Chapter 43

Section 1. The following words as used in this chapter shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings: ''Officer'', ''officers'' and ''administrative officers'', when used without further qualification or description, any person or persons in charge of …

Section 10. The question of the adoption of not more than one plan may be submitted at an election. If, pending the determination of the question proposed by petition already filed, another petition presenting the question of the adoption of a different plan shall be presented fo…

Section 100. The mayor shall be recognized as the official head of the city for all ceremonial purposes and shall be recognized by the courts for the purpose of serving civil process and by the governor for military purposes. In time of public danger or emergency, as determined b…

Section 102. Except as provided in this section, a vacancy in any elective body shall be filled in the manner provided in section thirteen of chapter fifty-four A. If, under said section, no regularly nominated candidate of the city council or school committee remains, the vacanc…

Section 103. The city council shall appoint a city manager who shall be sworn to the faithful performance of his duties and who shall be the chief administrative officer of the city and shall be responsible for the administration of all departments, commissions, boards and office…

Section 104. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter, it shall be the duty of the city manager to act as chief conservator of the peace within the city; to supervise the administration of the affairs of the city; to see that within the city the laws of the commo…

Section 105. Such officers and employees as the city council, with the advice of the city manager, shall determine are necessary for the proper administration of the departments, commissions, boards and offices of the city for whose administration the city manager is responsible …

Section 106. Officers and employees of the city appointed by, or under the authority of, the city manager shall perform the duties required of them by the city manager, under general regulations of the city council. Any violation of this section shall constitute sufficient ground…

Section 107. Neither the city council nor any of its committees or members shall direct or request the appointment of any person to, or his removal from, office by the city manager or any of his subordinates, or in any manner take part in the appointment or removal of officers an…

Section 108. No employee of any department, board or commission of the city shall, directly or indirectly, solicit or receive, or in any manner be concerned in soliciting or receiving any assessment, subscription or contribution for any political party, for any candidate for city…

Section 109. The regular municipal election under this plan shall take place on the Tuesday next following the first Monday of November in every odd numbered year, and all members of the city council, the school committee and any board of trustees or other officers referred to in…

Section 11. If a majority of the total number of votes cast at a regular city election for and against the adoption of one of the plans of government provided for in this chapter shall be in favor of its adoption, this chapter, so far as applicable to the form of government under…

Section 110. Any registered voter of the city who is eligible for election to any elective municipal body shall be entitled to have his name printed as a candidate therefor on the official ballot to be used at the regular municipal election; provided, that at least twenty-eight d…

Section 111. Any nomination papers filed under section one hundred and ten bearing more than the maximum number of signatures permitted thereby shall be invalid. No voter may sign the nomination papers of more than one candidate for election as a member of any elective municipal …

Section 112. There shall be a separate form of ballot for each body to be elected, and each such separate form of ballot shall be of a different and clearly distinguishable color from that of any other form of ballot prepared and furnished at the public expense for use at the sam…

Section 113. The provisions of sections five, six and seven of chapter fifty-four A and so much of section eight thereof as relates to the order of polling places by which ballots are to be counted shall apply with respect to municipal elections in a city adopting this plan.

Section 114. As soon as the polls have closed, the election officials at each polling place shall seal the ballot box without opening it, and in such manner that ballots cannot be removed therefrom or inserted therein without breaking the seal, and shall deliver such ballot box a…

Section 116. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, all regular elections held under this plan shall be subject to all general laws relating to elections and corrupt practices, so far as applicable and not inconsistent with this chapter.

Section 117. The method of city government provided for in the ten following sections shall be known as Plan F.

Section 118. Upon the adoption by a city of Plan F, it shall become operative as provided in sections one to forty-five, inclusive.

Section 119. There shall be a mayor, elected by and from the qualified voters of the city, who shall be the chief executive officer of the city. He shall hold office for the term of two years from the first Monday in January following his election and until his successor is quali…

Section 12. Should a majority of the votes cast be against the adoption of the plan proposed, no petition proposing the same plan shall be filed within four years thereafter; but a petition proposing the adoption of one of the other plans provided for in this chapter may be filed…

Section 120. The legislative powers of the city shall be vested in a city council. One of its members shall be elected by the council annually as its president. In cities having five wards, the council shall be composed of seven members, one from each ward and two at large; in ci…

Section 121. If a vacancy occurs in the office of mayor by death, removal or resignation at any time during the first year of the term ending December thirty-first, the city clerk shall forthwith order an election to fill such vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term. If a…

Section 122. Upon the adoption of Plan F, all heads of departments and members of municipal boards, except the school committee, officials appointed by the governor, and assessors if elected by vote of the people, as their terms of office expire, shall be appointed by the mayor w…

Section 123. In making his appointments the mayor shall sign and file with the city clerk a certificate in the following form: CERTIFICATE OF APPOINTMENT

Section 124. The mayor may remove the head of a department or member of a board by filing a written statement with the city clerk setting forth in detail the specific reasons therefor, a copy of which shall be delivered or mailed to the person thus removed, who may make a written…

Section 125. Every order, ordinance, resolution and vote relative to the affairs of the city, adopted or passed by the city council, shall be presented to the mayor for his approval. If he approves it he shall sign it; if he disapproves it he shall return it, with his written obj…

Section 126. The regular election under Plan F shall take place on the Tuesday next following the first Monday of November in every odd-numbered year. The mayor, all members of the city council, the school committee, and any board of trustees or other officers whose election by t…

Section 127. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, all elections held under Plan F shall be subject to all general laws relating to elections and corrupt practices, so far as applicable and not inconsistent with this chapter.

Section 128. In sections one hundred and twenty-nine to one hundred and thirty-four, inclusive, the word ''city'' shall mean any city of one hundred and fifty thousand or more inhabitants, as enumerated by the most recent federal decennial census except any city which has adopted…

Section 129. At the regular municipal election to be held in the year nineteen hundred and seventy-seven in every city there shall be placed upon the ballot the two following questions:— ''A BINDING REFERENDUM CHANGING THE STRUCTURE OF THE CITY COUNCIL TO PROVIDE FOR DISTRICT REP…

Section 13. Should any plan provided for in this chapter be adopted, it shall continue in force for at least four years from the beginning of the terms of office of the officials elected thereunder; and no petition proposing a different plan shall be filed until after three years…

Section 130. If a majority of the total number of votes cast at a regular city election for and against the adoption of a plan of city council organization or school committee organization proposed under section one hundred and twenty-nine shall be in favor of adoption of either …

Section 131. Within ninety days following receipt of an official notice which the city clerk shall send, within thirty days of the city election, to the city council notifying the said council that a new plan of city council organization or school committee organization, or both,…

Section 132. If, within the time prescribed by section one hundred and thirty-one, the city council shall fail to make a division of the city into districts as required by that section, the mayor of such city in any city having a mayor elected by the people, or the city clerk in …

Section 133. After the adoption by any city of a plan of city council or school committee organization authorized by sections one hundred and twenty-nine to one hundred and thirty-two, inclusive, the dates of municipal elections, and the municipal year, of such city shall be gove…

Section 134. Every city councillor and school committee member who is elected to represent an individual district or ward shall have been an inhabitant of a place within the district or ward for which he is chosen for at least one year immediately preceding his election; and he s…

Section 14. The mayor, the aldermen and the common council, the city council or other legislative body, and the city clerk in office when any plan set forth in this chapter has been adopted, or is proposed for adoption, shall comply with all requirements of this chapter relating …

Section 15. After the adoption by any city of any plan provided for by this chapter (a) If the plan adopted provides for annual elections, regular municipal elections under said plan shall take place in the year following its adoption, and thereafter, on the Tuesday next followin…

Section 16. No primary or caucus for municipal officers shall be held, except in a city under Plan F. Candidates for mayor, city council and school committee, and assessors, if elected by the people, shall, except in a city under Plan F, be nominated in accordance with section si…

Section 16A. The city primary and election under Plan F shall, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, be conducted under the provisions of the statutes of the commonwealth relating to party primaries and elections. The city primary shall be held on the sixth Tuesday preced…

Section 17. On the first Monday in January following a regular municipal election, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, the mayor-elect if elected by the people, the councillors-elect, and the assessors-elect if elected by the people, shall meet and be sworn to the faithful discharge …

Section 17A. The mayor or city manager and the members of the city council shall receive for their services such salary as the city council shall by ordinance determine, and they shall receive no other compensation from the city, except that a member of a city or town council in …

Section 17B. In a city under Plan F the mayor and the members of the city council shall receive for their services such salary as the city council shall by ordinance determine, and they shall receive no other compensation from the city. The compensation for the mayor shall not ex…

Section 17C. Upon the filing with the city clerk of a petition, which petition shall be subject to the provisions of section seven or section seven A of chapter fifty-three, signed by at least five per cent of the number of registered voters residing in the city at the last regul…

Section 17D. In any city in which the term of office of mayor is four years under the provisions of section seventeen C, upon the filing with the city clerk of a petition, which petition shall be subject to the provisions of section seven or section seven A of chapter fifty-three…

Section 18. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the legislative powers of the city council may be exercised as provided by ordinance or rule adopted by it. 1. Every member of the council may vote on any question coming before it. A majority of the council shall constitu…

Section 19. The city council at any time may request from the mayor, or, under Plan D or E, from the city manager, specific information on any municipal matter within its jurisdiction, and may request him to be present to answer written questions relating thereto at a meeting to …

Section 2. Any city, except Boston, which shall adopt, in the manner hereinafter prescribed, one of the plans of government provided in this chapter shall thereafter be governed by the provisions thereof; and the inhabitants of such city shall continue to be a municipal corporati…