shall never be at any one time more than two Commissioners of the same political party. Those first appointed shall so classify themselves by lot at their first meeting, which shall be within ten days after their appointment, that they shall respectively go out of office at the end of one, two, three and four years after their appointment. No Fire Commissioner shall be eligible to any office under the City and County or State Government, during the term for which he shall have been appointed to the office of Fire Commissioner, nor for one year thereafter. Immediately after the qualification of the Commissioners they shall organize by electing one of their number President, who shall hold such office for the term of one year, and they shall appoint a Secretary, which said Secretary shall also be the Secretary of the Chief Engineer and head of the clerical force of said Department and bureaus thereof, and shall perform such other duties as said Board shall prescribe.

Said Board shall meet at least once in each week, or as often as the business of the Department may require, and all their meetings shall be public. The President or one of the other Commissioners shall daily visit the office of the Board.

SEC. 2. Said Board shall supervise and possess full power and authority over all funds, moneys and appropriations, made for the use of the Fire Department, and also of the organization, government and discipline of said Department and the bureaus thereof, and shall, subject to the laws and ordinances governing said Department, prescribe the duties of the officers, members, employees, and prescribe a uniform and badge of office to be worn by them. And said Board shall have control of all the property and equipments belonging to said Department.

SEC. 3. All officers, members and employees of said Department and the bureaus thereof shall be appointed by said Board of Fire Commissioners, and shall retain their positions during good behavior, and they shall be appointed from the force of the Fire Department and Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph, as constituted at the time of the adoption and enforcement of this Charter.

SEC. 4. All persons appointed in said Department must be citizens of the United States, of good character

for honesty and sobriety, able to read and write the English language, and residents of said city and county at least three years next preceding their appointment, at least twenty-one years of age, and must, before their appointment, pass a medical examination under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by said Board of Fire Commissioners, and upon such examination must be found in sound bodily health.

SEC. 5. No officer, member or employee of said Department or bureaus thereof, shall be appointed or removed because of his political faith or opinion, nor shall he be dismissed except for cause, nor until after a trial, as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 6. Said Board of Fire Commissioners shall see that the officers, members and employees of said Department and the bureaus thereof, faithfully discharge their duties, and that the laws, ordinances and regulations are carried into effect; and they shall make all rules and regulations necessary to secure discipline and efficiency in said Department and bureaus thereof; and to enable it to enforce such rules and regulations it may impose reasonable fines and forfeitures upon the officers, members and employees for a violation thereof, or such other punishment as said Board may by rule prescribe. Said fines and forfeitures imposed as aforesaid, shall be deducted from their monthly warrant or warrants, and shall be kept by the Treasurer in the Fireman's Relief and Pension Fund.

SEC. 7. The said Fire Department shall consist of three bureaus; one bureau shall be charged with the duties of extinguishing fires, the principal officer of which shall be called the Chief Engineer of the Department. Another bureau shall be charged with the execution of all laws and ordinances relating to the storage, sale and use of combustible materials and explosives and with the execution of all laws and codes relating to the construction and alteration of buildings. The principal officer shall be called Inspector of Combustibles and Buildings. Another bureau shall be known as the Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph, the principal officer of which shall be called the Superintendent of Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph, and shall have charge of the Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph, and, in addition thereto, shall enforce all laws and orders now existing or made

hereafter relating to the erection and construction of all electric wires in said city and county, public or private.

SEC. 8. No article whatever shall be delivered to said Department except upon a requisition signed by the Chief Engineer and Secretary of the Board of Fire Commissioners; and the Clerk of the Supply Department at the Fire Department Corporation Yard shall not deliver any supplies or stores pertaining to said Department to any officer, member or employee, except upon an order signed by the Chief Engineer and the Secretary of the said Board of Fire Commissioners; provided, that pending a conflagration such material or apparatus as may be required for the purpose of extinguishing such conflagration, may be withdrawn from the Fire Department Corporation Yard by order of the Chief Engineer, or principal officer in charge of the force of the Department at such conflagration.

SEC. 9. The Board of Supervisors of the city and county is hereby authorized and empowered to appropriate, allow and set aside annually, such sum or sums of money as the Board of Fire Commissioners determine necessary for the maintenance of the Department for the ensuing fiscal year.

SEC. 10. Every claim against said Fire Department Fund shall be approved by said Board of Fire Commissioners, and no claim of any character whatever against said fund shall be allowed or ordered paid until the same has been approved and passed by said Board of Fire Commissioners in open session, on a call of the ayes and noes, which approval shall be entered in the minutes of the Board and a certificate that the claim has been so approved shall be entered on the claim and signed by the President and Secretary of said Board before the same can be allowed by the Auditor or paid by the Treasurer.

CHAPTER II.

DUTIES OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER.

SECTION 1. The Chief Engineer of the Department shall determine and report to the Board of Fire Commissioners, as to the necessity of constructing cisterns, or erecting hydrants in particular localities, also as to the necessity for new or additional buildings, apparatus and fire boats and for materials, supplies, engines, hose,

horses, houses, hook and ladders, fire extinguishers and other apparatus, and also as to the alterations and repairs to the same and as to the material required for the efficient working of the various bureaus of said Department, also as to the number of companies, officers, members and employees necessary in the various bureaus thereof. But the action of the Chief Engineer with respect to the necessity of these matters, shall only be advisory to said Board of Fire Commissioners, and no increase nor decrease in the buildings, apparatus, material, companies, officers, members or employees or other matters shall be made until the same shall have been authorized by the Board of Fire Commissioners in open meeting.

CHAPTER III.

CONTRACTS.

SECTION 1. All contracts involving an expenditure of over five hundred dollars shall be let and ordered by the Board of Fire Commissioners by bids, and said Board shall supervise all said work done, and contracts let for the Fire Department and various bureaus thereof, except · work authorized by this Charter to be done under the supervision and control of other departments of the City Government; and said Board of Fire Commissioners shall see that all contracts awarded and work done for said Department are faithfully performed. The Board of Fire Commissioners shall, upon the awarding of any such contract, exact a bond that, in their judgment, is satisfactory and adequate for the prompt and faithful performance of such contract.

SEC. 2. The Board of Supervisors is authorized and required to provide and furnish for the use of said Board of Fire Commissioners, Fire Department and the various bureaus thereof, suitable rooms in some of the public buildings, for the transaction of the business of the said Department and the various bureaus thereof.

CHAPTER IV.

DUTIES OF THE COMMISSIONERS.

SECTION 1. The clerical force of said Department shall be in attendance at their headquarters daily, which shall be from nine A. M. until five P. M. during office hours.

The Chief Engineer and such officers as the Board of Fire Commissioners may prescribe, shall be at the headquarters of said Department, daily during office hours, when not otherwise engaged in their official duties.

SEC. 2. The Board of Fire Commissioners shall furnish such horses and vehicles to the Chief Engineer and other officers and employees of said Department or of the various bureaus thereof, as may be required in the performance of their official duties, and provide for the keeping of the same.

SEC. 3. The Board of Fire Commissioners is also authorized to establish and maintain at the Corporation Yard of said Department, a workshop, for making, repairing and improving the apparatus of said Department, and may allow and order paid out of the amount allowed to be expended for said purpose the necessary expense of said workshop and the salaries of the employees thereof.

SEC. 4. The Fire Department and the various bureaus thereof, shall consist of such officers, members and employees, and such engine, hose, hook and ladder, chemical engine, and water tower companies as may be organized and in operation in said Fire Department, and Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph, at the time of the adoption and enforcement of this Charter.

SEC. 5. The Board of Fire Commissioners shall divide said city and county into districts, and assign one of the battalion chiefs to each district, and he shall reside in the district to which he has been assigned, and shall be responsible for the condition of the apparatus and discipline of the officers and members therein.

SEC. 6. The Chief Engineer shall be the executive officer of said department and of the various bureaus thereof, and it shall be his duty and that of the Assistant Chief Engineers, and of the battalion chiefs, to see that all laws, orders, rules and regulations, in force in said city and county, or made by the Board of Fire Commissioners, concerning said department or the various bureaus thereof, are enforced.

SEC. 7. The Chief Engineer may suspend any subordinate officer, member or employee of said department or the various bureaus thereof, for incompetency or for any violations of the rules and regulations of said Department and shall forthwith report in writing, with