City Charter
1984 Lafayette Charter
We, the people of Lafayette, Oregon, in order to avail ourselves of self-determination in municipal affairs to the fullest extent now or hereafter possible under the constitutions and laws of the United States and the State of Oregon, through this charter confer upon the city the following powers, subject it to the following restrictions, prescribe for it the following procedures and governmental structure, and repeal all previous charter provisions of the city.
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Section 1. Title of Enactment. This enactment may be referred to as the Lafayette Charter of 1984.
Section 2. Name of City. The city of Lafayette, Yamhill County, Oregon shall continue to be a municipal corporation with the name Lafayette.
Section 3. Boundaries. The city includes all territory within its boundaries as they now exist or hereafter are modified pursuant to state law. The custodian of the city’s records shall keep an accurate, current description of the boundaries and make a copy of it available for public inspection in the city during regular city office hours.
Section 4. Powers of the City. The city has all powers that the constitutions, statutes, and common law of the United States and of the state now or hereafter expressly or impliedly grant or allow the city, as fully as though this charter specifically enumerated each those powers.
Section 5. Construction of Powers. In this charter, no specification of a power is exclusive or restricts authority that the city would have if the power were not specified. The charter shall be liberally construed, so that the city may exercise fully all its powers possible under this charter and under United States and Oregon Law. All powers are continuing unless a specific grant of power clearly indicates the contrary.
Section 6. Where Powers Vested. Except as this charter provides otherwise, all powers of the city shall be vested in the council.
Section 7. Council. The council consists of a mayor and six councilors nominated and elected from the city at large or, in case of one or more vacancies in the council, the council members whose offices are not vacant.
Section 8. Councilors. The term of office of a councilor in office when this charter is adopted is the term of office for which the councilor has been elected before adoption of the charter. At each general election after the adoption, three councilors shall be elected, each for a four-year term.
Section 9. Mayor. At each general election after the adoption of this charter, a mayor shall be elected for a term of two years.
Section 10. Appointive Offices. A majority of the council may:
Section 11. Salaries. The compensation for the services of each city officer and employee shall be fixed by council.
Section 12. Qualifications.
Section 13. Meetings. The council shall hold a regular meeting at least once a month at a time and at a place in the city which it designates. It shall adopt rules for the government of its members and proceedings. The mayor, upon motion may, or at the request of three members of the council, shall, by giving notice to all Council members and the media as required by law, call a special meeting of the council for a time not earlier than 24 hours after such notice. No other business shall be transacted at any special meeting, other than that for which it was called. All proceedings of the special meeting must be reviewed at the next regular council meeting.
Section 14. Quorum. A majority of members of the council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a smaller number may meet and compel the attendance of absent members in a manner provided by ordinance.
Section 15. Public Meetings. Except as otherwise allowed by law, all meetings of the council shall be open to the public and shall comply with the State Public Meeting Law.
Section 16. Mayor’s Functions at Council Meetings.
Section 17. President of the Council. At its first meeting of each odd-numbered year, the council shall elect a president from its membership. In the mayor’s absence from a council meeting, the president shall preside over it. Whenever the mayor is unable to perform the functions of office, the president shall act as mayor. If the president acts as Mayor or presides over a meeting, the president shall have a vote only in the case of a tie vote.
Section 18. Vote Required. Except as this charter otherwise provides, the express concurrence of a majority of the members of the council present and voting at a council meeting shall be necessary to decide any question before the council.
Section 19. Mayor. The mayor shall appoint the committees provided by the rules of the council. The mayor shall sign all approved records of proceedings of the council and countersign all orders on the treasury; the mayor shall have no veto power and shall sign all ordinances passed by the council, and shall endorse all bonds of city officers and all bonds of licenses, contracts, and proposals.
Section 20. City Administrator.
Section 21. Municipal Court and Judge.
Section 22. State Law. Except as this charter or a city ordinance prescribes to the contrary, a city election shall conform to state law applicable to the election.
Section 23. Tie Votes. In the event of a tie vote for candidates for an elective office, the successful candidate shall be determined by a public drawing of lots in a manner prescribed by the council.
Section 24. Terms of Office. The term of office of an elective officer who is elected at a general election begins at the first council meeting of the year immediately after the election and continues until the successor to the office assumes the office.
Section 25. Oath of Office. Before entering upon the duties of the office, each officer shall take an oath or shall affirm support of the constitution and laws of the United States and the State of Oregon, and attest to the faithful performance of the duties of this office.
Section 26. Nominations. A qualified elector, who shall have resided in the city during the 12 months immediately preceding the election, as that term is defined in Section 12 of this charter, may be nominated for an elective city position. Nomination shall be by petition specifying the position sought in a form prescribed by the council. Such petition shall be signed by not fewer than 10 electors. No elector shall sign more than one such petition for the same office. If he does, his signature shall be valid only on the first petition filed. The signatures to a nomination petition need not all be appended to one paper, but to each separate paper of the petition shall be attached an affidavit of the circulator thereof, indicating the number of signers of the paper and stating that each signature appended thereto was made in his presence and is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be. With each signature shall be stated the signer’s place of residence, identified by its street and number or other sufficient description. All nomination papers comprising a petition shall be assembled and filed with time recorder as one instrument neither earlier than 90 nor later than 70 days before the election. The recorder shall make a record of the exact time at which each petition is filed and shall take and preserve the name and address of the person by whom it is filed. If the petition is not signed by the required number of qualified electors, the recorder shall notify the candidate and the person who filed time petition within five days after time filing. If the petition is insufficient in any other particular, the recorder shall return it immediately to the person who filed it, certifying in writing wherein the petition is insufficient. Such deficient petition may be amended and filed again as a new petition, or a different petition for the same candidate may be filed, within the regular time for filing nomination petitions. The recorder shall notify an eligible person of this nomination and such person shall file with the recorder a written acceptance of nomination, the recorder shall cause the nominee’s name to be printed on the ballots. The petition of nomination for a successful candidate at an election shall be preserved in the office of the recorder until the term of office for which the candidate is elected expires.
Section 27. Vacancies: Occurrence. The office of a member of the council becomes vacant:
Section 28. Filling of Vacancies. Appointments to fill vacancies in elective offices of the city shall be made by the mayor with the consent and approval of a majority of the remaining members of the council. The appointee’s terms shall run until the next state biennial general election and at that election the office shall be filled for the remaining two years of the four year term if the remaining term filled by the appointee was for more than two years.
Section 29. Enacting Clause. Time enacting clause of all ordinances hereafter shall be, “The City of Lafayette, Oregon, ordains as follows:”
Section 30. Adoption by Council.
Section 31. When Ordinances Take Effect. An ordinance enacted by the council shall take effect on the 30th day after its enactment. When the council deems it advisable, however, an ordinance may provide a later time for it to take effect, and in case of an emergency, it may take effect immediately.
Section 32. Condemnation. Any necessity of taking property for the city by condemnation shall be determined by the council and declared by a resolution of the council describing the property and stating the uses to which it shall be devoted.
Section 33. Improvements. The procedure for making, altering, vacating, or abandoning a public improvement shall be governed by general ordinance or, to the extent not so governed, by the applicable general laws of the state. A remonstrance by the owners of two- thirds of the property to be specially assessed for a proposed public improvement shall suspend action regarding the improvement for six months. For the purpose of this section “owner” shall mean the record holder of legal title to the land, except that if there is a purchaser of the land according to a recorded land sale contract, or according to a verified writing by the record holder of legal title to the land filed with the city recorder, the said purchaser shall be deemed the “owner.”
Section 34. Special Assessments. The procedure for levying, collecting and enforcing the payment of special assessments for public improvements or other services to be charged against real property shall be governed by general ordinance, together with the right of reassessment, from time to time, if there should be any legal error in a prior assessment.
Section 35. Debt. The city’s indebtedness may not exceed debt limits imposed by state law. A city officer or employee who creates or officially approves indebtedness in excess of this limitation is jointly and severally liable for the excess. A charter amendment is not required to authorize city indebtedness.
Section 36. Existing Ordinances Continue. All ordinances of the city consistent with this charter and in force when it takes effect shall remain in effect until amended or repealed.
Section 37. Repeal of Previously Enacted Provisions. All charter provisions of the city enacted prior to the date that this charter takes effect are hereby repealed.
Section 38. Time of Effect of Charter. This charter shall take effect immediately upon its approval by the voters of the said city and filing a true and certified copy thereof with the secretary of state.
Section 39. Severability. The terms of this charter are severable. If a part of the charter is held invalid, that invalidity does not affect another part of the charter, except as the logical relation between the two parts requires.
Section 40. Expenditure of Funds. The City may not disburse, or obligate for expenditure funds in excess of One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) on a capital improvement project unless such disbursement or obligation has been first approved by the voters of the City. 'Capital Improvement' shall mean improvement of a facility used for: water supply, treatment and distribution; sewage and wastewater collection, transmission, treatment and disposal; drainage and flood control; transportation; and, parks and recreation.