### ARTICLE IV. - LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
 

### 401. - City council—Powers; composition.
 (A) The legislative power and all other powers, except as otherwise provided in this charter and by general law, are vested in the council. The council may, by ordinance or resolution consistent with this charter, prescribe the manner in which any powers of the city shall be exercised, provide all means necessary or proper therefor, and do all things needful within or without the city or state to protect the rights of the city. (B) The council shall be composed of nine (9) members, one (1) from each of six (6) councilmanic districts and three (3) councilmembers-at-large to be elected in a manner hereinafter set forth. 

### 402. - Same—Qualifications of council- members.
 Each councilmember shall have been a resident of the City of Knoxville for one (1) year prior to taking office and shall continue to reside therein during the term of office and shall be at least twenty-one (21) years of age. No person shall be eligible to serve in the office of councilmember who holds any other elective public office or who is a City of Knoxville employee. District councilmembers must reside in their districts for one (1) year prior to taking office and shall continue to live therein during the period of service. Provided, that in the event a district councilmember's residence ceases to be within that said district because of redistricting as provided herein, the councilmember shall continue to serve for the numbered district for the remainder of the term. Any councilmember who shall cease to possess any of the qualifications herein enumerated shall forthwith forfeit the office. (Ord. No. O-338-02, § 2, 9-3-02, ratified 11-5-02) 

### 403. - [Same—Power to govern members.]
 The council shall be the judge of the election and qualification of its members; may punish its members for disorderly behavior; and by an affirmative two-thirds vote of its membership, may expel a member for disorderly conduct, malfeasance, for the violation of its rules, or for any other just and reasonable cause; but no member shall be expelled until the member has been given ten (10) days' notice of the charge and has been given an opportunity to be tried by the council. 

### 404. - Same—Terms of office [of council- members].
 Members of the council shall be elected, as hereinafter provided in this charter, for terms of four (4) years and shall serve until their successors are elected and qualified. The terms of the office of the councilmembers from the first, second, third, fourth and sixth districts shall expire on the thirty-first day of December, 1985, or at such time as a successor is qualified and sworn into office. The terms of office of the councilmember from the fifth district and the councilmembers-at-large, shall expire on the thirty-first day of December, 1983, or at such time as a successor is qualified and sworn into office. 

### 405. - Same—Compensation [of council- members].
 The salary of each councilmember shall be as fixed by ordinance of said council, but not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) per month, and any change shall become effective on the first day of the year following the next councilmanic election. 

### 406. - Same—Vacancy in the office of council-member.
 The office of a member of the council shall become vacant upon the death, resignation, ineligibility, recall or ouster of the incumbent. A vacancy shall be filled in accordance with the provisions of article VII of the charter of the City of Knoxville. 

### 407. - Same—Officers; vice-mayor, recorder.
 (A) Vice-mayor. The council shall at the time of organization, following each regular councilmanic election, elect one of its members vice-mayor. During the temporary absence of [or] the disability of the mayor, the duties of the mayor shall be performed by the vice-mayor. During the temporary absence or disability of both the mayor and the vice-mayor, the members of the council shall select one of their own number to temporarily perform the duties of mayor. The vice-mayor, with the concurrence of a majority of the members of city council, shall make appointments of all city council employees and shall be responsible for supervision of such employees. Appointments of city council employees shall be from eligible applicants certified by the civil service merit board as provided under the civil service provisions of this charter. (B) Recorder and city council employees. The vice-mayor, with the concurrence of a majority of the members of city council, shall appoint a clerk of the council, who also shall be known as the city recorder, to keep the records of the council and the city and perform such other duties as may be required by law or by council. The vice-mayor, in concurrence with a majority of city council, also may appoint or employ such other officers or employees as may be necessary and the city council shall have the authority to fix their duties. The recorder and all other employees of the council, exclusive of the special council to city council, shall be appointed from eligible applicants certified by the civil service merit board as provided under the civil service provisions of this charter, provided however, that any employee whose positions was not previously included in the classified service, but which became classified as a result of this charter amendment, shall be appointed to retain that position without being subject to examination. (Ord. No. O-431-00, §§ 2, 3, 9-5-00, ratified 11-7-00) 

### 408. - Same—Meetings.
 On the third Saturday of December following the regular municipal election, the council shall meet at a time and place to be prescribed by council, at which time the newly elected councilmembers shall assume the duties of their office. Thereafter the council shall meet at such times as prescribed by ordinance or resolution. The mayor or any four (4) members of the council may call special meetings of the council upon notice being given at least one (1) day prior to the date of the meeting or upon at least twelve (12) hours' written notice to each member of the council served personally upon such member, or left at their place of residence. The notice of such special meeting shall show the purpose of such meeting, and no business shall be transacted unless specifically mentioned in such call or notice. All meetings of the council shall be public, and any citizen shall have access to the minutes and records thereof at any reasonable time; the council shall determine its own rules and keep minutes of all its proceedings. Any such regular or special meetings shall be adjourned to such time and place as may be fixed by the council. (Ord. No. O-224-90, § 4, 8-7-90, ratified 11-6-90) 

### 409. - Legislative authority exercised by ordinance or resolution.
 A majority of all members elected shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day. The affirmative vote of a majority of the members elected to the council shall be necessary for any action of the council, except as otherwise provided. The vote upon the passage of all ordinances and for the adoption of such resolutions as the council by its rules shall prescribe, shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered upon the minutes of record. Each proposed ordinance or resolution shall be introduced in written or printed form, and shall not contain more than one (1) subject, which shall be clearly stated in the title, but the general appropriation ordinance may contain the various subjects and accounts for which money is to be appropriated. The enacting clause of all ordinances passed by the council shall be: "Be it ordained by the council of the City of Knoxville." The enacting clause of all resolutions passed by the council shall be: "Be it resolved by the council of the City of Knoxville." All ordinances and resolutions, at the end of the ordinance or resolution, shall specify the time at which it shall take effect. If no time is specified, then it shall take effect seventeen (17) days from and after its passage. No ordinance, unless it be an emergency measure, shall be passed until it has been read at two (2) regular meetings not less than two (2) weeks apart; the proposed ordinance shall be filed in the city recorder's office for public inspection between the first and second readings; no ordinance or resolution or section thereof shall be revised or amended unless the amending ordinance or resolution contains enough of the ordinance or resolution or section revised or amended to show clearly the effect of the amendment or revision. No ordinance or resolution heretofore enacted by the council shall be declared invalid because such ordinance or resolution amended or revised an existing ordinance or resolution without containing the entire ordinance or resolution or section so amended. 

### 410. - Emergency ordinances.
 The council may, by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of its membership, pass emergency measures to take effect at the time of passage. An emergency measure is an ordinance or resolution for the immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health or safety, or providing for the usual daily operation of a municipal department in which the emergency is set forth in the preamble thereto, and the declaration of emergency by the council in the ordinance shall be conclusive thereof. Ordinances appropriating money may be passed as emergency measures, but no measure making a grant, renewal or extension of a franchise, or any other special privilege or regulation of the rate to be charged by a public utility shall ever be passed as an emergency measure. 

### 411. - Referendum.
 Any ordinance enacted by the council shall be submitted to a referendum of the voters upon petition of qualified voters equal in number to twenty-five (25) percent of the voters for the office of mayor in the most recent election. Any petition to refer an ordinance to the voters shall be filed with the council within twenty (20) days following the date on which the ordinance shall become effective. When a referendum petition has been filed, the ordinance to be referred shall not take effect until twenty (20) days after its approval by a majority of the qualified voters of the city voting thereon. Emergency legislation shall remain in effect from the date it shall become law withstanding the filing of a petition for referendum, but shall stand repealed twenty (20) days after rejection by a majority of the qualified voters thereon. 

### 412. - [Ordinance] signing by presiding officer; filing, publication and codification.
 Ordinances may be revised, codified, rearranged, and published in book form under appropriate chapters and sections and such revision and codification may be made in one (1) ordinance, containing one (1) or more subjects. The publication of such revision and codification in book form as aforesaid shall be held to be sufficient publication of the ordinance, or several ordinances contained in such revision and codification and so published. Any such publication of a revision or codification of ordinances in book form shall contain a certificate of the mayor and the recorder of the correctness of such revision, codification and publication. Every ordinance or resolution, upon its final passage, shall be authenticated by the signature of the presiding officer of the council and the recorder, and shall be filed with the recorder.