14-1307.   Departments; commissioners; powers and duties.The mayor shall be, ex officio, the commissioner of the police, fire andhealth departments, and shall have under his or her special charge and beresponsible for the enforcement of all city ordinances and policeregulations of said city, and have general supervision over the firedepartment, and shall have charge of public parks and all property of suchcity, and the mayor shall also have supervision over the health departmentof any such city and shall enforce all orders, rules and regulationsnecessary to the end that the streets, alleys and public grounds shall bekept in a sanitary condition and the health and safety of the inhabitantsof the city protected.

      The board of commissioners shall, by a majority vote, designate onecommissioner who shall be known as "commissioner of finance and revenue."The commissioner of finance and revenue shall have under his or her specialcharge the preparation of an annual budget, and the collection of allrevenues belonging to such city, from whatever source the same may bederived, and the management of the finances of such city; and in the samemanner one commissioner shall be designated as the "commissioner of streetsand public utilities," who shall have special charge over any waterworks,light plant, power, heating or gas plants, street railway, telephone ortelegraph lines, or other public utility owned by such city, and shall havesupervision of the streets and alleys and public highways of the city, andthe construction of and maintenance of boulevards, public parks ordriveways and the construction of and maintenance of all publicimprovements whatsoever undertaken by such city, such as sidewalks, bridgesand sewers, and shall have charge of the engineering department of saidcity, and to supervise all public works, and it shall be the duty of thecommissioner of streets and public utilities also to demand faithfulcompliance from all persons, corporations or companies with any grant,franchise or privilege voted to such person, corporation or company by theboard of commissioners.

      Said board of commissioners so constituted shall have control andsupervision over all the departments of such city, and to that end shallhave power to make and enforce such rules and regulations as they may deemfit and proper for and concerning the organization, management andoperation of all the departments of such city and whatever agencies may becreated for the administration of its affairs. In case at any time theduties of any of said commissioners shall be found to be excessive, saidboard of commissioners, by a majority vote of all the members thereof, mayrelieve said commissioner by assigning to some other member of said board,for a time to be by them determined, a portion of the work assigned by thisact to said commissioner; and said board may from time to time assign suchfurther duties to each of said commissioners as shall be for the bestinterests of such city.

      History:   L. 1909, ch. 82, § 16; March 1; R.S. 1923, § 14-1307.