WM. PRESTON LANE, JR., GOVERNOR. 1687

offices, shall each give bond in the sum of Five Thousand
Dollars.

38. RESIGNATIONS. The Mayor or any member of the
City Council may resign his office, by a declaration in writing
addressed to the Mayor and City Council.

39. FORFEITURE. If the Mayor or any member of the
City Council shall fail to qualify by taking the oath of
office and filing a bond, within twenty days after the official
announcement of his election, his office shall be forfeited and
vacated. If the Mayor or any member of the City Council
shall while in office remove his residence from within the
limits of the City, or if he shall in any other way cease to
have all the qualifications necessary for his election, his
office shall thereby be forfeited and vacated.

40. REMOVAL, (a) If the Mayor or any member of the
City Council shall fail to perform any duty imposed on him
by law or ordinance, or by an order of the Mayor and City
Council, he may be expelled and removed from his office by
a vote of three-fifths of the members of the Mayor and City
Council.

(b) The Mayor and City Council shall first serve upon the
accused Mayor or Councilman, as the case may be, a written
statement of the charges against him. A day shall be set for
hearing said charges. The charges shall be prosecuted by the
City Solicitor, and the accused may be heard in person
or by counsel. If the charges are sustained by a three-fifths
vote, as provided above in this section, this &hall be an order
of expulsion and removal from office.

(c) The said Mayor or Councilman so expelled and re-
moved shall within ten days thereafter have a right of appeal
to the Circuit Court of Allegany County, which shall hear the
charges de novo. The Court shall pass such order as to it
may seem proper, either sustaining or reversing the vote of
the City Council.

(d) Pending the appeal the said Mayor or Councilman
shall be suspended without pay. If the charges shall not be
sustained by the Court, the said Mayor or Councilman shall
be entitled to full pay from the time of the order of expulsion
and removal as voted by the Mayor and City Council.

(e) If in such circumstances the City Council shall neglect
or refuse so to declare a vacancy and fill it, any person who
is a taxpayer and qualified voter in the City may file a peti-
tion against such officer in the Circuit Court for Allegany