Branch of the City Council, and vote on all questions, and
perform such other duties as may be prescribed by ordinances
not inconsistent with this Article. He shall be paid a salary
of three thousand dollars per annum, payable monthly. A
joint convention of the two branches of the City Council, by
a majority vote of all the members elected to the City Coun-
cil, may remove from office the President of the Second
Branch for incompetency, wilful neglect of duty or misde-
meanor in office, upon charges preferred by the Mayor, and
after notice of such charges is given to the President of the
Second Branch, and an opportunity afforded him to be heard.

215. The qualifications of electors of members of the City
Council shall be the same as those of electors of the Mayor.
All vacancies in the First Branch shall be filled without delay
by the First Branch from the ward in which the said vacancy
occurs, by an election of a person possessing the qualifications
hereinbefore prescribed, to fill the unexpired term of the
former incumbent. If a vacancy occurs in the Second Branch,
then said Branch shall forthwith fill said vacancy by the elec-
tion of a person possessing 'the qualifications hereinbefore
prescribed from the City at large or from the proper Council-
manic District, if there be such District at that time.

216. The City Council shall meet on the Thursday next
after the third Monday in May, in the year Eighteen hundred
and ninety-nine, and upon the same day in each year there-
after, and may continue in session for one hundred and twenty
days, and no longer, in each year; provided, that they may,
by ordinance or resolution, so arrange their sittings that the
same may be held continuously or otherwise, and provided
further, that the Mayor may convene the City Council in

ARTICLE XI-A.*

LOCAL LEGISLATION.

SECTION 1. On demand of the Mayor of Baltimore and City
Council of the City of Baltimore, or on petition bearing the
signatures of not less than 20 per cent of the registered voters
of said city or any county (provided, however, that in any
case 10,000 signatures shall be sufficient to complete a peti-
tion), the Board of Election Supervisors of said city or coun-

* Added by Chapter 416, 1914, ratified November 2, 1916.