SEC. 4 The regular sessions of the City Council of
Baltimore (which shall be annual), shall commence on the
third Monday of January of each )ear, and shall not
continue more than ninety davs, exclusive of Sundays, but
the Mayor may con\ ene the C ity Council in extra session
whenever, and as often as it may appear to him that the
public good ma) require, but no called or extra session
shall last longer than twenty days, exclusive of Sundays

SEC. 5. No person elected and qualified as Mayor, or
as a member of the City Council, shall during the term for
which he was elected, hold any other office of profit or trust,
created, or to be created, by the Mayor and City Council of
Baltimore, or b\ any Law relating to the Corporation of
Baltimore, or hold any employment, or position, the corn
pensation of which shall be paid, directly or indirectly, out
of the City Treasury, nor shall any such person be interested,
directly or indirectly, in any contract, to which the City is a
party, nor shall it be lawful for any person, holding any office,
under the City, to be interested, while holding such office,
in any contract, to w hich the City is a party

SEC. 6. The Mayor shall, on conviction in a Court of
Law, of wilful neglect of duty, or misbehavior m office, be
removed from office bv the Governor of the State, and a
successor shall thereafter be elected, as in a case of vacancy

178

SEC 7 From and after the adoption of this Consti
tution, no debt except as hereinafter provided in this section,
shall be created bv the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore,
nor shall the credit of the Mayor and City Council of
Baltimore be given, or loaned to, or in aid of any individual,
associanon, or corporation, nor shall the Mayor and City
Council of Baltimore have the power to involve the City of
Baltimore in the construction of works of internal improve
ment, nor in granting any aid thereto, which shall involve
the faith and credit of the City, nor make any appropriation
therefor, unless the debt or credit is authorized by an
ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore,
submitted to the legal voters of the City of Baltimore, at such
time and place as may be fixed b\ the ordinance, and
approved bv a majority of the votes cast at that time and
place An ordinance for the authorization of debt or credit
as aforesaid may not be submitted to the legal voters of
Baltimore City unless the proposed creation of debt or
extension of credit is either (1) presented to and approved
by a majonty of the members of the General Assembly
representing Baltimore Cit\ no later than the 30th day of
die regular session of the General Assembly immediately
preceding its submission to the voters, or (2) authorized by
an Act of the General Assembly The ordinance shall provide
tor the discharge of any such debt or credit within the period
of 40 \ ears from the time of contracting the same The
Mayor and City C ouncil may, temporarily, borrow any
amount of money to meet any deficiency in the City treasury,
and may borrow any amount at any ume to provide for any
emergency arising from the necessity of maintaining the
police, or presen ing the health, safety and sanitary condition
of the City, and ma\ make due and proper arrangements and
agreements for the renewal and extension, in whole or in
part, of any and all debts and obligations created according
to law before the adoption of this Constitution

The General Assembly may, from time to ume, fix a
limit upon the aggregate amount of bonds and other
e\ idences of indebtedness of the City outstanding at any

one time to the same extent as it fixes such a limit upon
the indebtedness of the chartered counties

SEC 8 All Laws and Ordinances, now in force, appli
cable to the City ofBalumore, not inconsistent with this
Article, shall be, and they are hereby continued until
changed in due course of Law

SEC 9 The General Assembly may make such changes
m this Article, except in Section seventh thereof, as it may
deem best, and this Article shall not be so construed, or taken
as to make the political corporation of Baltimore inde
pendent of, or free from the control, which the General
Assembly of Maryland has over all such Corporauons in this
State

ARTICLE XI A.¹⁷⁹
LOCAL LEGISLATION

SECTION 1 ¹⁸⁰ On demand of the Mayor of Balti
more and City Council of the City of Baltimore, or on
petition bearing the signatures of not less than 20% of the
registered voters of said City or any County (Provided,
however, that m any case 10,000 signatures shall be sufficient
to complete a petition), the Board of Election Supervisors
of said City or County shall provide at the next general or
congressional election, occurring after such demand or the
filing of such petition, for the election of a charter board of
eleven registered voters of said City or five registered voters
in any such Counties Nominations for members for said
charter board may be made not less than forty days prior to
said election by the Mayor of Baltimore and City Council of
the City of Baltimore or the County Commissioners of such
County, or not less than twenty days prior to said election
by petition bearing the signatures written in their own
handwriting (and not by their mark) of not less than 5% of
the registered voters of the said City of Baltimore or said
County, provided, that in any case two thousand signatures
of registered voters shall be sufficient to complete any such
nominating petition, and if not more than eleven registered
voters of the City of Baltimore or not more than five
registered voters in any such County are so nominated their
names shall not be printed on the ballot, but said eleven
registered voters in the City of Balumore or five in such
County shall constitute said charter board from and after the
date of said election At said election the ballot shall contain
the names of said nominees in alphabetical order without
any indication of the source of their nomination, and shall
also be so arranged as to permit the voter to vote for or
against the creation of said charter board, but the vote cast
against said creation shall not be held to bar the voter from
expressing his choice among the nominees for said board,
and if the majority of the votes cast for and against the
creation of said charter board shall be against said creation
the election of the members of said charter board shall be
void, but if such majority shall be in favor of the creation of
said charter board, then and in that event the eleven nomi
nees of the City of Baltimore or five nominees in the County
receiving the largest number of votes shall constitute the
charter board, and said charter board, or a ma,ority thereof,
shall prepare within twelve months from the date of said
election a charter or form of government for said city or such
county and present the same to the Mayor of Baltimore or
President of the Board of County Commissioners of such
county, who shall pubhsh the same in at least two new spapers
of general circulation published in the City of Baltimore or