THE CHARTER

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 53

Adopted in Senate May 11, 1949

______________ Secretary of the Senate

_______

Adopted in Assembly May 12, 1949

______________ Chief Clerk of the Assembly

_______

This resolution was received by the Secretary of State this ___ day of _______ 1949, at ___ o'clock ___. M.

______________ Deputy Secretary of State

CHAPTER 126

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 53—Approving the Charter of the City of Merced, State of California, ratified by the qualified electors of said city at a special municipal election held therein on the twelfth day of April, 1949.

WHEREAS, The City of Merced, in the County of Merced, State of California, contains a population in excess of thirty-five hundred inhabitants, as ascertained by the last preceding census taken under the authority of the Congress of the United States or of the legislature of the State of California; and

WHEREAS, proceedings have been had in and taken by the said City of Merced for the preparation, proposal, adoption, and ratification of a charter for the government of said City of Merced, all as set forth in the following certificate of the mayor and city clerk of said City of Merced, to wit:

Certificate of Adoption

We, the undersigned, A. Homer Griffin, mayor of the City of Merced, County of Merced, State of California, and A. H. Groesel, clerk of said city, do hereby certify and declare as follows:

That said City of Merced, County of Merced, State of California, is now, and at all times herein referred to was, a city containing a population of more than three thousand five hundred inhabitants as ascertained by the last preceding census taken under the authority of the Congress of the United States or of the legislature of the State of California;

That said City of Merced is now, and at all times herein mentioned was, duly organized and existing under the general laws of the State of California, as a city of the sixth class;

That on the 13th day of April, 1948, at a municipal election duly and regularly held on that day in the said City of Merced under and in accordance with the provisions of Section 8 of Article XI of the constitution of the State of California, the electors of said city did duly choose and elect a board of fifteen freeholders, the members of which were all electors of said city and eligible as candidates under said election, to prepare a charter for the government of said city;

That the result of said election of freeholders was duly declared by the legislative body of the City of Merced on the 20th day of April, 1948, and said electors thereafter duly qualified as such freeholders in accordance with law;

That pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution of the State of California and within due and legal time pursuant to Section 8, Article XI of the Constitution of the State of California, the said board of freeholders did prepare and propose a Charter for the government of said City of Merced, which said Charter was signed by a majority of the said board of freeholders and was filed in the office of the city clerk of said City of Merced on the 10th day of January, 1949;

That said board of freeholders did, before said filing, fix and designate on such proposed Charter the 12th day of April, 1949, as the date upon which said Charter should be submitted to the electors of said City of Merced for ratification by them;

That thereupon the said city council of said City of Merced, by resolution, duly called and ordered the holding of a special municipal election to be held in said City of Merced on the 12th day of April, 1949, and gave notice of the holding of such election as required by law; that at said election there was submitted to the qualified electors of the City of Merced, the question whether said proposed Charter prepared and filed by said board of freeholders should be ratified and adopted as the Charter for the government of said City of Merced;

That within fifteen days after the filing of said Charter, said city council caused the same to be published once, to wit: On the 20th day of January, 1949, in the Merced Express, a newspaper of general circulation, printed, published and circulated within said city; that the City of Merced has no official newspaper.

That thereafter, and prior to the said 12th day of April, 1949, the said city clerk of the said City of Merced caused copies of the said proposed Charter to be mailed, postage prepaid to all of the qualified electors of the City of Merced:

That said election was duly and regularly held on the 12th day of April, 1949, and that at said election the majority of the qualified electors voting thereon, voted in favor of said proposed Charter, and for the ratification and adoption thereof;

That the city council of the said City of Merced at an adjourned regular meeting held in the time, form and manner required by law, and in accordance with the law in such cases made and provided, duly canvassed the returns of said election, and duly found, determined and declared that the majority of said electors voting thereon had voted in favor of said proposed Charter and for the ratification and adoption thereof, and that the same was adopted and ratified by more than a majority of the qualified voters of the City of Merced voting thereon; that said Charter, so prepared, proposed, filed, and ratified, as herein set forth together with the certificate and signatures of the members of the board of freeholders attached thereto is in words and figures as follows, to wit:

Proposed Charter of the City of Merced

We, the people of the City of Merced, State of California, do ordain and establish this Charter as the organic law of said city under the constitution of said state.