Elected officials shall be citizens of the United States and registered electors of the municipality throughout the officials' term. Members of Council shall be residents of the wards from which they are elected throughout the member's term.
No incumbent member of Council shall be made ineligible to hold office by reason of redistricting during a term of office, but shall continue to represent the ward from which originally elected for the remainder of the term for which elected.
Any person otherwise eligible to hold the office of member of Council shall not be made ineligible by reason of redistricting but during the term following redistricting such person may represent the ward in which originally eligible.
No person shall be eligible to seek office in more than one (1) ward at any time.
No elected municipal official shall hold any other elective governmental or political office or municipal employment while serving as an elected official. Nor shall any former elected municipal official be employed or appointed by the municipality in any compensated capacity until two (2) years after the expiration of the term for which such official was elected, except when such official held an office eliminated by ordinance.
Elected delegates to national political conventions shall not be considered elected officers in this section.
Elected officials shall not at any time authorize, approve or ratify any payment or expenditure made in excess of any budget appropriation. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to prevent Council, during any fiscal year, from adopting, by ordinance, new appropriations, supplementary appropriations and transfers from one appropriation to another.
The office of an elected official shall become vacant upon death, resignation, removal from office in any manner authorized by law or this Charter or forfeiture of office or for failure to assume such office after election thereto within forty-five (45) days after the commencement of the term thereof. An elected official shall forfeit office if the official:
(a) 
Lacks at any time during term of office any qualification for the office prescribed by this Charter or by law; or
(b) 
Violates any express prohibition of this Charter; or
(c) 
Is convicted of a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude or misbehavior in office; or
(d) 
Being a member of Council or the Mayor, is absent from at least three (3) consecutive business meetings of the Council, unless excused by Council. In the case of failure of attendance, the Council shall declare such office vacant at least ten (10) days before the same shall be filled by appointment.
(e) 
Is found to have committed an act or acts which constitute malfeasance in office, misfeasance in office or violation of the oath of office. For purpose of this section:
(1) 
"Malfeasance in office" means an unlawful act committed willfully by any elective public officer;
(2) 
"Misfeasance in office" means the fulfillment of a statutorily imposed duty in an unlawful or improper manner by an elective public officer;
(3) 
"Violation of the oath of office" means the neglect or failure by an elective public officer to perform a duty imposed by law.
(a) 
If a vacancy shall occur in any elective office in the municipality for any reason set forth in this Charter, the remaining members of the Council shall fill such vacancy by appointing a person eligible under the Charter to hold such office until a successor is elected at the next municipal election. Such successor will serve the remainder of the unexpired term. If the Council shall fail to fill such vacancy within forty-five (45) days after the vacancy occurs, then the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County shall, upon petition of the Council or of any five (5) electors of that ward of the municipality whose Council seat is vacant, fill the vacancy in such office by the appointment of an eligible resident of the municipality for the unexpired term of office.
(b) 
Whenever three (3) or more vacancies exist in Council, upon a petition of the remaining member of Council or of any five (5) electors of the municipality being filed with the Court, such vacancies shall be filled by the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in the following manner:
(1) 
The Court shall appoint eligible residents of the municipality to serve temporarily in such vacant positions until a successor is selected at a special or municipal election.
(2) 
The Court shall order a special election to be held to fill such vacancies for the unexpired terms of office, except that this Court shall order the vacancies filled at the next municipal election if a special election cannot be held more than three (3) months prior to the next municipal election.
(c) 
The Council shall be the judge of the election and eligibility of its members.
(d) 
Except for alleged forfeitures of office under this Article, that is Section 2403 (a) and (e), the Council shall be the judge of the grounds for forfeiture of their office and for that purpose shall have the power to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths and require the production of evidence. A member charged with conduct constituting grounds for forfeiture of office on grounds of Subsections (b), (c) and (d) of Section 2403 shall be entitled to a public hearing on demand, and notice of such hearing shall be published in one (1) or more newspapers of general circulation in the municipality at least one (1) week in advance of the hearing. Decisions made by the Council under this section shall be subject to review by the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County.
(e) 
The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County shall have jurisdiction and be the judge of the grounds for forfeiture of office where a complaint, in writing, by at least one hundred (100) registered electors of the municipality, is filed with the Court alleging forfeiture of office under Subsections (a) or (e) of Section 2403 of Article XXIV of this Charter. The Court shall issue upon such officer or officers named an order to show cause why their office or offices should not be declared vacant and another appointed in their stead.
All elected and appointed officials, prior to assuming office, shall take and shall sign an oath of office as shall from time to time be prescribed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Such oath may be taken and signed before the Mayor of the municipality or before a person authorized to administer oaths, and no person shall be permitted to assume such office until the oath, in written form, is filed with the municipality.
No elected or appointed municipal officer or employee shall influence or attempt to influence the making of or supervise in any manner or deal with any contract or municipal matter in which said person has an adverse or special interest.
Any elected or appointed municipal officer who knows or in the exercise of reasonable diligence could know that that officer is interested financially, directly or indirectly, in any municipal contract or has an adverse or special interest in any municipal matter shall notify Council thereof. Any such contract or municipal matter shall not be acted upon or approved by Council except by an affirmative vote of at least three (3) of the members thereof. When the interested officer is a member of Council, such officer shall refrain from voting on said contract or municipal matter.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to cases where such officer is an employee of the person, firm or corporation involved in a municipal contract or municipal matter in a capacity with no possible influence on the transaction and in which such person cannot possibly be benefited thereby, either financially or in any other material matter.
Any elected or appointed municipal officials who shall knowingly violate the foregoing conflict sections shall forfeit their offices and any employee doing so shall be dismissed.
The Charter shall not give any power or authority to diminish any rights or privileges of any present or former municipal employee entitled to benefits in any pension or retirement system.
An employee holding a municipal position at the time this Charter takes full effect, who was serving in that same or a comparable position at the time of its adoption, shall not be subject to competitive tests as a condition of continuance in the same position, but in all other respects shall be subject to the personnel system established pursuant to Articles XVI and XVII.
This Charter may be amended in accordance with the Home Rule Charter and Optional Plans Law, as now or hereafter amended, reenacted or supplied.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 Pa.C.S.A. § 2901 et seq.
It is the intention of the electors of the municipality that if this Charter cannot take effect in its entirety because of the judgment of any court of competent jurisdiction holding invalid any part or parts hereof, the remaining provisions of the Charter shall be given full force and effect as completely as if the part or parts held invalid had not been included herein.
If any part or parts of this Charter require the judgment or approval of any court of competent jurisdiction and are held valid, such part or parts shall remain part of the approved Charter.