Article IV
Mayor

§ 1. Election, term, etc.

(a) Election and qualifications.

(1) The voters of Baltimore City shall elect a Mayor on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November 2016, and on the same day and month in every succeeding fourth year.

(2) The Mayor shall be a person of known integrity, experience, and sound judgment. The Mayor also shall be over 25 years of age, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the City for at least 1 year next preceding the election and during the term of office.

(b) Term.

The term of Mayor shall commence on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in December succeeding the election and continue for four years and until a successor shall have been elected and qualified.

The salary of the Mayor shall be set as provided in Article VII, §§ 117 through 125 of this Charter.

(d) Term limit.

A Mayor shall not hold office for more than 2 consecutive full terms of office and in no event shall hold the office for more than 8 years during any 12 year period. This provision shall not preclude an elected Mayor from seeking other elected offices within Baltimore City after two consecutive terms as Mayor. In the event that an elected Mayor takes office as a result of a removal, vacancy or absence described in § 2 of this Article, that elected Mayor shall only be eligible to hold that office for the remainder of the predecessor's unexpired term and 1 consecutive full term thereafter.

(Res. 12-003, ratified Nov. 6, 2012; Res. 05-009, ratified Nov. 7, 2006; Res. 04-049, ratified Nov. 2, 2004; Res. 99-016, ratified Nov. 2, 1999; Initiative "Question K", ratified Nov. 8, 2022.)

Cross References

Article VII, § 60(a)

Article VII, § 71(a)

Article VII, § 94(a)

Editor's Notes

§ 9-113 of the Local Government Article (enacted as former Article 24, § 1-108, by Chs. 8 and 9, Acts of 1999) provides that “a candidate for chief executive officer [of a county] shall be a resident of the county for at least 6 months before the general election for chief executive officer” {LG §9-113(c)}. By constricted definition and scope, however, this requirement applies to but two “counties” (Baltimore City and Montgomery County) and two “chief executive officers” (the Mayor of Baltimore City and the County Executive of Montgomery County) {LG § 9-113(a) and (b)}.

The section further provides that a “county” may retain a Charter-imposed residency requirement that is longer than 6 months if that political subdivision “reaffirms the requirement by enactment of an Ordinance effective no later than 4 weeks before the filing deadline specified in § 5-303(a) of the Election Law Article” {LG § 9-113(d)}.

In response to these provisions, the Mayor and City Council enacted Ordinance 99-433, effective June 1, 1999, to “reaffir[m] and retai[n] the residency requirement for Mayor that is imposed by the Baltimore City Charter”.

Subsection (d) was added by Initiative Ballot Question K, ratified November 8, 2022. The final sentence of Question K establishes that subsection (d) will be effective “beginning with persons elected in the 2024 Baltimore City Election.”

§ 2. Removal; Vacancy; Absence.

(a) Removal.

The City Council, by a three-fourths vote of its members, may remove the Mayor from office for incompetency, misconduct in office, wilful neglect of duty, or felony or misdemeanor in office, on charges preferred by the City Council's Committee on Legislative Investigations, a verified petition signed by at least 20% of the qualified voters in Baltimore City, or by the Inspector General, and after notice of those charges and an opportunity to be heard by the City Council are given to the Mayor.

(b) Vacancy.

In case of vacancy in the office of the Mayor by death, resignation, or permanent disqualification, the President of the City Council shall be Mayor for the remainder of the term for which the Mayor was elected.

In case of, and during, sickness, temporary disqualification or necessary absence of the Mayor, the President of the City Council shall be ex officio Mayor of the City.

§ 3. Staff.

(a) In general.

The Mayor may appoint such persons to aid in the discharge of the Mayor's duties as provided in the Ordinance of Estimates.

(b) City Administrator.

The Mayor shall appoint and directly supervise a City Administrator, who shall be the chief administrative officer of the City.

§ 4. General powers.

(a) Conservator of peace; Financial oversight; Report on state of City.

The Mayor, by virtue of the office, shall have all the powers of a conservator of the peace.

The Mayor may call upon any officer of the City entrusted with the receipt or expenditure of public money, for a statement of account as often as the Mayor thinks necessary, and may at any time by expert accountants and bookkeepers, examine the books and accounts of any department, commission, board, officer, assistant, clerk, subordinate or employee.

The Mayor shall report to the City Council as soon as practicable after the end of each fiscal year, the general state of the City, with an accurate account of the money received and expended, to be published for the information of the citizens.

(b) Chief executive officer.

The Mayor is the chief executive officer of the City and shall see that ordinances and resolutions are duly and faithfully executed.

Subject to more specific provisions of the Charter, the Mayor shall have general responsibility for the economic development of the City.

§ 5. Approval or veto of legislation.

(a) Delivery to Mayor; Approval.

All ordinances or resolutions duly passed by the City Council, after being properly certified by the President of the City Council as having been so passed, shall be delivered by the Clerk of the Council to the Mayor for approval. The date of delivery shall be noted on the ordinances or resolutions and, when approved by the Mayor, they shall become ordinances or resolutions of the City.

(b) Veto; Return to Council.

(1) If the Mayor does not approve of an ordinance or resolution passed by the City Council, the Mayor shall return it with written objections to the City Council within three actual regular meetings, not more than one of which shall occur in any one calendar week, of the City Council after the delivery of the ordinance or resolution to the Mayor.

(2) On receipt, the Mayor's objections shall be read promptly to the Council and entered on its Journal. The Council may proceed to reconsider and vote on the ordinance or resolution:

(i) after 5 calendar days from when the Mayor's objections have been read to the Council; and

(ii) either:

(A) within 20 calendar days from when the Mayor's objections have been read to the Council; or

(B) if no regular meeting is held during that 20-day period, at the first regular meeting that is scheduled after that 20-day period.

(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2) of this subsection, no vetoed ordinance or resolution may be reconsidered by a City Council that has been newly-elected and sworn since the passage of the vetoed ordinance or resolution.

(4) If the ordinance or resolution, after reconsideration, is again passed by the City Council by a vote of two-thirds of its members, it becomes an ordinance or resolution of the City. In these cases, after the reconsideration, the votes on the question of the passage of the ordinance or resolution over the veto of the Mayor shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against passage of the ordinance or resolution over the veto of the Mayor shall be entered on the Journal of the City Council.

If an ordinance or resolution duly passed by the City Council shall not be returned by the Mayor to the City Council within three actual regular meetings, no more than one of which shall occur in any one calendar week, after it shall have been delivered to the Mayor, it shall become an ordinance or resolution of the City in the same manner as if the Mayor had approved it, unless the City Council by an adjournment sine die, or for a period exceeding one month, shall prevent its return, in which case it shall not be law.

(d) Items of appropriation.

If an ordinance or resolution duly passed by the City Council shall embrace different items of appropriation, the Mayor may approve the provisions thereof relating to one or more items of appropriation and disapprove the others, and in such case those the Mayor shall approve shall become effective and those which the Mayor shall not approve shall be reconsidered by the City Council, and shall become effective if again passed over the veto of the Mayor by the vote as above prescribed for the passage over the veto of the Mayor of entire ordinances or resolutions. The procedures governing the Mayor's veto of an item of appropriation and the Council's reconsideration of that item shall be the same as those in this section that govern the passage, veto, reconsideration and override of ordinances and resolutions.

§ 6. Appointments of municipal officers.

(a) Appointment subject to confirmation.

Except as otherwise provided in the Charter, the Mayor shall have the sole power of appointment of all municipal officers, subject to confirmation by the City Council by a majority vote of its members; provided the Council shall take action on the nomination within the first three regular meetings of the Council after the nomination is sent to it by the Mayor. If the Council fails to take action within this time, then the person nominated shall be, by operation of this subsection, confirmed by the Council. If the Council, by the required vote and in the prescribed time, shall refuse to confirm the nomination, the Mayor shall send to it another name for the office, who shall be subject to confirmation pursuant to this subsection.

(b) Terms of officers.

The terms of all municipal officers appointed by the Mayor shall expire at the end of four years or at the end of the Mayor's term of office, whichever first occurs, with the exception of the terms of the City Administrator, the Police Commissioner, and some members of the Board of School Commissioners, the Civil Service Commission, the Planning Commission, the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals, the advisory board established by Article X, Section 2 of this Charter, and those boards and commissions governed by State or federal law. The terms of the City Administrator, the Police Commissioner, and the members of these boards and commissions are prescribed elsewhere in the Charter or by other law.

The Mayor shall have the power to remove at pleasure all municipal officers, except members of boards and commissions established by Charter or other law, appointed by the Mayor in the manner prescribed in this section and confirmed by the City Council; provided, however, that appointees holding office pursuant to the provisions of the Charter relating to the Civil Service may be removed from office only in accordance with such provisions.

(d) Removal – Boards and commissions.

Except as otherwise provided by law, the Mayor may remove members of boards and commissions established by Charter or other law by majority vote of the members of the City Council. Removal shall date from the time of City Council approval.

(e) Term limits.

No person, except ex officio members, shall serve more than two consecutive full terms, in addition to any unexpired term served, on the same board or commission.

(f) Vacancies – In general.

Upon the vacancy in any office subject to this section, whether by resignation, removal, death, end of a term or otherwise, the Mayor shall fill the vacancy by an appointment in the manner prescribed in this section for the remainder of the term, if any, of the former incumbent.

(g) Vacancies – Boards and commissions.

When a vacancy occurs on a board or commission established by this Charter, or other law, the Mayor shall have, for 120 days after the occurrence of that vacancy, the sole power of appointment to the vacant office. Such appointment shall be subject to confirmation by the City Council in the manner prescribed in this section.

If the Mayor fails to submit a nomination within the time prescribed in this subsection, the power of appointment shall vest and be held by the board or commission to which the vacancy shall apply, and that board or commission, by majority vote, shall certify the name of a person to the City Council for confirmation in the manner prescribed in this section.

For the purposes of this subsection only, a vacancy shall occur upon the occurrence of an event enumerated in subsection (f) hereof, and also upon the rejection by the City Council of a nomination to a board or commission.

This subsection is not applicable to the advisory board established by Article X, Section 2 of this Charter.

(h) Vacancies – Office of director or similar.

When a vacancy occurs in an office to which a municipal officer may be appointed who is subject to removal as provided in subsection (c), the Mayor may, in the interest of governmental efficiency and in order to provide uninterrupted municipal services, designate a person within the department or agency affected to perform the duties of the vacant office. Such a person shall cease to perform the duties of the office when a municipal officer is appointed and confirmed in the manner prescribed in this section, or one year after designation, or sixty days after the City Council shall by resolution, passed by majority vote and not subject to veto, direct the Mayor to appoint, subject to confirmation, a municipal officer, whichever first occurs; provided, however, that the City Council shall have no power to direct the appointment of any individual.

(i) Oath and commission.

All persons appointed by the Mayor, as well as those municipal officers elected by the people or by the City Council, shall qualify for office by taking before the Mayor an oath faithfully to perform the duties of their offices, and to support the laws and constitutions of the United States and of the State of Maryland. A test book shall be kept by the Mayor, which shall be signed at the time of taking the oath, and after qualifying, the Mayor shall issue to the officers a commission signed by the Mayor with the corporate seal attached.

(j) Recess appointments.

Whenever a vacancy that the Mayor is empowered to fill subject to confirmation by the City Council shall occur during the recess of the City Council, the Mayor may temporarily appoint a person to fill that vacancy until the next regular meeting of the City Council. At that meeting, the Mayor shall present such appointment for confirmation as provided for in this section for other appointments by the Mayor.

(k) Holding over; Dual offices of profit prohibited.

All elected municipal officers provided for in the Charter or other law, shall hold their offices until their successors are appointed or elected and qualified.

No person shall at any time hold more than one office yielding pecuniary compensation under the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.

(l) Residency requirement.

(1) The City Administrator and all heads of departments and bureaus, including presidents of boards and commissions, provided for by this Charter or any other law, and appointed by the Mayor or by the governing board of the department, shall be residents and registered voters of Baltimore City at the time of their appointment and shall remain residents and registered voters during their entire term of office.

(2) The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to those holding office prior to January 1, 1975, as long as they shall retain that office, and further, shall not apply to a City Administrator, a department head, or bureau head appointed after January 1, 1975 who signs a declaration of intent to become a City resident and registered voter within six months of the date of appointment. If that department or bureau head fails to abide by this declaration of intent, then the appointment shall be terminated.

§ 7. Appointment of municipal employees.

The heads of departments, municipal officers not embraced in a department (including the Comptroller), commissions and boards shall have the sole power of appointment and removal of all deputies, assistants, clerks and subordinate employees employed by them, subject to the Civil Service provisions of Article VII, unless otherwise provided in the Charter.

The head of each municipal agency shall designate the functions and prescribe the duties of the several assistants, clerks and employees of such agency, consistent with the Charter and with the classification of such assistant, clerk or employee as previously determined by the Civil Service Commission.

§ 8. Minority party representation.

Except as otherwise provided in the Charter or by other law, at least one member, in the case of commissions or boards composed of not more than five members, and at least two members, in the case of commissions or boards composed of more than five members, shall be registered voters in Baltimore City who are not registered as members of the majority party. The "majority party" shall be that political party which had the largest number of registered voters at the time of the municipal election next preceding the date of the appointment.