CHAP. CCCVIII.-An Act to incorporate the City of Sacramento.
[Approved April 25, 1863.]

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

ARTICLE I.

SECTION 1. For the purpose of municipally governing that Boundaries. portion of the County of Sacramento lying within the following described limits, that is to say: Beginning at the junction of the centre of the channel of the American River with the centre of the channel of the Sacramento, and running thence down the centre of the channel of the Sacramento River to a point opposite the south line of Y street, as laid down on the official map or plan of Sacramento City on file in the Recorder's office of the County of Sacramento, and thence easterly in a straight line and along the south line of Y street to the east line of Thirtyfirst street, as laid down on said map, and thence northerly along the east line of Thirty-first street and an extension thereof, to the centre of the channel of the American River, and thence down the centre of the channel of the American River to the place of beginning. The inhabitants thereof are City incorhereby made and constituted a body politic and corporate, under perated. the name and style of the "City of Sacramento," by which name they shall be known in law, shall have perpetual succession, may make, break, alter, renew, and have a common seal, may sue and be sued, and defend, upon any bond, covenant, agreement, contract, matter, or thing whatever, of which the Courts of law or equity have jurisdiction; provided, however, that such Proviso. bond, covenant, agreement, contract, matter, or thing that is the cause of action, has been made or entered into after the passage of this Act; but, provided, further, that this clause shall not prevent said city from commencing and maintaining any action for the recovery of any taxes or license moneys that have heretofore accrued within the limits aforesaid for municipal purposes; and, provided, further, that no action shall be commenced or maintained against the city until the claim, account, or demand upon which it is founded has been presented to, and, either in whole or in part, been rejected by the Board of Trustees; and, provided, further, that none of the lands, tenements, hereditaments, appurtenances, taxes, revenues, franchises, actions, choses in action, property, or effects, of any kind or nature whatsoever, of said city, or of either or any of its trusts or uses, shall be attached, levied upon, or sold, in any process whatever, either original, mesne, or final; and said city may, under the restric- Powers and tions and limitations in this Act contained, purchase, or receive rights of city by legacy or donation, and hold, real estate and personal property, either for its own use, or in trust for Public Schools, or for a House of Refuge, or a Reform School, or an Orphan Asylum, or the Fire Department; and it may do and perform all such other matters and things, and exercise all such other powers, and enjoy all such rights, privileges, franchises, liberties, and immunities, and shall be subject to all such restrictions and lim

Powers and itations, as are or may be by this or any other law granted or rights of city prohibited to it; and the lands, tenements, hereditaments, appurtenances, moneys, taxes, assessments, liens, revenues, franchises, actions, choses in action, chattels, rights, claims, property, effects, and trusts, which on the thirtieth day of April, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, were vested in, belonging to, or held by "the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Sacramento,' and the lands, tenements, hereditaments, appurtenances, moneys, taxes, assessments, liens, revenues, franchises, actions, choses in action, chattels, rights, claims, property, effects, and trusts, which since the said thirtieth of April, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, have arisen or accrued, or been derived or acquired within the above described city limits for municipal purposes, or with municipal funds, are hereby transferred to, vested in, made the property of, and declared and determined to belong to, and to be held by "the City of Sacramento."

Trustees.

Powers of.

SEC. 2. The City of Sacramento shall be governed by a Board of Trustees, consisting of three members, each of whom shall be a resident and qualified elector of said city. Said Board shall have power except as hereinafter provided:

First-To create, if they deem necessary for a proper administration of the government, any or all of the following offices, and to elect the incumbents, prescribe their duties, and fix their respective terms of office, to wit: A Clerk of the Water Works, an Engineer of the Water Works, a Harbor Master, Chief of Police, eight Policemen, a City Surveyor; but no officer elected under the provisions of this subdivision shall receive any compensation exceeding fifteen hundred dollars per annum. The Trustees may also elect such number of special Policemen as they deem proper; provided, no special Policeman shall receive any compensation from the city; they shall also have the power to remove any incumbent appointed by the Board, and to fill vacancies; but in case of removal, the cause thereof shall be spread upon their minutes, if the officer removed shall demand it. Second-To make by-laws and ordinances not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States or of the State of California.

Third-To levy and collect taxes and assessments on all property within the city, both real and personal, made taxable by law for State or county purposes, which taxes shall not exceed one per cent per annum upon the assessed value of all property. Fourth-To sell, use, lease, control, improve, and take care of the real estate and personal property of the city.

Fifth-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 or to any part thereof, and to provide for the numbering of houses.

Sixth-To provide for the prevention and extinction of fires ; also, organize, regulate, and establish fire companies and a Fire Department.

Seventh-To regulate the landing and storage of gunpowder and other combustible materials.

Eighth-To determine what are nuisances, and prevent and Powers of remove the same.

Ninth-To create and establish a City Police, to prescribe their duties and compensation, and to provide for the regulation and government of the same.

Tenth-To fix and collect license tax on and to regulate theatres, 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, bar rooms, bankers, brokers, gold dust buyers, manufactories, livery stable keepers, express companies, and persons engaged in transmitting letters or packages, railroad and stage and steamboat companies, or owners, whose principal place of business is in said city, or who shall have an agency therein; to license and regulate auctioneers; to license, tax, regulate, prohibit, or suppress all tippling houses, dram shops, saloons, bars, bar rooms, raffles, hawkers, peddlers, pawnbrokers, refreshment or coffee stands, booths, and sheds; to prohibit and suppress, or to license and regulate, 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 heretofore specified, having regard to the amount of business done by each person, firm, or association thus licensed.

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

Twelfth-To establish a Board of Health, to prevent the introduction and spread of disease, and to establish a City Infirmary, and provide for the indigent sick.

Thirteenth-To prevent and restrain any riot, or riotous assemblage, or disorderly conduct, within said city.

Fourteenth-To impose, for the benefit of the city, fines, penalties, forfeitures, and punishments, for breaches to the city ordi

nances.

Fifteenth-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.

Sixteenth-To establish and regulate markets.

Seventeenth-To provide for conducting elections, establishing election precincts, appointing Judges, Inspectors, and Clerks

thereof.

Eighteenth-To build, alter, improve, keep in repair, and control the water front; to erect, regulate, and repair wharves, and to fix the rate of wharfage and transit levee dues upon vessels and commodities, and to provide for the collection thereof; to provide for the regulation of berth, landing, stationing, and removing of steamboats, sail vessels, rafts, and all other water crafts, fix the rate of speed at which steamboats may run along

Trustees.

Powers of
Trustees.

the water front of the city; to fix, alter and change the route of any railroad in the city, and regulate the speed at which the cars may run within the city limits, or any portion thereof.

Nineteenth-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.

Twentieth--To provide for arrest and compulsory working of vagrants.

Twenty-First-To license hackney coaches, cabs, omnibusses, drays, and other vehicles used for hire, and to regulate their stands and rates of fare, and to license or suppress runners for steamboats, taverns, or hotels.

Twenty-Second-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.

Twenty-Third-To make appropriations, 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 or any of its uses or trusts, and to determine, allow, and pay the salary, fees, or per centage 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 made, and that the same shall be paid out of the moneys appropriated to such Fund or Funds for the fiscal year; and in no case shall a liability be created or a warrant drawn against any Fund beyond the actual amount of money existing in such Fund wherewith to meet the same.

Twenty-Fourth-To license ferries and bridges under the law regulating the granting of such license.

Twenty-Fifth-To control, enlarge, and improve the cemetery heretofore belonging to the city, and to create other cemeteries, and to sell or lease lots therein, appoint a Superintendent or Superintendents thereof, and regulate and determine his or their duties and compensation; to control and regulate interments. and prohibit them within the city limits.

Twenty-Sixth-To establish fire limits, and prevent the erec tion of wooden buildings therein; to regulate the construction of buildings, sheds, awnings, and signs.

Twenty-Seventh-To provide for supplying the city with water, regulate the sale and distribution thereof.

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

Thirtieth To make real estate in said city liable for the construction of sidewalks, crossings, and all other street improve

ments adjacent thereto, and provide for the forced sale thereof for such purposes.

Thirty-First-To employ an Attorney or Attorneys at law if their services may be required.

ARTICLE II.

Officers and their Duties.

SEC. 3. The officers of the City of Sacramento shall be a First, officers. Second, and Third Trustee, who shall constitute a Board of Trustees; an Auditor, who shall be ex officio Clerk of the Board of Trustees; an Assessor, a Tax Collector, a Police Judge, and such other officers as may be appointed by the Board of Trustees. SEC. 4. The Board of Trustees shall be designated as follows: The First Trustee shall be President of the Board of Trustees, and general executive officer of the City Government. The Second Trustee shall be ex officio Street Commissioner. The Third Trustee shall be ex officio Superintendent of the Water Works.

SEC. 5. The President of the Board of Trustees shall be the Duties of head of the police and general executive head of the city, and officers. shall perform all the duties of those offices, and all such other duties, matters, and things, as by law or ordinance of the Board of Trustees may be imposed upon or required of him. He shall preside at the meetings of the Board of Trustees, when not necessarily absent. The minutes of each meeting shall be read and approved in open session, and then shall be signed by the President. It shall be the duty of the President to recommend to the Board of Trustees the adoption of all such measures connected with the police, health, cleanliness, and ornament of the city, and the improvement of its government and finances, as he shall deem expedient; to be vigilant and active in causing the laws and ordinances for the government of the city to be duly executed and enforced; to exercise a constant supervision and control over the conduct and acts of all subordinate officers; to receive and examine into all such complaints as may be preferred against any of them for violation and neglect of duty, and certify the same to the Board of Trustees; sign all warrants drawn upon the Treasury for the payment of money out of any of its Funds thereof; but before he shall sign any such warrants, he shall ascertain from the books of the Auditor that there is sufficient money in said Fund to pay the same, and he shall examine and see that the law, and every ordinance and order in regard to the account, claim, or demand, upon which the issuance of such warrant is predicated, has been strictly complied with in every particular, that the Auditor has made a proper entry of such account, and the proper minute of such warrant in his warrant book. He shall deliver to the Tax Collector, on or before the second Monday in April, the assessment or tax roll certified by the Auditor. He shall keep, in a book to be kept for that purpose, a statement of the total real and personal property assessed, and the amounts of the different taxes therein assessed; provided, however, that nothing in any part of this Act shall repeal, alter, amend, or prevent the operation of the Act of April twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled an Act