822/Maryland Manual

him that the public good may require, but no called or
extra session shall last longer than twenty days, exclu-
sive of Sundays.

SEC. 5. No person elected and qualified as Mayor,
or as a member of the City Council, shall during the
term for which he was elected, hold any other office of
profit or trust, created, or to be created, by the Mayor
and City Council of Baltimore, or by any Law relating
to the Corporation of Baltimore, or hold any employ-
ment, or position, the compensation of which shall be
paid, directly or indirectly, out of the City Treasury;
nor shall any such person be interested, directly or indi-
rectly, in any contract, to which the City is a party; nor
shall it be lawful for any person, holding any office, un-
der the City, to be interested, while holding such office,
in any contract, to which the City is a party.

SEC. 6. The Mayor shall, on conviction in a Court
of Law, of wilful neglect of duty, or misbehavior in of-
fice, be removed from office by the Governor of the
State, and a successor shall thereafter be elected, as in a
case of vacancy.

SEC. 7.¹⁷² From and after the adoption of this Con-
stitution, no debt except as hereinafter provided in this
section, shall be created by the Mayor and City Council
of Baltimore; nor shall the credit of the Mayor and City
Council of Baltimore be given, or loaned to, or in aid of
any individual, association, or corporation; nor shall the
Mayor and City Council of Baltimore have the power
to involve the City of Baltimore in the construction of
works of internal improvement, nor in granting any aid
thereto, which shall involve the faith and credit of the
city, nor make any appropriation therefor, unless the
debt or credit is authorized by an ordinance of the
Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, submitted to the
legal voters of the City of Baltimore, at such time and
place as may be fixed by the ordinance, and approved
by a majority of the votes cast at that time and place.
An ordinance for the authorization of debt or credit as
aforesaid may not be submitted to the legal voters of
Baltimore City unless the proposed creation of debt or
extension of credit is either (1) presented to and ap-
proved by a majority of the members of the General
Assembly representing Baltimore City no later than the
30th day of the regular session of the General Assembly
immediately preceding its submission to the voters, or
(2) authorized by an Act of the General Assembly. The
ordinance shall provide for the discharge of any such
debt or credit within the period of 40 years from the
time of contracting the same. The Mayor and City
Council may, temporarily, borrow any amount of mon-
ey to meet any deficiency in the City Treasury, and may
borrow any amount at any time to provide for any
emergency arising from the necessity of maintaining the
police, or preserving the health, safety and sanitary con-
dition of the City, and may make due and proper ar-
rangements and agreements for the renewal and exten-
sion, in whole or in part, of any and all debts and
obligations created according to law before the adop-
tion of this Constitution.

Article XI

The General Assembly may, from time to time, fix a
limit upon the aggregate amount of bonds and other ev-
idences of indebtedness of the City outstanding at any
one time to the same extent as it fixes such a limit upon
the indebtedness of the chartered counties.

SEC. 8. All Laws and Ordinances, now in force, ap-
plicable to the City of Baltimore, not inconsistent with
this Article, shall be, and they are hereby continued un-
til changed in due course of Law.

SEC. 9. The General Assembly may make such
changes in this Article, except in Section seventh there-
of, as it may deem best; and this Article shall not be so
construed, or taken as to make the political corporation
of Baltimore independent of, or free from the control,
which the General Assembly of Maryland has over all
such Corporations in this State.

ARTICLE XI-A¹⁷³

LOCAL LEGISLATION.

SECTION I.¹⁷⁴ On demand of the Mayor of
Baltimore and City Council of the City of Baltimore, or
on petition bearing the signatures of not less than 20%
of the registered voters of said City or any County
(Provided, however, that in any case 10,000 signatures
shall be sufficient to complete a petition), the Board of
Election Supervisors of said City or County shall pro-
vide at the next general or congressional election, occur-
ring after such demand or the filing of such petition, for
the election of a charter board of eleven registered vot-
ers of said City or five registered voters in any such
Counties. Nominations for members for said charter
board may be made not less than forty days prior to
said election by the Mayor of Baltimore and City Coun-
cil of the City of Baltimore or the County Commission-
ers of such County, or not less than twenty days prior
to said election by petition bearing the signatures writ-
ten in their own handwriting (and not by their mark) of
not less than 5% of the registered voters of the said City
of Baltimore or said County; provided, that in any case
two thousand signatures of registered voters shall be
sufficient to complete any such nominating petition, and
if not more than eleven registered voters of the City of
Baltimore or not more than five registered voters in any
such County are so nominated their names shall not be
printed on the ballot, but said eleven registered voters
in the City of Baltimore or five in such County shall
constitute said charter board from and after the date of
said election. At said election the ballot shall contain
the names of said nominees in alphabetical order with-
out any indication of the source of their nomination,
and shall also be so arranged as to permit the voter to
vote for or against the creation of said charter board,
but the vote cast against said creation shall not be held
to bar the voter from expressing his choice among the
nominees for said board, and if the majority of the
votes cast for and against the creation of said charter

i⁷³ Added by Chapter 416, Acts of 1914, ratified Nov. 2, 1915.
i⁷⁴ Amended by Chapter 192, Acts of 1963, ratified Nov. 3,
1964.