204 LAWS or MARYLAND. [CH. 96

the power to summon and compel the attendance of witnesses,
and the production of books and papers before them whenever
it may be necessary for the more effective discharge of their
duties.

20. The Mayor shall be the executive officer of the city,
and it shall be his duty to see that all the laws and ordinances
thereof are duly enforced; he shall have general supervision
over all the departments of the city government, and may
require at any time full and particular information from any
Commissioner as to the affairs of his department; but the
Mayor shall have no power to countermand any orders given
by a Commissioner of any department, or in any manner what-
soever to interfere with the authority of any Commissioner in
his own department; but all acts of every kind and description
dona by any Commissioner in his department may be modified
or annulled by the Mayor and City Council as a body; and
the Mayor and City Council as a body may pass any orders
they may see proper in regard to any department of the city
government, and such orders shall be binding upon the Com-
missioner of that department. And if the Mayor or any Coun-
cilman shall fail to perform any duty imposed upon him by
law, or by ordinance, or by order of the Mayor and City Coun-
cil lawfully passed, the Mayor or Councilmen so failing or
refusing to perform such duty may be expelled by a vote of
three-fifths of all the members of the Mayor and City Council,
the Mayor to be considered a member of said Council, and the
vacancy thus occasioned shall be filled as herein provided for;
before any action shall be taken against the Mayor or any
member of the City Council upon charges of dereliction of
duty, the City Council shall first cause to be served upon the
said Mayor or Councilman a written statement of the charges
against him, and a day shall be set by said Mayor and City
Council at which such charges shall be heard, the same to be
prosecuted by the City Solicitor, with the right to the accused
to be represented by counsel, and if the charges are sustained
and an order of dismissal passed by a three-fifths vote as afore-
said, the said Mayor or Councilman so dismissed may, within
ten days thereafter, take an appeal to the Circuit Court for
Allegany County, which is hereby given jurisdiction of the
same, and the said Court shall thereupon, as speedily as pos-
sible, hear the said charges de novo, and pass such order in the
premises as the said Court may deem proper, and the action
of the said Court shall be final; and pending such appeal, the
said Mayor or Councilman shall be suspended without pay;