146 Wis. 490 | Wis. | 1911
Appellant’s position is this in brief: At any time between the 25th day of April and the 2d day of' May it was within the power of the mayor of the city of Hudson to appoint a hoard of police and fire commissioners; the mayor was absent from the city on one of the days during that
The argument is specious, but in our judgment unsound. 'The provision of the charter quoted was evidently intended to .accomplish two objects: 'first, that the duties of the mayor ■should be performed within the city and not at long range by .an absentee official; and, second, that in the absence of the mayor from the city there should still be an executive officer present vested with the powers and charged with the duties of mayor.
“Absence” must be construed reasonably, and so construed means, we think, what may be called “effective” absence. If ■during the mayor’s absence from the city, even for a brief time, a riot occurs, or an occasion arises which demands immediate exercise of the executive power to preserve order or ■enforce the laws, the powers and duties of the mayor to meet the emergency must necessarily be vested in the president of the council fully and completely during the period of the absence.
But a different situation is presented1 when the mayor has ¡a certain period of time within which to perform an act like the appointment of an officer or the approval of a resolution or ■ordinance passed by the council. In such cases it is very evident that the time which is allowed the executive is allowed so that he may have opportunity for reflection and weighing of arguments pro and con. Can it be possible that it was intended that, if the mayor is called from the city for a few hours during this period, the president of the council can step in during his absence and make an appointment or veto an ■ordinance while the mayor’s time for consideration thereof is ■still unexpired and perhaps only just begun? Few would •contend, we think, that the statute was intended by the legislature to accomplish such results, nor do we think that its
By the Gowrt. — Judgment affirmed.