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Ch 7154 (No 348)

An Act to Establish the Municipality of the Town of Fellsmere Under the Commission System of Municipal Government and to Prescribe Its Jurisdiction and Powers.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

Section 1. A municipal corporation under the name of the "Town of Fellsmere" is hereby created and organized in the County of St. Lucie and State of Florida to exist in perpetuity.

Section 2. The territorial limits of the said Town are hereby defined and contained within the following description:

The entire Town of Fellsmere in the County of St Lucie and the State of Florida, according to the plat thereof filed in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court in and for the said County of St. Lucie on the 31st day of July A. D. 1911, and recorded among the public records of said St. Lucie County, in Plat Book 2. on pages 3 and 4, the said plat of said Town of Fellsmere being entitled "Plat of the Town of Fellsmere Subdivided by Fellsmere Farms Company (a Florida Corporation) Being a Subdivision of the Tract entitled the "Town of Fellsmere" As designated upon the Plat of Fellsmore Farms Company's Subdivision of all of the unsurveyed part of Township Thirty-one (31) South, Range Thirty-seven (37) East, in the County of St. Lucie, and State of Florida, said Township Plat having been recorded on the 7th day of July A.D. 1911, in the office of the clerk of the Circuit Court of said County in Plat Book Two on pages 1 and 2;

Also Tracts numbered 1432, 1433, 1434, 1435, 1436, 1437, 1438, 1439, 1440, 1441, 1352, 1353, and 1354 and the South half of Tract numbered 1339, in the said County of St. Lucie and State of Florida, of the Fellsmere Farms Company's subdivision of all unsuveyed part of Township Thirty-one (31) South of Range Thirty-seven (37) East, according to the plat of said subdivision filed in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court in and for said St. Lucie County on the 7th day of July A.D. 1911, and recorded among the public records of said St. Lucie County in Plat Book Two, on pages 1 and 2.

Together with the public road, a right of way, lying between the said Town of Fellsmere and the said Tracts numbered 1432 to 1439 inclusive.

Sec. 3. The said Town shall, concurrently with and in addition to the special powers and privileges granted by this Charter, have and exercise all general powers now vested, or which may be hereafter vested, in municipalities and their officers, under the general laws of the State of Florida, so far as such general laws do not conflict with this Charter.

Sec. 4. The Town is hereby empowered to acquire, by gift or purchase or otherwise, and to establish, construct, maintain and operate, for its municipal purposes, within or without its boundaries, public properties and public utilities of all kinds, including parks, play-grounds, streets, court houses, jails, cemeteries, baths, offices, schools, libraries, fire and police departments and stations, hospitals, asylums, poor houses, crematories, markets, street railways, telephone exchanges, sewerage systems, waterworks, gas and electric lighting and power plants, and ice plants, and to sell the use and products of same for profit to the people of said Town and its neighborhood.

Commission

Sec. 5. The powers of the government of the Town, legislative, executive and judicial, are hereby vested in a Commission, which shall be designated the "Commission of the Town of Fellsmere," subject to distribution and delegation of such power as provided in this Charter.

Sec. 6. The Commission shall concurrently with and in addition to the special powers and privileges vested in it by this Charter, have and exercise all powers now vested in aldermen, or town or city councils, of municipalities under the general laws of the State of Florida, so far as such general laws do not conflict with this Charter.

Sec. 7. The Commission shall consist of three elective Commissioners, of whom one shall be Chief Commissioner, another Vice-Commissioner, and the other Secretary Commissioner, and the term of office of each Commissioner shall be three years. Each Commissioner shall be a qualified individual male elector and freeholder of the Town throughout the term of his office.

C. W. Talmadge is hereby appointed Chief Commissioner to serve until the 2nd Wednesday of February 1916,

Geo. F. Green Vice Commissioner to serve until the 2nd Wednesday of February 1917, and Wallace Sherwood Secretary Commissioner to serve until the 2nd Wednesday of February 1918, unless recalled before the expiration of their said respective terms as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 8. In the absence or disability to act of the Chief Commissioner, the Vice-Commissioner shall perform all the duties of the office, including the judicial functions herein enumerated; and in the absence or disability of both, the Secretary Commissioner shall serve as Chief Commissioner and perform the duties of the office, including its judicial function.

Sec. 9. For the purpose of systematically handling the Town government, the Commission shall create the following departments, and one Commissioner shall have charge of each department; Executive Department, the Commission in charge thereof to be the Chief; Department of Finance, the Commissioner in charge thereof to be the Secretary; Department of Health and Public Works, the Commissioner in charge thereof to be the Vice-Commissioner.

Sec. 10. Each of the Commissioners is authorized to hold any other appointive office, such as Assessor and Collector, or two or more offices, and to perform any duties or functions necessary for the government of the Town, but they shall receive no additional compensation for such service.

Sec. 11. Each Commissioner, before entering upon the discharge of the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe to the following oath before some officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the State of Florida, viz: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United State and of the State of Florida against all enemies, domestic or foreign, and that I will bear true faith, loyalty and allegiance to the same, and that I am entitled to hold office under the Constitution and under the Charter of the Town of Fellsmere, and that I will faithfully perform all the duties of the office of ________ Commissioner on which I am about to enter, so help me God."

Sec. 12. Each Commissioner shall perform the duties of his office until his successor has been elected and has duly qualified.

Sec. 13. The regular meetings of the Commission shall be held at the town hall monthly on the second Tuesday of each month at an hour to be fixed by them. Special meetings may be called by any Commissioner.

Sec. 14. The Commission may enact rules of procedure and may prescribe penalties for the non-attendance or disorderly conduct of its members and enforce the same. A majority of the Commissioners shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time and under the provisions of ordinances or rules of procedure, may compel the attendance of absent members by imposition of fines and penalties.

Sec. 15. The Commission shall keep a record of its proceedings, and its meetings shall be public, except when sitting in executive session for special business.

Sec. 16. The Commission shall have the power, and is hereby authorized, to create such offices, and to provide by ordinance or resolution for the appointment of all such officers and employees, including a Manager, as may in their judgment to necessary for the good government of the Town. The Commission shall have the power at any time to abolish any office created by it. All employees, officers and officials of the Town, appointed by the Commission, shall hold office during the pleasure of the Commission, at such salaries as may be fixed by it, and may be removed from office and discharged by the Commission at any time, with or without cause. The Commission shall have power to prescribe the powers and duties of all officers and employees of the Town, subject to the provisions of this Charter. The Commission shall have the power to fix the annual salary of each of its Commissioners.

Sec. 17. All fees for services rendered that may be legally received by any Commissioner, or any appointive officer or employee, under the general laws of the State of Florida, or ordinances of the Town, shall be paid into the Town treasury.

Sec. 18. Accurate statements of the receipts and expenditures of all public monies shall be published monthly or quarterly by the Commission, either in a local newspaper or otherwise, for the information

of the people of the Town

Sec. 19. All public monies shall be deposited to the credit of a general account or accounts in the name of the Town of Fellsmere in a bank or banks to be designated by the Commission, and all public monies shall be disbursed only on check, to be signed by the Chief Commissioner, and countersigned by at least one other member of the Commission; but all monies proceeding from the sale of municipal bonds shall be handled separately from other public monies and shall be so deposited in a special account or accounts.

Sec. 20. Any officer or employee of the Town performing any duties in which he collects, receives or handles any public monies shall give bond to faithfully account for the same; provided this section does not apply to any banking depository.

Sec. 21. The Commission may require that any such bond shall be made by a responsible surety company duly authorized to do business in the State of Florida, and may pay the premium thereof from the monies of the Town.

Sec. 22. The Commission shall be the judge of the qualifications, elections and returns of its own members, and shall compose the canvassing board for the purpose of canvassing the returns of any general and special election. Such canvassing board shall meet at the town hall at ten o'clock in the forenoon of the day immediately succeeding the day of election and proceed to canvass the returns and declare the result thereof. Elections shall be by plurality of votes cast, except as herein otherwise provided.

Ordinances.

Sec. 23. Each ordinance ordained by the Commission shall embrace but one subject and matter properly connected therewith, which subject shall be briefly expressed in the title; and no ordinance shall be amended or revised by reference to its title only; but in such case the ordinance, as revised, or section, as amended, shall be re-ordained and published at length.