Title 7, Title 7

An appointment or promotion shall not be deemed complete until a period of probation, not to exceed 6 months, has elapsed; and a probationer may be discharged or reduced at any time within the period of 6 months upon the recommendation of the head of the department in which said …

(1) An employee may not be discharged or reduced in rank or compensation until the employee has been presented with the reasons for discharge or reduction, specifically stated in writing, and has been given an opportunity to be heard in the employee's own defense. The reason for …

Any person in the employ of a municipality holding a position in the classified service at the time that the municipality comes under the provisions of part 43 and this part shall, unless the person's position is abolished, retain the same position until discharged, reduced, prom…

The director of finance or other public disbursing officer shall not pay any salary or compensation for services to any person holding a position in the classified service unless the payroll or account for such salary or compensation shall bear the certificate of the board, by it…

In any investigation conducted by the board, it shall have the power to subpoena and require the attendance of witnesses and the production thereby of books and papers pertinent to the investigation and to administer oaths to such witnesses.

No person in the classified service or seeking admission thereto may be appointed, reduced, removed, or in any way favored or discriminated against because of political opinions or affiliations or because of race, color, creed, or religion.

The board, subject to the approval of the commission, shall by ordinance determine the penalties for the violation of the civil service provisions of this part.

(1) The commission shall fix, by annual salary ordinance, the salary or compensation of the city manager, the heads of the departments, and its own employees. (2) The city manager shall fix the number and salaries or compensation of all other officers and employees. (3) In cities…

The commission shall have the power to provide by ordinance that on any public work carried on by the municipality, whether done by contract or otherwise, not to exceed 8 hours shall constitute a day's work.

An auditor: (1) may be elected; (2) may be appointed by the local government commission; (3) may be appointed by the presiding officer of the local government commission; (4) may be selected as provided by ordinance; (5) may at the discretion of the commission be selected as prov…

(1) The duties of the director of finance include: (a) the keeping and supervision of all accounts and the custody of all public money of the municipality; (b) the purchase, storage, and distribution of supplies needed by the various departments; (c) the making and collection of …

Accounting procedures must be devised and maintained for the municipality that are adequate to record in detail all transactions affecting the acquisition, custodianship, and disposition of values, including cash receipts and disbursements. The accounting procedures must conform …

A warrant for the payment of any claim may not be issued unless the claim is evidenced by a voucher approved by the head of the department for which the indebtedness was incurred and countersigned by the city manager. Before issuing a voucher, the supplies and materials delivered…

(1) The director of finance or city manager shall, in manner provided by ordinance, purchase all supplies for the municipality and sell all real and personal property of the municipality not needed or unsuitable for public use or that may have been condemned as useless by the dir…

No contract involving an expenditure of more than $250 for material or supplies shall be awarded except upon the approval of the city manager and the commission.

(1) The members of the commission, the city manager, and the director of finance shall constitute the sinking fund trustees. The mayor shall be the president and the director of finance shall be the secretary of the trustees of the sinking fund. (2) The trustees of the sinking fu…

Subject to the control and supervision of the city manager in all matters, the director of public service shall: (1) manage and have charge of: (a) the construction, improvement, repair, and maintenance of streets, sidewalks, alleys, lanes, bridges, viaducts, and other public hig…

(1) The commission shall have the power by ordinance to provide for: (a) the construction, reconstruction, repair, and maintenance, by contract or directly by the employment of labor, of all things in the nature of local improvements; and (b) the payment of any part of the cost o…

(1) The director of public service may compel the making of sewer, water, gas, and other connections whenever, in view of the contemplated street improvements or as a sanitary regulation, sewer, water, gas, or other connections should in the director's judgment be constructed. (2…

(1) The director of public service is the supervisor of plats of the municipality. The director shall see that the regulations governing the platting of all lands require all streets and alleys to be of proper width and to be coterminous with the adjoining streets and alleys and …

Subdivisions in the municipality must conform to the provisions of Title 76, chapter 3.

(1) No streets or alleys except those laid down on such plat and bearing the approval of the supervisor of plats, as hereinbefore provided, shall subsequently in any way be accepted as public streets or alleys by the municipality or shall any public funds be expended in the repai…

(1) The commission shall provide by ordinance for the care, supervision, control, and improvement of public highways, streets, avenues, alleys, sidewalks, public grounds, bridges, aqueducts, and viaducts within the municipality and shall cause them to be kept open, in repair, and…

(1) The commission, in vacating any street or part of a street or changing the name of any street, may include in one ordinance the change of name or the vacation or narrowing of more than one street, alley, or avenue. Before vacating any street or part thereof or narrowing any s…

The commission shall have all powers to grant rights to occupy or use the streets, highways, bridges, or public places in the municipality that now are or hereafter may be granted to municipalities by the constitution or laws of Montana. Every ordinance or resolution passed by th…

The commission may by ordinance renew any grant for the construction or operation of any utility, at its expiration, subject to petition and referendum as hereinbefore provided.

No exclusive grant or renewal shall ever be granted, and no grant shall be renewed before 2 years prior to its expiration.

(1) The commission shall, in any ordinance granting or renewing any grant to construct and operate a public utility, prescribe the manner in which the streets and public grounds shall be used and occupied. (2) The commission may by ordinance grant to any individual, company, or c…

The commission shall have the power to provide by ordinance for assessing against the abutting property the cost of removing from the sidewalks all accumulation of snow and ice and for assessing against the property the cost of cutting and removing therefrom nuisance weeds and ru…

(1) The head of the department of law must be an attorney who has been admitted to practice in the state of Montana and must be known as the city attorney. (2) The department head is the legal adviser of and attorney and counsel for the municipality and for all the officers and d…

(1) In each municipality having a commission-manager form of government, a city judge must be elected every 4 years in a nonpartisan election held in conjunction with the general municipal election. The city judge shall hold office for a term of 4 years. (2) The qualifications to…

(1) Subject to the supervision and control of the city manager in all matters, the director of public welfare shall manage all charitable, correctional, and reformatory institutions and agencies belonging to the municipality and the use of all recreational facilities of the munic…

(1) Subject to the supervision and control of the city manager in all matters, the director of public safety is the executive head of the division of police and fire. The director is also the chief administrative authority in all matters affecting the inspection and regulation of…

(1) The chief of police has exclusive control of the stationing and transfer of all patrol officers and other officers and employees constituting the police force, under rules that the director of public safety may prescribe. The police force must be composed of a chief of police…

(1) The fire chief shall have exclusive control of the stationing and transfer of all firefighters and other officers and employees constituting the fire force, under such rules as the director of public safety may prescribe. The fire force shall be composed of a chief and such o…

The commission-presiding officer form consists of an elected commission, which may also be referred to as the council, and a commission presiding officer, who may also be referred to as mayor or as president, elected by the members of the commission from their own number and serv…

The plan of government submitted to the qualified electors shall determine the powers of the local government unit by authorizing: (1) general government powers; or (2) self-government powers.

The commission presiding officer: (1) must be recognized as the head of the local government unit, must have the power to vote as other members of the commission, and must be the chief executive officer of the local government; (2) shall enforce laws, ordinances, and resolutions;…

The plan of government submitted to the qualified electors shall further define the structural characteristics of the form by including one item from each of the choices listed in 7-3-512 through 7-3-517.

The commission shall be: (1) elected at large; (2) elected by districts in which candidates must reside and which are apportioned by population; (3) elected at large and nominated by a plan of nomination that may not preclude the possibility of the majority of the electors nomina…

Local government elections shall be conducted on a: (1) partisan basis; or (2) nonpartisan basis.

The commission presiding officer: (1) shall appoint one or more administrative assistants to assist in the supervision and operation of the local government, and the administrative assistants are answerable solely to the presiding officer; or (2) may appoint one or more administr…

Commission members shall be elected for: (1) concurrent terms of office; or (2) overlapping terms of office.

The size of the commission, which shall be a number not less than five, shall be established when the form is adopted by the voters, and: (1) community councils of at least three members shall be elected within each district to advise the commissioner from that district. Local go…

The term of office of elected officials may not exceed 4 years and shall be established when the form is adopted by the voters.

(1) The town meeting form consists of an assembly of the qualified electors of a town, known as a "town meeting", an elected town presiding officer, who must be a qualified elector, and an optional elected town meeting moderator. (2) The town meeting form may be adopted only by i…