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Use of separate funds.

Contracts.

City auditor.

41. In case of a deficiency in any fund to meet any demand upon it, the comptroller may, with the sanction of the mayor and finance committee, use to meet such demand, any moneys standing to the credit of any other fund, either general or special, except the water fund, the school tax fund, and special assessment funds: Provided, the consent of the officer or department more particularly charged with the disbursement of the fund so used, shall be first had and obtained thereto. A correct account of all moneys so transferred shall be kept by the comptroller, and said moneys shall be replaced by him, within not exceeding three months, out of the revenue subsequently received into the treasury to the credit of the fund thus supplied. No moneys shall be so used or transferred, unless adequate provision has been made which will permit their reimbursement within said period.

42. No bonds or other evidences of debt shall be issued by the city, except as is in this act provided.

843. No contracts shall be hereafter made by the common council or any committee or member thereof, and no expense shall be incurred by any of the officers or departments of said city government, whether the object of expenditure shall have been ordered by the common council or not, unless an appropriation shall have been previously made concerning such expense. And no member of the common council, head of a department, clerk, city officer, assistant or employee in any department of said city, shall be directly or indirectly interested in any contract, work or business, or the sale of any article, the expense price or consideration of which is paid from the city treasury, under the penalty of his immediate removal from office.

$44. The common council may, hereafter, in their discretion, provide for the appointment of a city auditor, to hold his office for two years and until the appointment and qualification of his successor, whose duty it shall be to examine personally and certify to the correctness or incorrectness of all the accounts rendered for any money which may be collected or disbursed by any of the departments or officers of said city. The said common council may by ordinance prescribe his qualifications and more particularly define his duties; and he shall be removable from office at any time by the mayor with the concurrence of the common council.

public works

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS.

Commissioners of § 1. There is hereby established an executive departsalary. ment of the municipal government of said city to be known as the "Board of Public Works," to consist of the mayor,

who shall be a member of the board, ex officio, and three commissioners to be chosen in the manner herein before prescribed.

2. Said commissioners shall each receive an annual Bond. salary of twenty-five hundred dollars, and shall each, before entering upon the discharge of his duties, give bond to the city in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, with sureties to the satisfaction of the common council; which bond shall be conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties as such commissioner and that he will well and truly pay over any and all moneys, and surrender any and all property, books and papers which may come into his hands as such commissioner, on the expiration of his term of office, or when required to do so by the common council.

board.

§3. Said board shall elect from their number a president Offers of the and a treasurer, who shall hold their offices for the term of one year, and until their successors are elected and qualified, and they shall establish by-laws for the regulation and conduct of their officers and employees.

§ 4. Said board shall appoint a secretary, and some com- Appointees. petent and scientific person as civil engineer to said board, who shall be styled the city engineer. The officers so appointed shall be removable at any time, at the pleasure of the board of public works.

§ 5. It shall be the duty of the city engineer to perform City engineer. all the civil engineering required by the board of public works in the prosecution of all public improvements committed to their charge, and to do such other surveying as may be directed by the board or by the common council. He shall receive for his services such annual salary as the common council shall direct; and shall devote his whole time to the duties of his office. He shall possess the same powers in making surveys and plats, within the city, as is given by law to county surveyors, and the like effect and validity shall be given to his acts, and to all plats and surveys made by such engineer, as are or may be given by law to the acts, plats, and surveys of county surveyors.

veyors.

§ 6. The said board of public works shall have power, License of surupon application being made to them by any citizen, of whose character and qualifications satisfactory evidence shall be produced, to give such applicant a license under the corporate seal to act for two years as a land surveyor in said city and for each license so granted said board shall require a fee of ten dollars to be paid into the city treasury. Surveyors so licensed shall take the same oath required by law to be taken by the county surveyor, and shall give bond to the city of Chicago, with two sufficient sureties, to be approved by said board, in the penal sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of a land surveyor, and the payment of all damages that may be sustained by any individual for whom such

services may be rendered, in consequence of the carelessSurveyor's bond. ness, misconduct or incompetency of such surveyor. Said bond shall be filed in the office of said board, and suits may be brought and recovery had thereon in the name of said city, by any party who may have sustained damages as above mentioned; but said city shall in no case be held liable for the costs of such action, nor for any delinquency, fault or misconduct of such surveyor. The license to be granted as above provided, with a certificate of the aforesaid oath subjoined thereto, shall be recorded in the office of the recorder of Cook county; and then, and not before, the person so licensed shall have full power and authority, for the term of two years from the date of such license, to make surveys within the city limits, and the like effect and validity shall be given to his acts, and to all plats and surveys made by him as are or may be given by law, to the acts, plats and surveys of county surveyors: Provided, that the surveyors so licensed shall be governed by such laws of the State of Illinois and such ordinances of the city of Chicago prescribing the mode of surveying, as are now or may hereafter be in force: And provided, further, that the said board of public works shall have power to revoke any license granted under the provisions of this section, upon satisfactory evidence being presented to them of the incompetency or official misconduct of the person so licensed.

Dividing of lots and blocks.

Employees of the board.

Expenses.

87. In all cases where lands in said city are hereafter sub-divided and laid out into blocks or lots, sub-lots, streets and alleys, or new streets or public grounds are donated or granted to the public by any proprietor, in order to secure a uniform plan in the laying out of such streets and alleys, the map or plat thereof shall be submitted to the board of public works for their approval. If they approve the same they shall certify upon it their approval; and no such map or plat shall be entitled to record or have any validity until so approved by said board.

§ 8. The board of public works is authorized to employ, from time to time, such superintendents, surveyors, clerks, assistants and workmen, in the discharge of their duties, as they may deem necessary, subject, however, to such regulations respecting the number of agents regularly or permanently employed, and their compensation and duties, as the common council may prescribe by ordinance.

§ 9. The office expenses, and the expenses for clerks, engineers and assistants, and the salaries of said commissioners of the board of public works and their officers shall be a charge, and shall be paid share and share alike, out of the funds pertaining to the general fund of said city, and the funds pertaining to the water and sewerage works of said city; each of said funds to bear one-third of said expense.

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10. A majority of said board shall constitute a quorum quorum. to do business; they shall keep a record of all their acts and doings, and shall keep and preserve copies of all contracts, estimates, receipts, plans, profiles, and the papers of the board: and shall report their acts and doings in detail to the common council, on or before the tenth day of April in each year, and oftener when required so to do by the common council. Each of said commissioners shall have power to administer any oath authorized to be taken by the laws of this State.

of streets, etc.

§ 11. It shall be the duty of said board to take the spe- Superintendence cial charge and superintendence, subject to such general ordinances as may be lawfully established by the common. council, of all streets, alleys, lanes or highways in said city, and of all walks and cross-walks in the same, and of all bridges, docks, wharves, public places, public landings, public grounds and parks in said city, and of all markets, market-places and market-houses, engine-houses, hospitals, armories and all other public buildings in said city, belonging to the city, except school-houses, and of the erection of all public buildings, of all lamps and lights for the lighting of the streets, alleys, lanes, highways, bridges, parks, public places and public buildings of the city, and of the erection and repair of such lamps and lights, of all works for the widening, deepening or dredging of the Chicago river, or either of its branches; of all sewers and the works pertaining thereto; of the water-works of said city; of all public improvements hereafter to be commenced by said city, and they shall perform all the duties by this act prescribed, and such other duties as the common council may prescribe by ordinance.

§ 12. The said board shall have the exclusive privilege Permits for movto grant permits, according to the ordinances of the city, ing houses. for the moving of houses through the streets of the city, and the raising of buildings and side-walks, and to regulate the building or placing of vaults under the streets, alleys, and side-walks and require such compensation for the privilege as they shall deem reasonable and just, subject to the approval of the common council; also to regulate all open spaces for basement stories, and the use of the public streets in any legal and proper manner, except for railroad tracks; and no building material or obstruction of any kind shall be placed in the public streets, alleys, or on the public grounds, without the written permit of said board. Said board shall have full power to regulate and control the manner of using the streets, alleys, highways and public places of the city, for the laying down of gas or water pipes and sewers and determine the location thereof, and to cause the prompt repair of the streets, alleys, highways and public places whenever the same may be taken up or altered; and they are hereby authorized and empowered to charge

Wooden ings.

build

Assessments.

Advertising for

public work.

and collect by suit or otherwise, in the name of the city of Chicago, the expense of such repairs to and from the person or persons by whom such street, alley, highway or public ground may have been taken up or altered.

§ 13. The said board shall have the exclusive privilege of granting permits for the erection of wooden buildings within the fire limits of said city, subject to such general regulations as the common council may by ordinance prescribe; and for all permits of every kind which said board is authorized to grant, it may make such reasonable charge as it may deem proper, or as the common council may by ordinance direct.

§ 14. The commissioners of the board of public works, with the exception of the mayor, shall in all cases, except as is in this act otherwise provided, act as commissioners to make special assessments, whenever the same may be ordered; for the making of which assessments they shall receive no fees. & 15.

Whenever any public improvement shall be proposals for ordered by the common council of said city, and the assessment for the same (where the same is to be paid for by special assessment,) shall have been confirmed, and one-half of such special assessment shall have been paid into the city treasury, the said board of public works shall advertise for proposals for doing said work; a plan or profile of the work to be done, accompanied with specifications for the doing of the same, being first placed on file in the office of said board; which said plan, profile and specifications shall at all times be open for public inspection; which advertisement shall be continued for at least ten days in the corporation newspaper, and shall state the work to be done. The bids for the doing of such work shall be sealed bids, directed to said board, and shall be accompanied with a bond to the city in the sum of two hundred dollars, signed by the bidder and two responsible sureties, conditioned that he shall execute the work for the price mentioned in his bid, and according to the plans and specifications, in case the contract shall be awarded to him; and in case of default on his part to execute a contract and perform the work, said bond may be sued and judgment recovered thereon by the city for the full amount thereof, in any court having jurisdiction of the amount. Said bids shall be opened at the hour and place mentioned in said notice. When the expense of any work or public improvement shall exceed the sum of five hundred dollars, and the same is to be paid out of the general fund, or the water or sewerage fund, of said city, the doing of such work shall be let by contract, in the same manner as is provided in cases where the expense of the same is to be paid for by special assessment.

The awarding of contracts.

§ 16. All contracts shall be awarded by said board to the lowest reliable and responsible bidder or bidders, who

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