paid, directly or indirectly, out of the City Treasury; nor shall
any such person be interested, directly or indirectly, in any con-
tract, to which the City is a party; nor shall it be lawful for any
person, holding any office, under 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 office, be removed from
office by the Governor of the State, and a successor shall there-
after be elected, as in a case of vacancy.

SEC. 7. From and after the adoption of this Constitution,
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 corpora-
tion; 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 autho-
rized by an ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of Balti-
more, submitted to the legal voters of the City of Baltimore, at
such time and place as may be fixed by the ordinance, and ap-
proved 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 un-
less the proposed creation of debt or extension of credit is either
(1) presented to and approved 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 im-
mediately preceding its submission to the voters, or (2) autho-
rized 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 money 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 preserv-
ing the health, safety and sanitary condition of the City, and
may make due and proper arrangements and agreements for the
renewai and extension, in whole or in part, of any and all debts
and obligations created according to law before the adoption of
this Constitution.

The General Assembly may, from time to time, fix a limit up-
on the aggregate amount of bonds and other evidences of indebt-
edness of the City outstanding at any one time to the same ex-
tent as it fixes such a limit upon the indebtedness of the
chartered counties.

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

SEC. 9. The General Assembly may make such changes in
this Article, except in Section seventh thereof, 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-A. ¹⁷³

LOCAL LEGISLATION.

SECTION 1. 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 provide at
the next general or congressional election, occurring after such
demand or the filing of such petition, for the election of a char-
ter board of eleven registered voters of said City or five regis-
tered 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 Council of the
City of Baltimore or the County Commissioners of such County,
or not less than twenty days prior to said election by petition
bearing the signatures written 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 without 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 nom-
inees for said board, and if the majority of the votes cast for and
against the creation of said charter board shall be against said
creation the election of the members of said charter board shall
be void; but if such majority shall be in favor of the creation of
said charter board, then and in that event the eleven nominees of
the City of Baltimore or five nominees in the County receiving
the largest number of votes shall constitute the charter board,
and said charter board, or a majority thereof, shall prepare with-
in twelve months from the date of said election a charter or
form of government for said city or such county and present the
same to the Mayor of Baltimore or President of the Board of
County Commissioners of such county, who shall publish the
same in at least two newspapers of general circulation published
in the City of Baltimore or County within thirty days after it
shall be reported to him. Such charter shall be submitted to the
voters of said City or County at the next general or Congression-
al election after the report of said charter to said Mayor of Balti-
more or President of the Board of County Commissioners; and if
a majority of the votes cast for and against the adoption of said
charter shall be in favor of such adoption, the said charter from
and after the thirtieth day from the date of such election shall
become the law of said City or County, subject only to the Con-
stitution and Public General Laws of this State, and any public
local laws inconsistent with the provisions of said charter and
any former charter of the City of Baltimore or County shall be
thereby repealed.

SEC. 1A. The procedure provided in this section for
adoption of a charter may be used in any county in lieu of the
procedures provided in Section 1 of this Article, and a charter
adopted pursuant to this section has the effect of a charter
adopted in accordance with the provisions of Section 1. The
board of county commissioners of any county at any time may
appoint a charter board. Said charter board shall be registered
voters and shall consist of an uneven number of members, not
fewer than five or more than nine. The board of county commis-
sioners shall appoint a charter board within thirty days after re-
ceiving a petition signed by five percent of the registered voters
of the county or by ten thousand voters of the county, whichev-
er is the lesser number. If additional charter board members are