Municipal mayor

“ James II. converted the Alderman into a Mayor by a charter of 1685. In April 1688, however, a Quo warranto summons was served on the Mayor; and in the following November the Corporation, taking advantage of the banished King’s proclamation which restored such bodies to their ancient rights, reverted to their old state. Their later constitution included an Alderman, twelve senior and twelve junior Comburgesses. For these the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 substituted a Mayor, four Aldermen, and twelve Councillors. ”

“ A municipal corporation may act through its mayor, though its common council, or its legislative department by whatever name called, its superintendent of streets, commissioner of highways, or board of public works, provided the act is within the province committed to its charge. Nor can it in principle be of the slightest consequence by what means these several officers are placed in their position,-whether they are elected by the people of the municipality, or appointed by the President or a governor. The people are the recognized source of all authority, state and municipal ”

“ This municipal assembly shall be the Council of Administration, which shall establish for the entire extent of its jurisdiction the rules of the common regime, and shall decide on all that concerns the municipal police, its internal security, sanitary policy, the management and use of municipal revenues, local expenditures, and generally all that is within the jurisdiction of the municipalities.
Art. 43. The active power shall be entirely, and for all the extent of the municipal district, in the hands of the mayor and his lieutenant, who shall be elected immediately by the primary assemblies. ”

“ A mayor is now in England and America the official head of a municipal government. In the United Kingdom the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, s. 15, regulates the election of mayors. He is to be a fit person elected annually on the 9th of November by the council of the borough from among the aldermen or councillors or persons qualified to be such. ”

“ On the contrary, the experience of the last two years has demonstrated that Mayor Strong's administration would have been stronger in public opinion, more harmonious, more effective in promoting the public good, more acceptable to the people, and more apt to secure the triumph of the non-partisan principle in coming elections, if he had made no appointments on partisan grounds at all. ”

“ The mistakes committed by Mayor Strong consisted, not in appointing to office persons who were party men, but in selecting for appointment men on account of their belonging to this or that party organization, instead of choosing them solely according to their fitness for the official duties to be discharged. ”

“ The city government is vested in a mayor, elected every two years, a municipal council, and the usual administrative departments, all appointed by the executive, and all, excepting that of public works, where the power is given to a single head, governed by boards. ”

“ The extension of the power of appointment is significant because it diminishes the number of officials elected by popular vote, as well as the number chosen by the council, and combined with the power of removal, which is coming to be generally granted, enables the mayor to shape municipal policy and to direct the manner in which that policy is carried out. ”

“ Civil service reform principles cover the entire municipal administration. The city’s work is done under an eight-hour law.
An analysis of city election returns for the decade 1890-1899 showed that the interest of the citizens was greatest in the choice of a president; then, successively, in the choice of a mayor, a governor, the determination of liquor-license questions by referendum, and the settlement of other referenda. ”

“ I observe, “but believe me, you will do well to announce the Thiers-Barrot Ministry and say nothing about Marshal Bugeaud.”
“You are right.”
The Mayor requisitions a squad of National Guards, takes with him his two deputies and the Municipal Councillors present, and descends into the Place Royale. The roll of drums attracts the crowd. He announces the new Cabinet. The people applaud and raise repeated shouts of “Hurrah for Reform!” The Mayor adds a few words recommending harmony and the preservation of order, and is universally applauded. ”

“ I met remarkable men in the mayors and provosts and the leading citizens connected with municipal affairs, and each community had its own individual stamp and its problems, successes, and failures. There was generally one greatly desired improvement overshadowing all other questions engrossing the attention [Pg 315] of the people. Each was a little world in itself. The City Council is a Cabinet in miniature and the Mayor the Prime Minister. Domestic politics keep the people agog. Foreign relations are not wanting. ”

“ Municipal elections are far removed from those of the state, being held in odd-numbered years in April. In cities of the first class the state law requires the election of a mayor, city clerk, city treasurer, police judge and councilmen; in those of the second class it requires the election of a mayor, police judge, city treasurer, councilmen, board of education, justices of the peace and constables; and in those of the third class it requires the election of a mayor, police judge and councilmen. Several other offices provided for in each class are filled by the appointment of the mayor. ”

“ I will defy any one, be he friend or foe, to show me the name of any man ever nominated for the Mayor's office in New York, or for that matter anywhere, who in point of character, rectitude, ability, temperament, liberality of mind, public spirit, knowledge of municipal affairs, experience of municipal affairs — in short, in that combination of qualities which we wish our Mayor to possess — excelled Mr. ”

“ Thomas Bradford, Esq., Mayor, died, aged 74 years.
March 11th. Twenty-fifth and last Charter granted by Queen Anne, re-appointing certain governors of the town. (See 1684.) When the Parliamentary and Municipal Reform Acts were passed (1832 and 1835) , the Mayor was again required to be chosen from the whole body of the Corporation, whether Aldermen or Town Councillors. ”

“ But I am completely in sympathy with the purpose of the Citizens' Union to secure a Mayor for the great city who shall be 'free from all partisan obligations.' Such a Mayor, if elected, I shall certainly be. In making appointments it shall be my endeavor to fill every place with an eye single to the public good. The patronage of the city shall not be used, so far as it is in the Mayor's power to prevent it, for the purpose of either strengthening or weakening one party or another, or any fraction of any party. ”

“ The Mayor, therefore, is the chief executive officer of the city and he either appoints solely, or with the consent of the city council in some instances, the city officers not constitutionally required to be elected. ”

“ This is the most extraordinary campaign I ever witnessed; a struggle for good municipal government, in which we have to choose between two candidates for the Mayoralty who, both honorable men, profess to aim at the same ideals of municipal administration. ”

“ Let us make our own selections—or, rather, help our mayor to make hers—and show this town what can be done with an honest and sane council, every man of whom has at heart the framing of a model municipality and the development of an ideal city. ”

“ The mayor presides over the council meetings, serves commonly as an ex-officio member of committees, and represents the municipality upon ceremonial occasions. The office is not one of power, although it is possible for an aggressive and tactful mayor to wield real influence. The permanent officers of the council include a clerk, a treasurer, a medical official, a secretary for education, and a variable number of inspectors and heads of administrative departments. ”

“ It is a matter of grave public concern for the people to know in what spirit an officer intrusted for the first time in the history of our city with such powers purposes to use them. The whole theory of the law is that the Mayor shall be responsible for the administration of the city's affairs, and for the policy which animates the different departments. It makes the relation of the different commissioners and heads of departments to the Mayor practically that of the cabinet officer to his chief. ”

“ In case the mayor and president shall be absent from any meeting of the common council, they shall proceed to elect a temporary presiding officer, who, for the time being, shall discharge the duties of mayor. The president, or temporary presiding officer, while presiding over the council or performing the duties of mayor, shall be styled 'acting mayor,' and acts performed by them shall have the same force and validity as if performed by the mayor.' 'Chapter 3, § 3. ”

“ The corporate authority of said city shall be vested in one principal officer, styled the 'mayor;' in one board of aldermen, consisting of two members from each ward, who, with the mayor, shall be denominated the common council. ”

“ But on the other hand, the Aldermen shewed by many reasons, that unto them belongs the election of Mayor, both because they, the Aldermen are the heads, as it were, and the populace the limbs, as also because it is the Aldermen who pronounce judgments in pleas moved within the City. Of the populace on the other hand there are many who have neither lands, rents, nor dwellings in the City, being sons of divers mothers, some of them of servile station, and all of them caring little or nothing about the City’s welfare. ”

“ The ordinance having been passed by the Provincial Council, the citizens were called on to elect their first mayor, which was done on 21st July, 1865, when there were five candidates. The city was divided into four wards, for councillors, each having two members, who were chosen on 1st August. The election of mayor is annual, and is made by the ratepayers of the city. ”

“ Mayors shall direct,
coordinate and oversee actions in implementation of decisions of the local councils, and shall
serve as the primary liaison between the local councils and the Governors.
2) Mayors shall be elected and removed pursuant to section 4 (3) of this Order.
3) The Deputy Mayors report to the Mayor and the most senior Deputy Mayor (based on length
of public service) shall assume the role of the Mayor in the absence of the latter official.
4) Mayors and Deputy Mayors may attend the regular meetings of the local councils as nonvoting
members. ”

“ Madame Guibert will have to be told.”
“I don’t deny it. Only it isn’t necessary that you should put yourself out about it. A Mayor is not at everybody’s beck and call. When a Mayor bestirs himself it is the State which acts. You send a deputy, or even a councillor, where enemies of the Republic are concerned. Devil take it! One is either a republican or one isn’t, Mr. Mayor!”
“Mélanie, fetch us a pint!” cried the Mayor, torn between his natural duty and his duty as a republican which was being instilled into him. “And send the boy to look for Randon, Pitet, and Détraz.” ”

“ It ensures unity of administration, it encourages promptness and economy, it locates and defines responsibility, and it is so simple that everybody can understand it. The people, having but few officers to elect, are more likely to know something about them. Especially since everybody understands that the success of the government depends upon the character of the mayor, extraordinary pains are taken to secure good mayors; and the increased interest in city politics is shown by the fact that in Brooklyn more people vote for mayor than for governor or for president. ”

“ CHAPTER II. The Mayor is so protected that be cannot help himself.
A commotion without,—a kind of howl, a kind of hoot. Mr. Williams, the warehousemen, the tanners, Mike Callaghan, share between them the howl and the hoot. The Mayor started: is it possible! His door is burst open, and, scattering all who sought to hold him back,—scattering them to the right and left from his massive torso in rushed the man who had taken in the Mayor,—the fellow with one eye, and with that fellow, shaggy and travel-soiled, the other dog! ”

“ Before becoming Secretary of War in President Wilson’s cabinet, Newton D. Baker served two terms as mayor of Cleveland, and Brand Whitlock was thrice mayor of Toledo before he became minister to Belgium. A few other mayors have become governors, ambassadors, or members of Congress; but when we remind ourselves that nearly 400 men have held the office of mayor in the fifty largest cities of the United States since 1900, we may well wonder what became of all the rest. Apparently the office of mayor is not a good political stepping-stone. ”

“ Low as the first Mayor of our great new city one who will reflect credit and honor upon the community, who will conduct its government firmly on the lines of decency and order, and whose election and administration will be for years to come the highest vindication of the right of self-government by enlightened, intelligent American people. ”

“ The mayor, who is elected every four years and is ineligible for succession, appoints directors of the Departments of Public Works, Safety, Health, and Supplies, subject to confirmation by Select Council. ”

“ The legislative side consists of a common council of nineteen members, twelve of whom are elected from three districts, each having four aldermen, the remaining seven being elected, as aldermen at large by the whole city. The people elect three city officers, besides the board of aldermen—the mayor, who is the real as well as the nominal head of the city, the comptroller, who is practically the book-keeper of the city, and the auditor, whose audit is necessary for the payment of every bill against the city, whether large or small. ”