Daily Iowa State Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1859, 1859-01-21
Tile MAYoRAl

The MAYoRAIITY QCESTIoN.--RLUE-
pERs AND INCONSISTENCIES or THE Acr--tf
the last session of the Council question wac
suggested BY Aid. Thorington, whether the
election OF Mayor is to take place hereafter
biennially under the new law. or annually
o. heretofore under the old charter
Section sixty one Of chapter one hundred
and fifty seven, found on page three hun
dred and sixty seven OF the laws of eighteen
hundred ana fifty eight, provides as follows:
TIE Mayor shall 5e elected bienniaug in
cities OF the frst class and annually in cities
of the second class, on the first Monday OF
April, ty the qualified voters of the city
he shall be a qualified voter and reside
within the limits Of the city and shall hold
his office for the term for which he shall
have been elected and qualified he shall
keep al oi.ice at some convenient place In
the city, ETC., etc.
The frat question which arises under this
section Of the law is, whether its provisions
apply to those cities already Incorporated
by special act of the Legislature
To settle this point we refer to section
fret of the same law, which is az follows:
That no town or city shall hereafter be
Incorporated in the State of Iowa, in any
other manner than as heretofore provided.
None Of the provisions of this act shall
apply to cities or towns already incorpora-
ted in this State otherwise than as herein
provided sare and erctJt section Strty one OF
this act, (the section which Wa have quoted
above.)
This taken alone would seem to indicat
very clearly that the legislature intended
it to apply to this city among others
but doubt exists as to whether the
act will apply to the city Of Davenport,
without special repeal of those provisions
of the charter which are in conflict with it.
Again, notwithstanding this ect, the Legis-
lature afterwards amended the city charter.
inserting provisions of q totally different
and conflicting character, which, it is not
to he supposed could have been intended
to affect US. 1t is therefore question as to
what was the intention of the assembled
Solons, in the premises. But third question
still exists-Section sixty-one, it will be OBJ.
rved,provides that theMayor shall be elect
ed on the first Monday of April, whereas, the
Charter, which is not changed or repealed
provides that the election shall be held on
the first Saturday in April. But if it should
be decided that section first repeals that
portion of the City Charter and changes
the day of election for Mayor, then it fol-
lows that we are to have two charter eiec-
tions in each year-one on the first Monday
in April, for Mayor, and another on the
first Saturday of the same month for Alder
men, Clerk, Marshal, etc.
But it being admitted for the purpose
of the argument, that section sixty -one was
intended to apply to cities Of the first class.
even although they had been already incor-
porated by special charter. it then becomes
a question whether we are "a city of IT,
first class" With reference to this, section
eight provides as follows;
All cities which, at the last Federal csn-
sus, had. or now has, a population Of fifteen
thousand inha abitents shall be deemed cities
Of the first class, and all other cities shall
be deemed cities Of the second clan, etc.
For the purpose Of asesrtaining the pop.
ulation Of the sity in accordance with this
peeian, the Council ordered the As6saee &
proceed b tAks sessas af Ne city. H.
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