PRESIDENT OF COUNCIL

SECTION 39. The council shall choose by ballot one of its members to preside over the council and to perform the duties of mayor and to become mayor in case of a vacancy in the office of mayor. He shall be designated president of the council, and in the absence of the mayor from the city, or if the mayor be from any cause unable to act, or in case of vacancy in the office of mayor, said president of the council shall have and exercise the power of mayor, and perform all the duties of the office of mayor, except that he shall not, without the consent of the council, appoint to or remove from office any employee in the service of the city, unless such absence or disability of the mayor continue for a period of at least twenty days. The council shall choose a president pro tem. Whenever the president of the council is absent, or when he shall exercise the office of mayor, the president pro tem shall act as president and shall possess all the rights and powers and perform all of the duties of the president. Whenever the president becomes mayor, as in this charter provided, the president pro tem shall then become president of the council, in which event a president pro tem shall again be chosen.

   Ch. 31 S.L. 1941.