CHAP. CLXXXIV.-An Act to amend an Act to incorporate the City of Nevada, and all Acts supplemental thereto, and to repeal all Acts in conflict herewith.

[Approved March 12, 1878.]

The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and
Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. The people of the City of Nevada shall be a city of body politic and corporate, under the style of the "City of Nevada. Nevada," and by that name they shall have succession, may complain and defend in all Courts and in all actions and proceedings, purchase, receive, and hold property, and sell or otherwise dispose of the same, for their common benefit. SEC. 2. The area of the City of Nevada shall be the south Boundaries. half of the northeast quarter, and the southeast quarter of section twelve, and the north half of the northeast quarter of section thirteen, in township sixteen north of range eight east, and the lot numbered two, and the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter, and the lots numbered three and four, and the east half of the southwest quarter of section seven, and the lot numbered one, and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section eighteen, in township sixteen north, range nine east, Mount Diablo base and meridian, containing six hundred and forty-four and sixty-eight onehundredths (644) acres.

ment.

SEC. 3. The corporate powers and duties of the City of GovernNevada shall be vested in a Board of Trustees, to consist of five members, who shall be elected by the qualified electors of the city. There shall be an annual city election, held on the first Monday of May, at which elections there shall be elected, as follows: In the year eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, three members of the Board of Trustees, and in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-nine there shall be elected two members of the Board of Trustees, and each even year thereafter there shall be elected three Trustees, and each odd year thereafter there shall be elected two Trustees, who shall serve for two years, and until their successors are elected and qualified. At said annual election Election of there shall also be elected a Marshal, Assessor, and Treas- officers. urer, who shall hold their offices for the term of one year, and until their successors are chosen and qualified. At the last regular meeting of the present Board of Trustees prior to the first Monday of May, eighteen hundred and seventyeight, the present Trustees shall, by lot, choose two of their number, who shall serve for the further term of one year, and until their successors are elected and qualified.

SEC. 4. The Board of Trustees shall assemble within ten Meeting of days after their election and choose a President and Clerk Trustees. from their number; they shall, by ordinance, fix the times and places of holding their stated meetings, and may be convened at any time by the President.

SEC. 5. At all meetings of the Board a majority of the Trustees shall constitute a quorum to do business, and a

Powers and duties of Board of

Trustees.

smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as the Board previously, by ordinance, may have prescribed.

SEC. 6. The Board of Trustees shall judge of the election. returns, and qualifications of their own members, and determine contested elections of all city officers. They may establish rules for their own proceedings, punish any member or other person for disorderly behavior in their presence, and, with the concurrence of four of the Trustees, expel any member-but not a second time for the same cause; they shall keep a journal of their proceedings, and at the desire of any member shall cause the yeas and nays to be taken in any questions and entered in the journal; and their proceedings shall be public.

SEC. 7. In case of a vacancy in the Board of Trustees, by resignation or otherwise, the remaining Trustees shall have power and be required to fill such vacancy at their next regular meeting.

SEC. 8. The Board of Trustees shall have power to make such by-laws and ordinances, not repugnant to the Constitution and laws of the United States and of this State, as they shall determine.

Second-To levy and collect taxes and assessments on all property within the city, both real and personal, made taxable by law for State and county purposes; provided, that said tax shall not exceed one-half of one per centum on the assessment valuation thereof.

Third-To sell, use, lease, control, improve, and take care of the real estate and personal property of the city.

Fourth-To lay out, extend, and alter streets and alleys, provide for the grading, draining, cleaning, repairing, widening, lighting, or otherwise improving the same, and for the construction, repair, regulation, and preservation of sidewalks, bridges, drains, curves, gutters, and sewers, and to prevent or remove obstructions thereto and to any part thereof.

Fifth-To provide for the prevention and extinction of fires. Sixth-To regulate the storage of gunpowder and other combustible materials.

Seventh-To determine what are nuisances, and prevent and remove the same.

Eighth-To create and establish a city police, to prescribe their duties and compensation, and to provide for the regulation and government of the same.

Ninth-To fix and collect license tax on and to regulate theaters, melodeons, balls, concerts, dances, and all theatrical or melodeon performances, and performances of any kind for which an admission fee is charged, or which may be held in any house where wines or liquors are sold to the participators; circuses, shows, billiard tables, bowling alleys, and all exhibitions and amusements; to fix and collect a license tax on all taverns, hotels, restaurants, saloons, barrooms, bankers, brokers, gold dust buyers, manufactories, livery stable keepers, express companies, and persons engaged

Board of

in transmitting letters or packages, railroad and stage com- Powers and panies, or owners whose principal place of business is in said duties of city, or who shall have an agency therein; to license and Trustees. regulate auctioneers; to license, tax, regulate, prohibit, or suppress all tippling houses, dram shops, saloons, bars, barrooms, raffles, hawkers, peddlers, pawnbrokers, refreshment or coffee stands, booths, and sheds; to prohibit and suppress all cock-fights, bear, or bull, or badger baits, dog-fights, or exhibition or show of any animal or animals; also, to prohibit or suppress all gaming and all gambling or disorderly houses; also, to regulate, prohibit, or suppress all houses of ill-fame, and to fix and collect a license tax upon all professions, trades, or business not hereinbefore specified, having regard to the amount of business done by each person, firm, or association thus licensed.

Tenth-To provide for all necessary public buildings, parks, or squares necessary or proper for the use of the city.

Eleventh-To prevent and restrain any riot, riotous assemblages, or disorderly conduct within the city.

Twelfth-To impose, for the benefit of the city, fines, penalties, forfeitures, and punishments for breaches of the city ordinances.

Thirteenth-To provide for the formation of a chain-gang for persons convicted of crimes or misdemeanors, and to their proper employment for the benefit of the city.

Fourteenth-To provide for conducting elections, establishing election precincts, appointing Judges, Inspectors, and Clerks thereof.

Fifteenth-To examine, either in open session or by committee or commission, books, papers, vouchers, reports, and statements of the several officers, or any other person having the custody, care, management, collection, disbursement, or control of any moneys or property belonging, appertaining, or appropriated to the city or either of its funds, trusts, or

uses.

Sixteenth-To provide for the arrest and compulsory working of vagrants.

Seventeenth-To examine and liquidate all accounts against the city, and to allow or reject the same or any part thereof, as it is found legal or illegal; provided, that no action shall be commenced or maintained against the city until the claim, account, or demand upon which it is founded shall have been first presented to, and either in whole or in part rejected by the Board of Trustees.

Eighteenth-To make appropriation, examine and audit, reject or allow the accounts of all officers or other persons having the care, management, collection, or disbursement of any money collected for, belonging, appertaining, or appropriated to the city for any of its uses or trusts, and to determine, allow, and pay the salary, fees, or percentage which such officer or other person may by law be entitled to receive, except as otherwise herein provided; to make contracts and agreements for the use and benefit of the city, such contracts and agreements in all cases to specify the fund or funds out of which payment for the same is to be

duties of

Board of

Trustees.

Powers and made; provided, that said Board of Trustees shall not contract any liabilities, either by borrowing money, loaning the credit of the city, or contracting debts which, singly or in the aggregate, shall exceed the sum of two thousand dollars. Nineteenth-To establish fire limits, and prevent the erection of wooden buildings therein; to regulate the construction of buildings, sheds, awnings, and signs.

City officers.

Twentieth-To provide for supplying the city with water, and regulate the sale and distribution thereof; provided, that this provision shall in no manner alter or affect any contract or contracts heretofore made with any party or parties, or corporation, for the supplying of said city or any part thereof with water, but all such contracts shall be and remain in full force and virtue.

Twenty-first-To prevent any or all domestic animals from running at large within the city limits or any part thereof, or from being kept therein; to control and regulate slaughter houses, or to provide for their exclusion from the city limits or any part thereof.

Twenty-second-To provide for the care, feeding, and clothing of the city prisoners.

Twenty-third To make real estate in said city liable for the construction of sidewalks, crossings, and all other street improvements adjacent thereto, and to provide for the forced sale thereof for such purposes.

Twenty-fourth-To levy and collect annually a poll tax of not exceeding one dollar per annum on every male inhabitant of twenty-one years of age and upwards; to levy and collect the road tax, established by general law, on every able-bodied male inhabitant between the ages of twenty-one and fifty years, said tax to be faithfully applied to road and street purposes within the incorporate limits of the city.

Twenty-fifth-To impose and collect a tax on dogs, not exceeding six dollars per annum on every dog found running at large within the incorporated limits of the city.

Twenty-sixth-To provide the impounding of swine, cattle, and other animals.

Twenty-seventh-To levy annually a tax of twenty cents on each one hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of property within the said city, for support and maintenance of companies having for their object the protection of the city against fires; provided, that whatever sums of money shall remain in the Fire Fund on the first day of July of each year shall be paid into the General Fund of the city treasury. Twenty-eighth-To employ an attorney or attorneys-at-law, if their services be required.

SEC. 9. The officers of the city shall be five Trustees, who shall constitute a Board of Trustees, an Assessor, a Treasurer, and a City Marshal. The Marshal shall be ex officio Collector of licenses and taxes, general or special, levied and collectable for the use or benefit of said city.

SEC. 10. The Trustees shall receive no compensation whatever for their services as such. The Marshal, Assessor, and Treasurer, and policemen, shall receive such compensation as may be determined by the Board of Trustees.

ordinances.

SEC. 11. The Board of Trustees may impose fines for the Violation of breach of their ordinances, not exceeding the sum of one hundred dollars for any one breach of any ordinance, which fine may be recovered before any Justice of the Peace by suit in the name of the "City of Nevada," and collected by execution. They may also impose penalties of imprisonment for the breach of their ordinances, not exceeding ten days for any one offense, in the discretion of the Justice of the Peace by whom the punishment is assessed. All fines collected in pursuance of this Act shall, by the officer collecting the same, be paid over to the Treasurer of the city at the end of each month.

electors.

SEC. 12. Any person shall be qualified to hold any city qualified office, or vote for any city officer, who shall be a qualified elector under the Constitution and laws of this State, and who shall have resided in the city thirty days next preceding the election.

SEC. 13. All officers of the city, before entering upon the Oath and duties of their office, shall take the oath prescribed by the bonds. Constitution, and the Treasurer, Marshal, and Assessor shall give bonds for the faithful performance of the duties of their office, payable to the City of Nevada, to be approved by the Board of Trustees, in such penalties as the Board, by ordinance, may prescribe. If, from any cause, such bond shall have become insufficient in the opinion of the Board, they may require of any such officer such additional bonds as they may think necessary.

pay taxes;

SEC. 14. If any person fail to pay any tax levied upon his Failure to real or personal property, the Collector of the city taxes may how colrecover the same by suit, in the name of the city, before lected. any Court of competent jurisdiction, together with all costs of suit, or may enforce the collection of such tax by seizing and selling the property of the party delinquent in the mode prescribed by law for the collection of State and county taxes; and any property so sold shall be sold subject to all the provisions, and the officer so selling shall have all the rights and be subject to all the duties prescribed by law for the collection of State and county taxes.

SEC. 15. The President of the Board of Trustees shall, on Statement the first Monday of July and January of each year, make of finances, out a full and correct statement of all moneys received and expended during the six months next preceding, and shall cause such statement within ten days thereafter to be published in some newspaper published in the city. For any Penalty. neglect to comply with the provisions of this section he shall forfeit the sum of two hundred dollars, to be recovered, with costs, in any Court of competent jurisdiction, to the use of the city.

of by-laws.

SEC. 16. The Board of Trustees shall cause all by-laws Publication and ordinances of the city to be published in some newspaper published in the city at least two weeks before the said by-laws and ordinances shall be carried into effect.

SEC. 17. Should any of the Trustees or any other city Vacation of officer remove from the city, absent himself therefrom for office.