The elective officers of the City shall be a Mayor and six Aldermen,
all of whom hereafter shall be elected at large. All elective officers
shall be qualified electors of the City. All elective officers holding
office at the effective date of this amendment shall continue in office
until the terms for which they have been elected have expired. The
Aldermen shall hold their offices for four years, and the Mayor shall
hold office for two years and all elective officers shall continue
in office until their successors have been elected and qualified.
The Mayor and no more than three Aldermen shall be elected at each
biennial City election as hereinafter provided, and they shall take
office at the first annual meeting in January following their election.
[Amended 5-17-2004 by Ord. No. 455]
City elections shall be biennial being held on the first Tuesday
following the first Monday of November in each even-numbered year,
and the officers elected shall take office on the first Monday after
the first Tuesday in January following each election. All elections,
general and special, shall be conducted under the general election
laws of the State of Minnesota.
Any eligible person desirous of having his or her name placed
upon the official election ballot as a candidate for office to be
voted on in an election shall, not less than four weeks nor more than
six weeks prior to such election, file an affidavit with the City
Clerk-Treasurer stating his or her residence, that he or she is a
qualified voter in said City and the name of the office for which
he or she desires to be a candidate; and upon the payment of a fee
of $5 to the City Clerk-Treasurer, that officer shall accept such
affidavit and place the name of such candidate upon the official election
ballot without any political party designation. There shall be no
primary election, but the filing of such affidavits shall be prerequisite
to having the name of the candidate placed on the official ballot
for the City election.
Every officer of the City, elected or appointed, shall before
entering upon the duties of the office take and subscribe an oath
of office in substantially the following form:
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"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) to support the Constitution
of the United States and of this state and to discharge faithfully
the duties devolving upon me as ___________________ of the City of
Breckenridge to the best of my judgment and ability."
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Neither the Mayor nor any Alderman shall hold any other paid
municipal office or employment under the City nor, until one year
after the expiration of their terms of office, shall be appointed
to any paid office or employment under the City, which office or employment
was created or the salaries of which were increased during their term
as Mayor or Alderman.
The Council shall fix the compensation of all officers elected
or appointed under the Charter, and the compensation so fixed shall
not be changed, increased or diminished during the term for which
such officer is elected or appointed, except that the Council may
by resolution adopted by a majority vote of all of the Aldermen authorize
additional compensation for the officers other than the Mayor or Aldermen
when, in their judgment, such increase is warranted. The compensation
of the Mayor and Aldermen may only be increased by ordinance, and
any such ordinance increasing the compensation of the Mayor and Aldermen
shall not take effect until after the next succeeding municipal election.
The compensation of the Mayor and Aldermen may be paid in any number
of installments as the Council may determine.
A.
Whenever a vacancy occurs in any of the elective or appointive offices
specifically provided for in this Charter, such vacancies shall be
filled for the unexpired term of such official by resolution of the
Council, and any vacancies occurring in any appointive office provided
for in the Administrative Code may be filled in the manner provided
for in the Administrative Code.
B.
All appointive officers, except the City Clerk-Treasurer, and the
City Attorney, who may only be removed for cause, may be removed at
any time at the pleasure of the Council, and any police officer may
be removed at any time by action brought before the Police Civil Service
Commission.
C.
In addition, the Council shall have power by resolution to declare
that a vacancy exists in any elective office by reason of the failure
of such official without good cause to perform any of the duties of
such office, provided that such resolution shall set forth the reasons
for declaring a vacancy to exist in any elective office and fix a
time, place and hour when the Council will meet for public hearing
thereon and that such resolution shall be mailed to such officer at
his or her last known address and published at least once in the official
newspaper of the City not less than 10 days prior to the date of such
hearing or posted for 10 days in a public place if there is no legal
newspaper. The action of the Council in declaring such vacancy or
removing such official, following the mailing, publication or posting
of the resolution and the hearing, shall be final.
