until the first Tuesday in June, 1898, except the person voted for for councilmen, who shall hold for two years, and until their successors are elected and qualified. The qualifications of said officers to be hereafter elected shall be the same as those of voters as defined in Section 2, Article 3, Laws of Florida, approved May 30, 1893. SEC. 2. That Section 1, Article 3, Chapter 4297, Laws of Florida, approved May 30, 1893, be amended so as to read as follows. the 1897. Amendment. under this act. Officers to be Section 1. The first election under this act shall be held on the first Tuesday in May, 1898; and an election shall be First election held annually thereafter on the first Tuesday in May of each year. The terms of officers so elected shall begin on the first Tuesday in June thereafter. At said election there shall be chosen by the qualified electors of said city, a Mayor, a City elected. Tax Collector, a City Tax Assessor, a City Clerk and Treasurer, and three or four councilmen, as may be necessary, same being by classes. The councilmen of the first class, consisting of four members, shall be elected at the general election held in May, 1898, and their successors shall be elected bi-ennially thereafter; those of the second class, consisting of three members, shall be elected at the general election in May, 1899, and their successors shall be elected biennially thereafter. SEC. 3. That Section 3, Article 3, Chapter 4297, Laws of Florida, approved May 30, 1893, be amended so as to read as follows: voting. All voting at general or special elections shall be by ballot, either written or printed; and the candidate receiving the Manner of highest number of votes cast shall be declared elected. Said city shall have power to pass ordinances prescribing the form of ballots to be used, and the manner of calling, conducting Form of ballot. canvassing and making returns of said elections, any general State law touching elections generally to the contrary notwithstanding. SEC. 4. That Section 2, of Article 8, of Chapter 4297, Laws of Florida, approved May 30, 1893, be amended so as read as follows: Entorcing taxes. Section 2. For enforcing the collection of taxes due the city it shall succeed to all rights by way of forfeiture or pur- collection of chase that the State would were the taxes due the State; said rights to be exercised in like manner, and the transfer of all lands in all cases to be directly to the city. Any tax assessment made by said city shall be a lien upon all the property, real or personal, of the owner, situated in the corporate limits of said city, and such lien shall attach to and follow such property into whose hands soever the same may go; and ments to be a lien on property Tax assess 1897. License tax. Repair of sidewalks. Paving streets. such taxes may be collected by seizure and sale of such property, or such lien may be enforced by action at law or suit in equity in any court having jurisdiction of such cause. SEC. 5. That Section 3, of Article 8, Chapter 4297, Laws of Florida, approved May 30, 1893, be amended so as to read as follows: Section 3. The City Council may fix the license tax for any business, trade or occupation carried on within the limits of said city at such price or figure as it may deem proper, provided that where such trade, business or occupation is axed by the State, such license tax shall not exceed fifty per cent. of the price or figure charged by the State under any law now in force or which may hereafter be passed. SEC. 6. That Section 1, of Article 9, Chapter 4297, Laws of Florida, approved May 30, 1893, be amended so as to read as follows: Section 1. The council may, by ordinance, require abutting owners or occupants of land to construct and keep in repair sidewalks alongside their lots; and upon the owner or cccupant's failing to construct or repair the same, the city may lay or repair them and make the cost thereof a lien on the land abutting or fronting such sidewalk. The City Coun cil may provide for paving the streets, and make one-half of the cost thereof a lien upon the land abutting or fronting the street so paved, the same to be apportioned to the lands on each side of such street, such lien to be enforcible by action at law or suit in equity in such court as may have jurisdiction over such causes. All accounts or assessments heretofore made by the council or its officers or agents for street ments validated paving or sidewalks are hereby validated and ratified, and the time for collecting the same and the lien therefor is extended for the period of one year from the approval of this Former assess act. SEC. 7. All laws in conflict herewith are hereby repealed. SEC. 8. This act shall take effect from and after its passage and approval by the Governor. Approved June 4, 1897. CHAPTER 4644-[No. 130.] AN ACT to Legalize the Incorporation of the Town of Palatka Heights, in the County of Putnam, and to Declare the Incorporation of the Town of Palatka Heights Valid and of Full Force and Effect. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: SECTION 1. That all the acts done and performed in the organization and incorporation of the town of Palatka Heights, in the county of Putnam, State of Florida, are declared to be valid and legal in law and equity, and to be considered binding by the laws of the State of Florida. SEC. 2. That all acts done and performed by the Board of Aldermen, Mayor, Marshal and other officers of said incorporation of the town of Palatka Heights, are declared to be of full force and validity and binding in law and equity. Approved June 3, 1897. CHAPTER 4645.-[No. 131.] AN ACT to Authorize the City of Palatka to Borrow Money by Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: SECTION 1. That the city of Palatka, Florida, shall have power to borrow money by bonding said city for the purpose Power to of purchasing or erecting waterworks, and establishing a system of sewerage. borrow money. before issuing bonds. SEC. 2. Before issuing bonds for said purpose, the same must be authorized in the following manner: The City Council shall by ordinance provide for an election to be held, Requirements at which only freeholders of said city, who are equally qualified to vote at city elections, shall be entitled to vote; and a majority of said votes actually cast at said election shall authorize said city to issue bonds for said purpose. At said election the ballot shall be: For the issue of bonds; against the issue of bonds. Total amount SEC. 3. The total amount of bonds that may be issued under this act shall not exceed one hundred thousand dollars. of bonds. SEC. 4. No bond issued under this act shall bear interest at a greater rate than six per cent. per annum, payable semiannually. Approved May 29, 1897. Interest on bonds. 1897. Municipal corporation abolished. Title, rights and ownership of property, etc. CHAPTER 4646.-[No. 132.] AN ACT to Abolish the Present Corporation of the Town of High Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: SECTION 1. That the municipal corporation of the town of High Springs, in the county of Alachua, is hereby abolished, and all acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed, subject to Section eighteen (18) of this act. SEC. 2. That the title, rights and ownership of property, uncollected taxes, dues, claims, judgments, decrees and choses in action of whatever kind held or owned by the town of High Springs, shall pass to and be vested in the corporation which is hereafter organized to succeed said. town. SEC. 3. That no obligation or contract of said town shall Obligations not be impaired by this change, but all the debts and obligations of said town shall continue unimpaired. to be impaired. Boundary of municipality. Powers of corporation. Town to have and use a seal. SEC. 4. That a municipality to be called the town of High Springs, Florida, is hereby established in Alachua county, the boundaries of which shall be as follows, to wit: Beginning at the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of section two (2), township eight (8), range seventeen (17), and running from thence north one and one-fourth (14) miles; thence west one-half mile (); thence north onefourth (4) miles; thence west one and one-fourth (14) miles; thence south one and one-half (1) miles; thence east to point of beginning. SEC. 5. That said corporation or municipal government shall have perpetual succession, shall sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, and may purchase, lease, rent, require, receive and hold property, real personal and mixed, within and beyond the corporate limits of said town for any public purpose that the Mayor and council may deem proper and necessary; and may sell, lease, rent or otherwise dispose of such property for the benefit of the town, to the same extent as natural persons may. Said town shall have and use a common seal and change the same at pleasure. Said town in the exercise of its municipal functions shall enjoy all the powers and privileges granted to municipal governments by the Constitution and Laws of Florida. SEC. 6. That the officers of said town shall be as follows: One Mayor, five Aldermen, Clerk and Treasurer (one person), Marshal and Tax Collector (one person), a Tax Assessor and such other officers as may be elected or appointed in the purd suance of law. No person shall be eligible to any of saioffices, who shall not be a citizen of the State of Florida, and who shall not be a resident and legal voter of said town. 1897. Offoers of the town. of officers. SEC. 7. That the term of office of all officers, except councilmen, shall be for a period of one year from the date of their Term of office election, or until their successors are elected and qualified. That the term of office of councilmen shall be as hereinafter provided. That the two members of the present council of said town, who are entitled by the ordinance or ordinances regulating the terms of officers heretofore elected in said town, to continue in office for a period of one year, following the first Tuesday after the first Monday in December, A. D. 1897, shall so continue in office for said period. That at the first regular election held under this act,three persons shall be elected as councilmen. The two candidates receiving the highest First regulir number of votes at said election shall hold their offices for two years from the date of their elecction, and the other candidate receiving the next highest vote shall hold his office for one year; and that at each succeeding regular election thereafter three persons shall be elected as councilmen, the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes at such election shall hold their offices for two years, and the other candidate receiving the next highest vote shall hold his office one year from the date of their election, or until their succors are elected and qualified. SEC. 8. That the Mayor and council shall have power by ordinances to levy and collect taxes upon all property within the corporate limits of said town, and to levy a license tax. and collect the same upon all kinds of business occupations and professions taxable under the laws of the State of Florida, provided the amount so levied and collected for privileges shall not exceed fifty per cent. of the tax imposed by the State for such privileges; to appropriate money and provide for the payment of the debts of said town, and also for the debts of the municipal government of which this is the successor; to enact all such laws and ordinances as may be. expedient and neccessary for the preservation of the public peace and morals, and for the suppression of riots and dis-orderly assemblies, and for the good order and government of the town, and to impose such pains, penalties and forfeitures as may be neccessary to carry such laws and ordinances into effect, provided such ordinances shall not conflict with election Powers of Council |