The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-12-11
HALL WE BE A CITY,.
The Matter of Incorporating as a City
Government Very Important
to Princeton People.
Some Provisions Of the New Charter
Under Which it is Proposed
to Incorporate. a4.

IloA - called IOr the sixth day OF next
January, which is not great ways off,
and5Hill be with u.s. Immediately after
the. holidays. The village council,
acting under the provisions of chapter
8 of.the general laws of 1895, has
passed an ordinance declaring that the
village of Princeton shall be changed
intoIa city government under the pro-
visions Wis ef of chapter 8 just mentioned.
This action on the part of the council
is subject to the vote of the people of
Princeton, who must say at the next
village election whether they want to
go ahead and organize as city or not.
There is one thing very certain and
that is that Princeton seems to have
reached the end Of its rope in the mat
ter of going ahead and making any
permanent Improvements under the
old charter which in its day and gener-
alton was no doubt all right, bat at |
this time it does not fill the bill. .,
The question of organizing as city
should be thoroughly discussed by all
Interested. and a mass meeting should
be held to talk over the matter, for it
is a very important one. The people
will want to know what they are to
vote for, and why they should vote for
a CD ange, if one is decided to be made.
g. H. Chabourne has been studying
the charter under which it is proposed
to incorporate as a city and he has
:madesa digest Of the main features of
the law, as applies to places the size Of
Princeton. The law provides that al
ter election, if the proposition to or,
ganize as a.city carries, the village re-.
corder shall notify the secretary Of
statesand after such official notifca-
tion'the city becomes Incorporated un--
der the act referred to and subject to
all it's provisions. After the village
government is changed into that of a
city the village officers shall exercise
all the powers conferred upon like Of
~ficers under the charter act and shall
perform and discharge all the duties
conferred and imposed upon the city
officials until the new city officers shall
have been elected and qualify for Of
fee. Under the charter act the
regular city election will occur the
first Tuesday after the first Monday in,
November of each odd numbered year
and all elective officers shall take their
Office the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in January. The elective Of
ficers shall be a mayor, treasurer, and
five aldermen at large, and the council
shall elect clerk or comptroller and
the treasurer and comptroller shall give
bonds for the faithful performance of
their duties. No members of the coun-
Gil shall have any interest in any city
work or contract, which disqualifies
them from acting in their official
capacity. The salaries of all officers
shall be fixed by the city council by a
three-fourths vote of all the members
of said council. No officer shall d.
rectly or indirectly receive any gift,
commission or gratuity or other valu-
able thing whatever under the penalty
provided in the corruption act. The
mayor is the executive officer, of the
city and shall approve all ordinances
passed by the council or veto them,
but the council has the power to pass
an ordinance over the mayors veto if
it sees fit. He also has command of
and control of the police force and may
appoint and remove them as he sees
fit in the exercise of his best judgment,
but the mayor of Princeton would have
little to do in this line of work as
police force in Princeton will not be a
real thing for many years to come.
The city council under the provisions
of the charter act has all the powers
that any city government has, and can
order paving, sewers, sidewalks, water
works, lights, street grading, sprink-
ling, ETC., in fact can do anything
that in the Judgment of the council
seems wise and necessary for the best
interest of the CITY, The council has
the power to order all the needed i'm
provements and assess AUDITING prop
erty to pay for the same. In other
words If the citizens are slow in get
ting hump on themselves in the way
OF keeping up with the times in i'm
provements the council can set the
pace and cause the fiddler to be paid
from the property identified. The pow
ers granted to city government cover
q wide range of improvements, and
there is nothing omitted from the