The Council shall appoint a Borough Solicitor for an indefinite
term and shall fix his compensation. The Borough Solicitor shall be
a person learned in the law and admitted to the Bar of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania with at least five years' experience in active
legal practice and at least three years' experience in legal
practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Council may remove the Borough Solicitor at any time, with
or without cause.
The Borough Solicitor shall be the chief legal officer of the
Borough. He shall:
1.
Furnish legal advice to the Council and to other officers of the
Borough, if so authorized by Council, concerning any matter or thing
arising in connection with the exercise of their official powers or
performance of their official duties and, except as otherwise directed
by the Council, supervise, direct and/or perform all the legal work
of the Borough.
2.
Upon the authorization of the Council, represent the Borough and
every Borough officer, department, board or commission in all litigation
or on matters before official regulatory agencies or other governmental
bodies and collect, by suit or otherwise, all debts, taxes and accounts
due to the Borough which shall be placed with him for collection by
any office, department, board or commission.
3.
Prepare or approve all contracts, bonds or other written instruments
in which the Borough is concerned and approve all surety bonds required
to be given for protection of the Borough.
4.
At the direction of the Council, investigate any alleged violation
of ordinances of the Borough and take such steps and adopt such means
as may be reasonably necessary or appropriate to enforce or cause
the enforcement of such ordinances.
5.
Upon the request of the Council or the chairman of any committee
of the Council, prepare or assist in preparing any ordinance or resolution
for presentation before the Council.
6.
Have all necessary incidental powers to perform and exercise any
of the duties and functions of his office as set forth in this Charter
or as lawfully delegated to him.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to prevent the Borough
from retaining alternate or supplementary legal counsel to perform
specialized or temporary legal services for the Borough as the Council
from time to time deems necessary; nor shall this article be construed
to prevent any officer of the Borough or Borough department, board
or commission from retaining separate legal counsel where such an
act is specifically authorized by the Council.
The Borough Solicitor shall have the right of access at all
times to the records of any office, department, board or commission
of the Borough.
