 
 
' TACOMA, WASHINGTON 9 
 
 Fortieih — To grant franchises, but which in no event shall 
 be exclusive, for a term of not more than twenty-five years, and 
 under such proper restrictions and reservations as the interests 
 of the City may require; 
 
 Forty- first — To prohibit the stringing of wires for electrical 
 purposes over and above or ujider the streets or alleys of the 
 City; to require all electrical w^ires and apparatus to be placed 
 underground in a safe and proper manner, and to require any 
 and all poles erected for electrical or other purposes within the 
 City to be removed ; to lay down, own, manage and charge track- 
 age for the use of street car tracks over any bridge or bridges 
 or any other public place in the City of Tacoma ; 
 
 Forty -second— To create such offices not herein provided for 
 as the needs of the City require; to establish and regulate the 
 salary of all its officers, except when otherwise provided for ; and 
 such other powers and privileges not herein specifically enumer- 
 ated as are incident to municipal corporations of like character 
 and degree not inconsistent with the Constitution and general 
 laws; 
 
 Forty -third— To establish stands for hacks and other vehi- 
 cles for hire, and to regulate the charges of hacks and other ve- 
 hicles carrying passengers, freight or baggage for hire, and re- 
 quire a schedule of such charges to be posted in every hack or 
 other passenger vehicle; 
 
 Forty -fourth— To provide for naming streets and number- 
 ing houses; for regulating and preventing the erection of signs 
 and awnings and the exhibition of banners, flags and placards 
 across or over streets or sidewalks, and for regulating or sup- 
 pressing public criers, advertising, ringing of bells and other 
 noises ; 
 
 Forty- fifth— To regulate all parades and processions, and to 
 determine what parades or processions upon the streets shall be 
 unlawful, and to declare the same a nuisance ; 
 
 Forty-sixth— To fix the price of water, light and power 
 furnished to inhabitants of the City by any person or corpora- 
 tion other than the City, and to regulate the supply or use there- 
 of, whether by persons or corporations now holding franchises 
 or hereafter obtaining franchises; 
 
 Forty -seventh— To order an enumeration of the inhabitants 
 of the City and provide the manner of taking said enumeration ; 
 
 Forty -eighth— To include in the annual tax levy a provision 
 for an amount, to be fixed by the Council, to be levied for the 
 maintenance of museums. 
 
10 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 Sec. 5. Acquire and Own Puhlic Utilities.— The City of 
 Tacoma shall have power to construct, condemn and purchase, 
 purchase, acquire, add to, maintain, conduct and operate water- 
 works within and without its limits for the purpose of furnish- 
 ing the City and the inhabitants thereof and any other person or 
 persons doing business therein, with an ample supply of water 
 for all uses and purpose?, public and private, with full power to 
 regulate and control the use, distribution and price thereof; to 
 construct and maintain systems of sewerage with full jurisdic- 
 tion and authority to manage, regulate and control the same with- 
 in and without the limits of the corporation ; to construct, con- 
 demn and purchase, purchase, acquire, add to, maintain and op- 
 erate works, plants and facilities for the preparation and manu- 
 facture of all such stone or asphalt products or compositions or 
 other materials which may be used in street construction or main- 
 tenance, together with the right to use the same and also to fix 
 the price of and to sell the same for use in the construction of 
 municipal improvements of the City ; to construct, condemn and 
 purchase, purchase, acquire, add to, maintain and operate works, 
 plants and facilities for the purpose of furnishing the City and 
 the inhabitants thereof and any other person or persons doing 
 business therein, with gas, electricity and other means, power 
 and facilities for lighting, heating, fuel and power purposes, 
 public and private, with full authority to regulate and control 
 the use, distribution and price thereof; to authorize the con- 
 struction of such plant or plants by others for the same pur- 
 poses, and purchase such power from others, when delivered 
 within the City, for its own use and for the purpose of selling 
 to its inhabitants and other persons doing business within the 
 City, and to regulate and control the use and price of electrical 
 power so supplied; to construct, condemn and purchase, pur- 
 chase, add to, maintain and operate cable, electrical or other rail- 
 ways within the corporate limits of the City for the transporta- 
 tion of freight and passengers, with full authority to regulate 
 and control the use and operation thereof, and to fix, alter, reg- 
 ulate and control the fares and rates to be charged thereon ; 
 
 And for the purposes aforesaid, it shall have power to take, 
 condemn and purchase, purchase, acquire and retain water from 
 any public or navigable lake or water course, percolating or 
 subterranean water, or any under-flowing water within the State, 
 and by means of acqueducts or pipe lines conduct the same to 
 the City, and the City is hereby authorized and empowered to 
 erect and bifild dams or other works across or at the outlet of 
 any lake or water course in this State for the purpose of storing 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 11 
 
 and retaininjor water therein up to and above highwater mark, 
 and for all the pui*poses of erecting such aqueducts, pipe lines, 
 dams or water works or other necessary structures in storing 
 and retaining water as above provided, or for any of the pur- 
 poses provided for by this section, the City shall have the right 
 to occupy and use the beds and shores up to high water mark of 
 any such water course or lakes and to acquire the right by pur- 
 chase or by condemnation and purchase, or otherwise, any water, 
 water rights, easments or privileges named in this section or 
 necessar\^ for any of said purposes ; provided^ that no such dam 
 or other structure shall impede, obstruct or in any way interfere 
 with public navigation or other public uses of such lake and 
 water course; provided, furiher, that should private property be 
 necessary for any such purposes or for storing water above high 
 water mark, the City of Tacoma may condemn and purchase, or 
 purchase and acquire such private property; 
 
 All or any of the powers in this section enumerated may be 
 exercised by the City of Tacoma, and the necessary elections 
 held, bonds or w^arrants issued or funds created, in the manner 
 as now is or may hereafter be provided by the laws of the State 
 of Washington. 
 
 Sec. 6. lAmit of Debt.— The City may borrow money to be 
 used for strictly municipal purposes, and may incur indebted- 
 ness in other ways for said purposes, but it shall not for any 
 purpose become indebted in any manner to an amount exceeding 
 one and one-half per centum on the taxable property in the 
 City, without the assent of three-fifths of the voters in the 
 City voting at an election to be held for that purpose, nor in 
 cases requiring such assent shall the total indebtedness of the 
 City at any time exceed five per centum of the value of the tax- 
 able property in the City, to be ascertained by the last assess- 
 ment made for City purposes: provided, that the City with such 
 assent may become indebted in a larger amount not exceeding 
 five per centum additional for the purpose of supplying the City 
 and its inhabitants with water, artificial light, and sewers, when 
 the works for supplying such water, light and sewers are owned 
 and controlled by the City. 
 
 Sec. 7. Refunding Indebtedness.— To secure any existing 
 indebtednCvSs of the City or any indebtedness about to be incur- 
 red, the City may, by ordinance adopted in the manner provided 
 in this Charter, authorize the issuance of the bonds of the City 
 therefor, and pledge the faith and property of the City for the 
 payment of such bonds, and direct the time and manner of the 
 issuance of the same, and the time and manner of the payment 
 
12 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 of both principal and interest thereof, and may from time to time 
 authorize the refunding of any indebtedne'ss of the City. No 
 bonds shall be sold until they have been advertised for sale at 
 least thirty (30) days preceding the day of sale, nor shall any 
 bonds of the City be sold for less than par and accrued interest, 
 or for a longer time than twenty (20) years. 
 
 Sec. 8. Enumeration of Powers Not Exclusive.— The City 
 shall also have all powers, privileges and functions which, by or 
 pursuant to the Constitution of this State, have been or could 
 be granted to or exercised by any City of the first class; it be- 
 ing the intent hereof that the specification of particular powers 
 by any other provision of this Charter, shall never be construed 
 as impairing the effect of the general grant of powers of local 
 government hereby bestowed. 
 
 Sec. 9. Exercise of Powers.— AW the powers of the City 
 shall, except as otherwise provided in this Charter, be exercised 
 by the elective officers, subject to distribution and delegation of 
 such powers as provided in this Charter or by ordinance not in 
 conflict herewith. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES AND SALARIES. 
 
 Sec. 10. Classification of Service.— AW persons in the ser- 
 vice of the City shall be classified as follows: 
 
 Class A. Elective Officers, embracing a Mayor, four Coun- 
 cilmen and Controller, each of whom shall be elected at large by 
 the qualified electors of the City. 
 
 Class B. Appointive Officers, embracing City Clerk, City 
 Attorney, City Engineer, Chief of Police, a Fire Chief, and such 
 other Chiefs or Superintendents of departments as the Council 
 shall, by ordinance passed in the manner provided in this Char- 
 ter, create or establish. 
 
 Class C. Clerks and Assistants, embracing all persons em- 
 ployed in a clerical capacity or as assistants to officers. 
 
 Cla^ D. Employees, embracing all other persons in the ser- 
 vice of the City not otherwise classified. 
 
 Sec. 11. Qualifications of Ofjicers.—^o person sh?ll be 
 eligible to any elective office of the City while holding any other 
 office under the City Government, or any office or employment in 
 the State, county or school government, or in the park commis- 
 sion (except that the Mayor and C'ouncilmen shall also be Com- 
 missioners of Departments as in this Charter provided). Nor 
 shall any person be eligible to any elective office of the City who 
 at the time of his election is not a citizen of the United States 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 13 
 
 and a qualified elector according to the laws of the State of 
 Washington and the Charter, nor unless he shall be, at the time 
 of his election, at least twenty-five years of age, and shall have 
 been for three years immediately preceding such election a citi- 
 zen of the City of Tacoma. 
 
 Sec. 12. Restrictions upon. Officers and Employees.— ^o of- 
 fieer, elective or appointive, clerk, assistant or employee of the 
 City shall hold any office or employment in the State, county or 
 school government or in the park commission. No person shall 
 be elected or appointed to any office, position or employment, th6 
 compensation of which was increased or fixed by the Council 
 while he was a member thereof, until after the expiration of at 
 least one year from the date when he ceased to be a member of 
 the Council. 
 
 Sec. 13. Further Restrictions.— 'No officer of the City, 
 whether elective or appointive, nor any Clerk, Assistant or Em- 
 ployee, shall be directly or indirectly interested in any contract 
 with the City, or with any Department, Board, Officer or Em- 
 ployee thereof, nor become security for the performance of any 
 contract or contracts made with or for the City, or upon any 
 bonds given to the City. The violation of the provisions of this 
 section by any such Officer, Clerk, Assistant or Employee shall 
 be sufficient ground for removal from office. 
 
 Sec. 14. Terms of Elective Officers.— ThQ terms of all elec- 
 tive Officers, except as otherwise provided herein, shall commence 
 at ten o'clock A. M., on the first Tuesday of May, following their 
 election, and except as otherwise provided herein, shall be for 
 four years and until their successors are elected and qualified; 
 provided, however, that, of the four Councilmen first elected un- 
 der this Charter, the term of the two receiving the highest num- 
 ber of votes shall be for four years, and the term of the other 
 two shall be for two years, and the term of the Controller first 
 elected under this Charter shall be for two years. 
 
 Sec. 15. Yacaiwies—When—Hoio Filled.— li a vacancy 
 occur in the office of Mayor, Councilman or Controller, the Coun- 
 cil shall appoint an eligible person to fill such vacancy until the 
 next general municipal election, subject to the provisions of 
 Article XV. of this Charter. Any vacancy shall then be filled 
 by election for the unexpired term. Vacancy shall exist when an 
 elective officer fails to qualify for ten days after notice of his 
 election, dies, resigns, is removed from office, removes from the 
 City, absents himself continuously therefrom for more than three 
 months, is convicted of a felony, or judicially declared incom- 
 petent to transact business. 
 
14 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 Sec. 16. Removal of Mayor or Councilmem.— In case of 
 misconduct, inability or wilful neglect in the performance of the 
 duties of his office, the Mayor or any Councilman may be re- 
 moved from office by the Council by a vote of four members, but 
 he shall be given an opportunity to be heard in his defense and 
 shall have the right to appear by counsel and to have process 
 issue to compel the attendance of witnesses who shall be required 
 to give testimony, if he so request. In such cases the hearing 
 shall be public and a full and complete statement of the reasons 
 for such removal, if he be removed, together with the findings 
 of fact as made by the Council, shall be filed by the Council with 
 the City Clerk and shall be and become a matter of public rec- 
 ord. 
 
 Sec. 17. Office Hours.— It shall be the duty of each of the 
 elective officers of the City to maintain regular office hours ^t 
 the City Hall. The Council shall by ordinance fix the office hours 
 of all other Officers, Clerks, Assistants and Office Employees. 
 
 Sec. 18. Salai-y of Mayor.— The salary of the Mayor shall 
 be Four Thousand Dollars per annum, payable in equal month- 
 ly installments. 
 
 Sec. 19. Salary of Counoilme7i.—The salary of each Coun- 
 cilman shall be Thirty-six Hundred Dollars per annum, payable 
 in equal monthly installments. 
 
 Sec. 20. Salary of Controller.— The salary of the Control- 
 ler shall be Twenty-four Hundred Dollars per annum, payable 
 in equal monthly installments. 
 
 Sec. 21. Salaries of Other Officers,, Clerks, ^^c— Except as 
 herein otherwise provided, the Council shall by ordinance fix 
 the compensation of all salaried Officers, Clerks, Assistants and 
 Employees, and until such compensation has been fixed by ordi- 
 nance as aforesaid, the same shall remain as now provided. 
 
 Sec. 22. Removal Terminates Salary. — In case of removal 
 of any Officer, Clerk, Assistant or Employee his right to salary 
 or compensation shall thereupon cease. 
 
 Sec. 23. Appointment by Couneil.-The City Clerk and 
 City Attorney shall be appointed by the Council, and commis- 
 sioned by the Mayor. 
 
 Sec. 24. Appointments Confirmed hy C oimcil. —JJpon. the 
 appointment by the Commissioner of the appropriate depart- 
 ment, and confirmation by the Council, the Mayor shall commis- 
 sion all other appointive officers ar; in this Article defined. 
 
 Sec. 25. Appointment of Clerics. Assistants, Etc.—JJpon 
 the appointment of the Commissioner of the appropriate depart- 
 ment, the Mayor shall commission all Clerks and Assistants and 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 15 
 
 Employees; except day laborers and unskilled workmen, who 
 shall be employed by the Commissioner of the appropriate de- 
 partment. 
 
 Sec. 26. Oaths.— "Kwery officer shall, before he enters upon 
 the duties of his office, take, subscribe and file with the City 
 Clerk, an oath or affirmation to supi>ort the Constitution of the 
 United States and the Constitution of the State of Washino^ton, 
 and to faithfully perform the duties of the office upon which he 
 shall be about to enter. 
 
 Sec. 27. Bonds.— li any Officer, Clerk, Assistant or Em- 
 ployee, is required by law or by this Charter or by ordinance to 
 give bond, he shall not be deemed qualified for his office or em- 
 ployment until such bond has been duly approved and filed. All 
 such bonds must be approved by the Mayor and Controller, and 
 the Controller shall be the custodian thereof, except as to the 
 bond of the Controller, which shall be approved by the Mayor 
 and Commissioner of Finance, and the Mayor shall have custody 
 thereof. 
 
 AVithin ten days after the election or appointment of any 
 such Officer, Clerk, Assistant or Employee has been legally made 
 or declared, he shall deliver such bonds to the City Clerk in the 
 penal sum and with such surety or sureties as shall be so re- 
 quired, conditioned that he will faithfully and impartially per- 
 form the duties of his office or employment. 
 
 Bonds of surety, guaranty, indemnity or insurance com- 
 panies, which are organized and empowered by law to give such 
 bonds, shall be deemed equivalent to ordinary official bonds exe- 
 cuted by such officers and signed by other sureties. 
 
 No such bond shall be held to be void because of any defect 
 in form, recital, conditions or substance, nor shall any principal 
 or surety be discharged from liability thereon because of any 
 such defect : but every bond intended as an official bond or an em- 
 ployee 's bond under this section shall hold and bind the parties 
 to it to the full extent contemplated by the law. Charter or ordi- 
 nance requiring the same. 
 
 Any Officer, Clerk, Assistant or Employee who shall accept 
 any office or employment to which he may be elected or appoint- 
 ed, shall be held bound in the penal sum of any bond required 
 by Charter, ordinance or by law to be given by him for the faith- 
 ful and impartial performance of the duties of his office or em- 
 ployment whether in fact siich bond be given or not. 
 
 A reasonable charge by a surety company for qualifying 
 upon such bonds may, when approved by the Commissioner of 
 Finance, be paid by the City upon appropriation by the Council. 
 
16 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 Sec. 28. Shall Receive no Commission or Profit.— 'No of- 
 ficer, Clerk, Assistant or Employee shall receive any commission, 
 money or thing of value, or derive any profit, benefit or advan- 
 tage, direct or indirect, from or by reason of any dealings with or 
 services for the City by himself or others, or from or by reason 
 of any alterations, improvements or repairs required or done by 
 authority of the City, except his lawful compensation as such 
 Officer, Clerk, Assistant or Employee and except his share of 
 the public benefit. 
 
 No Officer, Clerk, Assistant or Employee shall accept direct- 
 ly or indirectly, from the holder of any public utility franchise 
 in the City, any frank, free ticket, free service, or other service 
 upon terms more favorable than those granted to the public gen- 
 erally. This prohibition shall not extend to nor be construed to 
 prohibit the City from requiring from or receiving from any 
 person or corporation owning or operating or applying for a 
 franchise, to construct or operate any street car line within the 
 City, free transportation for any of the Officers, Clerks, Assist- 
 ants or Employees of the City while in the actual discharge of 
 their duties, such free transportation to be furnished to the prop- 
 er Officers of the City for distribution to such employees; nor 
 shall this prohibition be construed to apply or extend to tele- 
 phone service or use by the City of poles, wires or conduits re- 
 quired from any telephone company by the terms of any fran- 
 chise which has been or may hereafter be granted by the City. 
 
 Any violation of this section shall be ground for removal. 
 
 Sec. 29. Religious or Political Opinions Not to Affect Ap- 
 pointments.— All appointive officers and employees of the City 
 shall be selected or appointed with reference to their qualifica- 
 tions and fitness, and for the good of the public service. No ap- 
 pointment to position under the City government shall be made 
 or withheld by reason of any religious or political opinions or 
 affiliations or political services, and no appointment to or selec- 
 tion for or removal from any office or employment, and no trans- 
 fer, promotion, reduction, reward or punishment shall be in any 
 manner affected by such opinions, affiliations or services. Any 
 violation of the provisions of this section shall be ground for re- 
 moval from office of the party guilty thereof. 
 
 Sec. 30. Official Books, Records, Etc.— {a) All books, 
 records and papers of every office, department, board or com- 
 mission are City property and must be kept as such by the proper 
 officers or employees during their continuance in office, and then 
 delivered to their successors, who shall give duplicate receipts 
 therefor, one of which shall be filed with the City Clerk. The 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 17 
 
 failure to deliver such books, records and papers shall be a mis- 
 demeanor. 
 
 (b) Certified copiers or extracts from the books, records 
 and files shall be ^iven by the Officer, Board, Commission or Em-, 
 ployee havinsr the same in custody, to any person demandino: the 
 same and payinpr for such copies or extra<its; but the records of 
 the Police Department shall not be subject to inspection or copy 
 without the permission of the appropriate Commissioner. 
 
 (c) All equipments, collections, models, materials, instru- 
 ments, tools and implements which are collected, maintained, 
 used or kept by the City or by any Department, Board or Com- 
 mission, shall be City property, and be duly turned over by the 
 custodian thereof to his successor, or duly accounted for. 
 
 Sec. 31. Attend to Duties.— All persons holding any office 
 or employment under the City, whether elective or appointive, 
 shall be required to engage in the actual work of the office or 
 employment so held, to the extent that their services may be 
 necessarj^ for the full and complete discharge of the duties of 
 said office or employment, and a failure so to do shall be ground 
 for removal. • 
 
 Sec. 32. Officers Personally Liable.— Salary Fixed,— ¥or 
 gross misconduct or malfeasance in office, the officer guilty there- 
 of shall be personally responsible for all damages accruing there- 
 by, either to the City or to any person, firm or corporation. 
 
 The salaries fixed in this Charter for elective officers shall 
 be considered their full compensation for all duties performed 
 by them, whether as such officers, or as Commissioners of any de- 
 partments, or otherwise. 
 
 AKTICLE III. 
 
 THE COUNCIL.. 
 
 Sec. 33. Legislative Powers.— The legislative powers of the 
 City shall, except as othenvlse provided in this Charter, be vest- 
 ed exclusively in a Council which shall consist of the ]\Iayor and 
 four Councilmen. 
 
 Sec. 3-4. Presideiit and Vice-President.— The Mayor shall 
 be ex-officio President of the Council and when present shall pre- 
 side at all meetings of the Council. The Council shall elect one 
 of its members to be Vice-President, who, during the absence or 
 disabilitv^ of the Mayor, or while any vacancy exists in the office 
 of the Mayor, shall passess all the powers and perform all the 
 duties of the Mayor. 
 
 Sec. 35. Bides— Journal— Publie.— The Council shall es- 
 tablish rules for its government, keep a journal of its proceed- 
 
18 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 ings, which shall be a public record, and permit the publication 
 of the same. The ayes and nays shall be called upon any ques- 
 tion upon the demand of any member, and a vote so taken shall 
 be entered in full upon the journal. 
 
 Sec. 36. MedUngs—Two KiTids— Public— At ten o'clock A. 
 M., on the first Tuesday in IVTay following the canvass of the 
 municipal election, the Council shall meet, at Avhich time the 
 newly elected Councilmen shall assume the duties of their office. 
 
 The Council shall meet at such other times as it may by 
 Ordinance or Resolution determine, provided, that it shall meet 
 in legislative sessions at least weekly. 
 
 The Council shall meet daily in administrative sessions at 
 an hour to be fixed by Ordinance or Resolution, but no legisla- 
 tive business shall be considered or acted upon at such meetings. 
 
 Special legislative meetings of the Council shall be called by 
 the City Clerk upon the written request of the Mayor or any 
 two Councilmen ; said request to state the subjects to be consid- 
 ered at the meeting and no other subject shall be considered at 
 such meeting. All the meetings of the Council shall be public. 
 
 Sec. 37. Qxionim— Clerk of Council.— A majority of all the 
 members of the Council shall constitute a quorum to do business, 
 but a less number can adjourn from day to day or until the 
 next regular meeting, and may compel the attendance of absent 
 members in such manner as the Council may by Ordinance or 
 Resolution provide. 
 
 The City Clerk shall be the Clerk of the Council and shall, 
 with the Mayor, sign and attest all ordinances and resolutions. 
 
 Sec. 38. Ordinances.— (a) The legislative acts of the 
 Council shall be by Ordinance, the subject of which shall be 
 clearly set out in its title; and no ordinance shall contain more 
 than one subject. The enacting clause of every ordinance shall 
 be "Be it Ordained by the City of Tacoma." Every member, 
 when present, must vote and every Ordinance shall require on 
 final passage, the affirmative vote of at least three members. 
 
 (6) The ayes and nays shall be taken upon the passage of 
 all Ordinances and Resolutions, and shall be entered upon the 
 Journal. 
 
 (c) No Ordinance shall be passed finally on the date of 
 its introduction, except in the case of public emergency, and 
 then only when requested by the Mayor or two Councilmen in 
 writing, which request shall be filed with the City Clerk. No 
 Ordinance making a grant of any franchise or special privilege 
 shall ever be passed as an emergency measure. 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 19 
 
 (d) Every Ordinance shall, within five days after its pas- 
 sage, be published once in the official newspaper of the City, and 
 no Ordinance shall take effect or be in force until after the ex- 
 piration of ten days from such publication, excepting emergency 
 Ordinances which shall take effect immediately after publication, 
 subject always to the provisions of Article XVIII. of this Char- 
 ter. Provided^ however, that no Ordinance granting a franchise 
 shall become effective until after the expiration of thirty days 
 from the date of its publication, 
 
 {e) Ever\^ Ordinance after its passage shall be recorded in 
 a book to be called ''Ordinance Record" kept for that purpose, 
 which record of each Ordinance shall be authenticated by the 
 signatures of the !Mayor and that member of the Council who is 
 acting Commissioner of Finance, and attested by the City Clerk. 
 
 (/) No Ordinance obligating the City for the payment of 
 more than One lliousand Dollars ($1,000), or vacating any 
 street, highway or alley or any part thereof, shall be passed be- 
 fore the second regular legislative meeting of the Council after 
 its introduction, nor until read in full at two regular legislative 
 meetings of the Council, 
 
 {g) No Ordinance or section thereof shall be revised or 
 amended except by Ordinance adopted in the manner provided 
 in this Charter appropriate to the subject matter of the Ordi- 
 nance so amended or revised, which ilew Ordinance shall contain 
 the entire Ordinance or section as amended and shall repeal the 
 Ordinance or section so amended ; nor shall the Council by resolu- 
 tion or motion exempt any person or corporation from the provis- 
 ions or requirements of any Ordinance, nor suspend any Ordi- 
 nance or portion thereof except by another Ordinance repealing 
 the same, and no ordinance or section thereof shall be repealed 
 except by Ordinance adopted in the manner provided in this 
 Charter. 
 
 Sec. 39. Appropriations of Money. — All appropriations of 
 money shall be by Ordinance, and no money shall be drawn 
 from the Treasur>^ except in pursuance of an appropriation; 
 prox'^ided, always^ that where a fund has been created to be ex- 
 pended for a specific purpose, the same may be paid as therein 
 provided by order of the Council or proper Board or Officer hav- 
 ing charge of such specific fund. 
 
 Sec. 40. Structures on Streets. — The Council shall not al- 
 low or permit the erection of any house, building, booth, stan«l, 
 or like structure, in any street, avenue or alley, within the limits 
 of the City ; provided, that this section shall not apply to drink- 
 inof fountains. 
 
20 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 Sec. 41. Power to Establish Offices.— The Council shall, 
 consistent with the provisions of this Charter, create any office, 
 position or employment that may in its opinion be necessary or 
 expedient, and fix the salary and duties thereof. It may at any 
 time abolish the same, whereupon the salary attached thereto 
 shall cease. 
 
 Sec. 42. Monthly Statements.— The Council shall cause to 
 be printed each month in pamphlet form a statement of all re- 
 ceipts and expenditures of the City, by Departments, and a sum- 
 mary of its proeeedinors during the preceding month, and furnish 
 printed copies thereof to the Public Library, the daily newspa- 
 pers of the City, and persons who shall apply therefor at the 
 office of the City Clerk. 
 
 Sec. 43. Exercise of Certain Poiuers. — The powers of the 
 City enumerated in Sec. 4 of Article I. of this Charter shall be 
 exercised by Ordinance adopted in the manner provided in this 
 Charter. 
 
 Sec. 44. Vote on Appoinimeiits.— All votes upon appoint- 
 ments shall be by roll call, and the ayes and nays shall be record- 
 ed. The vote of at least three members shall be necessary for 
 appointment. 
 
 Sec. 45. Vdte on Salaries.— The fixing of salaries of ap- 
 pointive officers and employees shall be by Ordinance, and at 
 least four votes shall be required for the passage of such Ordi- 
 nance. 
 
 Sec. 46. Official Newspaper.— The Council shall annually 
 let the public printing to the lowest and best bidder, who shall 
 give a bond to the City in such sum as may be fixed by the Coun- 
 cil, to well and faithfully perform the contract, should he re- 
 ceive the contract for doing the City printing; and it shall be 
 the duty of the Council, after having let the contract for the 
 City printing to designate the new^spaper published by the party 
 receiving said contract as the official newspaper of said city. All 
 Ordinances, Resolutions, Notices, and Assessment Sales, and oth- 
 er Proceedings, Statements, doings or matters of the City requir- 
 ed to be published shall be published therein. 
 
 Sec. 47. Vacation of Streets^ Change of Grade, Appropria- 
 tion of Private Property. — All proceedings for the vacation of 
 any street, highway or alley, or any part thereof, or for the 
 change of grade thereof, by the Council, and all proceedings for 
 the appropriation of private property for use by the City, shall 
 be had and conducted as is now or may hereafter be provided by 
 general law. 
 
TACOMA. WASHINGTON 21 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 MAYOR. 
 
 Sec. 48. Mayor Chief Executive.— The Mayor shall be the 
 chief executive oflficer of the City of Tacoma ; shall be ex-officio 
 a member of the Council, and it shall be his duty to participate 
 in all proceedinfrs of the Council, and he shall have a vote on all 
 questions cominof before the Council. 
 
 Sec. 49. Have Supervnsion of Department Sy Officers and 
 Employees.— He shall vigilantly observe the official conduct of 
 all public officers and take note of the fidelity and exactness, or 
 the want thereof, with which they execute their duties and obli- 
 crations. especially in the collection, custody, administration and 
 disbui-sement of the public funds and property, and the books, 
 records and official papers of all Departments, Boards, Officei-s 
 and persons in the employ or service of the City, shall at all 
 times be open to his inspection and examination; and a failure 
 or refusal of any such Officers, Clerks, Assistants or Employees 
 to exhibit books or papers or records so required shall be ground 
 for removal. He shall take special care to see that the books and 
 records of said Departments, Boards, Officers and persons are 
 kept in legal and proper form; and any official defalcation or 
 wilful neglect of duty or official misconduct which he may dis- 
 cover, or which shall be reported to him, shall be laid by him be- 
 fore the Council and the Grand Jury or Prosecuting Attorney of 
 Pierce County, in order that public interests shall be protected 
 and the person in default be proceeded against according to law. 
 He shall from time to time give the Council information in ^^Tit- 
 ing relative to the state of the City, and shall recommend such 
 measures as he may deem beneficial to its interest. He shall take 
 care that this Charter, the laws of the State, and the Ordinances 
 of the City are duly enforced within the City and its jurisdic- 
 tion. He shall have a general supervision over all the depart- 
 ments and public institutions of the City, and see that they are 
 honestly, economically and lawfully conducted. He shall, with 
 the aid of the Commissioner of Public Safety, take all proper 
 measures for the preservation of public order and the suppression 
 of all riots and tumults, for which purpose he is authorized and 
 empowered to use and command the police force. 
 
 Sec. 50. Sign Contracts and Other Instruments.— The May- 
 or shall sign all deeds, contracts, bonds and other instruments 
 requiring the assent of the City. He shall see that all contracts 
 and agreements with the City are faithfully kept and performed, 
 and to that end shall, when so directed by the Council,, cause le- 
 gal proceedings to be commenced and prosecuted in the name of 
 
22 THE3 CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 the City against all persons or corporations failing to fulfil their 
 agreements or contracts, either in whole or in part. He shall 
 sign all complaints, answers and replies in any suit in which the 
 City is made a party. 
 
 Sec. 51. Appoint Experts. — The Mayor shall have power, 
 with the approval of the Council, to appoint experts to examine 
 the affairs of any Officer or Department of the City whenever he 
 shall deem it necessary. 
 
 Sec, 52. Employ Fublic Acoouiitant.—^ldQ Mayor shall era- 
 ploy for a stipulated compensation at the beginning of each fis- 
 cal year, a certified public accountant, who shall examine at least 
 once each year the books, records and reports of the Treasurer 
 and of all Officers and Employees who receive or disburse City 
 moneys, and the books, records and reports of such other Officers, 
 Clerks, Assistants, Employees and Departments as the Mayor or 
 Council may direct ; and make quadruplicate reports thereof, and 
 present one each to the Mayor and Commissioner of Finance, 
 and file one with the City Clerk and one with the City Controller. 
 Such accountant shall have unlimited privilege of investigation 
 and examination under oath or otherwise of Officers, Cleric, As- 
 sistants and Employees ot the City; and every such Officer, 
 Clerk, Assistant and Employee shall give all required assistance 
 and information to such accountant, and submit to the account- 
 ant such books and papers of his office as may be requested, and 
 the failure or refusal so to do shall be ground for removal of 
 such Officer or Employee so refusing. The Council shall pro- 
 vide for the payment of the services of such accountant, by Ordi- 
 nance. 
 
 Sec. 53. General Powers.— The^ Mayor shall have and exer- 
 cise such pcwers, ]")ierogatives and authority as are conferred by 
 the provisions of this Charter, or as may be conferred upon him 
 by the Council, or by the general laws of the State, not incon- 
 sistent wiih ^he general purposes and provisions of this Charter. 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 
 EXECUTIVE AJSTD ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 Sec. 54. Distribution.— Tlcvo, executive and administrative 
 powers, authority and duties of the City of Tacoma, not other- 
 wise provided for, shall be distributed among five Departments, 
 as follows: 
 
 i^ir^^— Department of Public Affairs, Health and Sanitation. 
 
 /S^ecow?— Department of Public Safety. 
 
 T/itrcZ— Department of Public Works, Streets, Improvements 
 and Property. 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 23 
 
 Fourth— Deipartment of Light and Water. 
 
 jPi/f/i.— Department of Finance. 
 
 Sec. 55. Commissioners of Departments — Bonds. — The 
 !Mayor shall be the Commissioner of Public Affairs, Health anl 
 Sanitation, The Council at its first regular meeting after the 
 election of its members shall designate by majority vote one 
 Councilman to be Commissioner of Public Safety; one to be 
 Commissioner of Public Works, Streets, Improvements and Prop- 
 erty ; one to be Commissioner of Light and Water ; and one to be 
 Commissioner of Finance. Provided, however^ that if the Coun- 
 cil is unable to agree upon such designation, the Mayor shall have 
 the authority to make such designation. 
 
 Each Commissioner, except the Commissioner of Finance, 
 shall give a bond to be approved and filed as in this Chartei' 
 provided, in the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars, conditioned for 
 the faithful discharge of his duties as such Commissioner. 
 
 Each Commissioner shall, once each month on the day to be 
 designated by the Council, submit to the Council a statement of 
 all receipts and expenditures of his department and a summary 
 of its doings for the preceding month. 
 
 Sec. 56. Council May Change Designations.— Tho. Council 
 may change such designations, except that of Department of 
 Public Affairs, Health and Sanitation, by Ordinance or by Res- 
 olution, whenever it shall determine that the public service re- 
 quires such change. 
 
 Sec. 57. CoitTicil Assign DuHes.— The Council shall deter- 
 mine and assign the duties of the several departments, not in- 
 consistent with the provisions of this Charter and not otherwise 
 provided herein; shall prescribe the duties of appointive offi- 
 cers and employes ; may assign particular Officers and Employees 
 to one or more of the departments may require an Officer or Em- 
 ployee to perform duties in one or more departments, and may 
 make such other rules and regulations as may be deemed neces- 
 sary or proper for the efficient and economical conduct of the 
 business of the City. 
 
 Sec. 58. Commissioner Have Supervision.— The Conunis- 
 sioner for each of the departments shall have the supervision 
 and control of all of the affairs and property belonging to 
 such department, except as otherwise provided in this Charter, 
 or by Ordinance, subject to such regulations as may be pre- 
 scribed by the Council. 
 
 Sec. 59. Commissioner Purchase Supplies,— The Commis- 
 sioner for each of said Departments shall make such purchases 
 of materials and supplies for his Department as may be author- 
 
24 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 ized by the Council or by general ordinance passed in the man- 
 ner provided in this Charter, but he shall make no purchase of 
 any material or supplies of an amount or value in excess of 
 Five Hundred Dollars, except upon written contract and after 
 advertising for competitive bids for furnishing such materials 
 or supplies, by causing notice inviting sealed proposals there- 
 for to be posted conspicuously in the office of such Commis- 
 sioner and published in the Official Newspaper for not less 
 than five days. Said notice and advertisement shall invite 
 sealed proposals to be delivered at a certain day and hour at 
 the office of such Commissioner for furnishing materials or 
 supplies, and shall contain a general description of the materi- 
 als or supplies to be furnished, the time within which the same 
 must be furnished, the amount of bond to be given by the 
 contractor, and shall refer to specifications on file in the office 
 of said Commissioner for full details and description of such 
 materials or supplies. All proposals shall be made upon print- 
 ed forms prepared by the Commissioner of such Department, 
 and furnished gratuitously upon application, with a form for 
 the affidavit provided for in Section 117, of this Charter, print- 
 ed thereon; and each bid shall be accompanied by an affidavit 
 as provided in said section. On the day and hour specified in 
 said notice inviting sealed proposals, all bids shall be delivered 
 to the Commissioner by the bidder or his agent within the two 
 hours named in the advertisement, and the award on said bids 
 shall in all cases be made to the lowest and best bidder, and in 
 the manner, so far as applicable, as set out in Section 118 of 
 this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 60. Contracts— How Executed.— AW contracts enter- 
 ed into by the Commissioner of any Department shall be execut- 
 ed in triplicate, on behalf of the City, by the Mayor, and coun- 
 tersigned by the Controller; one of which copies shall be filed 
 with said Commissioner, one with the Controller, and the other 
 delivered to the contractor. 
 
 Sec. 6L Bonds of Contractors.— The performance of every 
 contract entered into by the Commissioner of any Department 
 on behalf of the City, shall be secured by a reasonable bond, 
 the amount of which shall be fixed by the Commissioner in his 
 advertisement for bids, except as otherwise, provided in this 
 Charter. All bonds required by this Section shall be approved 
 by the Controller before acceptance, and filed in the Control- 
 ler's office. 
 
 Proi^ided, that, in case of any contract for work, labor or 
 material, Or for work, labor and material, for Avhich if the same 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 25 
 
 were done or furnished for a private party, a lien could be tak- 
 en, the contractor shall, in the bond given thereon, also provide 
 for the protection of all laborers, mechanics, sub-contractors and 
 material men. and all persons who shall supply such contractoi: 
 or sub-contractor with pro\'isions or supplies for the carrying on 
 of such work, all just debts, dues and demands incurred in the 
 performance of such work as required by law, which bond shall 
 be in an amount and executed with such sureties and condition- 
 ed as provided in Section 121 of this Charter, and shall be 
 filed in the office of the Controller. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF HELU^TH AND SANITATION, 
 
 Sec. 62. Commissioner Have Supervision— Appointments. 
 —The Commissioner of Public Affairs, Health and Sanitation 
 shall have general supervision of the Department of Health and 
 Sanitation. He shall appoint and, as Mayor, shall commission a 
 Health Officer. City Chemist, Market and Pure Food Inspector, 
 and Plumbing Inspector, subject to confirmation by the Coun- 
 cil. Said Officers shall be classed in Class B of the City service 
 for all the purposes of this Charter. He shall also appoint 
 and, as Mayor, commission all such other Inspectors, Clerks. 
 Assistants and Employees as may be provided by the Council 
 by Ordinance for the efficient administration of this Depart- 
 ment of the City Government. Such other appointees shall be, 
 unless othervnse provided by Ordinance, classed in Class C of 
 the City service for all the purposes of this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 63. Authority of Commissioner and Inspector.— ^2i\\\ 
 Commissioner shall have general supervision over the sanitary 
 condition of the City, and shall have power to compel owners of 
 property to keep the .same free from anything filthy, obnoxious 
 or dangerous to health. He, or any authorized Inspector 
 of his Department, shall inspect, when called upon by any 
 person, or when in his or their opinion it seems necessary, all 
 provisions, meats, fish, fruit, vegetables, bread, flour, pork, whis- 
 k\^ beer. wine, milk and water, and all liquids and any and all 
 things offered for sale to be used as food or drink, and shall have 
 the right to enter for the purpose of making such examination 
 and inspection, any place or building where any provisions, 
 fruits, vegetables, whisky, beer, wine, milk or other liquids are 
 kept for sale: and no person shall be permitted to sell or dis- 
 pose of anything pronounced by said Commissioner as unfit to 
 be u«ed for food or drink, and all such articles or things shall 
 be seized and destroyed by said Commissioner. 
 
26 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 Sec. 64. Qualifications of Health Officer, Etc.— The Health 
 Officer shall be a graduate of a reputable medical college and 
 shall have practiced medicine for at least five years. He shall 
 have been a resident of this City for at least two years next pre- 
 ceding- his appointment, and shall be licensed to practice medi- 
 cine in this State, and shall have his license filed with the County 
 Clerk of Pierce County, in accordance with general law. Such 
 Health Officer shall devote as much time as is necessary to the 
 duties of his office. The City Chemist shall be a person skilled 
 and qualified for the efficient and capable performance of the 
 duties usually appertaining to such office. The Plumbing In- 
 spector shall be a plumber of five years' practical experience 
 and regularly licensed under the laws of this State. 
 
 Sec. 65. Power of Arrest.— The Commissioner of Public 
 Affairs, Health and Sanitation, and all regularly appointed Em- 
 ployees of the Department of Health and Sanitation shall have 
 the right and power to arrest any person or persons who may 
 violate any of the rules and regulations of thej Department. It 
 shall also be the duty of any Police Officer or Policeman to ar- 
 rest any person or persons guilty of such violation. 
 
 Sec. 66. Council Make Ordi'imnces.-The Council shall 
 make all Ordinances and regulations which may be necessary or 
 expedient for the preservation of the public health and the sup- 
 pression of disease. 
 
 Sec. 67. Duties of Physicians and Householders. — Every 
 person in the City shall promptly report in writing to the De- 
 partment of Health and Sanitation, every patient whom he 
 shall have sick of an infectious, contagious or communicable 
 disease dangerous to public health : and every householder, upon 
 reasonable notice from said Department, that an occupant of 
 his or her house is suffering from any infectious, contagious or 
 communicable disease, dangerous to the public health, shall 
 forthwith adopt such preventive means and regulations as said 
 Department shall prescribe. Every person who shall fail to re- 
 port such case of sickness as required herein, and every house- 
 holder who shall fail to comply with the rules, requirements and 
 regulations of said Department, shall be subject to such fines and 
 penalties as the Council may by Ordinance prescribe. 
 
 Sec. 68. Harhor Master— Appointment and Duties.— The 
 Commissioner of Public Affairs, Health and Sanitation shall ap- 
 point, and, as Mayor, commission a Harbor Master ,who shall have 
 supervision over the harbor and wharves within the City lim- 
 its, under the general direction of said Commissioner. He shall 
 recommend to said Commissioner any health regulation that i). 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 27 
 
 his judgment may be required within the harbor limits of the 
 City. He shall see that proper lights are established and main- 
 tained on the wharves and in the harbor, look after buoys and 
 anchorage for vessels. The Harbor blaster shall recommend to 
 the Commissioner of Public Works such improvements and 
 things necessary to be done, and to the Commissioner of Safety 
 such police regulations as in his judgment may be required. He 
 shall have such other power and perform such other duties as 
 may be prescribed by Ordinance. 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY. 
 
 Sec. 69. Cmnmiss'icnier Have Supervision— Appointments. 
 —The Council shall, by Ordinance, provide for the establish- 
 ment and maintenance of a Police Department, a I]ire Depart- 
 ment, a Free ^lunicipal Employment OiBce, the office of License 
 Inspector, and the office of Building Inspector. The Commis- 
 sioner of Public Safety shall have supervision and control of 
 these Departments and Offices, and upon the appointment of the 
 Commissioner, the Mayor shall commission a Chief of the Po- 
 lice Department, a Chief of the Fire Department, a Superintend- 
 ent of the Employment Office, a License Inspector, and a Build- 
 ing Inspector, subject to confirmation by the Council. 
 
 police department. 
 Sec. 70. Duties of Chief of Police.— The Chief of Police 
 shaU be the head of the Police force of the City, and all Police- 
 men shall be under his immediate direction and command. All 
 Policemen shall, while in office, be considered the deputies of 
 the Chief of Police, and shall have the same power as the Chief 
 in regard to the execution and service of process and arresting 
 offenders with or without warrant within the City limits. The 
 Chief of Police must execute all process issued by the Police 
 Justice or any committing Magistrate of the City; he must at- 
 tend regularly upon the Police Courts of the City and the meet- 
 ings of the Council; he shall make arrests for breach of the 
 peace, for commission of crime or misdemeanor, with or without 
 warrant, as a peace officer may do under the laws of the State 
 of "Washington ; he shall exercise vigilant control over the peace 
 and quiet of the City ; he shall have supervision over the City 
 Jail, unless othenvise provided by Ordinance. He shall keep 
 a correct record of all arrests made by him or any policeman, 
 showing the time when and the cause of complaint upon which 
 such arrest was made ; and shall submit in writing, at least once 
 each month, a full report to the Commissioner of Public Safety. 
 
28 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 He shall perform such other duties and have such other power's 
 as shall be provided by Ordinance. 
 
 Sec. 71. Appaintmenii of Police Officers.— Vpon appoint- 
 ment by the Commissioner of Public Safety, the Mayor shall 
 commission such Captains, Sergeants and other sub-officers as 
 the proper organization of the police force may require, includ- 
 ing a Public Morals Officer. Such Police Officer shall be class- 
 ed in Class C of the City service for all the purposes of this 
 Charter, 
 
 Sec. 72. Appointment of Policemen.— JJpon appointment 
 by the Commissioner of Public Safety, the Mayor shall commis- 
 sion such number of Policemen as may from time to time be 
 provided for by the Council by Ordinance, Such Policemen 
 shall be classed in Class D of the City service for all the pur- 
 poses of this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 73. Police Matron — Appm7ii\ment of. — Upon the re- 
 commendation in writing of not less than twenty women, resi- 
 dents of the City in good standing, a Police Matron shall be ap- 
 pointed by the Commissioner of Public Safety and Commis- 
 sioned by the Maj^or. She shall be subject to the Commissioner 
 of Public Safety, and shall have such powers and rights and 
 perform such duties as are now or may hereafter be provided 
 by law. 
 
 Sec. 74. Police Jnsfice— Powers— Salary.— \^\i\Yin ten days 
 after the election of Justices of the Peace in the City of Tacoma 
 under the general law, the Mayor shall appoint one of the Jus- 
 tices so elected, a Police Justice of the City, who shall have such 
 powers and jurisdiction and perform such duties as Police Jus- 
 tice as are now or may hereafter be provided by the general law 
 of the State or by Ordinance passed in the manner provided in 
 this Charter. 
 
 The salary^ of such Police Justice to be fixed in addition to 
 his salary as Justice of the Peace, shall be fixed by the Council 
 by Ordinance, and such additional salary shall be paid wholly 
 out of the funds of the City in equal monthly installments. The 
 salary shall be as now fixed by Ordinance until ehaneed by 
 Ordinance adopted in the manner provided in this Charter. 
 
 FIRE department. 
 
 Sec. 75. Appointmeitt of Officers, Etc.—JJipon appoint- 
 ment of the Commissioner of Public Safety, the Mayor shall 
 commission such Assistant Chiefs, Captains and other sub-offi- 
 cers as the proper organization of the Fire Department may 
 require. Such appointees shall be classed in Clas§ C of the City 
 service for all the purposes of this Charter, 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 29 
 
 Sec. 76. Appointmeni' of Firemen:— JJpon appointment by 
 the Commissioner of Public Safety, the ^layor shall commis- 
 sion such number of Firemen as may from time to time be pro- 
 vided for by the Council by Ordinance. Such firemen shall be 
 classed in Class D of the City service for all the purposes of this 
 Charter. 
 
 Sec. 77. Pawers of Chief.— The Chief of the Fire Depart- 
 ment shall have immediate control and manaorement of all fire 
 engines and fire apparatus belonging to the City, and all mem- 
 bers and employees of the Fire Department shall be under his 
 immediate control and command. He shall submit in writing, 
 at least once each month, to the Commissioner of Public Safety, a 
 statement of the nimiber of men employed, their compensation, 
 condition of his Department, and such other things as may be 
 necessary to apprise him of the condition of the Fire Depart- 
 ment. He shall have such other powers and perform such other 
 duties as shall be provided by Ordinance. 
 
 LICENSE INSPECTOR. 
 
 Sec. 78. Duties of.— It shall be the duty of the License 
 Inspector to make recommendations to the Commissioner of Pub- 
 lic Safety in reference to all applications for licenses submitted 
 to the Council; he shall be vigilant in seeing that the terms of 
 all such licenses issued are complied with; he shall at all times 
 have authority to inspect all licenses issued, except as otherwise 
 provided in this Charter, and to examine the building, place, or 
 premises where the privileges granted by any license are being 
 exercised ; he shall have the power and authority to enforce com- 
 pliance with the terms of all licenses issued. He shall perform 
 such other duties and have such other powers as the Council 
 shall prescribe. 
 
 EMPLOYMENT OFFICE. 
 
 Sec. 79. Duties of Superintendent.— The Superintendent 
 of the Free ^lunicipal Employment Office shall keep in touch 
 with labor conditions in Tacoma and the surrounding country, 
 and shall be diligent in seeking to obtain work for the unem- 
 ployed. He shall inspect and supervise all licensed employment 
 agencies in the City. He shall notify those seeking employment 
 whether or not strike conditions prevail at the place where thev 
 intend going. He shall ^ also require all licensed employment 
 ofi^ices in the City to give similar notice. Failure to do so will be 
 sufficient ground for the revocation of their licenses. He shall 
 perform such other duties and have such other powers as the 
 Council may prescribe. 
 
30 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 BUILDING INSPECTOR. 
 
 Sec. 80. Duties of. — Tlie Council shall by Ordinance pre- 
 scribe the duties of the Buildings Inspector. Until such Ordinance 
 is passed his powers and duties shall be governed by Ordinances 
 now existing. 
 
 ARTICIiE YIII. 
 
 DEPABTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS, STREETS, IMPROVEMENTS 
 AND PROPERTY. 
 
 Sec. 81. Commissioner Have Supervision.— The Commis- 
 sioner of the Department of Public Works, Streets, Improve- 
 ments and Property shall be known as the Commissioner of 
 Public Works. He shall have the supervision and control of 
 all streets, public works, ways, public places, buildings, and im- 
 provements, except as otherwise provided in this Charter or by 
 Ordinance adopted in the manner provided in this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 82. Clerks and Employees.— There shall be appointed 
 in the manner provided in the Charter, a Chief Clerk of the 
 Commissioner of Public Works, a City Engineer, and all such 
 other Clerks, Assistants and Employees for said Department as 
 may, in the opinion of the Council, be or become necessary to the 
 efficient administration of said Department. 
 
 Sec. 83. Diities of Chief Clerk.— The Chief Clerk of the 
 Commissioner shall keep a record of all of the transactions of 
 the Department. He shall cause the publication of all notices 
 authorized by this Article or by any Ordinance to be published 
 in connection with any of the affairs or business of the Depart- 
 ment. He shall perform such other duties as the Commissioner 
 of said Department shall prescribe. 
 
 Sec. 84. Commissioner Have Charge of Improvements. — 
 Subject to the direction and control of the Council and Laws of 
 the State of Washington and Ordinances of the City, the Com- 
 missioner of Public Works shall have charge of and superintend 
 all local improvements. He shall also have charge of and super- 
 intend such other public works of the City as may by Ordinance 
 be assigned to his Department. 
 
 Sec. 85. Commissioner Custodian of Maps, Etc.— The Com- 
 missioner of Public Works shall have possession of and keep all 
 maps, surveys and field-notes relative to surveys and plats of 
 the City and of streets and public places thereof, and all plans, 
 specifications, contracts, books, documents, papers, machinery, 
 tools and appliances belonging to the City and pertaining to 
 matters, by this Charter or by Ordinance of the Council, as- 
 signed to said Department of Public Works, Streets, Improve- 
 ments and Property, and all other property belonging to the 
 
TACOMAl, WASHINGTON 31 
 
 City not otherwise provided for in this Charter. He shall file 
 such data and furnish such information as may be required by 
 the Council. 
 
 Sec. 86. Other Duties and Powers.— T\iQ Commissioner of 
 Public AVorks shall have special charge and control, subject to 
 such Ordinances as the Council may adopt, of all improvements 
 of the harbor and water front, and control of all streets, high- 
 ways, roads, bridges, wharves, ferries and public places belong- 
 ing to the City or dedicated to public use, and of the improve- 
 ment and repair thereof, except as otherwise provided in this 
 Charter; of all sewers, drains and cesspools, and all work per- 
 taining thereto, or to the drainage of the City; of the cleaning 
 and sprinkling of streets and of repairs upon streets; of the 
 construction and repair of public buildings and the making of 
 public improvements for the City under his authority, and of 
 the repair of such improvements. He shall have exclusive au- 
 thority to prescribe rules and grant permits in conforimty with 
 the ordinances of the City, for the moving of buildings through 
 the streets, the building or placing of cellars or vaults under the 
 streets or sidewalks, and the construction of steps or other ap- 
 proaches to buildings ; the putting up of signs and awnings ; the 
 location of steam boilers, the laying do^\Ti and construction of 
 railroad tracks in the streets ; the erection of telephone and tele- 
 graph poles and wires; the construction of drains and sewers; 
 the laying doi^Ti and taking up of gas, steam and water pipes, 
 pneumatic or other tubes and pipes, and sewers and drains, and 
 determining the location thereof and prescribing such rules as 
 shall prevent unnecessary damage to the streets by reason of 
 the laying of said pipes, tubes and sewers, and which shall pre- 
 vent interference vnih. such systems : the use of the streets or any 
 portion thereof in front of a building during its construction or 
 repair, or for any other purpose than such as ordinarily and 
 properly belongs to the public from the dedication thereof to 
 public use. He shall have full power to regulate and control, 
 subject to the ordinances of the City and the powers delegated 
 by this Charter and the Council to other Commissioners having 
 peculiar and special charge of any public places, of the anchor- 
 age of vessels in the harbor of the City, the manner of using the 
 streets, sidewalks, wharves, harbors, parks and public places, 
 and to prevent and remove obstructions therefrom, and to cause 
 the prompt repair of streets, sidewalks and public places when 
 the same may be taken up and altered. He is authorized to 
 collect, by suit or otherwise, in the name of the City, the ex- 
 pense of such repairs from the person or persons by whom such 
 
32 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 sidewalk or street Avas injured or torn up. He shall regulate, 
 subject to the requirement of the Commissioner of Public Af- 
 fairs, Health and Sanitation and the Ordinances of the Council, 
 the construction of sinks, gutters, wells, cesspools and privy 
 vaults, and compel the cleaning and emptying of the same, and 
 regulate the time and manner in which such work shall be done. 
 
 CITY KNGINEER. 
 
 Sec. 87. Qualifications, Duties, Powers.— ^o person shall 
 be eligible to the office of city Engineer who is not a civil engineer 
 of practical experience. He shall do all civil engineering and 
 surveying required in the prosecution of all public works assign- 
 ed to the Department of Public Works, and in the prosecution 
 of all local improvements done under the direction of the Com- 
 missioner of Public Works, and shall do and perform any and 
 all other work that ^may be required of him by the Council, 
 whether the same pertains to said Department or any other of 
 the Administrative Departments of the City ; he shall certify the 
 progress and completion of all such work, and do such other work 
 in connection with the Department of Public Works as he may 
 be directed to do by the Commissioner of said Department. He 
 shall possess the same power in the City in making surveys, 
 plats and certificates, as is or may be from time to time given 
 by law to the County Engineer, and his official acts, and all 
 plats, surveys and certificates made by him shall have the same 
 validity and be of the .same force and effect as are or may be 
 given by law to those of the County Engineer. 
 
 Sec. 88. Engineer's Charges.— The Council shall by Ordi- 
 nance, upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of Public 
 Works, establish such charges as may be proper for the ser- 
 vices to be performed by the City Engineer other than for thj 
 City, not inconsistent with the laws of the State, and may, 
 upon like recommendation, change and adjust the same. Said 
 Engineer may require such charges to be paid in advance to the 
 Clerk of the Commissioner for any official act or service demand- 
 ed of him, and the money received for such service shall be turn- 
 ed over to the Treasurer and placed to the credit of the general 
 fund. Duplicate receipts shall be given for such fees or charges, 
 one of which shall be filed with the Controller. 
 
 Sec. 89. Plats of Additions— Surveys, Monuments.— The 
 Council shall regulate and provide the manner in which addi- 
 tions to the City shall be subdivided, laid out and platted, and 
 may cause an official map of the City to be made and kept for 
 public inspection, which map, certified by the City Engineer, 
 shall be prima facie evidence that the lines as they appear are 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON S3 
 
 correct: and all surveys made by the City Engine*^** at the in- 
 stance and expense of the City or private parties shall be offi- 
 cial surveys, and a minute thereof shall be kept by the City 
 En^neer as a part of his official records, and shall be prima 
 facie evidence of their own correctness, and the City shall have 
 power to prevent the sale of any real property not subdivided 
 as aforesaid, and a plat whereof is not made and filed as herein 
 provided, and to compel the establishment and maintenance of 
 monuments, and to pass any and all Ordinances necessary or 
 expedient for earrj^ing: any of the provisions of this section into 
 effect, and to fine or imprison, or both, for a violation thereof; 
 and when the boundary or existence of any public street, alley, 
 square or easement is in doubt, and the land claimed by a priv- 
 ate party, the City may file a bill in equity to determine thtj 
 rio-ht thereto. 
 
 STREET IMPROVEMENT, 
 
 Sp:c. 90. Applications for—Cmincil's Authority to. — All 
 applications for establishing or changing the grade of any street 
 or streets, the improvement of public grounds or buildings, the 
 laying out, establishing, opening, vacating, closing, straighten- 
 ing, widening or improving of any street, road or highway, or 
 for the construction of any bridge or viaduct, or laying out or 
 opening of any new street through public or private property, 
 and for all public improvements which involve the necessity 
 of taking private property for public use, or where any part 
 of the cost or expense thereof is to be assessed upon private prop- 
 erty, shall be made to the Commissioner of Public Works, and 
 such work or improvement shall not be ordered or authorized 
 until after he shall have reported to the Council upon said ap- 
 plication. But before any work or improvements as above con- 
 templated shall be commenced, the Council, when recommended 
 by the Commissioner of Public Works, shall pass a resolution 
 ordering that said work be done, provided, that all applications 
 for the purpase of changing the grade or of making any im- 
 provement of any street, avenue or alley within the City, shall 
 be signed by the owners of more than one-half of the property 
 abutting on said street, avenue or alley; provided, fiofther, that 
 the Council may, without petition or recommendation, have pow- 
 er to order the improvement of any street, avenue or alley, or 
 any part thereof, of the building of any bridge or viaduct, by a 
 vote of four members of the Council. 
 
 Sec. 91. Survey— Resolution— Remonstrance. — Upon the 
 adoption or passage of any resolution by the Council for the im- 
 provement of any street, avenue or alley, or for the construe- 
 
S4 the; charter of the city of 
 
 tion of any bridge or viaduct, the Commissioner of Public 
 Works shall cause a survey, diagram and estimate of the entire 
 cost thereof to be made by the City Engineer ; said diagram and 
 estimate shall be filed in the office of the Commissioner of Public 
 Works for the inspection of all persons interested therein. The 
 Clerk of said Commissioner shall forthwith cause a notice of such 
 filing to be published daily for five days in the official newspa- 
 per ; such notice shall contain a copy of the said resolution pass- 
 ed by the Council, and must specify the street, highway, avenue, 
 or alley, or part thereof proposed to be improved, and the kind 
 of improvement proposed to be made, together with the estimated 
 cost and expense thereof, and also a general description, suffi- 
 cient for identification, of the property to be charged Avith the 
 expense of making such improvement, and that if sufficient re- 
 monstrance be not made before the expiration of fifteen days af- 
 ter the date of the last publication, said improvement will be 
 made at the expense of the owners of the lots and parcels of land 
 described in said notice, as hereinafter provided; but if withir^ 
 fifteen days after the final publication of said notice the per- 
 sons owning one-half or more of the lots or parcels of land to be 
 taxed for said improvement shall file with the Clerk of the Com- 
 missioner of Public AVorks a remonstrance against said improve- 
 ment, grade or alteration, the same shall not be made at the ex- 
 pense of the lots so described, unless the Council, by a vote of 
 four members thereof, order said improvement made notmth- 
 standing said remonstrance. 
 
 Sec. 92. Consent to Improvement, When— Cost Limit.— li no 
 remonstrance be made and filed as provided in the last precedinsr 
 section, then the owners of the lots and parcels of land describe 1 
 in said notice shall be deemed to have consented to such improve- 
 ments ; or if such remonstrance has been made and filed, and the 
 Council has ordered such improvements to be made or work to 
 be done, the -expense thereof shall be charged to the property 
 described in said notice in the manner as hereinafter provided, 
 and the Commissioner of Public Works shall, at his earliest con- 
 venience, and within six months thereafter, establish the pro- 
 posed grade or make the proposed improvement; provided, that 
 no improvement shall be made when the estimated cost thereof 
 shall exceed fifty per centum of the assessed value of the prop- 
 erty to be assessed. 
 
 Sec. 93. Cost and Expense of —How Assessed.— The cost 
 and expense of malring any improvement shall be assessed upon 
 the adjoining, contiguous, or proximate lots or parcels of land 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 35 
 
 benefited thereby, or upon any other property benefited thereby, 
 in the following manner: 
 
 The Commissioner of Public Works shall examine all the 
 property embraced in said assessment district and ascertain 
 and determine what benefits will result to each and every lot anl 
 parcel of land; and after such examination and determination 
 shall make out an assessment roll, charging the lots, blocks and 
 parcels of land in said assessment district which have been bene- 
 fited by said improvement to the extent of their proportionate 
 part of such cost and expense and in an equitable manner in 
 proportion to the special benefits resulting to each lot and parcel ; 
 and in no case shall the amount so charged against any lot or 
 parcel be in excess of the benefits resulting thereto. And in 
 making said assessment, when said Commissioner of Public 
 Works finds and determines that an assessment by the front foot 
 will result in charging said lots and parcels of land equitably and 
 fairly in proportion to the benefits resulting to each respectively, 
 he may apportion such cost and expense in accordance with the 
 number of lineal feet of said real estate or lots of land fronting 
 on said improvement as aforesaid. The amount apportioned to be 
 paid on each lineal foot fronting on said improvement shall be 
 paid by the adjoining, contiguous or proximate property, as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Lots abutting endwise upon any street to be improved shall 
 be assessed the full amount as determined by their foot frontage ; 
 any lot or parcel of land lying directly and lengthwise along the 
 line of improvement at any street corner or intersection shall be 
 assessed one-half of the amount as determined by its frontage,and 
 the remaining one-half assessed upon the lots to the center of the 
 block; if the land be unplatted and belong to the same person 
 or persons, then the first twenty-five feet lying directly and 
 lengthwise along the line of improvement shall be assessed onc- 
 half the amount as determined by its frontage, and the remain- 
 ing one-half to the depth of one hiuidred and fifty feet from the 
 proposed improvement; provided, however, that if the parcel of 
 land fronting along said proposed improvement and belonging 
 to any one person or persons shall be less than twenty-five feet, 
 the said strip shall bear one-half of the expense of said im- 
 provement as determined by its frontage, and the remaining one- 
 half assessed upon the balance of said property to the depth of 
 one hundred and fifty feet: and proiHded fuHher, that any par- 
 cel of land in Y or triangular shape, the angle of which is ad- 
 joining, contiguous or proximate to the line of improvement, 
 shall be considered as a lot having twentv-five feet front on the 
 
36 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OP 
 
 improvement. And provided, that the several amounts charged 
 against said lots respectively shall in no case be in excess of the 
 benefits resulting to the same from such improvement. And 
 whenever the manner of making such assessment by the front 
 foot as herein specified shall not result in a fair and equitable 
 division and apportionment of such costs and expenses upon the 
 benefited property, in proportion to the special benefits resulting 
 to each lot or parcel of land, and in all cases where the improve- 
 ment shall consist of the construction of a bridge or viaduct as 
 a separate improvement, then the said Commissioner of Public 
 Works shall not make said assessment in that manner, but shall 
 adopt such a plan or manner of dividing and apportioning the 
 said costs and expenses and charging the same upon the several 
 lots and parcels of land in the assessment district benefited by 
 said improvement, as Avill be fair and equitable, and will make 
 the charges against each lot and parcel of land respectively pro- 
 portionate to the benefits resulting to each and so that in no case 
 shall the charge against any lot or parcel of land be in excess of 
 the benefits resulting thereto. 
 
 Sec. 94. Assessment Roll— Contents.— Tl[ie Commissioner of 
 Public Works shall make out and certify to the Council, an 
 assessment roll which shall show and exhibit in separate columns, 
 first, the name of the owner of each separate lot, piece, parcel 
 or subdivision of land separately assessed, if known to him; if 
 the name of the owner be unknown, the word ''unknown" shall 
 be written opposite the number of such subdivision of land; 
 second, a brief description, by lot and block, or otherwise, of each 
 subdivision of land; third, the assessment number of each sub- 
 division of land separately assessed ; fourth, the amount assesed 
 separately to each of such subdivisions; fifth, a diagram show- 
 ing the street, highway or alley proposed to be improved, and 
 the lots or parcels of land to be assessed for such improvement ; 
 such diagram shall be marked with the numbers corresponding 
 with the assessment number of each subdivision of land. 
 
 Sec.95. Filing Assessment Roll— Notice o/.— Upon receiv- 
 ing said assessment roll, the City Clerk shall forthwith give 
 notice by publication for at least five days in the official news- 
 paper, that the assessment roll is on file in his office, the date of 
 filing the same, and that the same is open for public inspection, 
 and said notice shall state a time within which the Council will 
 meet to hear appeals of parties aggrieved by such assessment. 
 
 Sec. 96. Appeal— Tim^— Manner.— Tlie owner of land m 
 said assessment district, whether named or not in the assessment 
 roll, may, within ten days after the first publication of the notice 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 37 
 
 provided for in the last preceding section, appeal to the Council 
 from said assessment or assessment roll; said appeal shall be in 
 writing, briefly stating the objections to the said assessment or 
 assessment roll, and be filed with the City Clerk. 
 
 Sec. 97. Hearing— Judgment Final, Except. — At the time 
 appointed for hearing appeals from said assessment, the Council 
 shall hear and decide upon all objections which shall have been 
 filed by any party interested to the regularity of the proceeding 
 .a making said improvement or in levying said assessment, or 
 to the correctness of the amount of said assessment, or of the 
 amount levied upon any particular lot or parcel of land ; ejid if 
 the proceedings are found by them to have been regular, they 
 shall correct any errors which may be found in the assessment, 
 and shall pass an order approving and confirming said pro- 
 ceedings; and said assessment as so corrected by them, and their 
 decision and order shall be a final determination of the regular- 
 ity, validity and correctness of said assessment, and of the 
 amount thereof levied upon each lot or parcel of land, and shall 
 bar all persons appearing and objecting or failing to appear 
 from any further recourse in law, except by an appeal therefrom 
 to the Superior Court in the manner prescribed by law. 
 
 Sec. 98. Payment of Assessment, Time, Interest. — The 
 Council must provide in said order approving and confirming 
 such assessments within what time the same may be paid to the 
 Treasurer; and all such assessments not paid to the Treasurer 
 within such time shall thereafter draw interest at the rate of ten 
 per cent, per annum until paid. 
 
 Sec. 99. Bids— Contracts in TFnfm^.— Before entering in- 
 to any contract for any improvement, the Commissioner of Pub- 
 lic Works shall invite sealed bids for such improvement as 
 provided by this Charter, and such contract shall be made in 
 writing. 
 
 Sec. 100. Lien of Assessment. — All such assessments shall 
 be liens upon the property assessed, and all such liens shall relate 
 back to and take effect as of the time of the first publication of 
 the notice of the proposed improvement provided for in Section 
 91 hereof. 
 
 Sec. 101. Treasurer Collect.— The Treasurer shall be col- 
 lector of all such assessments for improvements, both before and 
 after delinquency. 
 
 Sec. 102. Demand far Payment Unnecessary. — No demand 
 shall be necessary for any such assessment, but it shall be the 
 duty of every person whose property is assessed for improve- 
 
38 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 ments as herein provided, to pay all such assessments levied upon 
 such property before the same become delinquent. 
 
 Sec. 103. Warrant for Collection— Notice of Boll.—TliQ 
 City Clerk shall, within five days after the confirmation of any 
 assessment for improvements made by the Council, certify and 
 annex to the assessment roll a copy of the order of confirmation, 
 and issue and annex to said roll a warrant directing the City 
 Treasurer to receive and collect the assessments therein named, 
 and deliver the same to the Treasurer, and shall also certify the 
 amount of such roll to the Controller. The Treasurer shall forth- 
 with give notice by three weekly insertions in the official news- 
 paper of the City, that such assessment roll is in his hands, that 
 the assessments are payable, and the date at which interest ac- 
 crues if they remain unpaid. 
 
 Sec. 104. Warrant to Sell—hy Conttvller— Sale.— Within 
 five days from the expiration of the time limited for the pay- 
 ment of such assessments, the Treasurer must return the im- 
 provement assessment roll to the Controller, designating thereon 
 the assessments paid and those unpaid. The Controller shall, 
 upon receipt of said roll, credit the Treasurer with the amount 
 of assessments collected thereon and deliver said roll to the City 
 Clerk, who shall thereupon issue and annex thereto a warrant 
 directing the City Treasurer to sell all the lots and parcels of 
 land described in said roll, and upon which assessments are 
 levied, whether in the name of a designated 0A\Taer or in the name 
 of an unknown owner, to satisfy all delinquent and unpaid as- 
 sessments upon said roll, with interest, penalty and cost. On the 
 day of the commencement of the sale of said real property in 
 pursuance of such warrant, a penalty of ten per cent, on the prin- 
 cipal amount of every unpaid assessment on said improvement 
 assessment roll shall accrue to such assessment in addition to the 
 interest thereon, and must then and thereafter be collected 
 therewith. 
 
 Sec. 105. Warrant as Execution— Sale— Notice o/.— Such 
 warrant shall, for the purpose of making sale of said real prop- 
 erty on which assessments are delinquent and unpaid, be deemed 
 and taken as an execution against said real property for the 
 amount of said assessments with interest, penalty and costs, and 
 the Treasurer shall, within sixty days from the receipt thereof 
 by him, commence the sale of said real property, and continue 
 such sale from day to day thereafter, until all the lots and par- 
 cels of land described in said assessment roll on which any such 
 assessment is delinquent and unpaid, are sold. Such sales shall 
 take place at the front door of the building in which the Council 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 39 
 
 hokls its sessions. The Treasurer shall give notice of such sales 
 by publishinor a notice thereof once a week, for three consecutiv 
 weeks in the official newspaper of the City. Such notice shall 
 contain a list of all lots and parcels of land upon which such 
 assessments are delinquent, with the amount of the asseasment, 
 interest, penalty and costs to date of sale, including costs of ad- 
 vertising due upon each of such lots or parcels of land, together 
 with the names of the owners thereof, or the words "unknown 
 owner" as the same may appear on said improvement assessment 
 roll, and shall specify the time and place of sale, and that the 
 several lots or parcels of land therein described, will be sold to 
 satisfy the assessment, interest, penalty and costs due upon each. 
 
 Sec. 106. Time of Sale— Sales to City.— AW. of such sales 
 shall be made between the hours of ten o'clock A. 'M. and three 
 o'clock P. M. Each lot or parcel of land shall be sold separate- 
 ly and in the order in which the same appears on the improve- 
 ment assessment roll, commencing at the head thereof. If there 
 be no bidder for any lot or parcel of land of a sum sufficient to 
 pay the delinquent assessment thereon, Avith interest, penalty 
 and costs, the Treasurer shall strike the same off to the City for 
 the whole amount he is required to collect by such sale. 
 
 Sec. 107. Higliest Bidder— Disposition of Surplus.— XW. 
 lots and parcels of land sold for delinquent improvement as- 
 sessments, shall be sold to the highest bidder; and whenever 
 any sucli lot is sold for more than the sum sufficient to satis- 
 fy the delinquent assessment, A\dth interest, penalty and costs, 
 the surplus shall be kept by the Treasurer in a separate fund, 
 and thereafter the owner or his legal representatives shall, on 
 application to the Council, be entitled to a warrant therefor. 
 
 Sec. 108. Resale.— li. any bidder to whom any lot or parcel 
 of land is stricken off does not pay the assessment, interest, pen- 
 alty and costs before ten o'clock A. M. of the day following the 
 day of such sale, such lot or parcel of land must then be resold, 
 or, if the assessment sale is closed, be deemed to have been sold 
 to the City, and a certificate of purchase shall be issued to the 
 City therefor. 
 
 Sec. 109. Custodian of Cerifific^tes—Sale of.— The Con- 
 troller shall be the custodian of all certificates of purchase for 
 lots or parcels of land sold to the City; and shall at any time 
 within three years from the date of any such certificate, and 
 before the redemption of the lot or parcel of land therein de- 
 scribed, sell and transfer any such certificate to any person who 
 will pay to him the amount for which the lot or parcel of land 
 therein described was stricken off to the City, with the inter- 
 
40 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 est subsequently accrued thereon, and the Treasurer may, if 
 so authorized by the Council, sell and transfer any such certifi- 
 cate in like manner after the expiration of said three years 
 from the date of the certificate. 
 
 Sec. 110. Betum of Treasurer. — Within ten days after 
 the completion of the sale of all the lots and parcels of land 
 described in such improvement assessment, and authorized to 
 be sold as aforesaid, the Treasurer must make return to the 
 Controller of said assessment roll, with a statement of his do- 
 ings thereon, showing all lots and parcels of land sold by him, 
 to whom sold, and the sum paid therefor. 
 
 Sec. 111. Purchaser's Lien— Interest.— The purchaser at 
 improvement assessment sales acquires a lien on the lot or parcel 
 of land sold for the amount paid by him at such sale, as well 
 as for all delinquent taxes and improvement assessments and 
 all costs and charges thereon, whether levied previously or sub- 
 sequently to such sale subsequently paid by him on the lot or 
 parcel of land, and shall be entitled to interest thereon at the 
 rate of twenty per cent, per annum from the date of such 
 payment. 
 
 Sec. 112. Redemption — Certificate— Deed.— ^Yery lot and 
 parcel of land sold for an improvement assessment shall be 
 subject to redemption by the former owner, or his grantee, 
 mortgagee, or heir, within three years from the date of the certifi- 
 cate of purchase, on payment to the Tl*easurer for the pur- 
 chaser of the amount the same was sold for, with twenty per 
 cent, interest per annum, together with all taxes and improve- 
 ment assessments, and costs and charges thereon, as per state- 
 ment made by the Controller, paid by the purchaser on such lot 
 or parcel of land since such sale, with like interest thereon. 
 And on such redemption being made, the Treasurer shall give 
 to the redemptioner a certificate of redemption therefor, and 
 pay over the amount received from such redemptioner to the 
 purchaser or his assigns, on an order from the Controller. 
 
 Should no redemption be made within the period of three 
 years, the Treasurer shall on demand by the purchaser or his 
 assigns, and the surrender of the certificate, execute to him a 
 deed for the lot or parcel of land therein described : provided, 
 that no such deed shall be executed until the holder of said 
 certificate shall have notified the owner of said lots or parcels 
 of land that he holds said certificate and that he will demand 
 a deed therefor ; and if, notwithstanding said notice, no redemp- 
 tion be made within ninety days from the service of said notice, 
 said holder shall be entitled to said deed. Said notice may be 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 41 
 
 given by pei-sonal service upon said persons, or by publication 
 in a weekly newspaper published in said City for the full three 
 weeks. Such notice and return thereto with the affidavit of 
 the person claiming said deed, stating that said service was 
 made, shall be filed with the Treasurer. 
 
 Such deed shall be executed only for the lot or parcel of 
 land named in the certificate, and after payment of all subse- 
 quent taxes and improvement assessments thereon. The deed 
 shall be executed in the name of the City of Tacoma, shall re- 
 cite in substance the matters contained in the certificate, the 
 notice to owner and that no redemption has been made of the 
 property within the time allowed by law. Such deed shall be 
 signed and acknowledged by the Treasurer as such. The deed 
 shall be prima facie evidence that the property was assessed 
 as required by law, that the improvement assessment was not 
 paid, that the property was sold as required by law, that it was 
 not redeemed, that notice had been given and that the person 
 executing the deed was the proper officer; and the deed shall be 
 conclusive evidence of the regularity of all other proceedings 
 from the assessment inclusive up to the execution of the deed. 
 
 Sec. 113. Separate Fund.— AW. moneys received or col- 
 lected by the T'reasurer upon assessments for improvements of 
 streets, highways or alleys, shall be kept as a separate fund, 
 and in nowise used for any other purpose whatever, except for 
 the redemption of warrants drawn against such fund. 
 
 Sec. 114. Payment of Assessment.— ^\iQn&NQv before sale 
 of any lot or parcel of land the amount of any assessment for 
 improvements thereon, with all interest and costs accrued 
 thereon, shall be paid to the Treasurer, he shall thereupon mark 
 the same paid, with the date of payment thereof on the as- 
 sessment roll: and whenever after sale of any lot or parcel of 
 land for any assessment the same shall be "redeemed," he 
 shall thereupon enter the same redeemed with the date of such 
 redemption on such record. Such entries shall be made on the 
 margin of the record opposite the description of such lot or 
 parcel of land. 
 
 Sec. 115. Day's Work or Contract— Cost Limit.- All pub- 
 lic work authorized by the Council to be done under the super- 
 vision of the Commissioner of Public Works shall be done by 
 day's work or by contract, at the discretion of the Council, 
 provided, that if within the time for filing a remonstrance a 
 majority of the resident owners within the assessment district 
 file a petition designating the manner of making the improve- 
 ment, whether by day's work or contract, then the improve- 
 
42 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 ment must be done as requested in said petition ; and p)wuied, 
 further, that in no case shall the cost of any improvement au- 
 thorized by the Council to be done exceed the estimated cost 
 of the City Engineer. But before awarding any contract au- 
 thorized by this Article, the Commissioner of Public Worts 
 shall cause notice, inviting sealed proposals therefor, to be posted 
 conspicuously in his office and published for not less than five 
 days. 
 
 Sec. 116. Sealed Proposals.— Said advertisements and no- 
 tice shall invite sealed proposals to be delivered at a certain 
 day and hour at the office of the Commissioner of Public Works, 
 for furnishing the materials, and for the work to be done, the 
 materials for the proposed work, or for doing said work, or both, 
 as may be deemed best by him, and shall contain a general de- 
 scription of the work to be done, the materials to be furnished, 
 the time within which the work is to be commenced and when to 
 be completed, and the amount of bond to be given for the faith- 
 ful performance of the contract and shall refer to plans and 
 specifications on file in the office of the Commissioner of Public 
 Works for full details and description of said work 'and ma- 
 terials. 
 
 Sec. 117. Proposals— Form, Affidavit— Bids.— All propos- 
 als shall be made upon printed forms prepared by the Com- 
 missioner of Public Works and furnished gratuitously upon ap- 
 plication, with a form for the affidavit hereinafter provided for 
 printed thereon. Each bid shall have thereon the affidavit of 
 the bidder that his bid is genuine and not sham or collusive, or 
 made in the interests or on behalf of any person not therein 
 named, and that the bidder has not directly or indirectly in- 
 duced or solicited any bidder to put in a sham bid, or any other 
 person or corporation to refrain from bidding, and that the 
 bidder has not in any manner sought, by collusion, to secure to 
 himself an advantage over other bidders. Any bid made with- 
 out such affidavit, or in violation thereof, shall be absolutely 
 void, and also any contract let thereunder. 
 
 If at any time discovery shall be made that a contract has 
 been let to a bidder who has violated or evaded this oath, the 
 contract shall be cancelled and no recovery shall be had there- 
 on, and the Commissioner of Public Works shall at once proceed 
 as before to award a new contract. All proposals offered shall 
 be accompanied by a check certified by a responsible bank, 
 payable to the order of the Clerk of the Commissioner of Pub- 
 lic Works, for an amount not less than five per cent, of the ag- 
 
TACOMA. WASHINGTON 43 
 
 gregate of the proposal, and no proposal shall be considered 
 unless accompanied by such check. 
 
 No person, corporation or firm shall be allowed to make, 
 file or be interested in more than one bid for the same work. 
 If, on the opening of said bids, more than one bid appear in 
 which the same person, corporation or firm is interested, all such 
 bids shall be rejected. 
 
 Sec. 118. Opening Bids— Award— Checks.— On the day 
 ancLat the hour specified in said notice inviting sealed proposals, 
 all bids shall be delivered to the Commissioner by the bidder 
 or his agent within the two hours named in the advertisement. 
 No bid not so delivered to the Commissioner of Public Works 
 shaU be considered. Each bid as it shall be received shall be 
 numbered and marked "filed" by him, and authenticated by his 
 signature. At the expiration of the two hours stated in the ad- 
 vertisement. Avithin which the bids will be received, the Com- 
 missioner of Public AYorks shall in open session open, examine, 
 and publicly declare the same, and an abstract of each bid shall 
 be recorded in the minutes of the Commissioner of Public 
 Works by the Clerk. 
 
 The Commissioner of Public Works shall compare the bids 
 with the record made by the Clerk, and shall thereupon at said 
 time, or at such other time, not exceeding ten days thereafter, 
 award the contract to the lowest bidder, except as otherwise 
 herein provided. Notice of such award shall forthwith be post- 
 ed for five days by the Clerk of the Cbmmissioner of Public 
 Works in some conspicuous place in the office of the Commis- 
 sioner. He may reject any and all bids, and must reject the bid 
 of any party who has been delinquent or unfaithful in any for- 
 mer contracts with the City, and all bids other than the low- 
 est regular bid, and on accepting said lowest bid shall thereupon 
 return to the proper parties the checks, corresponding to the 
 bids so rejected. 
 
 If all bids are rejected, the Commissioner shall return all 
 the checks to the proper parties and again invite sealed propos- 
 als, as in the first instance. The check accompanying the accept- 
 ed bid shall be held by the Clerk of the Commissioner of Public 
 Works until the contract for doing said work, as hereinafter 
 provided, haus been entered into, whereupon said certified check 
 shall be returned to said bidder. If said bidder fails or refuses 
 to enter into the contract for said work, as hereinafter provided, 
 then the certified check accompanying his bid, and the amount 
 therein mentioned, shall be forfeited to the City and shall be col- 
 lected and paid into the general fund. Neither the Commissioner 
 
44 THE! CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 of Public Works nor the Council has the power to relieve from 
 or remit such forfeiture. 
 
 Sec. 119. Colliisive Bids.—li at any time it shall be found 
 that the person to whom a contract has been awarded has, in 
 presenting bid or bids, colluded with any party or parties for 
 the purpose of preventing any other bid being made, then the 
 contract so awarded shall be null and void, and no recovery shall 
 be had thereon, and the Commissioner of Public Works shall ad- 
 vertise for proposals for a new contract. 
 
 Sec. 120. Contracts— City Attorney Draw— Triplicates. — 
 All contracts shall be drawn under the supervision of the City 
 Attorney, and shall have attached thereto detailed specifications 
 of the work to be done, which shall be referred to and made 
 part of the contract; the manner in which it shall be executed, 
 and the quality of the supplies and the material to be used. 
 Every contract let by the Commissioner of Public Works shall 
 be signed by the Mayor and other contracting party, and coun- 
 tersigned by the Controller. All contracts shall be executed in 
 triplicate, one of which with the specifications and drawings, 
 if any, of the w^ork to be done, and materials to be furnished, 
 shall be filed with the Commissioner of Public Worl^ ; one, with 
 said specifications and drawings, shall be filed with the Con- 
 troller, and the third, with said specifications and drawings, 
 shall be delivered to the contractor. 
 
 Sec. 121. Bonds— Amount i—Si(^reties — Justification.— At 
 the same time with the execution of said contract, the contract- 
 or shall execute a bond to the State of Washington, with two 
 or more sureties, or with a surety company as surety, condition- 
 ed that such contractor shall faithfully perform all of the pro- 
 visions of said contract, and holding said City of Tacoma harm- 
 less from all loss or damage caused to any person or property by 
 reason of any carelessness or negligence in the maldng of said 
 improvement, and pay all laborers, mechanics, sub-contractors 
 and material men, and all persons who shall supply such con- 
 tractor or sub-contractor with provisions and supplies for the 
 carrying on of such work, all just debts, dues and demands in- 
 curred in the performance of such work; which bond shall be 
 approved by the Controller and filed in his office. 
 
 Such bond shall be in an amount equal to the full contract 
 price agreed to be paid for such work or improvement, except 
 that the Council shall have power by general Ordinance to fix 
 and determine the amount of such bond, provided, that the same 
 shall, in no event, be fixed for a less amount than twenty-five 
 per cent, of the contract price of such improvement, and the 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 45 
 
 Council may by such Ordinance provide that said bond shall 
 be payable to the City of Tacoma and not to the State of Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 In case of sureties on such bond, other than a surety com- 
 pany, the justification of such sureties shall be upon a form to 
 be printed upon said bond, which justification shall be the same 
 as bail upon arrest, but when the amount specified in the bond 
 exceeds Three Thousand Dollars and there are more than two 
 sureties thereon, they may state in their affidavit that they are 
 severally worth amounts less than that expressed in the bond, 
 if the whole amount be equal to two sufficient sureties. 
 
 Sec. 122. Failure to Perform Contract on Time.— The con- 
 tract for work shall specify the time within which the work shall 
 be commenced and completed as was specified in the notice in- 
 viting proposals therefor. In case of failure on the part of 
 the contractor to complete his contract within the time fixed, or 
 within such extension of time as may have been granted there- 
 on by the Council prior to the time fixed for completion of the 
 woik in the contract, his contract shall be void and the Council 
 shall not pay or allow him any compensation for work done by 
 him under said contract. 
 
 Sec. 123. Unfinished Contracts.— li the contractor does 
 not complete his contract within the time limited therein, said 
 Commissioner of Public Works may re-let the unfinished portion 
 of said work, after pursuing the formalities hereinbefore pre- 
 scribed for the letting of the whole. 
 
 Sec. 124. Comm^issioner Has Supervision. — The work in this 
 Article provided for must be done under the direction and to 
 the satisfaction of said Commissioner of Public Works, and all 
 materials and supplies furnished must be in accordance with 
 the specifications and be to his satisfaction. When any contract 
 shall have been completed and accepted by him, he shall so de- 
 clare, and thereupon he shall deliver to the contractor a certifi- 
 cate to that effect. 
 
 Sec. 125. Prohibition on Commissioner and Employees. — 
 Neither the Commissioner of Public Works, nor any person em- 
 ployed in his Department, nor any other Officer or Employee 
 of the City, shall be interested directly or indirectly in any con- 
 tract for work, labor, supplies or materials entered into under 
 the provisions of this Article, nor shall he or any other officer 
 or employee of the City be allowed to receive any gratuity or 
 advantage from any contractor, laborer or person furnishing 
 labor or material for the same. Any contract made in violation 
 of any of the provisions of this Section shall be void, and the 
 
46 THE CELA.RTBR OF THE CITY OF 
 
 receipt of such gratuity shall be cause for immediate removal 
 from office or from employment of the person receiving it. 
 
 SEWERAGE AND DRAINAGE. 
 
 Sec. 126. General System.— The Commissioner of Public 
 Works shall devise a general system of sewerage and drainage, 
 to be approved by the Council, which shall embrace all matters 
 relative to the thorough, systematic and effectual drainage of 
 not only surface water and filth, but also of the ground on which 
 the City is situated, to a sufficient depth to secure dr\^ness in 
 cellars and entire freedom from stagnant waters, and in such 
 manner as best to promote the cleanliness and healthfulness of 
 the City, and shall report to the Council in reference thereto, 
 and shall, from time to time, make to the Council such recom- 
 mendations upon the subject of sewerage and drainage as he may 
 deem proper. 
 
 Sec. 127. Control Construction.— ^aid Commissioner of 
 Public Works shall prescribe the location, form and material 
 to be used in the construction and repair of all public sewers, 
 man-holes, sinks, cesspools or other appurtenances belonging to 
 the sewer system and of every private sewer emptying into a 
 public sewer and determine the manner and place of connection. 
 
 Sec. 128. Sewers — Plans, Diagram, Map. — Before any pub- 
 lic sewer shall be contracted for or built the City Engineer 
 shall cause to be prepared the necessary plans for the work 
 and a profile showing the grades of the street and sewer, and 
 the depth of each sewer below the surface of the street, and a 
 diagram shoAving the property benefited by such sewer, and the 
 total frontage thereof; and when such sew^er is completed he 
 shall cause a map to be prepared, showing the size and location 
 of man-holes, basins and branches of house connections, and 
 other appurtenances. 
 
 Sec. 129. Council Order Construction.— The Council may, 
 upon the recommendation of said Commissioner of Public Works, 
 by Ordinance passed by the affirmative vote of four members of 
 the Council, order the construction of any sewer or drain, or au- 
 thorize the purchase of any personal property or the acquisition 
 by purchase or condemnation of any real estate which may be 
 necessary for the construction of any sewer or the making of 
 any improvement provided for in this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 130. Agreement as to Damages.— '^md Commissioner 
 of Public Works may, with the like approval of the City Coun- 
 cil, agree with the owners of any real estate upon which it is 
 deemed desirable to construct any sewer or other improvement 
 relative to sewerag-e or drainage, upon the amount of damage 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 47 
 
 to be paid to such o\\Tier for the purpose of such improvement, 
 and for the perpetual use of said real estate for such purpose. 
 
 Sec. 131. La)ids an Bay. —Said Commissioner of Public 
 Works may, when authorized by Ordinance, construct such 
 sewers, reservoirs and pumping works on lands and made-lands 
 fronting the bay, as may be necessary to carry out the general 
 system of sewerage for the City. 
 
 Sec. 132. Condemnation of Private Property.— When upon 
 the recommendation of said Commissioner of Public AVorks, the 
 Council shall determine upon any improvement for the purpose 
 of sewerage or drainage which necessitates the acquisition or 
 condemnation of private property, and said Commissioner is 
 unable to agree with the owner thereof upon the amount of 
 compensation or damages to be paid therefor, or when such 
 owner is in any way incapable of making any agreement with 
 reference thereto, and in all cases in which said Commissioner 
 shall deem it most expedient, the City Council shall have the 
 right to cause condemnation of such property in the manner 
 for the opening of any new street. 
 
 Sec. 133. Expense Proportioned.— The cost of construct- 
 ing any sewer shall be assessed by the Commissioner of Public 
 AVorks upon the real estate benefited thereby pro rata, accord- 
 ing to the frontage of said real estate upon the line of said 
 sewer ; and the manner of collection of the same shall be as pro- 
 vided for the collection of street improvement assessments; 
 provided, that the construction of all trunk or main sewers and 
 repair of all sewers shall be made at the expense of the City. 
 
 Sec. 134. Sewerage Districts.— The Commissioner of Pub- 
 lic Works shall have authority whenever he shall deem neces- 
 sary, to create sewerage districts, in order to distribute equita- 
 bly the assessment and cost of sewers upon property peculiarly 
 benefited thereby. 
 
 Sec. 135. Seiverage Bond.— The same bond shall be re- 
 quired of a contractor who has contracts with the City for the 
 construction of any sewer under the provisions of this Article, 
 as is required in Section 121 of this Charter. 
 
 AETICLE IX. 
 depajrtment of light ^vnd water. 
 Sec. 136. Scope of Department.— The Department of Light 
 and Water shall embrace aU property, rights and obligations of 
 the City in respect to the light plant, water plant and electri- 
 cal power plant, now owned or hereafter acquired, whether sit- 
 uated within or without the City limits. 
 
48 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 Sec. 137. Commissioner to Administer Depariimen\L— The 
 Commissioner of Light and Water is charged with the admin- 
 istration of said Department. Upon his appointment the Mayor 
 shall commission such Officials^ Assistants, Clerks and Skilled 
 Employees as may be necessary, and he may secure the services 
 of electrical engineers and hydraulic engineers, special counsel 
 and other experts, subject to the approval of the Council, and for 
 such compensation as the Council may fix. 
 
 Sec. 138. Separate Suh-Deparim.enis— Duties.— The Com- 
 missioner of Light and Water shall, so far as is practicable, 
 administer the lights, power, light works and electrical power 
 plants, as one separate sub-department or entity, and the water 
 plant as another separate sub-department or entity. To that 
 end all contracts, records and muniments of title pertaining to 
 each of said sub-departments, shall be assembled and carefully 
 preserved as separate records. Accounts shall be kept separately 
 of assets and liabilities, receipts and disbursements, of each 
 sub-department distinct from the other. The revenues shall be 
 so applied that as far as possible each sub-department shall be 
 self-sustaining. 
 
 The Commissioner shall also take care that the w^ater supply 
 of the City is preserved from impairment and pollution, and 
 seasonably augmented so as to assure at all times a supply of 
 potable water adequate for the growing needs of the City. To 
 that end he shall cause comparative investigations to be made 
 of all available reservoir sites and sources of water supply, 
 and report thereon to the Council with his recommendations. 
 He shall at all times see that the City's water rights are fully 
 protected and kept alive. 
 
 He shall make all necessary investigations and recommenda- 
 tions to the end that the City's lighting plant may be main- 
 tained as a plant adequate to the needs of the City and its in- 
 habitants. 
 
 He shall report each month to the Council a statement of 
 the receipts and disbursements of the two sub-departments 
 separately, and annually shall make a detailed report as to the 
 condition of each sub-department, with his recommendations as 
 to their needs. He shall perform such other duties from time 
 to time in connection with the Department and make such other 
 reports as the Council may by Ordinance require. 
 
 Sec. 139. Cortmiissioner Fix Bates — Coiincil Impose Fines. 
 — The Commissioner shall, with the approval of the Council, 
 expressed by Ordinance, fix rates and establish regulations for 
 the use of light, power and water by consumers, and regulations 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 49 
 
 for the orderly administration of the Department. The Council 
 shall by Ordinance impose fines and penalties for the violation of 
 any of saii regulations. 
 
 ARTICLE X. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE. 
 
 Sec. 14:0. Conimisswner Have Supervision — ex-Offlcio 
 Tre<istorer.— The Commissioner of Finance shall have the direct 
 supervision of all of the rev€nues of the City, except as other- 
 wise provided in this Charter. He shall be ex-Officio Treasurer 
 of the City. 
 
 Sec. 141. Bond as Treasurer.— Beiore entering upon his 
 duties as Treasurer, he shall execute to the City a bond, in an 
 amount to be fixed by the Council, conditioned for the faith- 
 ful discharge of his duties as Treasurer, which bond shall be 
 approved and filed as required in this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 142. Assistants, Clerks and Emplayees.— Upon the 
 appointment of the Commissioner of Finance, the Mayor shall 
 commission such Assistants, Clerks and Employees for said De- 
 partment as may from time to time be provided for by the 
 Council by Ordinance. He may take from such Assistants, 
 Clerks and Employees bonds with sureties to be approved by 
 him; provided, that the bond of his Chief Assistant as Ti-easur- 
 er shall in no event be less in amount than that of the Treas- 
 urer. Such Assistants, Clerks and Employees shall receive such 
 compensation as the Council shall by Ordinance prescribe. 
 
 Sec. 143. Estimate of Expenses.— The Commissioner of 
 Finance shall report annually on or before the first day of April 
 to the Council, an estimate of the expenses of the City, and 
 likewise the revenue necessary to be raised for the current year. 
 
 Sec. 144. Establish Systematic Accounting.— XJy)oii the re- 
 commendation of the Commissioner of Finance and the Control- 
 ler, the Council shall provide by Ordinance a system of account- 
 ing for the City not inconsistent with the provisions of this 
 Charter, which shall be as nearly as may be a uniform system as 
 to all departments. 
 
 Sec. 145. Bevenue—How Controlled, Paid Out.— AW reve- 
 nue accruing to or belonging to the City of Tacoma shall be 
 under the control of the Council and shall be paid out when 
 authorized by the Charter, or by Ordinance, by orders drawn 
 by the Controller, on the Treasurer, signed by the IMayor and 
 attested by the City Clerk. No warrant or order for the pay- 
 ment of money shall be drawn against any of the funds of the 
 -City of Tacoma until there shall be money sufficient to the 
 
50 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 credit of such fund to pay the same, together with orders against 
 said fund then outstanding ; provided, that the City may, for the 
 purpose of paying current running expenses of any fiscal year, 
 provide by Ordinance that orders may be drawn in payment 
 thereof as the same accrue, to an amount not exceeding eighty 
 per centum of the tax levy for that year; and any person ac- 
 cepting an order upon any such fund shall be deemed to have 
 waived all claim against the City of Tacoma for the payment 
 thereof, and to have accepted the same as an assignment of that 
 amount of the tax levy of that year, and said order shall be paid 
 from the tax levy of that year as the same is collected, with 
 six per cent, interest per annum and in the order in which the 
 said order or warrant is drawn. 
 
 COMMISSIONER OF FINANCE AS TREASURER. 
 
 Sec. 146. Duties as Treasurer.— The Commissioner of Fi- 
 nance as Treasurer shall receive all moneys due and belonging 
 to the City and keep an accurate and detailed account of the 
 same in such manner as at all times to show the exact financial 
 condition of the City. Not later than the 15th day of each 
 month he shall report to the Council a complete and itemized 
 statement of all moneys received and paid out by him during 
 the preceding month. Such statement shall show what funds 
 were credited with moneys so received and from what funds 
 moneys were so paid, and the amounts thus credited and paid ; 
 and further, show the exact amount of money in each fund of 
 the City on the last day of the preceding month. He shall 
 also in such report show the amount of funds under his control 
 at the time of making such report, and where the same are 
 placed or deposited. He shall give to the Controller a daily 
 statement of bank balances of City moneys, and of moneys on 
 hand. 
 
 Sec. 147. Ba7ik Deposits, Bonds, Interests, Secunties.—The 
 Treasurer shall not loan any of the funds of the City to any 
 person or otherwise dispose of the same, except in accordance 
 with law. He shall keep such funds and be responsible there- 
 for; he may deposit moneys received by him, by virtue of his 
 office, in one or more banks in the City of Tacoma, which banks 
 shall have been established and doing business in said City for 
 at least three years prior to such deposits ; 
 
 Provided, however, that he shall not have on deposit more 
 than $250,000 in any one bank at any time, and in no case more 
 than fifty per centum of such money in any one bank; and 
 
 Provided, further, that every such bank in which he depos- 
 its any of such moneys, shall be first required to execute to the 
 
- TACOMA, WASHINGTON 51 
 
 City a bond with some surety, guaranty, indemnity or insurance 
 company, organized and empowered by law to give such bond 
 and authorized by law to do business in the State of Washing- 
 ton, as surety, in a penal sum equal to the maximum amount 
 deposited in any such bank, conditioned to save the City harm- 
 less from loss by reason of such deposit during all the time 
 that such money or any part thereof shall so remain on de- 
 posit in such bank, and such bond shall be approved and filed 
 in the same manner as the official bond of such Treasurer; and 
 
 Provided, fwrther, that such city bank or banks designated 
 as depasitory or depositories may, in lieu of the surety bond 
 above referred to, deposit with the Treasurer good and sufficient 
 municipal, school district, county or State bonds or warrants, 
 United States bonds, first mortgage railroad bonds listed on 
 the New York Stock Exchange, local improvement bonds or 
 warrants, or public utility bonds or warrants issued by or un- 
 der the authority of any municipality of the State for water, 
 power or light plants or maintenance thereof, upon which prin- 
 cipal or interest is not in default at the time of such deposit, 
 the ag-gregate market value of which shall not be less than the 
 amount required in said deposit, which securities shall be sub- 
 ject to the approval of the Mayor and Controller ; and 
 
 Provided, further, that such bank or banks so designated as 
 depositories shall be required to pay to the City interest on the 
 daily balances of such deposits at the rate of not less than one 
 and one-half per cent, per annum as long as the same or any part 
 thereof remains so on deposit in any such bank, said interest 
 payments to be payable monthly. 
 
 Nothing in this section shall be construed so as to relieve 
 said Treasurer, or his official bondsmen, from any liability for 
 any loss of such moneys. 
 
 Sec. 148. Tax Levy— How Credited— Other Duties.— Im- 
 mediately after the annual tax levy, the Treasurer shall open and 
 keep separate and distinct accounts with each special fund made 
 necessary by law, and whenever any taxes shall be collected and 
 paid into the treasury he shall credit each fund with its pro- 
 portionate amount of such tax, and the same shall remain so 
 credited and shall be paid out only in payment of orders drawn 
 against said fund. 
 
 All funds raised by a vote of the people or by special tax- 
 ation, or any other manner for a special purpose, shall be used 
 for that purpose, and none other. No fund shall be diverted 
 from the purpose for which it was originally assessed or col- 
 lected or voted by the people without the proposition therefor 
 
52 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 is submitted to a vote of the people and authorized by at least 
 a majority vote at either a special or general election. The 
 Treasurer shall keep such accounts and make such other reports 
 and perform such other duties incident to his office as may be 
 prescribed by Ordinance. 
 
 Sec. 149. Eligible for Only One Term as TreasiM^er.— The 
 same Councilman shall not be elig^ible to the office of Commis- 
 sioner of Finance for a longer period at any one time than four 
 consecutive years, nor eligible to re-appointment until after the 
 expiration of one year after having served for such period of 
 four years. 
 
 SINKING FUND BOARD. 
 
 Sec. 150. Members— WJw.— The Mayor. Controller and 
 the Comissioner of Finance, shall constitute and be denominated 
 a Sinking Fund Board. 
 
 Sec. 151. Quorum. — Any two of the officers named, of 
 whom the Controller shall be one, shall be and are hereby au- 
 thorized and required to discharge the duties and trust hereby 
 vested in them, but shall not receive any additional compensa- 
 tion or salary for such services. 
 
 Sec. 152. Duties.— The said Board shall negotiate the sale 
 of all bonds of the City, in accordance with the provisions of 
 the ordinance under which such bonds may issue, and shall, 
 from: time to time, invest the moneys which shall constitute the 
 Sinking Fund for the redemption of the City debt, or any sur- 
 plus of interest to the credit of the interest fund, in the pur- 
 chase of bonds issued by the City at the market price, not ex- 
 ceeding par value thereof. If at any time such investments 
 cannot be made, then the said Board may invest such bonds in 
 interest-bearing securities of the Tacoma School District, now 
 known as District No. 10, the County of Pierce, the State of 
 Washington, or the United States. 
 
 Providedy The said Board may purchase bonds of the City 
 at a premium whenever the interest accruing on said bonds, 
 from time of purchase to maturity, will be greater than the 
 premium on said bonds and interest on the amount to be used 
 to make the proposed purchase. 
 
 Said interest to be computed at the average rate of inter- 
 est earned by money in the Sinking Fund for the previous year^ 
 excepting the money that may be investeli in bonds of the City, 
 and for the time that will elapse between the date of proposed 
 purchase and maturity of the bonds. 
 
 No money belonging to the Sinking Fund or Interest Fund 
 shall be loaned to any person or corporation. 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 53 
 
 Sec. 153. Procedure Befare Investment.— V^henever any 
 of the money constituting the Sinking Fund for the redemption 
 of the City debt shall be required for investment as above 
 mentioned, or for the redemption of any City bonds at their ma- 
 turity, the said Sinking Fund Board shall report the amount of 
 money so required to the Controller, who shall certify the same 
 to the Council, and thereupon the Council shall authorize an 
 order to be drawn on the Treasurer, payable to the Sinking Fund 
 Board for such purpose. 
 
 Sec. 154. Proceedings of Board— Journal.— It shall be the 
 duty of the Controller to keep a correct journal of the pro- 
 ceedings of the said Board, to be verified by any two of them, 
 himself being one, and once in each year, or oftener if required, 
 to render to the Council a full and detailed report of the pro- 
 ceedings of the said Board. All acts of said Board shall be 
 based on resolution duly entered in said journal. 
 
 Sec. 155. Vacancies— How Filled. — In case of a vacancy 
 in office, or inability of any of said Board to attend to the duties 
 hereby imposed, it shall be the duty of the Council to designate 
 by resolution one or more of their number to supply the place 
 of such member or members of the Board for the time being. 
 
 Sec. 156. Bonds— How Kept.— AM bonds and securities 
 purchased by said Board shall be held for safe keeping b}^ the 
 Treasurer. AVhenever City bonds are paid, a record thereof 
 shall be made in the journal of the Board, and the Bonds shall 
 be cancelled and burned in the office of the Controller, under the 
 direction and supervision of said Board. 
 
 ARTICLE XI. 
 
 CONTROLLER. 
 
 Sec. 157. DirfiV^.— The Controller shall be the chief ac- 
 counting and auditing officer of the City, and shall have charge 
 of and shall exercise a general supervision over the fiscal af- 
 fairs of the City, the collection and return into the Treasury, and 
 disbursement of all revenue and moneys of the City; of all 
 property, assets and claims, and the sale or other disposition, 
 thereof, except as otherwise provided in this Charter ; and by 
 and with the advice and consent of the Mayor shall see that all 
 necessary official and legal proceedings are had for the protec- 
 tion of the City's interests in all such property, assets and 
 claims; that proper rules and regulations are prescribed and 
 observed in relation to all accounts, settlements and reports 
 connected with the fiscal affairs of the City; that no liability 
 
54 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 is incurred or expenditure made from the Treasury without due 
 authority of law, and that appropriations are not overdrawn. 
 
 Sec. 158. Oath and Bond— Deputies, and Assistants.— The 
 Controller, within ten days from the time of notice of his elec- 
 tion, and before entering upon the duties of his office, shall 
 take and subscribe the oath of office and give to the City of Ta- 
 coma a bond in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, condi- 
 tioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office, 
 which said bond shall be approved and filed as required in this 
 Charter. 
 
 He shall have such deputies and clerical assistants as may 
 be provided by Ordinance, who shall be commissioned b}^ the 
 Mayor on appointment by the Controller. 
 
 Sec. 159. Have Access to All Books.— The Controller shall 
 have access to the books and other records of all officers and de- 
 partments of the City Government whenever he so desires, and 
 may make transcript thereof. He shall see that the accounts of 
 the City are kept in a plain, methodical manner. 
 
 Sec. 160. Audit OZo-m^.— The Controller shall audit and 
 adjust all claims and demands against the City before they are 
 allowed by the Council, and draw all warrants or orders on the 
 Treasurer, before they are delivered by the City Clerk. 
 
 Sec. 161. Designate Funds.— The Controller shall^ in audit- 
 ing and adjusting claims and accounts against the City, desig- 
 nate and specify upon each claim so audited and adjusted the 
 particular fund out of which the same shall be paid, and no 
 claim or account shall be audited or adjusted or contract coun- 
 tersigned by him if the amount thereof, together with the ex- 
 isting indebtedness, exceeds the authorized indebtedness of the 
 City. 
 
 Sec. 162. Keep Records.— The Controller shall keep a rec- 
 ord of all his acts and doings, keep regular books of accounts, 
 which shall at all times show the precise financial condition of 
 the City; the amount of bonds, orders, warrants, or other evi- 
 dences of indebtedness issued by the Council, stating to whom 
 and for what purpose issued, the amount of all bonds, orders, 
 warrants, etc., which have been redeemed, and the amount of 
 each outstanding; keep accounts with all the receiving and dis- 
 bursing officers of the City, showing the amount which they 
 have received from all sources and the amount which they have 
 disbursed under the direction of the Council. 
 
 Sec. 163. Keep List of Warrants.— The Controller shall 
 keep a list of each and every warrant dra^\Ti by him; the list 
 shall show the number of the warrant, the fund against which 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 55 
 
 it is drawn, the person in whose favor it is drawn and the 
 date thereof; neither the City of Tacoma nor any of its officers 
 shall recognize any assignment of any warrant drawn against 
 any of its funds without the assignment has been noted and 
 registered in the office of the Controller, and it shall be the 
 duty of the Controller to add to the list required to be kept by 
 him, a statement showing the assignment, if any, of each war- 
 rant drawTi. 
 
 Sec. 164. Countersign Contracts.— Tlae Controller shall 
 countersign all contracts made in behalf of the City and cer- 
 tificates of work by the Commissioner of any Department, or 
 other City officer or person authorized by the Council to make 
 such certificates; keep a book in which he shall enter all con- 
 tracts, with an index thereto, which shall be open to public in- 
 spection. 
 
 Sec. 165. Annual Report.— The Controller shall annually 
 submit to the Council, at its first stated meeting in March, an 
 itemized report of the financial condition and requirements of 
 the City, and make such report of the finances of the City 
 from time to time as the Mayor or Council may require. 
 
 Sec. 166. Monthly Report.-The Controller shall, on or 
 before the 15th day of each and every month, send to the Coun- 
 cil a complete statement of all the receipts and expenditures 
 of the City in all departments for the preceding month, and 
 said statement shall show all and every purchase made by the 
 City or bill or account that accrued against the City for that 
 month; and every Officer. Employee or Agent of the City who 
 is or may be empowered by the Charter or by Ordinance or 
 resolution of the Council to make or incur any account, debt 
 or claim against the City, shall file a full report or copy of said 
 account, debt or claim with the Controller on or before the 10th 
 of the month next succeeding that in which said account, debt 
 or claim was made or incurred. 
 
 Sec. 167. General Duti-es.—The Controller shall be enti- 
 tled to be heard before the Council on any question pertaining 
 to his department, but he shall have no vote. He shall per- 
 form such duties as may be provided by this Charter or any 
 Ordinance enacted thereunder. 
 
 Sec. 168. Shall Have Notice of Revenue Ordinances and 
 Appointments.— It shall be the duty of the City Clerk upon the 
 passage of any Ordinance making an appropriation or relating 
 to the revenue or fiscal affairs of the City, to give notice thereof 
 in writing to the Controller. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Mayor to file with the Con- 
 
56 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 troller notice of the commissioning of all City Officers, Clerks, 
 Assistants and Employees commissioned by the Mayor, as soon 
 as such commissions are issued. 
 
 ARTICLE XII. 
 
 TAXES. 
 
 Sec. 169. Assessment, Levy and ColledHion as Provided hy 
 General Law.— The assessment, levy and collection of general 
 taxes for the City of Tacoma, shall be made in the manner now 
 provided or as may be hereafter provided by general law. 
 
 Sec. 170. Board of Equalization.— The Council shall an- 
 nually select a committee of three of its members to act with the 
 Board of County Commissioners as a Board of Equalization, 
 and said Board so constituted shall have the powers and per- 
 form the duties concerning the equalization of assessments in 
 the City of Tacoma that are given to the County Boards of 
 Equalization by the general revenue laws of the State of Wash- 
 ington. Such committee shall receive no additional pay or 
 compensation for the time they are actually engaged as mem- 
 bers of the Board of Equalization, their salaries as Councilmen 
 being deemed to include such compensation. 
 
 Sec. 171. Appropyiation for County.— The City of Tacoma 
 shall pay the County of Pierce One Thousand Dollars per an- 
 num for Clerk hire, and it shall be the duty of the Council to 
 make the necessary appropriation and provision therefor. 
 
 Sec. 172. Library Levy.— The City of Tacoma shall pro- 
 vide in the Ordinance levying the taxes for each year, for the 
 levy and collection of an additional tax of not less than one 
 sixth of one mill for the maintenance of the Public Library. 
 
 Sec. 173. Fiscal Year.— The fiscal year of the City of 
 Tacoma shall begin on the first day of January and end on the 
 thirty-first day of December, of each year. 
 
 Sec. 174. Assessments Against OUy Property. — The Coun- 
 cil shall, in the Ordinance levying the taxes for each year, in- 
 clude an amount sufficient to pay all unpaid assessments, with 
 interest, penalties and charges thereon levied against all lands 
 owned by the City. The amount of said levy shall be esti- 
 mated and determined as provided by general law. The pro- 
 ceeds of such levy shall constitute a separate fund to be known 
 as ''City Property Assessment Redemption Fund," and to be 
 inviolably applied in payment of such unpaid assessments, 
 in the manner and in the order required by law. 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 57 
 
 ARTICLE XIII. 
 
 CITY ATTORNEY. 
 
 Sec. 175. Duties.— The City Attorney shall bring* and 
 prosecute all actions at law and suits in equity, and all special 
 proceedings which may be directed by the Mayor or Council, 
 and shall defend all actions or proceedings to w^hich the City, 
 or any Officer, Board or Department thereof, is a party, and all 
 other actions and proceedings in which the rights and inter- 
 ests of the City are involved. He shall be the legal adviser of 
 the Mayor, Council, Commissioners and all appointive Officers 
 in relation to their duties. He shall give legal advice in writ- 
 ing to the Council and Controller and to all Boards and De- 
 partments when requested by them in writing. He shall per- 
 form such other duties pertaining to his office as the Council 
 may by Ordinance prescribe. 
 
 Sec. 176. Shall Keep Record^.— The City Attorney shall 
 keep bound books of record and registry, and all briefs used in 
 causes wherein he appears, and shall keep a register of all ac- 
 tions, suits and proceedings in his charge in which the City 
 is interested. He shall keep a copy of all official written com- 
 munications by him to the Council, Commissioner, Board or 
 Officer of the City, and of all opinions given by him. Said 
 records shall be the property of the City, and shall be deliv- 
 ered by him to his successor in office. 
 
 Sec. 177. Assistants.— He shall have such Assistants as 
 the Council shall by Ordinance provide. Such Assistants shall 
 be commissioned by the Mayor upon appointment by the City 
 Attorney. 
 
 Sec. 178. Special Counsel.— The Council may also, at any 
 time, employ other counsel, to take charge of any litigation or 
 to assist the City Attorney, whose compensation shall be fixed 
 by the Council at the time of the employment. 
 
 ARTICLE XIV. 
 
 CIVIL. SERVICE. 
 
 Sec. 179. Board— Appointment of.— There is hereby es- 
 tablished a Civil Ser\nce Board, consisting of three members 
 who shall serve without compensation. 
 
 The Council first elected after the adoption of this Charter 
 shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, appoint one member 
 of said Board to serve for one year, another member to serve 
 for two years, and a third member to serve for three years. 
 Annually thereafter, one member shall be appointed by the 
 Council to take the place of the member whose term shall next 
 
58 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 expire, so that one member shall be appointed every year to 
 serve for a period of three years. If a vacancy shall occur in 
 the Board, it shall be filled by appointment by the Council for 
 the unexpired term. 
 
 Sec. 180. Bemoval — Equipment — Clerk. — The Council may 
 remove any of said Board during- their term of office for cause, 
 four Councilmen voting in favor of such removal, and shall 
 fill the vacancy so caused for the unexpired term. The Council 
 shall provide suitable accomodations and equipment to enable 
 the Board to properly attend to its business. Upon appoint- 
 ment by the Board, the Mayor shall commission a Clerk for 
 said Board, who shall keep a record of the meetings and work 
 of said Board and perform such other services as the Board 
 and Council may require. The Council shall fix the compensa- 
 tion of such Clerk. 
 
 Sec. 181. Board Make Rules, Classifications, Etc.— The, 
 Board shall, with the approval of the Council, make such rules 
 and regulations for the proper conduct of its business as it 
 shall find necessary or expedient. 
 
 The Board shall, among other things, provide for the class- 
 ification of all employments in the Department of Public Af- 
 fairs, Health and Sanitation, in the Department of Public 
 Safety, in the Department of Public Works, Streets, Improve- 
 ments and Property, in the Department of Light and Water, in 
 the Department of Finance, and in the office of the Control- 
 ler; for open, eompetitive and free examination as to fitness; 
 for an eligible list from which vacancies shall be filled; for a 
 period of probation before employment is made permanent; 
 and for promotion on the basis of merit, experience and record. 
 
 The Council, whenever requested by the Board, may by 
 Ordinance confer upon the Board such other or further rights, 
 duties and privileges as may be necessary adequately to enforce 
 and carry out the principles of Civil Service. 
 
 Sec. 182. Certification of iVamcs.— Should a vacancy or 
 vacancies occur in any position subject to the recommendation 
 of the Board, said Board shall as soon as possible certify, to the 
 Commissioner of the Department in which such vacancy or 
 vacancies exist, three times the number of persons necessary 
 to fill said vacancy or vacancies; provided, that said Board 
 shall always certify the persons having the highest standing on 
 the eligible list for the positions they seek to fill ; and provided, 
 further, that a less number may be certified when there is not 
 the required number on the eligible list. All persons not ap- 
 pointed shall be restored to their relative positions on the eligi- 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 59 
 
 ble list. All persons who have been on the eligible list for two 
 years without appointment shall be removed therefrom. 
 
 Sec. 183. To MVhorti Apply. — The provisions of this Arti- 
 cle shall apply to all appointive Officers and Employees of the 
 City, except those especially named in Section 10, Article II., 
 Class A and Class B, of this Charter, and except Commissioners 
 of any kind, laborers whose occupation requires no special skill 
 or fitness, election officials, Mayor's Secretary and Assistant 
 City Attorneys. Provided^ however, that existing employes 
 heretofore appointed, may retain their positions without fur- 
 ther examination unless removed for cause, according to the 
 terms of Section 184 of this Article. 
 
 Sec. 184. Removal of Appointees. — All persons subject 
 to Civil Service examination shall be subject to removal from 
 office or employment by the Commissioner in whose Depart- 
 ment they are employed, for misconduct or failure to perform 
 their duties under such rules and regulations as he may adopt. 
 The Chief of Police, Chief of the Fire Department, City Engi- 
 neer, or any Superintendent or Foreman in charge of municipal 
 work, may temporarily suspend or discharge any subordinate 
 then under his direction for incompetency, neglect of duty or 
 disobedience to orders, but shall, within twenty-four hours 
 thereafter, report in writing such suspension or discharge and 
 the reason therefor, to the Commissioner of his Department, 
 and furnish a copy of said report to the subordinate suspended 
 or discharged, upon his request therefor. The Commissioner 
 shall thereupon, if demanded by the subordinate suspended or 
 discharged, hear evidence for and against said aggrieved party, 
 and shall therefrom affirm or revoke such suspension or dis- 
 charge according as he may find the facts to warrant. 
 
 Sec. 185. Petialties.—T\ie Council shall have power to 
 pass ordinances imposing suitable penalties for the punishment 
 of persons violating any provision of this Article. 
 
 ARTICLE XV. 
 elections. 
 
 Sec. 186. General and Special Municipal Elections.— K 
 mimicipal election shall be held on the first Tuesday of April 
 in 1910, and on the first Tuesday of April of every second year 
 thereafter, and shall be known as the General Municipal Elec- 
 tion. 
 
 A second election shall be held as provided in Section 192 
 of this Article, on the second Tuesday after said General Mu- 
 nicipal Election, and shall be known as the Second General 
 
60 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 Municipal Election. All other municipal elections that may 
 be held by authority of this Charter or of general law shall 
 be kno\\Ti as Special Municipal Elections. 
 
 The terms of office of those elected at the first election 
 under this Charter shall begin at ten o'clock A. M. on the 
 first T'aesday of May, 1910, and thereafter all full terms of 
 office shall commence at ten o'clock A. M. on the first Tuesday 
 of May, and all Officers elected shall hold office until their suc- 
 cessors are elected and qualified, unless previously removed as 
 elsewhere provided in this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 187. Venters, Qualification and Registration.— The reg- 
 istration of voters for general or special elections shall be as 
 provided by the general laws of the State of Washington, and 
 no person shall be entitled to vote at any Municipal Election who 
 is not a qualified elector according to the Laws oi the State of 
 Washington, and who shall not have entered his name on the 
 City register for the ward and precinct in which he resides, 
 as provided by law. 
 
 Sec. 188. Nomination of Officers.— The mode of nomina- 
 tion and election of all Elective Officers of the City to be voted 
 for at any municipal election shall be as follows and not other- 
 wise : 
 
 (a) The name of a candidate shall be printed upon a 
 ballot when a petition of nomination shall have been filed in 
 his behalf in the manner and form and under the conditions 
 hereinafter set forth., 
 
 (&) The petition of nomination shall consist of not less 
 than twenty-five individual certificates, which shall read sub- 
 stantially as follows: 
 
 ''PETITION OF NOMINATION. 
 
 Individual Certificate. 
 State op Washington, ] 
 
 County of Pierce, Iss. 
 
 City of Tacoma, j 
 
 ' ' I do hereby join in a petition for the nomination of 
 
 whose residence is at 
 
 No , , Street, Tacoma, 
 
 for the office of to be voted for at the 
 
 municipal election to be held in the City of Tacoma on the day 
 
 of , 19 : and I certify that 
 
 I am a qualified elector and am not at this time a signer of any 
 other certificate nominating any other candidate for the above 
 office, or (in case there are several places to be filled in the 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 61 
 
 above named oflfiee) that I have not sigrned more certificates than 
 there are places to be filled in the above named office; that my 
 
 residence is at No Street, 
 
 Tacoma. 
 
 *'I further certify that I join in this petition for the nomi- 
 nation of the above named person believing- that he has not 
 become a candidate as the nominee or representative of or be- 
 cause of any promised support from any political party or any 
 committee or convention representing or acting for any politi- 
 cal party. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 State of Washington, ^ 
 County of Pierce, Vss. 
 City of Tacoma, ) 
 
 , being first duly 
 
 SAvorn, deposes and says that he is the person who signed the 
 foregoing certificate and that the statements therein are true, 
 (Signed) 
 
 ' ' Subscribed and sworn to before me this day 
 
 of 19 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 Notary Public. 
 **My commission In and for the State of Washington, resid- 
 expires ing at Tacoma, Pierce County. 
 
 "The petition of which this certificate forms a part shall, 
 
 if found insufficient, be returned to 
 
 at No Street, Tacoma, Wash- 
 ington." 
 
 (c) It shall be the duty of the City Clerk to furnish upon 
 application, a reasonable number of forms of such individual 
 certificates. 
 
 (d) Each certificate must be a separate paper. All cer- 
 tificates must be of a uniform size as determined by the City 
 Clerk. Each certificate must contain the name of one signer 
 thereto and no more. In case an elector has signed two or 
 more conflictinsr certificates, all such conflicting certificates 
 shall be rejected. Each signer must make oath to his certifi- 
 cate before a Notary Public substantially in the form prescribed 
 in paragraph (6) of this Section. 
 
 (e) A petition of nomination, consisting of not less than 
 twenty-five individual certificates for any one candidate, may 
 be presented to the City Clerk not earlier than thirty nor later* 
 than twenty days before the election. The City Clerk shall en- 
 
62 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 dorse thereon the date upon which the petition was presented to 
 him. 
 
 (/) When a petition of nomination is presented for filing 
 to the City Clerk, he shall forthwith examine the same, and 
 ascertain whether it conforms to the provisions of this Article. 
 If found not to conform thereto, he shall then and there des- 
 ignate on said petition the defect or omission or reason why 
 such petition cannot be filed, and shall forthwith return the 
 petition to the person named as the person to whom the same 
 shall be returned in accordance with this Article. The petition 
 may then be amended and again, but not later than three days 
 after said petition shall have been returned, presented to the 
 City Clerk, as in the first instance. The City Clerk shall forth- 
 with proceed to examine the amended petition as hereinbefore 
 provided. 
 
 (g) If either the original or the amended petition of 
 nomination be found sufficiently signed, as hereinbefore provid- 
 ed, the Clerk shall file the same forthwith. 
 
 (h) Any person nominated under this Article shall file 
 his acceptance with the City Clerk within five days from the 
 filing of the petition of nomination, and in the absence of such 
 acceptance the name of the candidate shall not appear on the 
 ballot. In said acceptance, he shall make affidavit to the fact 
 that he has not become a candidate as the nominee of or because 
 of any promised support from any political party or any com- 
 mittee or convention representing or acting for any political 
 party. Any person whose name has been presented under this 
 Article as a candidate may, not later than fifteen days before 
 the day of election, cause his name to be withdrawn from nom- 
 ination by filing with the City Clerk a request therefor in 
 writing, and no name so withdrawn shall be printed upon the 
 ballot. 
 
 (^) The City Clerk shall preserve in his office for a period 
 of two years all petitions of nomination and all certificates be- 
 longing thereto filed under the provisions of this Article. 
 
 Sec. 189. Balldts.— (a) The City Clerk shall, on the 
 tenth day before the election, certify a list of the candidates 
 nominated whose names are entitled to appear on the ballot as 
 being the list of candidates nominated as required by this 
 Charter, with the offices to be filled, and the Council shall 
 cause such certified list of names and offices to be filled, desig- 
 nating whether for a full or unexpired term, to be published, 
 three successive days before the election, in one or more daily 
 newspapers of general circulation published in the City. 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 63 
 
 (6) The City Clerk shall cause the ballots to be printed 
 and numbered as provided by law, except as otherwise provided 
 in this Charter. The ballots shall contain the list of names 
 and the respective offices, as appearing in the published list of 
 candidates, and shall be substantially in the following form: 
 
 ''General (or Special) Election, City of Tacoma. 
 
 "To be held 19 
 
 "INSTRUCTIONS TO VOTERS: 
 
 "To vote place a cross (x) mark in the square opposite the 
 name of the candidate for whom you desire to vote. All dis- 
 tinguishing marks are forbidden and make the ballot void. If 
 you wrongly mark, tear or deface the ballot, return it to the 
 judges of election and obtain another." 
 
 (c) The offices to be filled shall be arranged in separate 
 columns in the following manner: 
 
 "For Mayor (if any) vote for one." 
 
 "For Councilmen (if any) vote for (giving number)." 
 
 "For Controller (if any) vote for one." 
 
 (d) Squares shall be provided at the right of the name 
 of each candidate wherein to place the cross (x). 
 
 (e) All ballots printed shall be precisely the same size, 
 quality, tint of paper, kind of type, and color of ink, so that 
 without the number it would be impossible to distinguish one 
 ballot from another. Space shall be provided on the ballot 
 for Charter Amendments and other questions to be voted on at 
 any Municipal Election, as provided by this Charter. The 
 names of candidates for each office shall be arranged in alpha- 
 betical order. Nothing on the ballot shall be indicative of the 
 source of the candidacy or of the support of any candidate. No 
 ballot shall have printed thereon any party or political designa- 
 tion or mark, and there shall not be appended to the name of 
 any candidate, any such party or political designation or mark, 
 or anything indicating his views or opinions. 
 
 (/) The City Clerk shall, at least five days before the elec- 
 tion, cause to be printed one thousand or more sample ballots, 
 upon paper of different color, but otherwise identical with the 
 ballot to be used at the election, except that across the head of 
 same shall be printed the words, "Sample Ballot," and he 
 shall distribute the same upon application to registered voters 
 at his office. 
 
 Sec. 190. Ten Days' Notice of Electio7i.—The City Clerk, 
 by order of the Council, shall give ten days' notice by publica- 
 tion in one or more daily newspapers published in the City of 
 any Municipal Election, the officers to be elected, questions or 
 
64 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OP 
 
 measures to be voted upon, the place designated in the various 
 precincts for holding the election, and the Inspectors and 
 Judges appointed to hold the same. 
 
 Sec. 191. First or Primary Election..— In case there is but 
 one person to be elected to an office, the candidate receiving 
 the majority of the votes cast for all the candidates for that of- 
 fice shall be declared elected ; in case there are two or more per- 
 sons to be elected to an office, then those candidates equal in num- 
 ber to the number to be elected, who receive the highest num- 
 ber of votes for such office shall be declared elected; providedy 
 however^ that no person shall be declared elected to any office 
 at such first election unless the number of votes received by 
 him shall be greater than one-half of the number of ballots 
 cast at such election. 
 
 Sec. 192. Second Election.— (a) ■ As to any office not filled 
 by majority vote as prescribed in Section 191 of this Article, 
 said first election shall be deemed a primary election for the 
 nomination of candidates therefor, and a second election shall 
 be held to fill such office. At said second election the only can- 
 didates whose names are printed upon the ballots shall be, if for 
 the office of Mayor or Controller, the two persons who at such 
 primary election received the highest number of votes therefor, 
 and, if for the office of Councilman, those persons, not exceeding 
 twice the number of the office or offices to be filled, who at such 
 primary election received the highest number of votes less than a 
 majority for each office; provided^ liowei^er, that any person 
 who at such primary election received the same number of 
 votes (for such office), as any person so made a candidate for 
 that office, shall also be a candidate for that office at said sec- 
 ond election, and that any candidacy at said second election 
 made vacant by death, withdrawal or otherwise shall be filled by 
 selection of the person (or persons, if more than one) who at 
 said primary election secured the next highest number of votes 
 less than a majority for said office. At said second election 
 the candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall be 
 declared elected. In case two candidates for the same office 
 shall receive at said second election an equal number of votes, 
 neither shall be deemed elected, and a third election shall be 
 held in the manner provided herein for said second election. 
 
 (h) The said second election, if necessary to be held* 
 shall be held two weeks after the first election. 
 
 (c) All the provisions and conditions of this Article as 
 to the conduct of an election, so far as they may be applicable, 
 shall govern the second election, except that the notice of election 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 65 
 
 shall be published only once, and provided also that the same 
 precincts and polling places shall, if possible, be used. 
 
 Sec. 193. Election Officers— Jiulges— Appointment. — It 
 shall be the duty of the Council at its regular session, and at 
 least twelve days previous to the day of holding any municipal 
 election, to appoint for each precinct from the qualified electors 
 of said precinct, one Inspector and two Judges, who shall consti- 
 tute a Board of Judges of Election. In case those appointed in 
 accordance with this section shall not be present at the place 
 designated by the Council, at the hour to open the polls, the 
 electors present may appoint a Board of Judges for such pre- 
 cinct. 
 
 Sec. 194. Clerks.— The Inspector and Judges of election 
 for each precinct shall, before the time for opening the polls, 
 appoint two suitable persons to act as Clerks, who shall be 
 qualified voters. Each Clerk shall write down each office to be 
 filled and the name of each person voted for for such office, 
 and shall keep the number of voters by tallies, as they are 
 read aloud by the Inspector or Judge. 
 
 Sec. 195. Oath of Officers.— The Inspector, Judges and 
 Clerks aforesaid shall before entering upon the duties of their 
 offices, severally, take and subscribe the oath or affirmation 
 hereinafter directed. 
 
 Inspector. The following shall be the form of the oath or 
 affinnation to be taken by each Inspector: 
 
 '*I, A. B., do swear (or affirm) that I will duly attend to 
 the ensuing election, during the continuance thereof, as an In- 
 spector, and that I will not receive any ticket or vote from 
 any person other than such as I shall firmly believe to be, ac- 
 cording to the provisions of the laws of this State, entitled to 
 vote at such election, without requiring such evidence of the 
 right to vote as is directed by law; nor will I vexatiously delay 
 or refuse to receive any vote from any person whom I believe to 
 be entitled to vote as aforesaid ; but that I will in all things tru- 
 ly, impartially and faithfully perform my duty therein to the 
 best of my judgment and ability ; and that I am not directly or 
 indirectly interested in any bet or wager on the result of this 
 election. ' ' 
 
 Judge. The following shall be the form of the oath or af- 
 firmation to be taken by each Judge: 
 
 "I, A. B., do swear (or affirm) that I will, as Judge, duly 
 attend the ensuing election during the continuance thereof, and 
 faithfully assist the Inspector in carrying on the same; that 
 I will not give my consent that any vote or ticket shall be re- 
 
66 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 ceived from any person other than such as I firmly believe to 
 be according to the law of the State entitled to vote at such 
 election ; and that I will make a true and perfect return of the 
 said election and will in all things truly, impartially and faith- 
 fully perform my duty rr'^pecting the same to the best of my 
 judgment and ability; and that I am not directly nor indirect- 
 ly interested in any bet or wager on the results of this election.'* 
 
 Clerk. The following shall be the form of oath or affirma- 
 tion to be taken by Clerks: 
 
 *'I, A. B., do swear (or affirm) that I will impartially and 
 truly write down the name of each elector who shall vote at the 
 ensuing election, and also the name of the ward and precinct 
 wherein such elector resides, and carefully and truly write down 
 the number of votes that shall be given for each candidate at 
 the election as often as his name shall be read to me by the 
 Inspector thereof, and in all things truly and faithfully per- 
 form my duty respecting the same to the best of my judgment 
 and ability; and that I am not directly or indirectly interested 
 in any bet or wager on the result of this election. ' ' 
 
 Sec. 196. Inspector— Powers and Duties.— The Inspector 
 shall be Chairman of the Board, and after its organization shall 
 have power to administer all necessary oaths which may be 
 required in the progress of the election. He shall also have 
 power to fill any vacancy that may occur in the Board of Judges, 
 or by absence or refusal to serve of either of the Clerks, after the 
 polls shall have been opened. The Inspector shall deliver the 
 returns of all municipal elections to the City Clerk. 
 
 Sec. 197. Informalities in Election.— ^o informalities in 
 conducting municipal elections shall invalidate the same, if 
 they have been conducted fairly and in substantial conformity 
 with the requirements of this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 198. Cowncil Shall Canvass Vote.— The Council shall 
 meet as a Canvassing Board and publicly canvass the election re- 
 turns within two days after any municipal election, and in case 
 of the election of officers shall issue certificates of election to 
 each person elected. 
 
 Sec. 199. Oath of Clerks on Returns.— At the time ap- 
 pointed for the canvass of the returns, the City Clerk shall de- 
 liver the same to the Council, and shall make the following 
 oath or affirmation, which may be administered to him by the 
 presiding officer: 
 
 *'I, , do hereby solemnly swear 
 
 I or affirm) that the returns purporting to be the election re- 
 turns of the several wards (or the ward) of this City, have 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 67 
 
 been in nowise altered, and that they axe the same as when I 
 received them. So help me God.'' 
 
 Sec. 200. Ballots— Preservation^ Etidorsement, Eic.—The 
 envelope containing the ballots when sealed up shall be endors- 
 ed, ''Ballots of precinct, ward, Tacoma, of 
 
 election held this day of ,19 , " 
 
 and shall be delivered by the Inspector to the City Clerk, who 
 shall keep said sealed envelope unopened until the time ap- 
 pointed for the canvass of the returns, and until directed by 
 the Council to open the same in the presence of the Council. 
 Said envelope shall not be opened as aforesaid, except for the 
 purpose of counting the votes cast for a member or members 
 of the Council, the flavor, the Controller, and any question 
 voted on at such election. If opened for such purpose, the same 
 shall be opened in such manner as to preserve the endorsement, 
 and the Council shall at once proceed to count the said votes, 
 and continue the counting thereof until all the said votes shall 
 be counted; and as soon as such count is completed, or when 
 adjournments are taken, the ballots, together with the envelope 
 opened, shall be placed by the City Clerk, in the presence of 
 the Council, in another envelope, which shall then be sealed, and 
 endorsed by the Clerk, 
 
 "Ballot of precinct, ward, Tacoma, of elec- 
 
 " tion held , 19 .... ; original envelope 
 
 "opened by the City Clerk, in the presence of the Council, 
 "(giving date)." 
 
 The like proceedings with respect to the same ballots may 
 be had from time to time, all envelopes opened being placed 
 with the ballots in a new envelope, which shall be sealed and en- 
 dorsed by the City Clerk, with a copy of the endorsement of 
 the original envelope and the date of the opening of the last 
 envelope opened; and said baUots shall have the same effect as 
 evidence in any contest concerning an election to an office, other 
 than a member of the Council, as if the original envelope had 
 never been opened by the Council. Said ballots may be de- 
 stroyed by th3 Clerk whenever ordered by the Council, at any 
 time after the expiration of six months after election. 
 
 Sec. 201. Certificate as Evidence.— A certificate of elec- 
 tion is prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated, but the 
 Council is the final judge of the election and qualification of its 
 own members. A contested election for any other ofiice must be 
 determined according to the laws of the State regulating pro- 
 ceedings in contested elections for county offices. 
 
68 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 Sec. 202. Special Election.— A special election may be ord- 
 ered by the Council at any time, and held in the several polling 
 precincts of the City, by giving ten days' notice thereof in one 
 or more daily newspapers published in the City, and such elec- 
 tion shall be conducted and the returns thereof canvassed in like 
 manner as general municipal elections in the City. 
 
 Sec. 203. Election Hours.— At all elections held under the 
 provisions of this Charter, the polls shall be opened at nine 
 o'clock A. M., and closed at eight o'clock P. M. 
 
 Sec. 204. Otlier Provisions by Ordinance. — All matters 
 pertaining to elections and not provided for by general laws and 
 not herein provided for, shall be as provided by Ordinance. 
 
 Sec. 205. Election and Qioalifica!tion of First Officers Here- 
 under— Time.— The offices created by this Charter shall not 
 supercede or dispense with offices now existing, until the elec- 
 tion and qualification of the officers first elected under this 
 Charter, but the City Government shall be and remain as now 
 constituted until such first election and qualification of officers 
 hereunder. The nominations for such offices shall be made and 
 such election conducted in all respects as in this Charter pro- 
 vided, and upon the election and qualification of the officers so 
 nominated and elected under this Charter,all houses, boards and 
 officers [offices] existing under the former Charter shall, except 
 as otherwise provided in this Charter, immediately determine and 
 cease to exist. It is the express intention hereby to continue 
 the existing Officers and City Government, except as to mat- 
 ters pertaining to the nomination and election of Officers under 
 this Charter, until the first election and qualification of Offi- 
 cers as in this Charter provided, but no longer. 
 
 Sec. 206. Duty of Present Officers as to Elections.— It 
 shall be the duty of the Mayor, Controller, Treasurer, City 
 Clerk and other Officers in office when this Charter is adopted, 
 to comply with all requirements of this Article relating to Elec- 
 tions, to the end that all things necessary to the nomination and 
 election of the officers first to be elected under this Charter, 
 shall be done as provided in this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 207. Publication of Expenses— Limitation. — Every 
 elective officer of the City shall, within thirty days after quali- 
 fying, file with the City Clerk and publish at least once in a 
 daily newspaper of general circulation, his sworn statement of 
 all his election and campaign expenses, and by whom said funds 
 were contributed, whether the same be made by himself or by 
 his agents. Any person shall be taken and deemed an agent 
 within the meaning of this section whose efforts on behalf of 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 69 
 
 said candidate, or whose relations to him are such as to give rise 
 to the presumption of such agency. 
 
 The election and campaign expenses of any candidate shall 
 not exceed the sum of Five Hundred Dollars, including the ex- 
 penditures made by the candidate himself or by his agents as 
 herein defined. 
 
 Any violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor and 
 ground for removal from office. 
 
 ARTICLE XVI. 
 
 RECAULi OF ELECTIVE OFFICERS. 
 
 Sec. 208. Applies to All Elective Officers.— The holder of 
 any elective office may be removed by the qualified electors of 
 the City. The procedure to effect such removal from office shaU 
 be as follows : 
 
 Sec. 209. Petition, Form and Reqidrements of.— A petition 
 signed by electors qualified to vote for a successor to the in- 
 cumbent sought to be removed equal in number to at least twen- 
 ty-five per centum of the last preceding vote cast for all candi- 
 dates for Mayor, provided, that the number of signers shall in no 
 case be less than two thousand five hundred, demanding an 
 election of a successor of said incumbent, shall be addressed to 
 the Council and filed with the City Clerk. 
 
 The Council shall provide blank forms for such petitions, 
 which forms shall be kept by and secured from the Clerk. The 
 Clerk, upon issuing such forms to any person, shall enter the 
 name of the person to whom issued, the date of such issuance 
 and the number of forms issued, in a record to be kept in his 
 office for that purpose, and shall certify on each of said forms 
 under the seal of the City, the name of the person to whom 
 issued and the date of issuance. No petition shall be filed un- 
 less it shall bear such certificate of the Clerk. 
 
 All petitions shall be returned and filed with the Clerk 
 within thirty days from the date of issuance of such forms. 
 The petition shall contain a specific statement of the grounds 
 upon which such removal is sought. The signatures to the pe- 
 tition need not all be appended to one paper, but each signer 
 shall add to his signature his place of residence, giving the 
 street and number. One of the signers of each such paper shall 
 make oath before an officer competent to administer oaths, that 
 the statements contained therein are true, and that each signature 
 appended to the paper is the genuine signature of the person 
 whose name it purports to be. All papers composing said pe- 
 tition shall be assembled and filed as one instrument, with en- 
 
70 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 dorsement thereon of the names and addresses of at least three 
 persons designated as filing said petition. 
 
 Provided^ that prior to the issuance of any blank forms of 
 petition for recall an affidavit shall be made by one or more 
 qualified electors, which affidavit shall state the name of the 
 officer or officers sought to be removed and the ground upon 
 which the removal is sought, and such affidavit shall be filed 
 with the Clerk, ^ 
 
 Sec. 210. Petition May he Amended or Beneiued,— Within 
 ten days from the filing of said petition the Clerk shall ascertain 
 by examination thereof and of the registration books and elec- 
 tion returns whether the petition is signed by the required 
 number of qualified electors, and shall attach thereto his certifi- 
 cate showing the result of such examination. He shall, if neces- 
 sary, be allowed extra help by the Council for this purpose. 
 
 If his certificate shows that the petition be insufficient, he 
 shall within five days notify in Avriting one or more of the per- 
 sons designated on the petition as filing the same; and the pe- 
 tition may be amended at any time within fifteen days from the 
 date of the filing, by the Clerk, of his certificate of examination. 
 The Clerk shall within ten days after such amendment has 
 been filed make like examination of the amended petition and 
 attach thereto his certificate of the result. If still insufficient, 
 or if no amendment shall have been filed, he shall return the pe- 
 tition to one of the persons designated as filing it, without pre- 
 judice, however, to the filing of a new petition for the same 
 purpose. 
 
 Sec. 211. Election Under Recall Petition.— It the petition 
 or amended petition shall be found and certified by the Clerk to 
 be sufficient, he shall submit the same with his certificate to the 
 Council without delay, and the Council shall, if the officer sought 
 to be removed does not resign within five days thereafter, there- 
 upon order an election to be held on a Tuesday fixed by it, not 
 less than thirty days nor more than forty days from the date 
 of the Clerk's certificate that a sufficient petition has been filed. 
 Provided, however, that if any other municipal election is to oc- 
 cur within sixty days from the date of the Clerk's certificate, 
 the Council may, in its discretion, postpone the holding of the 
 removal election to the date of such other municipal election. 
 If a vacancy occur in said office after a removal election has 
 been so ordered, the election shall nevertheless proceed as in this 
 Article provided. 
 
 Sec. 212. Candidates— Election.— Any officer sought to be 
 removed may be a candidate to succeed himself, and unless he 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 71 
 
 requests otherwise in writing, the Clerk shall place his name 
 on the official ballot without nomination. The nomination of 
 other candidates, the publication of notice of such removal elec- 
 tion and the conduct of the same, shall all be in accord with the 
 provisions of Article XV. hereof, relating to elections. 
 
 In such removal election the candidate receiving the ma- 
 jority of all votes cast for said office at the first election, or if 
 that prove to be a primary election, then the candidate receiv- 
 ing the highest number of votes at the second election, shall be 
 declared elected. Said second election, if necessary, shall be held 
 fourteen days after the first election. 
 
 Sec. 213. Incumbent Removed.— The incumbent shall con- 
 tinue to perform the duties of his office until the removal elec- 
 tion. If then elected he shall continue in office for the balance of 
 his term, unless recalled or removed as herein provided. If 
 not then elected, he shall be deemed removed from office upon the 
 qualification of his successor who shall hold office during the 
 unexpired term, unless recalled or removed as herein provided. 
 If the successor fail to qualify within ten days after receiving 
 notice of his election, the incumbent shall thereupon be deemed 
 removed and the office vacant. The method of removal by re- 
 call herein provided for, shall be cumulative and additional to 
 any method othenvise provided in this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 214. No Becall Petition for First Six Mont1is.—l<^o re- 
 call petition shall be filed against any officer until he has actual- 
 ly held his office for at least six months. 
 
 Sec. 215. Incapacity of Recalled Officer.— ^o person who 
 has been removed from an office by recall, or who has resigned 
 from such office while recall proceedings were pending against 
 him, shall be appointed to any office within one year after such 
 removal by recall or resignation. 
 
 ARTICLE XVII. 
 
 THE INITIATIVE. 
 
 Sec. 216. Direct Legislatixru. — Any proposed ordinance 
 may be submitted to the Council by petition signed by qualified 
 electors of the City, equal in number to the per centa^e herein- 
 after required. The procedure in respect to such petition shall 
 be the same as provided in Sections 209 and 210 of this Charter, 
 with such modifications as the nature of the case requires, except 
 that no blank forms shall be furnished or preliminary affidavits 
 made. 
 
 Sec. 217. Twenty Per Cent. Petition.— li the petition ac- 
 companying the proposed ordinance be signed by qualified elec- 
 
72 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 tors equal in number to twenty per centum of the last preceding 
 vote cast for all candidates for Mayor, and contains a request 
 that said proposed ordinance be submitted to a vote of the peo- 
 ple, if not passed by the Council, the Council shall, within twen- 
 ty days after the attachment of the Clerk's certificate of suffi- 
 ciency to the accompanying the petition, either— 
 
 {a) Pass the ordinance without alteration (subject to the 
 referendary vote under the provisions of Sections 226 and 227 
 of this Charter) ; or 
 
 (&) Call a special election, unless a general municipal 
 election is fixed within ninety days thereafter, and at such spe- 
 cial or general municipal election said proposed ordinance shall 
 be submitted without alteration to the vote of the qualified elect- 
 ors of the City. 
 
 Sec. 218. Five Per Cent. Petition.— 1^ the petition be signed 
 by qualified voters equal in number to at least five per centum, 
 but less than twenty per centum, of the last preceding vote cast 
 for all candidates for Mayor, and said proposed ordinance be 
 not passed without alteration by the Council, within twenty 
 days, as provided in the preceding section, then such proposed 
 ordinance, without alteration, shall be submitted by the Council 
 to a vote of the electors at the next general municipal election 
 should the same occur not less than thirty days thereafter. 
 
 Sec. 219. Puhlication of Electoral Ordinance.— WlaeneYeT 
 any proposed ordinance is required by this Charter to be sub- 
 mitted to the voters of the City at any election, the Council shall 
 cause said proposed ordinance to be published in full in the of- 
 ficial newspaper for five consecutive days, the first publication 
 to be ten days before election. 
 
 Sec. 220. Election.— The ballots used when voting upon 
 such proposed ordinance shall contain the words : ' ' For the Ordi- 
 nance" (stating the nature of the proposed ordinance) and 
 *' Against the Ordinance" (stating the nature of the proposed 
 ordinance). If a majority of the qualified electors voting on 
 said proposed ordinance shall vote in favor thereof, the same 
 shall thereupon become an ordinance of the City. 
 
 Sec. 221. Several Ordinances at One Election.— Any num- 
 ber of proposed ordinances may be voted on at the same election, 
 in accordance with the provisions of this Article. 
 
 Sec. 222. Limit to Special ElectioTis.— There shall not be 
 held under this Article of the Charter, more than one special 
 election in any period of twelve months. Section 217 of this Ar- 
 ticle shall be subject to and considered in connection with this 
 section. 
 
TACOJMA, WASHINGTON 73 
 
 Sec. 223. Repeal of Electoral Ordinance. — The Council 
 may submit a proposition for the repeal or amendment of any 
 ordinance so adopted by electoral vote, to be voted upon at any 
 succeeding general municipal election, and should such proposi- 
 tion so submitted receive a majority of the votes cast thereon at 
 such election, such ordinance shall be repealed or amended ac- 
 cordingly. An ordinance so adopted by electoral vote, cannot be 
 repealed or amended except by electoral vote. 
 
 Sec. 224. The provisions of this Article shall not apply to 
 any ordinance granting a franchise. 
 
 Sec. 225. The Council may, by ordinance, make such fur- 
 ther regulations as it may deem necessary to carry out the pro- 
 visions of this Article. 
 
 ARTICLE XVIII. 
 
 THE REFERENDUM. 
 
 Sec. 226. Mode of Proksting Against Ordinance. — No or- 
 dinance passed by the Council shall go into effect before ten days 
 from the date of its final passage, except ordinances making tax 
 lev^^ or appropriation, or ordinances relating to Local Improve- 
 ment Districts, and also excepting any ordinance for the immedi- 
 ate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, which ordi- 
 nances shall contain a statement of its urgency. 
 
 If, during said ten days, a petition signed by qualified elect- 
 ors of the City equal in number to at least fifteen per centum 
 of the last preceding vote cast for all candidates for Mayor be 
 presented to the Council, protesting against the going into 
 effect of such ordinance, the same shall thereupon be suspended 
 from going into effect, and. it shall be the duty of the Council 
 to reconsider such ordinance, and if the same be not entirely re- 
 pealed, the Council shall submit the ordinance, as is provided in 
 Article XVII. of this Charter, to a vote of the qualified elect- 
 ors of the City, either at the next general municipal election or 
 at a special election to be called for that purpose, and such ordi- 
 nance shall not go into effect unless a majority of the qualified 
 electors voting on the same shall vote in favor thereof. 
 
 The procedure in respect to such petition shall be the same 
 as provided in Section 209 and 210 of this Charter, with such 
 modifications as the nature of the case requires, except that no 
 blank forms shall be furnished or preliminary affidavits made. 
 
 Sec. 227. Reference hy the Council.— The Council may, of 
 its own motion, submit to electoral vote for adoption or rejec- 
 tion at a general or special municipal election any proposed 
 ordinance or measure in the same manner and with the same 
 
74 THBi CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 force and effect as is provided in Article XVII. If the pro- 
 visions of two or more proposed ordinances or measures adopted 
 or approved at the same election conflict, then the ordinance or 
 measure receiving the his^hest affirmative vote shall control. 
 
 Sec. 228. Further Regulations.— The Council may, by ordi- 
 nance, make such further regulations as it may deem necessary 
 to carry out the provisions of this Article. 
 
 ARTICLE XIX. 
 
 FRANCHISES. 
 
 Sec. 229. When Effective.— 'Mo ordinance granting a fran- 
 chise shall be passed by the Council before the second regular 
 meeting of the Council after its introduction, nor until read in 
 full at two regular meetings, nor until after the expiration of 
 thirty days from its introduction, and no ordinance granting a 
 franchise shall become effective until after the expiration of 
 thirty days from the date of its publication after its passage. 
 
 Sec. 230. Suhmitted on Twelve Per Cent. Petition.— It 
 within- said thirty days after the publication of any ordinance 
 granting a franchise, a petition signed by qualified electors of 
 the City equal in number to at least twelve per centum of the 
 last preceding vote cast for all candidates for Mayor at the 
 regular municipal election, be presented to the Council, protest- 
 ing against the going into effect of such ordinance, the same 
 shall thereupon be suspended from going into effect, and the 
 Council shall at its next regular meeting re-consider such ordi- 
 *iance and if the same be not entirely repealed, the Council 
 shall submit the ordinance to a vote of the qualified electors 
 either at the next general municipal election or at a special elec- 
 tion to be called for that purpose, and such ordinance shall not 
 go into effect until a majority of the qualified electors voting 
 thereon shall vote in favor thereof. The procedure in respect to 
 such petition shall be the same as provided in Article XVIII. of 
 this Charter, except that no ordinance granting a franchise shall 
 be submitted to the vote of the qualified electors until the appli- 
 cant therefor shall have deposited with the Treasurer a sum 
 sufficient to pay the expenses of such submission (to be estimated 
 by the City Clerk, and if within ten days after such petition is 
 filed such deposit be not made) said ordinance shall be abso- 
 lutely null and void. 
 
 Sec. 231. Unused Franchises to Be Repealed.— AW fran- 
 chises or privileges heretofore granted by the City of Tacoma, 
 which are not in actual use or enjoyment, or which the grantees 
 thereof have not in good faith commenced to exercise at the time 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 75 
 
 of the adoption of this Charter, are hereby declared forfeited 
 and of no validity, and it shall be the duty of the Council to 
 cany out the provisions of this Section by the enactment of 
 ordinances repealing said franchises ; provided, that this Section 
 shall not apply to any franchise in which the ordinance granting 
 the same shall have fixed a time within which work shall com- 
 mence or be completed thereunder and such time shall not have 
 expired at the time of the adoption of this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 232. Extensioii Only far Unexpired Term.— When any 
 person or corporation holding a franchise for the locating, con- 
 structing or operating of a railroad over a portion of any street, 
 and said fanchise has not expired, shall subsequently apply for 
 a franchise to locate, construct or operate a railroad on any oth- 
 er portion of the same street or upon any other street in connec- 
 tion therewith, said second franchise shall only be granted for 
 the unexpired term of the first franchise. 
 
 Sec. 233. Light and Water Franclvises Prohibited.— T\\q 
 legislative power of the City is forever prohibited from granting 
 to any person or corporation whatever, a franchise, privilege or 
 right to sell or supply water or electric lights within the City 
 of Tacoma, to the City or any of its inhabitants as long as the 
 Citj" owns a plant or plants for that purpose, and is engaged in 
 the public duty of supplying water or light; except that the 
 Council may grant a permit to supply water or electric light to 
 any section or part of the City of Tacoma not supplied or furn- 
 ished by the City water or light plant, to cease and determine at 
 such time as the City of Tacoma shall furnish and provide wat- 
 er or light in said section or part of the Citj^ 
 
 Provided, that no such permit shall be exclusive nor shall 
 any such permit exist for a longer period than ten years without 
 renewal, and where such permit is for furnishing water it can 
 only be revoked upon the City purchasing the water pipes of 
 such person or corporation laid upon any street by paying there- 
 for the reasonable value at the time of the taking, to be de- 
 termined by arbitration in a manner which shall be fixed in 
 every such permit for furnishing water, and every such permit 
 shall provide that the City may on such terms revoke such 
 permit as to any particular street or streets or parts thereof, 
 paying for the pipes thereon without being required to pu- 
 ehase pipes on other streets or parts thereof ; 
 
 Provided, further, that the foregoing proviso shall never 
 be construed as preventing the City from laying its own pipes 
 on any such street or streets or parts thereof in any such sec- 
 tion or part of the City, and competing with such person or 
 
76 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 corporation without purchasing the pipes of such person or 
 corporation which may have been laid upon such street or 
 streets; and 
 
 Provided, further, that nothing in this Section shall be 
 construed as preventing the City from revoking any such per- 
 mit to any person or corporation furnishing light without any 
 payment whatever. 
 
 Sec. 234. No Franchise Without Compe'^cSation.—'No fran- 
 chise shall ever be granted to any person or corporation except 
 upon proper compensation to the City by way of a payment into 
 the City treasury of a per centage of its gross receipts ; the per 
 centage to be paid to the City shall in no case be less than one 
 per cent, per annum of the gross receipts, and the legislative 
 power of the City shall make provision by ordinance for ascer- 
 taining accurately what the actual gross receipts of any such 
 person or corporation may be per annum; provided, that this 
 shall not apply to railroads, except street railroads. 
 
 Sec. 235. Baiilroad Shall Pave and Ee-Pave,—^o fran- 
 chise -shall ever be granted to any person, association of per- 
 sons, or to any corporation for the purpose of locating and 
 constructing any railroad or street railroad in any street, al- 
 ley or public place in the City of Tacoma, except the same con- 
 tain a condition that such person, association or corporation 
 shall pave and improve the street over which said street railway 
 company or other railway company lays or has laid its track or 
 tracks, between the outer rails of said track or tracks, and for 
 a space of at least two feet on each side outside of said outer 
 rails, in the same manner and with the same material and at 
 their own expense, as the street shall be improved by the City, 
 and within thirty days from its improvement by the City, and 
 shall re-pave such part of such street whenever and as often as 
 the City shall re-pave and in the same manner and with the 
 same material and at their own expense; and whenever any 
 such franchise is granted giving the privilege of constructing 
 a double railway track or street railway track upon any street, 
 avenue or alley, the same shall contain the further provision 
 that in case the grantee elect to lay a single track, the right to 
 lay any additional track on such street shall be forever for- 
 feited in case such street or any part thereof be thereafter 
 permanently paved, unless such grantee pave, in addition to the 
 space between the rails of such single track and two feet on 
 each side outside of said rails, the space which would be occu- 
 pied by an additional track and the space between such space 
 and the track already laid, and for two feet outside of what 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 77 
 
 would be the outer rail of such additional track, in the same 
 manner and with the same material as the City paves or re- 
 paves the said street, and at their own cost and expense, and 
 every franchise hereafter panted for the purpose of construct- 
 ing a railroad track or street railway track shall require the 
 grantee to plank all space between the rails and between the 
 tracks of such railway or street railway, and to the ends of the 
 ties on the outside of the outer rails of such tracks on all grad- 
 ed streets where the same are not paved with permanent pave- 
 ment, and to keep said planking in good repair throughout 
 the term of such franchise, until such street is permanently 
 paved, and eveiy such franchise shall contain a requirement that 
 any pavement torn up or damaged by the grantee, its succes- 
 soi-s or assigns, in the work of constructing such track or tracks, 
 shall be replaced at the sole cost and expense of such grantee, 
 its successors and assigns, in as good condition and with the 
 same kind of material as it was before such track or tracks 
 were laid, and all work required to be done and materials used 
 under this section shall be done and furnished under the direc- 
 tion of the Commissioner of Public Works and subject to his 
 approval; and no franchise shall ever be granted to any per- 
 son, association of persons or corporation, unless the same shall 
 contain a provision providing for a revenue to the City from 
 the person, association or corporation holding said franchise, 
 and also providing that the City shall at any time have the right 
 to appropriate by purchase at a reasonable price the property 
 of said person, company or corporation, but this right of pur- 
 chase shall not apply to railroads other than street railroads. 
 
 Sec. 236. Bailway Pay Portion Construction and Repair of 
 Bridges, iJfc— No street railway company or any corporation 
 or person whatsoever shall ever be permitted to locate, con- 
 struct, maintain or operate any street railway track or tracks 
 along, across, upon or over any bridge, viaduct or tunnel within 
 the City of Tacoma which shall have been built by said City, 
 unless or until it shall have paid into the City Treasury of the 
 City of Tacoma a sum equal to at least one-half of the original 
 cost of the construction of such bridge, viaduct or tunnel; and 
 no franchise shall hereafter ever be granted to any person, 
 company or corporation for the purpose of constructing, main- 
 taining or operating any such street railway line unless the 
 same contain a requirement that such person, company, firm or 
 corporation shall pay at least one-half of the cost of repairing 
 and maintaining, at all times throughout the term of such fran- 
 chise, any bridge, viaduct or tunnel along, over, upon or across 
 
78 THEl CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 which any track or tracks of such street railway shall pass, and 
 the further provision that in case it shall become necessary 
 in the judgment of the Council to rebuild or reconstruct any such 
 bridge, viaduct, or tunnel during the term of such franchise, 
 the grantee therein, its successors and assigns, shall pay at 
 least one-half of the cost of such re-building or reconstruction 
 of any such bridge, viaduct or tunnel, and the determination of 
 the Council of the City of Tacoma as to when, how and with 
 what material such repairs or reconstruction or rebuilding shall 
 be made, shall be final and conclusive, and such work shall be 
 done under the direction of the Commissioner of Public Works 
 of said City according to plans and specifications which shall 
 be prepared by the City Engineer of said City, and approved by 
 the Council. 
 
 In case the construction of any street railway line shall ne- 
 cessitate or require the construction or reconstruction of any 
 bridge, viaduct or tunnel, the entire cost of such construction 
 or re-construction shall be paid in the first instance by the 
 grantee in such franchise, its successors or assigns, and any such 
 bridge or viaduct shall be of such a width and manner of con- 
 struction as may be required by the Council, so as to constitute 
 a thoroughfare for the public for all ordinary purposes. Pro- 
 vided, that if at any time a franchise be granted for additional 
 street railway line or street railway lines along, over or across 
 or upon any bridge, viaduct or tunnel, in this section referred 
 to, the cost of construction, maintenance and re-construction of 
 such bridge, viaduct or tunnel, shall be apportioned in equal 
 parts between the owners of all such street railways using such 
 bridge, viaduct or tunnel, and the City, and every franchise 
 granted for the use of any such bridge, viaduct or tunnel by any 
 street railway shall so provide; provided, further, that every 
 franchise for the use by any street railway of any bridge, via- 
 duct or tunnel shall contain a provision for common user of its 
 tracks thereon on payment of a just proportion of the cost of 
 such tracks in addition to the foregoing. 
 
 The Council of the City of Tacoma is hereby prohibited from 
 passing, and the Mayor of said City is hereby prohibited from 
 signing, any ordinance granting any street railway franchise 
 or any amendment of any street railway franchise which shall 
 not contain each and all of these provisions and requirements, 
 and any such franchise not containing each and all of these re- 
 quirements is hereby declared to be absolutely null and void. 
 
 Sec. 237. Franchise Specify Streets.— All franchises, privi- 
 leges and permits hereafter granted shall plainly specify on 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 79 
 
 what particular streets, alleys, avenues or other public property 
 the same shall apply; and no franchise, privilege or permit 
 shall hereafter be granted by the City in general terms or to ap- 
 ply to the City generally. 
 
 Sec. 238. Power to Regulate Rates and Fares. — All powers 
 to regulate rates, fares and charges for service by public utility 
 corporations is hereby reserved to the people, to be exercised by 
 them by ordinance of the Council or in the manner in this 
 Charter provided for initiating or referring an ordinance. Any 
 right or regulation shall further include the right to require 
 uniform, convenient and adequate service to the public and 
 reasonable extensions of such service and of such public utility 
 works. 
 
 Sec. 239. Ordinance in Plain Terms.— No franchise, right 
 or privilege or license shall be considered as granted by any ordi- 
 nance except when granted therein in plain and unambiguous 
 terms, and any and every ambiguity therein shall be construed 
 in favor of the City and against the claimant under said ordi- 
 nance. 
 
 Sec. 24:0. Railroad Elevate or Lower Tracks.— The Council 
 shall by ordinance require, under proper penalties, any rail- 
 road company, whether steam or electric, to elevate or lower any 
 of its tracks running over, along or across any of the streets or 
 alleys of the City, whenever in the opinion of the Council the 
 public safety or convenience require. 
 
 Sec. 241. Fraiwhise Provide for Safety.— The grant of 
 every franchise or privilege shall be subject to the right of the 
 City, whether in terms reserved or not, to make all regulations 
 which shall be necessary to secure in the most ample manner the 
 safety, welfare and accommodation of the public, including 
 among other things the right to pass and enforce ordinances 
 to require proper and adequate extensions of the service of 
 such grant, and to protect the public from danger or incon- 
 venience in the operation of any work or business authorized by 
 the grant of the franchise and the right to make and enforce all 
 such regulations as shall be reasonably necessary to secure ade- 
 quate, sufficient and proper service, extensions and accommo- 
 dations for the people and insure their comfort and convenience. 
 
 Sec. 242. No Exclusive Franchise— Renewal. — No exclusive 
 franchise shall ever be granted, and no franchise shall ever be 
 granted for a longer term than twenty-five years and no fran- 
 chise shall be renewed before two years of its expiration. 
 
 Sec. 243. No Franchise Leased, Except. — No franchise 
 heretofore or hereafter granted by the City shall ever be leased, 
 
80 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 assigned or otherwise alienated without the express consent of 
 the City by ordinance, and no dealing with the lessee or as- 
 signee on the part of the City to require the performance of any 
 act or payment of any compensation by the lessee or assignee, 
 shall be deemed to operate as such consent. 
 
 Sec. 244. No Extension or Enlargement, Except— 'No ex- 
 tension or enlargement of any franchise or grant of rights or 
 powers previously granted to any corporation, person or asso- 
 ciation of persons, shall be made except in the manner and sub- 
 ject to all the conditions herein provided for in this Article for 
 the making of original grants and franchises, and in no event 
 shall such extension or enlargement extend beyond the unex- 
 pired term of the original or first franchise; provided, however, 
 that the provisions of this Article shall not apply to the grant- 
 ing by ordinance of revocable licenses or privileges for side 
 track or switch privileges to railway companies for the purpose 
 of reaching and affording railway connections and switch privi- 
 leges to the owners or users of any industrial plant, it being 
 the intention to permit the City to grant such revocable licenses 
 or privileges to railway companies whenever in its judgment 
 the same is expedient, necessary or advisable, and whenever the 
 application for such privileges is accompanied by the assent in 
 writing of the owners of the major part in extent of the front 
 feet of the lots or tracts of land of the block fronting on each 
 side of any street, or parts of street, over or on which it is de- 
 sired to lay or construct such sidetracks or switches. 
 
 Sec. 245. Provision for Common Use of Tracks, Poles. — 
 The City, by and through its Council, shall have the power to 
 require any corporation holding a franchise from the City, to 
 allow the use of its tracks, poles and wires by any other corpora- 
 tion to which the City shall grant a franchise, upon the payment 
 of a reasonable rental therefor, and any franchise or right which 
 may hereafter be granted to any person or corporation to operate 
 a street railway within the City or its suburbs, shall be subject 
 to the condition that the City shall have the right to grant to 
 any other person or corporation desiring to build or operate a 
 street railway or interurban railway within or into the City, 
 the right to operate its cars over the tracks of said street rail- 
 way in so far as may be necessary to enter the City and to reach 
 the section thereof used for business purposes, provided, that 
 the person or corporation desiring to operate its cars over the 
 line of said street railway, shall first agree in writing with the 
 owner thereof to pay it reasonable compensation for the use 
 of its tracks and facilities. And if the x)erson or corporation de- 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 81 
 
 siring to use the same cannot a^ee with said owner of said: 
 street railway as to said compensation, within sixty days from 
 offering in writing so to do, and as to the terms and conditions 
 of the use of said tracks and facilities, then the Council shall,; 
 by resolution, after a fair hearing to the parties concerned, fix? 
 the terms and conditions of such use and compensation to be paid 
 therefor, which award of the Council when so made shall be 
 binding on and observed by the parties concerned. 
 
 Sec. 246. Matters in, Charter Not to Impair Right of Coion- 
 cil to Insert Other Matters in Fra7icMse.—Th.e enumeration and 
 specification of particular matters in this Charter which must 
 be included in every franchise or grant, shall never be constru- 
 ed as impairing the right of the Council to insert in such fran- 
 chise or grant, such other and further matbJrs, conditions, coven- 
 ants, terms, restrictions, limitations, burdens, taxes, assessments, 
 rates, fares, rentals, charges, control, forfeitures, or any other 
 provision whatever, as the Council shall deem proper to protect 
 the interests of the people. 
 
 Sec. 247. Bights of Ferriage Reserved.— All rights of fer-- 
 riage on waters of Commencement Bay or of Puget Sound within 
 the limits of this City shall be reserved for the benefit of the 
 City, and the Council shall not grant nor convey, except by 
 lease, any franchise or special privilege for the purpose of oper- 
 ating ferries on the waters above named. 
 
 ARTICLE XX. 
 
 HABBOR AND TIDE-LANDS. 
 
 Sec. 248. Streets Extended to Harhor Line.— All streets, 
 avenues and highways of the City touching the waters of Com- 
 mencement Bay or Puget Sound are liereby declared to extend 
 to the harbor line as the same is now or may hereafter be es- 
 tablished by the State, and it shall be the duty of the Council 
 to provide for defining the lines of said streets and cause all 
 such streets to be platted on the maps of the City, and to cause 
 a plat showing said streets and highways to be filed with the 
 Secretary of the State and one copy thereof to be filed with 
 the Commissioner of Public Lands of the State. None of said 
 streets below mean tide shall be sold, and shall never be leas- 
 ed or used for any purpose except for wharves or landing slips 
 for water craft. 
 
 Sec. 249. Marnier of Sale or Lease of City Real Estate. — 
 The Council shall never authorize the lease of any wharf or 
 water-front property, nor the sale of any real estate belonging 
 to the City, until it shall have first passed a resolution of its 
 
82 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 intention so to do and cause notice of such intention to be pub- 
 lished daily in the official newspaper for at least ten days, fixing 
 a time when the Council will hear remonstrances against such 
 proposed lease or sale. If at the time fixed for said hearing one 
 per centum of the voters of the City as shown by the last general 
 election shall file remonstrances against such action, no such 
 sale or lease shall be authorized except upon the affirmative 
 vote of at least four members of the Council. 
 
 Any authorization to sell or lease shall be by ordinance 
 adopted in the manner provided in this Charter. Such ordi- 
 nance shall never be deemed an emergency measure, but shall 
 always be subject to the provisions of this Charter as to refer- 
 endum. The ordinance authorizing such sale or lease shall fix 
 the time, terms and place of such sale or lease, and the City 
 Clerk, when said ordinance becomes effective, shall publish in 
 the official newspaper a notice of such sale or lease for thirty 
 days next preceding the time fixed for such sale, describing the 
 property and stating the time, terms and place of such sale or 
 lease, and the same shall be made only to the highest responsi- 
 ble bidder by the Commissioner of Finance, at the time and place 
 specified. The conveyance, contract or lease shall be executed by 
 the Mayor, countersigned by the Controller and attested by the 
 City Clerk. No such lease, contract or conveyance shall become 
 effective until thirty days after all papers have been signed ; and 
 any tax payer of the City shall have the right to commence in 
 the Superior Court of Pierce County, Washington, within said 
 time, proceedings to enjoin said sale or lease and may show that 
 said sale or lease was fraudulently made or contrary to the best 
 interest of the City, but in case said sale or lease shall be held 
 valid and proper, said person shall pay all costs of such pro- 
 ceedings; provided, that the Council shall never authorize the 
 sale or disposition of any wharf or water-front property belong- 
 ing to the City and shall not lease the same for a period longer 
 that five years at any one time. 
 
 ARTICLE XXI. 
 
 MISCELLAlSTBOUS PROVISIONS. 
 
 Sec. 250. Ratification of Former Ordijiances.—Any and all 
 ordinances passed by the City of Tacoma under any former 
 Charter, which have not been repealed when this Charter shall 
 go into effect, and that are not inconsistent with this Charter, 
 or the laws of the State of Washington, shall be and remain 
 in full force and effect, as though the same were passed or done 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 83 
 
 by the City of Tacoma under this Charter, and shall so remain 
 until repealed or rescinded. 
 
 Sec. 251. Ccyntimiance of Acts Under Former Charters. — 
 All warrants or certificates of indebtedness, all appropriations 
 of money to specific fund or purposes, all taxes remaining un- 
 paid, all claims or demands in favor of or due the City of Ta- 
 coma, all franchises, all contracts and liabilities lawfully made, 
 granted or incurred by said City, all rights of every nature or 
 kind vested or contingent or recognized by any former charters 
 or ordinances, resolutions or acts of said City, and not inconsist- 
 ent with this Charter or the laws of the State of Washington, 
 shall not be lost, impaired or discharged, but shall continue and 
 be and remain in fuU force and effect, notwithstanding any 
 change of organization effected by this Charter, 
 
 Sec. 252. Property Vested in City.— AM property of every 
 name, nature and kind, all rights, privileges and franchises be- 
 longing to the City of Tacoma by or under any former act or 
 Charter, are vested and established in and remain the prop- 
 erty of the City of Tacoma. 
 
 Sec. 253. Continuation of Street Improvemenis. — All 
 streets and other improvements, all vacations of streets, alleys 
 or avenues, all assessments for improvements, all suits and ac- 
 tions in any Court, all fines and forfeitures, and all other mat- 
 ters relating to the City of Tacoma, that may have been begun 
 and not completed, ended or closed, shall be completed accord- 
 ing to the Charter, ordinances and laws existing prior to the 
 adoption of this Charter. 
 
 Sec. 254. Continuing Bonds, Etc.— AM official bonds, rec- 
 ognizances, obligations, contracts and all other instruments en- 
 tered into or executed by or to the City before this Charter 
 takes effect, and all fines, penalties and forfeitures due or ow- 
 ing the City, shall continue and remain uneffected by this 
 Charter. 
 
 Sec. 255. Collection of Unpaid Taxes.— All taxes and as- 
 sessments, levied and remaining unpaid when this Charter shall 
 go into effect, shall be collected as provided by the Charter of 
 Tacoma existing and in effect at the time said taxes were levi- 
 ed. 
 
 Sec. 256. Parks, and Miscellaneous.— If. at any time here- 
 after the parks now under the control of the Metropolitan 
 Park Board come under the jurisdiction of the City, such parks 
 shall be managed, controlled and administered in such manner 
 as the Council shall prescribe by ordinance adopted as in this 
 
84 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 Charter provided. The City of Tacoma shall never employ 
 Chinese or coolie labor in any capacity whatsoever. 
 
 Skc. 257. Claims for InjiLnes—Preseniatio7i— Bar.— All 
 claims for injuries to the person, alleged to have been caused 
 or sustained by reason of defects, want of repair or obstruction 
 of any of the highways, . streets, alleys, sidewalks or crosswalks 
 of the City, shall be presented in writing to the Council within 
 thirty days after such injuries shall be alleged to have been 
 received. Such writing shall state the time, place, cause, na- 
 ture and extent of the alleged injuries so far as practicable, 
 and shall be verified by affidavit of the claimant to the effect 
 that the same is true. The omission to present any such claim 
 in the manner or within the time in this section provided, shall 
 be a bar to an action against said City therefor. 
 
 ARTICiLE XXII. 
 
 AMENDMENT OF CHARTER. 
 
 Sec. 258. Procedure — Publication iV^oi-ice.— Whenever the 
 Council shall deem any amendement to this Charter necessary or 
 expedient, it shall pass a resolution declaring its intention to 
 offer to the qualified electors of the City such amendment, 
 and shall cause such proposed amendment or amendments to be 
 published in full in two daily newspapers, published and of gen- 
 eral circulation in the City, for thirty days, and all (shall) there- 
 after within thirty days from the last date of said publication 
 again vote upon said amendment or amendments, and if at 
 said last named time four members of the Council shall vote in 
 favor of said amendment or amendments, the Council shall 
 cause the same to be submitted to the qualified electors of the 
 City at the next general Municipal Election for approval or 
 rejection. 
 
 Sec. 259. Ballots.— The tickets to be voted ait said election 
 shall contain the words "For Amendment," ''Against Amend- 
 ment." Provided, if more than one amendment is to be voted 
 upon the same shall be numbered, and said tickets shall have 
 printed thereon, ''For Amendment No. 1," "Against Amend- 
 ment No. 1," "For Amendment No. 2," "Against Amendment 
 No. 2," and so continue for all amendments offered to be vot- 
 ed upon. 
 
 Sec. 260. Majority of Votes Carry.— li at said election a 
 majority of the votes cast be for said amendments the same 
 shall within ten days thereafter become a part of the City 
 Charter, or if for any one of said amendments, the same shall 
 be a part of the City Charter. 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 85 
 
 FINAL CERTIFICATE. 
 
 STATE OF WASHINGTON,) 
 
 County of Pierce, ^ ss. 
 
 City of Tacoma, ) 
 
 BE IT KNOWN, that the qualified electors of the City of Tacoma, 
 in said County and State, said City then and there being a city of the 
 first class, on the 8th day of June, A. D., 1909, at an election duly 
 held in said City under the provisions of an ordinance duly enacted 
 as authorized by law by the legislative authority of said City, and 
 under and in accordance with Section X, Article 11, of the Consti- 
 tution of this State, and an Act of the Legislature of the State of 
 Washington, approved March 4th. A. D. 1895, entitled "An Act to 
 authorize cities of the first class to alter, change, revise, add to or 
 repeal their respective charters," did elect the undersigned, being 
 fifteen freeholders who severally liave been residents of said City 
 for a period of at least two years preceding their election, and quali- 
 fied electors therein, as a Board of Fifteen Freeholders, to prepare 
 and frame a new Charter for the City of Tacoma; and we, the under- 
 signed, being the said fifteen freeholders, do hereby certify that we 
 convened for said puri)Ose as such freeholders, within ten days after 
 the said election, and then commenced and thereafter, within sixty 
 days, proceeded to and did prepare such new Charter by altering, 
 changing and revising the existing Charter, and having prepared, 
 framed and agreed upon such new Charter, we do now propose and 
 submit to the legislative authority of said City, the foregoing as a 
 Ch-arter for the City of Tacoma, and do now file the same with the 
 City Clerk of said City. 
 
 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have hereunto set our hands this 
 5th day of August, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred 
 and nine. 
 
 H. A. RHODES', President, 
 
 E. D. HODGE, Secretary, 
 
 O. G. ELLIS, 
 
 C. S. BARLOW, 
 
 DR. S. M. LeCRONE, 
 
 FRANK M. LAMBORN, 
 
 ERNEST LISTER, 
 
 HARRY B. HENDLEY, 
 
 OLIN L. FOWLER. 
 
 P. C. KAUFFMAN, 
 
 E. P. SAVAGE, 
 
 A. U. MILLS. 
 
 C. D. BALL, 
 
 H. J. MCGREGOR, 
 
 O. O. McLANE. 
 
86 THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 
 
 MAYOR'S CERTIFICATE. 
 
 I, John W. Linck, Mayor of the City of Tacoma, do hereby certify 
 that in accordance with the terms and provisions of Section X, of 
 Article 11 of the Constitution, and of Chapter XXVII of the Laws of 
 the State of Washington, approved March 4. 1895, the Council of the 
 City of Tacoma duly caused a special election to he held on the 8th 
 day of June, A. D., 1909, for the purpose of electing fifteen Free- 
 holders to prepare a new Charter for the City of Tacoma; that due 
 notice of such election was given in the manner provided by law; that 
 on the 8th day of June, 1909, said election was held, and the votes 
 cast thereat were duly canvassed by the City Council of said City; 
 and the following named persons were declared duly elected to pre- 
 pare and propose a new Charter for said City, to-wit: H. A. Rhodes, 
 E. D. Hodge, P. C. Kauffman, E. P. Savage, A. U. Mills, C. D. Ball, 
 H. J. McGregor, O. O. McLane, O. G. Ellis, C. S. Barlow, Dr. S. M. 
 LeCrone, Frank M. Lamborn, Emest Lister, Harry B. Hendley, Olin 
 L. Fowler. 
 
 That thereafter, to-wit: on the 7th day of August, 1909, said Board 
 of Freeholders duly returned a proposed new Charter for the City of 
 Tacoma signed by the following members thereof, to-wit: H. A. Rhodes, 
 President; E. D. Hodge, Secretary; P. C. Kauffman, E. P. Savage, 
 A. U. Mills, C. D. Ball, H. J. McGregor, O. O. McLane, O. G. Ellis, 
 C. S Barlow. Dr. S. M. LeCrone, Frank M. Lamborn, Ernest Lister, 
 Harry B. Hendley and Olin L. Fo'wler. 
 
 That thereafter such proposed new Charter was duly published in 
 two daily newspapers in said City, and of general circulation therein, 
 to-wit: The Tacoma Daily Ledger and The Tacoma Daily News* 
 for a period of thirty days; said publication in each of said 
 papers commencing on the 10th day of Sept., 1909; that thereafter on 
 the 16th day of October, 1909, at a special election duly called by the 
 City Council of said City, the proposed new Charter was submitted 
 to the qualified electors thereof; and the returns of such election were 
 duly canvassed by the City Council thereof, at a meeting held on the 
 19th day of October, 1909, and the result of said election was found 
 to be as follows: 
 
 For said proposed new Charter 3533 votes. 
 
 Against said proposed new Charter 991 votes. 
 
 Majqrity for said proposed new Charter ..2542 votes. 
 Whereupon said new Charter was declared duly ratified by a majority 
 of the qualified electors voting at said election. 
 
 And I further certify that the foregoing is a full, true and complete 
 copy of the proposed new Charter so voted upon and ratified as afpre- 
 said. 
 
 In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand, and affix the cor- 
 porate seal of said City, at my office this 10th day of November, 1909. 
 
 JOHN. W. LINCK, Mayor. 
 Attest: 
 
 L. W. ROYS', City Clerk. 
 
TACOMA, WASHINGTON 87 
 
 INDEX TO ARTICLES 
 
 ARTICLE I. Page. 
 Name, Boundaries, Powers, Rights and Liabilities 3 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 Oflacers, Employees and Salaries 12 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 The Council 17 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 Mayor '21 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 Executive and Administrative Departments 22 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 Department of Health and Sanitation 25 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 Department of Public Safety 27 
 
 ARTICLE VIII. 
 Department of Public Works, Streets, Improvements and Property 30 
 
 ARTICLE IX. 
 
 Department of Light and Water 47 
 
 ARTICLE X. 
 Department of Finance 49 
 
 ARTICLE XI. 
 
 Cont|X)ller •. > 53 
 
 ARTICLE XII. 
 Taxes 56 
 
 ARTICLE XIII. 
 City Attorney 57 
 
 ARTICLE XIV. 
 Civil Service 57 
 
 ARTICLE XV. 
 Elections 59 
 
 ARTICLE XVI. 
 Recall of Elective Ofllicers 69 
 
 ARTICLE XVII. 
 The Initiative 71 
 
 ARTICLE XVIII. 
 The Referendum 73 
 
 ARTICLE XIX. 
 
 Franchises 74 
 
 ARTICLE XX. 
 
 Harbor and Tide-Lands 81 
 
 ARTICLE XXI. 
 
 Miscellaneous Provisions 82 
 
 ARTICLE XXII. 
 Amendment of Charter 84 
 
88 INBEX TO' CHARTER 
 
 INDEX TO SECTIONS 
 
 A Section. 
 
 Appointments Confirmed by Council 24 
 
 Of Clerks, etc 25 
 
 Religious or Political Opinions not to effect 29 
 
 Council vote on 44 
 
 Appropriation of Money, how made 39 
 
 Appropriation of Private Property 47 
 
 Amendments to Charteir, how made 258 to 260 inc. 
 
 B 
 
 Boundaries of City 1 
 
 Boundaries Etxtend to Middle of Sound 2 
 
 Bonds of Ofiicers 27 
 
 Bonds of Contractors 61 
 
 Bonds, Continuing all Oflicial 254 
 
 Books, Records, etc 30 
 
 Building Inspector 80 
 
 c 
 
 Classification of Service ' 10 
 
 Councilmen 
 
 Removal of 16 
 
 Salary of 19 
 
 City Clerk, Appointed by Council 23 
 
 Clerks, etc., Appointment of 25 
 
 Council, Legislative Powers Vested in 33 
 
 President and Vice President of 34 
 
 Rules and Journal Public Record 35 
 
 Meetings of 36 
 
 Quorum of 37 
 
 City Clerk, Clerk of 37 
 
 Create Offices 41 
 
 Shall cause Monthly Statement to be Printed 42 
 
 Exercise Certain Powers 43 
 
 Vote on Appointments 44 
 
 Vote on Salaries 45 
 
 Shall Let Public Printing 46 
 
 Commissioners of Departments 55 
 
 Contracts, how executed 60 
 
 City Engineer, 
 
 Qualifications, Duties, Powers 87 
 
 Charges of 88 
 
 Plats of Additions, etc 89 
 
 Controller 
 
 Salary of 20 
 
 Duties of 157 
 
 Oath and Bond of 158 
 
 Deputies and Assistants 158 
 
 Have access to all books 159 
 
 Audit Claims 160 
 
 Designate Funds 161 
 
 Keep records 162 
 
 Keep list of warrants 163 
 
CITY OF TACOMA, WASHINGTON 89 
 
 Controller— Cont'd. Section 
 
 Countersign contracts 164 
 
 Annual report 165 
 
 Monthly report 166 
 
 General duties 167 
 
 Shall have notice of Revenue Ordinances and Appointments 168 
 
 City Attorney, 
 
 Appointed by Council 23 
 
 Duties of 175 
 
 Shall keep records .• 176 
 
 Assistants 177 
 
 Special Counsel 178 
 
 Civil Service 
 
 Board, Appointment of 179 
 
 Removal. Equipment, Clerk 180 
 
 Board make rules, etc 181 
 
 Classification of names 182 
 
 To whom provisions apply 183 
 
 Appointees, removal of 184 
 
 Penalties 185 
 
 Charter, amendments to, how made 258 to 260 inc. 
 
 Charters, Continuance of Acts under former 251 
 
 Contracts, Continuing all former 254 
 
 Claims for injuries, relating to 257 
 
 D 
 
 Debt, limit of 6 
 
 Duties. Officers etc., to attend to 31 
 
 Departments, distribution of executive and administrative 54 
 
 Commissioners of 55 
 
 Council may change designations 56 
 
 Council assign duties 57 
 
 Commfl'sioners have supervision 58 
 
 Commissioners purchase supplies 59 
 
 Department of Public Affairs, Health and Sanitation 62 to 68 inc. 
 
 Denartment of Public Safety 69 to 80 inc. 
 
 Department of Commissioner of Public Works 81 to 135 inc. 
 
 Commissioner to have supervision of 81 
 
 Clerks and employees of 82 
 
 Duties of Chief Clerk of 83 
 
 Com.mlssioner in charge of improvements 84 
 
 Commissioner custodian of maps, etc 85 
 
 Commissioner's other duties and powers 86 
 
 Department of Light and Water 136 to 139 inc. 
 
 Scope of department 136 
 
 Commissioner to administer department 137 
 
 Separate sub-departments 138 
 
 Commissioner to fix rates and Council to impose fines 139 
 
 Department of Finance 140 to 156 inc. 
 
 Commissioner to have supervision 140 
 
 Bond of as Treasurer 141 
 
 Assistants, Clerks, etc 142 
 
 Estimates of expenses of City 1 43 
 
 Establish systematic accounting 1 44 
 
 Revenue, how controlled and paid 145 
 
 Duties of Commissioner as Treasurer 146 
 
 Bank deposits, bonds and securities 147 
 
 Tax Levy, how credited; Other duties 148 
 
 Commissioner eligible for one tenn only 149 
 
90 INDEX TO CHARTHR 
 
 E Section. 
 
 Employees 10 
 
 Restrictions upon 12 
 
 Restrictions upon 13 
 
 Employment office 79 
 
 Elections 186 to 207 inc. 
 
 General and Special 186 
 
 Voters, Qualifications, Registration 187 
 
 Nomination of Officers 188 
 
 Ballots ' 189 
 
 Ten days' notice of 190 
 
 First or primary election 191 
 
 Second election 192 
 
 Election, officers of 193 
 
 Clerks of 194 
 
 Oaths of officers 195 
 
 Inspector, Powers and Duties 196 
 
 Informalities in 197 
 
 Council to canvass vote '. 198 
 
 Oath of City Clerk on returns 199 
 
 Ballots, preservation of 200 
 
 Certificate as evidence 201 
 
 Special election 202 
 
 Election hours : 203 
 
 Other provisions by Ordinance 204 
 
 Election of first officers hereunder 205 
 
 Duty of present officers 206 
 
 Publication of expenses 207 
 
 Fire Department 75 to 77 inc. 
 
 Franchises 229 to 247 inc. 
 
 When effective 229 
 
 Submitted on twelve per cent petition 230 
 
 Unused franchises to be repealed 231 
 
 Extension only for unexpired term 232 
 
 Light and water franchises prohibited 233 
 
 No franchise without compensation 234 
 
 Railroads shall pave and repave 235 
 
 Railway to pay part of construction and repair of bridges etc 236 
 
 Franchise specifiy streets 237 
 
 Power to regulate rates and fares 238 
 
 Ordinance in plain terms 239 
 
 Railroad elevate or lower tracks 240 
 
 Franchise provide for safety 241 
 
 No exclusive franchise 242 
 
 Renewal of 242 
 
 No franchise leased except 243 
 
 No extension or enlargement except 244 
 
 Provision for common use of tracks; poles 245 
 
 Matters in Charter not to impair right of Council to insert 
 
 other matters in franchise 246 
 
 Right of Ferriage reserved 247 
 
 G 
 
 Grade of streets. Change of ^'^ 
 
CITY OP TACOMA, WASHINGTON 91 
 
 H Section 
 
 Harbor Master 68 
 
 Harbor and Tide Lands 248-249 
 
 Streets extended to harbor line 248 
 
 Manner of sale or lease of City real estate 249 
 
 I 
 
 Indebtedness, refunding of 7 
 
 Initiative, The 
 
 Direct legislation ^ . . 216 
 
 Twenty per cent petition 217 
 
 Five per cent petition 218 
 
 Publication of Electoral Ordinance 219 
 
 Election , 220 
 
 Several Ordinances at onB election 221 
 
 Limit of Special elections 222 
 
 Repeal of Electoral Ordinance 223 
 
 Does not apply to Ordinance granting franchises 224 
 
 Council may make further regulations 225 
 
 L 
 
 Liabilities of City 3 
 
 Limit of debt 6 
 
 Legislative powers 33 
 
 License Inspector 78 
 
 M 
 
 Mayor, ^moval of 16 
 
 Salary of 18 
 
 Chief executive 48 
 
 Supervision of departments, etc 49 
 
 Sign Contracts, etc 50 
 
 Appoint experts 51 
 
 Employ Accountants 52 
 
 General Powers 53 
 
 N 
 
 Name of City 1 
 
 
 
 Officers, 
 
 Classification of services 10 
 
 Qualifications of 11 
 
 Restrictions upon 12 
 
 Restrictions upon 13 
 
 Terms of elective 14 
 
 Officers, Clerks, etc., to receive no commission or profit 28 
 
 Officers, etc., to attend to duties 31 
 
 Personally liable 32 
 
 Office hours to be fixed 17 
 
 Oaths of officers 26 
 
92 INDEX TO CHARTER 
 
 Section 
 
 Ordinances, relating to 38 
 
 Ofllces, Council to establish. 41 
 
 Oflacial newspaper 46 
 
 Ordinances, ratification of former 250 
 
 P 
 
 Powers of City 4 
 
 Enumeration of, not exclusive 8 
 
 Exercise of , 9 
 
 Exercise of certain 43 
 
 Public Utilities acquire and own 5 
 
 Private property appropriation of 47 
 
 Police department 70 to 74 inc. 
 
 Duties of Chief of 70 
 
 Appointment of Police Officers 71 
 
 Appointment of Policemen 72 
 
 Matron .- 73 
 
 Justice — Powers — Salary 74 
 
 Property vested in City 252 
 
 Parks, relating to 256 
 
 Q 
 
 Qualifications of Officers 11 
 
 R 
 
 Rights and liabilities of City 3 
 
 Refunding indebtedness 7 
 
 Removal of Mayor or Councilmen 16 
 
 Records, books, etc 30 
 
 Recall of elective officers 208 to 215 inc. 
 
 Applies to all elective officers 208 
 
 Petition and requirements of 209 
 
 Petition may be amended 210 
 
 Election under recall petition 211 
 
 Candidates 212 
 
 Incumbent removed 213 
 
 No recall petition for first 6 months 214 
 
 Incapacity of recalled officers 215 
 
 Referendum, The 
 
 Mode of protesting against ordinances 226 
 
 Reference by the Ccnincil 227 
 
 Further regulations 228 
 
 Salaries 10-21 
 
 Council vote on 45 
 
 Mayor 18 
 
 Councilman 19 
 
 Controller 20 
 
 Other officers, etc 21 
 
 Removal terminates 22 
 
 Statements to be made monthly 42 
 
- CITY OF TACOMA, WASHINGTON 93 
 
 Section 
 
 Streets 
 
 Change of grade of 47 
 
 Structures on 40 
 
 Extend to Harbor Line 248 
 
 Street Improvements 
 
 Application for 90 
 
 Survey, resolution, etc 91 
 
 Consent to improvements 92 
 
 Cost, how assessed 93 
 
 Assessment roll, contents 94 
 
 Assessment roll, filing of 95 
 
 Assessment roll, appeal from 96 
 
 Assessment roll, hearing of 97 
 
 Assessment roll, payment of 98 
 
 Bids for; Contracts in writing 99 
 
 Lien of assessment 100 
 
 Treasurer to collect 101 
 
 Demand for payment unnecessary 102 
 
 Warrant for collection 103 
 
 Warrant to sell by Controller .' 104 
 
 Warrant as execution i 105 
 
 Time of sale; Sales to City 106 
 
 Highest bidder. Dispensation of Surplus 107 
 
 Resale 108 
 
 Controller custodian of Certificates 109 
 
 Return of Treasurer 110 
 
 Purchaser's lien, Interest Ill 
 
 Redemption, Certificate, Deed 112 
 
 Separate fund 113 
 
 Payment of Assessment 114 
 
 Day's work or Contract 115 
 
 Sealed proposals 116 
 
 Proposals, Form, Affidavit, Bids 117 
 
 Opening bids. Award 118 
 
 Collusive bids 119 
 
 Contracts, How drawn ; . 120 
 
 Bonds, Amount, Sureties 121 
 
 Failure to perform Contract 122 
 
 Unfinished Contracts 123 
 
 Commissioner has supervision 124 
 
 Prohibition on Commissioner and employees 125 
 
 Continuation of 253 
 
 Sewerage and drainage 
 
 General system 126 
 
 Commissioner to control construction 127 
 
 Plans, diagram and map of 128 
 
 Council order construction of 129 
 
 Agreement as to damages for 130 
 
 Lands on Bay for 131 
 
 Condemnation of private property for 132 
 
 Expense proportioned 133 
 
 Sewerage districts 134 
 
 Sewerage bond 135 
 
 Sinking Fund Board 150 to 156 inc. 
 
 Members of 150 
 
 Quorum 151 
 
 Duties 152 
 
 Procedure before investment 153 
 
 Journal of proceedings 154 
 
 Vacancies, how filled 155 
 
 Bonds, how kept 156 
 
94 INDEX TO CHARTER 
 
 T Section. 
 
 Terms of elective cfficers 14 
 
 Taxes, relating to 169 to 174 inc. 
 
 Assessment, levy and collection 169 
 
 Board of Equalization 170 
 
 Appropriation for County 171 
 
 Library levy 172 
 
 Fiscal year 173 
 
 Assessments against City property . 174 
 
 Collection of unpaid 255 
 
 Tide Lands 248-249 
 
 V 
 
 Vacancies in oflBce, when and how filled 15 
 
 Vacations of streets, etc., how made 47 
 
 w 
 
 Wards of City 1 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 MAR 7 1936 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 LD 21-100m-8,'34 
 
GATLORO QBOS. 
 
 MAK ERS 
 
 SYRACUS 
 
 YC 09692