Show 1JESTIOP OF HOLDOVER hould There Be a Municipal Election This Fall I TEN LAWYERS OPINIONS JTHEY GREE THAT THt ELECTION SHOULD BE HELD Slayor EasUin Takes tlto Opposite View Variau Henderson Van Colt Drown Elclinor and Den nett Contribute Their Ideas 4V One of the questions that has awakened a great deal of interest during dur-ing the campaign is that brought up fry Mayor Baskin who holds that there can be no legal municipal ejection this fall ana that his administration will told over until some action regarding municipal elections is i taken by the first state legislature The Oquirrh club has obtained the opinion of ten lawyers law-yers on the subject They agree in taking the opposite view These opinions opin-ions are as follows Jlr Vaojlaus Opinion C S Varian state his views as follows I have to acknowledge the receipt of sour communication of the 13th inst requesting re-questing me to give a opinion upon the t question of holding an election for municipal I f crt muni-cipal year officers in November ot the pres I I have given the matter such exam ination and deliberation as the limited tame at my dsposal permitted and herewith here-with submit my conclusions TN orig inal charter of tie city provided for the holding of the municipal election on the fiecond Monday in February commenc ing in 1SC1 and on that day bienially thereafter By the general act approved March 8th 1SSS entitled An act providing viding for the incorporation of cities the charter of existing cities including eistng cites Sal Lake City were in some partlcu lars amended Cities with Jas CItes a population of twenty thousand or more inhabitants I v ere denned as cities of the first class It was enacted that the elective officers of the city should hold their offices for two years and until their successors were elected and qualified No change was made in the time for holding muni cpal elections In 1S92 an act entitled An act in relation to entted electons terms of office became a law This law a general and its evident design was to provide permanently for the separa tpn in alternate years of municipal and I yschool cections and those for the le islative assembly from territorial county and jrecmct elections terriorial I declared that on Tuesday next after the first Monday in November 1502 and biennially thereafter a general election for territorial officers should electon which officers should qualify and assume the duties of office on the first day of January next succeeding the election The terms of the then incumbents were i limited to the 1st day of January ISJS BO as to give effect to the act I was likewise provided that city I town village and school elections should P held on said Tuesday in November J Lbsz with an exception as to cities which chpuid have held an election in 1S92 I prior to May 31st of that year and that the officers so elected should hold their respective offices until January 1st li > 94 1894 and until their successors should be elected and qualified The act then pro ceeds to declare that on the Tuesday next after the first fonda afer te frst Monday in Novem her isit and 1 biennially thereafter biennIaly therefer the city town village and school C156 elections ttou1d electons rtluld bc held and that the officers clected their < duties should Qualify and enter ofces January of office on the first day of next succeeding their election and continue in office for two P ofce years etc 7 f Providing S1eCtiC repeal for the is then holding made of ejections of all laws > or thing the electons 01 tenure of offices otherwise than i as prided by this act Here then we have the scheme of the legislature clearly set forth Territorial county and precInct elections are to be held in even ass legislature and ears those Municipal for mcmlers and oC school the are to be held in the odd numbered years All elections electons save spec r r ial which we ja1 are not considering in any year are to be held on the same day J there were nothing more In noting the law than I have indicated the the i indicate question would t seem to be free from dou queston tal tathiy the Intent of the legIslature is as clear a the language employed is un ur ambiguous and intelligible But in mtelglble sec tion I of the act > this provision Is found Nothing jn this act shaH apply to cit Jes of the metropolitan class This pro vise seems to have nothing to take hold of There were and are no cities in territory belonging Sv metropolitan the cass classes of rhe but the the legislature lirst metropolitan second has and designated class third is not known in our legislation In one sense beIng the chief and mother city and the capital withal of the territory tfvalt Lake City is metropolitan but there V i dud can be no Distinctive class of cit les known as metropolitan cI im metropoltan except as ar bitrarily so designated by legislation The use of this Peculiar expression in r this act is explained by reference to the legislative proceedings for that session A Vll known as C F Xb 25 was pend I ing and subsequently passed but subsequenty vas vc I I toed by the Governor This bill was a en titled An act providing for the incorpor aVon and government of metropoltan cities and designated all cities having a population of forty thousand inhat > tantfa or more as the cities of tie inhai ropolitan class While this bill Yhie was pending beforo the legislature the wa irov legslature ernor returned to the council for amend counci ment C F x0 2 beIng the act in rela tion to elections and tenure of office now under consideration and ofce consideraton recom mended that amendment be made reom to sec tion four after the word territory by inserting except cities of the metropoli tan class He said that the other toll pending C F Xo 23 providing for the government of metropolitan cities metropoltan con tained election provisions in conflict Tvitn t the act then being considered confct if the metropolitan city bill became a law the jr amendment would harmonize both meas k ures and that if it did not no harm would follow its adoption See Council Journal 1SK rage 84 The amendment suggested by the governor was not made I in section four but was adopted and made section six The metropolitancity city bll was not approved but in the mean time the other bill became a law I do not deem it necessary to pursue the dis cusion I is quite evident that section G was added in the expectation secton metropolitan city bill becoming a law when its provisions could have become operative Ly having something to operate upon As the legislation now stands this section which is really a proviso to pre ceding sections is meaningless and can not be held to change modify or except from the clear and unmistakable provs ions of the act I think no effect is to I be given to section 6 and the xisting i law requires the holding of requIre Jldlng an election for municipal officers In elecLn construction has been adopted by the territorial municipal and federal officIals charged with administering the election laws We have held one electon tion in acocrdance therewith and a ses ion of the legislature has intervened since such election These circumstances circumstnces with such contemporaneous construction are while perhaps not controlling of great weight I does controlng me necessary to consider the provisions of the proposed constitution That instm i meat trill not be operatIve until ratified by the people and proclaimed by the president The question whether a mun cipal election for Salt Lake City must be held In November 1833 Is Clv be de termined by the present law the law of the territory Whether persons eleced at such elections will hold their respec tive offices for a longer or shorter term or at all should the state be admitted admited Tnll depend upon the interpretation to UJd given the language of the schedule ptjd also possibly upon the time of admission ad-mission Thus section 10 of the schedule provided that All officers civil and military mil-itary now holding their offices and ap pointments in this territory bY authority law shall continue hold of shal cOItlnue to and ex rife their respective offices and ap pointments untl superceded under the constitution I the existing law requires an election Jn November and that the officers elect Ehalt qualify on January 1st 1S95 and they do so and are In office wnen he I president makes proclamation such offi ces wIll be within the very letter of the schedule Tf on the other hand the cheule I had proclamation pro-clamation shall precede the first day of January and the constitution become operative the question will arise whether section 10 of the schedule Includes municipal muni-cipal ofcer Notwithstanding its apparently ap-parently sweepIng provision I am not I eos lnced that it does At all events i rthefe ara cogent reasons against such Lt construction But as before intimated there Is no necessity or determining this d d question now We are only to deal with the present law which I am constrained constrIned to believe acquires the holding of an electon for municipal officers in Novem ber next ofcer Brown Against Holdover Arthur Brown says Sometime ago I received a request from you to give my opinion as to whether I the city officers should be elected in No vember or whether under the new const tution = in case Utah was admitted into the Union they hold over Haviug ex amined the constitution in that regard the schedule especially I see nothing to warrant any possible interference under any circumstances that the city officers hold over I however took the trouble to ask the Hon R N Baskin and the lion E D Hogs upon what ground they claim that they hold over for two years Mayor Baskin pointed to the schedule and said that it provides for the officers continuing until superceded by the new constitution referring to section 10 I have examined carefully that section in carCuly t1at < cton lererence to the other provisions in the constitution I am clearly of the opinion g tIio ncl f that the contention 1r the Hon Mayo Baskin Is frivolous The meaning of that section and tha meaning of the whole schedule is that officers of ofeers municipal cor jiorations and all oilier organizations existing ex-isting under the territory shall not beat be-at all affected by the change from terri I torial to state government In article 11 the existing municipal corporations are continued the same under the constitu uon as undpr the territorial government In article 12 corporations generally are continued under the state and under the territorial government Probably article 32 is only designed to reach private corporations cor-porations but all officers arc to he elected under the mew as under the old In another an-other article all laws of the territory are continued in force If the time of eec tion of city officersIs in November under the territorial law the officers elected ntxt November will continue under the wi contnuc territorial law In no manner unler the constitution enanjre or attempt to change the election for city officers In your last communication you have put another question to me that I regard re-gard a mbre difficult I have been lOOK ing for the laT lat changes the time of election from February to November I cannot find any other than that of 1802 page 2 which provides for the change of election so thtt all cities provided for in that act should hold their elections on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November 1SD3 ° ee section 4 Section 6 says nothing in this act shall apply to cities of the mptrcpolitan class As the word metropolitan has never been used in any of the previous acts on the city question In ftah it has no statutory definition What is meant by the word metropoltuf could only be told by reference ref-erence to the dictionary What the lens lature meant no man can imagine We must construe the act however as we find It and we must construe it with reference ref-erence to what has been done After the Passage r of this act the Hon Mayor Bas kin and the oth > r members of the old board then in existence in 1S ° 0 called an election to be held in November 1893 i recognizing that act as in force and ap plying to the city of Salt Lake An dec tlon was held in November ISP at which the present council were elected and Mayor Baskin elected Mayor And surely this present board cannot claim that they were illegally elected or that November is i i not the proper time to elect officers They have had the term for which they were elected Whether originally if ft was a now question I would think that hey I could be elected in November or in February is another thing 1 believe it f now a new question I believe that the conduct and concurrence of all the parties has fixed the time for the election n S in November and I recommend to you and the Republican party to put the best 0t ticket in the neWt to elect them and thov tvill take their spats and the courts will give them their position In saying this I do not exnr ps any opinion as to whether he act of ISIS superseded the prior Char ter I is i immaterial to your question and I reserve my opinion Judge Henderson Judge H P Ttomlorson gave his view of the subject as follows I have made a casual examination of the question and will say that I do not think there is anything in the holdover proposition I proposion take the view that the election should be held in November Incite Bennett Answering yours of Aug 31 I have to say ayMy My opinion is that in case no election of city officers is held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November of this year the present city officers win hold till January 1 1a0 6 and may hold the office de facto until he legislature of the state shall proviie for an election to ill such offices and the election should he had and the offices filled pursuant touch to-uch legislative action acton I an election of city officers shall be hell in November next the officers will hold their respective offices until the state lettfslature at Its first session hall provide for the election of city officers cers and fix the time for the commencement commence-ment and duration of their terms and elections shall be had pursuant to such action of the state legislature One More Concurrence George Sutherland Says You submitted to me two questions first whether or not the claim of certain of the city ollifers that no municipal election can be held until February next under the laws of the territory is well wel founded and second whether or not in the event of statehood the present city officers hoH over until the state legisla ture makes some provision for city elec tons II answer the first question in the negative The claim seems to be based upon the language of the act of the legis ature of ISOi The act provides that on Tuesday next after The first Monday in November 1S33 and biennially thereafter an election shall be held in each city etc to fill all olTces etc Section 6 provides that nothing in this act shall apply to cities of the metropoli tan class cass It is claimed that under this latter section tion Salt Lake city is excepted from the revisions of the law requiring an elec ton in November 3SW and biennially I thereafter The question therefore is I what is meant by cities of the metropolitan metropoli-tan class I Salt Lake is a city of the metropolitan class within the meaning of I this act of course it is not affected by I the provision of the law requiring elections elec-tions in November and the claim of the tons city officers that an election should beheld I be-held in February would be well founded I I find no provision of the law whatever i defining what is a city of the metropolitan metropoli-tan class Under the laws of the territory cities are divided into first second and third class Nowhere are cities of the metropolitan class spoken of or defined As a matter of history however I understand under-stand that at lh2 fame session of the legislature leg-islature wnich passed the act in question a bill was passed bv both houses defining defin-ing and providing for cities of the metropolitan metro-politan class Alter the bill last spoken of passed the legislature i was sent toe to-e governor and pending his examlna ton ot it the election act of 1892 was passed by the legislature In providing that the act should not apply to cities of the metropolitan clics the legislature undoubtedly hat in mind its former bill proiding for such cities The act providing pro-viding for metropolitan cities however was vetoed by the governor The rule seems to be settled that in arriving ar-riving at the propermeaning of an act of the legislature we may refer to the history leg tory surrounding its passage Following this rule i is clear that the legislature excepting cities of the metropolitan class from the operation of the election law meant such cities as were so defined by the bill which was afterwards vetoed by the governor There is no need therefore to governor this for the meaning of this phrase in the election law As the Mil providing for and defining cities of the metropolitan class never became operative oper-ative it seems to me that the provision of the election law excepting such cities from its operation should fall with it It is is operaton fal wih i I a question of legislative intent In view of the law defining cities of the metropolitan class and making various regulations and provisions for such cities the legislature for some reason deemed i best to exclude sipIi cites EO dpfined and nrovidpri for irom the general operation of the election elec-tion law but it seems reasonably clear that if such a law had never been passed that no such exception would have been made The legislature evidently intended to create cities of the metropolitan class and took the first steps In that direction These same cities they intended to exclude ex-clude from the operation of the general election law and they so declared but the attempt to create metropolitan cities proved abortive and the intent to create such cUps was never carried out There is therefore no such thins as a city of he metropolitan class under our law so that when we l all ascertain what the legislature meant by cities of the metropolitan metro-politan class we find that their language applies existence to something which really has no I I cannot reasonably he Insisted that I Salt Lake is a city of the metropolitan class within the meaning of the law because I be-cause it would have hpcn a metronolitan I city if the law providing for It had final ly passed I is said however that the term metropolitan cities should be given its ordinarymeaning as defined by the dic tionaries Webster defines metropolis as the chief city or capital of the state I has no plural This construction of the law would therefore seem to be entirely untenable first because the constitution consttuton uses the plural metropolitan cities implying I im-plying that 1 number are meant and I therefore that thp ordinary thereforI meaning was not Intended I might not be difficult tot > to-t determine which is the chief city of Utah but I would give rise to much contention and heartburning if we were to attempt to enumerate the chief CIte Richfield Beaver and St George and a score of ether cities might claim to come within the meaning We cannot believe that thee the-e islature used the term In such a loose indefinite and uncertain manner and this brings us back again to the proposition I that the facts surrounding the passage of the law ahoy conclusively that the particular par-ticular meaning given by the law which failed of passage gven the one intended by the legislature The second contention of the city officers offi-cers seems to be equally illfounded The schedule in the constitution provides section 2 All laws of the territory of Utah now in force not repugnant to this constitution shall remain in force until hey expire by their own limitation or are altered or repealed by the legislature Section 10 provides that all officers civil and military now holding their officps and appointments in this territory by authority of law shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices and appointments until superceded under the < constitution Section 1 provides for an election of state officers on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in Novem ber 1805 Section 12 provides who these officers shall be Section 15 provides that the legislature at Its first session shall provide for the election of all officers whose election is not provided for elsewhere I else-where in this constitution and fix the time for the commencement and dura tion of their terms These provisions in accordance with well known rules should all he construed together and should be harmonized if possible Taken altogether it seems clear to my mind that the constitutional convention con-vention intended to leave all laws including includ-ing election laws of the territory in force and operation until the legislature should otherwise provide I was not intended to interfere with the time existing H order of things until that section 1 was inserted for tie purpose of preventing any interregnum by reason I rea-son of the change from a territorial to i state government In other words it was intended that the laws of the territory with reference to the election of municipal munici-pal officers and other officers should continue con-tinue operative under the territorial government gov-ernment until the legislature 1 I itself at the first session should otherwise provide Waldemar Van Cott was quite pronounced pro-nounced in his view stating that his opinion was in perfect harmony with land that expressed here by Mr Suther John M Zancs Opinion Your inquiry is whether a municipal election for Salt Lake city can be held under the territorial law in the coming November According to the original charter sec SOS 1 Comp Laws of ISIS the election was to be acId in February 1 > t and biennially bi-ennially thereafter This provision sec 1801 1 Comp Laws of 1SSS does not change Then by sec 1 of act found in laws of I 1S2 > p 28 an election is fixed in each I city In November 1S13 and biennially thereafter Then by sec C it is enacted that nothing noth-ing in the act last cited shall apply to cities of the metropolitan class The whole question depends upon what cities of the metrooolitan class are This act Is the first enactment in Utah territory that uses the phrase I is utterly unknown un-known In prior laws The incorporation of cities act at sec 1 2 1 Comp Laws of 1888 divides cities into first second and third classes Salt Lake city is the only city casses first class I If also the metropolitan city of Utah but the phrase in that metropolitan class does not occur act at all But a court proceeding on the principle that all the language the act must be given some meaning if possible might hold that the phrase metropolitan class meant cities of the first class and hence included Salt Lake city I this is true no election can be held In November and none until February IMS It would result that the last city election ncUl Novemoer iyj was unauthorized I unau-thorized and that the present city couu oil has no title But the courc would strain the language lan-guage a great deal before it would reach such a result A court ought to say that his statute has been construed as applying ap-plying to Salt Lake city and elections had been held according to that construction construc-tion officers have held under it for two years and the construction ought not to be disturbed Some color would be given to this construction by section 3 of the not of 1892 which expressly exempts from an election in November 1892 those cities which held elections prior to May 31 S92 and then provides that officers elected elect-ed in November 1802 should continue in office until Jan 1 1S94 Salt Lake city was the only city to answer the description descrip-tion of the city holding an election in 1M2 prior to May 31 Therefore if the words metropolitan class means Salt Lake city section 3 of the same act can have ito force and meaning I is amazing that the lawyers in the legislature of 18U2 hould have reached such contradictory esults but such they are On the whole question I think that the court ought to hold an election valid held in November M5 but one judge might hold one way and another might hold the exact opposite oppo-site sie siel this question is got over there is no difficulty about the officers elected being entitled The constitution provides that ill civil officers shall hold until superseded super-seded by officers elected under the consti tution In another section it is provided by the constitution that the present laws of the territory are continued in force under un-der the constitution Hence it is apparent appar-ent that any ofiicers elected under the territorial laws would be proper officers 10 supersede the present incumbents Such officers would be elected under the constitution because the constitution expressly ex-pressly continues In force and gives validity idity to the laws under which such officers cers would be elected Stephens Views Frank B Stephens says Replying to your request that I give my opinion as to whether or not there should be an election for city officers held in November of this year would say that under the law is i existed prior to March 10 18J2 the election of our city officers was legally held on the second Monday in February An act found on rage 27 of the compiled laws of 1892 entitled tied an act in relation to elections and tenure of office changes the time of holding municipal elections to the Tuesday Tues-day next after the first Monday in No ember There could be no quest n about holding an election of city officers in November of this year hut for the fact that section j of this act provides that Nothing in this act shall apply to cities of the metropolitan class The next jupstien is whether we have cay cities of the metropolitan class as designate In section G of said act and is Salt Lake city one of them The act of the legislature of the tern i tory of Utah providing for the incorporation incorpora-tion of cites found in chapter 1 of volume vol-ume 1 of the compiled laws of till prc fal ol Tides that municipal f corporations in tis territory at that time existing and those hereafter organized should bo divided into three classes those cities having 0000 or more inhabitants to be known as cities of the first class all cities haying hay-ing more than 5000 and less than 20000 inhabitants to be known as cities of the second class and all other cities as cities of the third cass I find no designation of classes of cities other than the foregoing fore-going Does the term cities of the metropolitan fai 11h t tao class mean and was it mi intended ended to refer to cities of the first class as formerly designated by the legislature of the territory of Utah The telm metropolitan opolitan city means literally mother city and the general meaning now given it chief city Applying ths rules of statutory construction con-struction we should give meaning to each section of the statute If possible so to ao I any meaning whatever be given to this oction it would he that it applied to cites of the first class it seems hardly possible however to suppose that the leg slature would have designated cities leg the first class as cities of the metropoli tan class the word metropolitan hemp nowhere else used in the statutes of the territory of Utah as applied to cities In ronstrninc a statute however it is our duty to take into consideration the circumstances under which the act was crcumstaT 1I attention has been called to the fact that at the time the act of 1S2 was before the legislature there was another an-other act under consideration providing for cities of the metropolitan class and the probability is that the term metropolitan cass was inserted in the act of 1892 with reference to this hil Taking into consideration that the circumstances cir-cumstances under which the hill was passed and the fact that we have no cities designated as belonging to tho metropolitan class r am of the opinion that it was not the Intention of the leg slature to make an exception of cities of the first class in changing the time of election from February to November The question is fraught with some dif ulty and there may be some question whether any meaning whatever should be given to section 6 of the statute of 1892 but my opinion is that an election ought Lobe held in November Dennis Elelinors Opinion Dennis G Bichnor chairman of the committee on municipal corporations in the constitutional convention says I Shall Salt Lake City elect municipal officers at the general electipn in November Novem-ber next This question presents two propositions for solution viz First Is November 1895 the legal time to elct officers of Sal Lake City or is the old law fixing tho seconak Monday in 1 s j I h February for holding elections biennially still In force Second Will the tenure of the present officers of Salt Lake City be affected by the adopton of the constitution In November No-vember next provided the president of the United States subsequently issues his proclamation declaring Utah a state The first proposition must be determined deter-mined by the law of 1S92 entitled An act in relation to elections and tenure of office found on page Z of the session ses-sion las of that year The object of the act was to consolidate the various i elections that were held at different times durng the year Relative to municipal muni-cipal elections section 3 of this act provides pro-vides for an election of all city officers in November 1892 except such cities which shall have held an election prior to May 31st 1892 Salt Lake City was included within the exception as it had elected Its offices in February 1892 Section Sec-tion 4 provides that in November 1893 all cities shall hold elections for the purpose of selecting their officers for a term of two years and such officers to enter upon their duties on the first day of January next succeeding their election ton In conformity with this section in November 1S93 Salt Lake City elected a full set of officers who are now the incumbents in-cumbents of the offices and whose terms expire on the first day of January Janu-ary 1896 The next sectionjmequlvocally repeals all other acts in so far a they provide for holding elections or fixing the tenure of officers The sixth section secton says Nothing in this act shall apply to cities of the metropolitan class What is a city of the metropolitan class Does our classification of cities define such a class No the compiled laws of Utah Vol 1 page 613 and section 1722 divide municipal corporations into three classes viz Those cities having twenty thousand or more inhabitants shall be I known as cities of the first class All cities having more than five thousand and less than twenty thousand inhabitants inhabi-tants shall be known as cities of the second i sec-ond class nnr all other cities shall hf known as cities of the third class This Is the only classification known to our statutes When the act consolidating1 elections was framed there was before the legislature what was commonly known as the metropolitan charter bill In this bill certain cities are classed as metropolitan cities The legislature erroneously er-roneously anticipated the passage of tho metropolitan charter bill which was finally fin-ally vetoed This bill accounts for tho sixth section of the electioif and tenure act Our lawmakers never defined cities of the metropolitan class Therefore the sixth section has no significance whatever what-ever In 1892 Salt Lake City held its election for the last time irj i the month of February In 1893 It elected Its offi cers according to the law of 1892 The phrase cities of the metropolitan class has no application to Salt Lake City and in fact to no other city in Utah My opinion therefore is that the fifth day of November 1895 is the legal time for cers Satl Lake City to elect its municipal oft The second proposition whether the tenure ten-ure of the present officers of Salt Lake City will be affected by the adoption of the constitution and Utah becoming a state involves the construction of various vari-ous sections of the constitution That is section 2 article 24 known as the schedule provides All laws of the territory of Utah now in force not repugnant to this consti tution shall remain in force until they expire by their own limitations or are altered or repealed by the legislature Is the election and tenure act of 1S92 discussed in the first part of this communication com-munication repugnant to any part or parts of the constitution To what article of the constitution should we look to determine whether the terms of the present municipal officers will be affected by the constitution Logically Log-ically to article 11 entitled Counties Cities and Town The article was reported re-ported by the committee on municipal corporations There is not a word in the article indicating the slightest change of the law of ISDl rcgulatng the tenure of city officers Furthermore it I was not the intent 01 mime sain carnmitiee mat I the present city officers of Salt Lake city or any other city should hold over by virtue of the constitution after their terms had expired Quite the contrary tile subjeot was fully discussed in committee com-mittee meeting of the committee that the terms of the present city and county officers shoulrl not be diminished extended extend-ed or interfffed with i in any manner by the constltutfm Some one may ask why article 1 does not say so Section 2 of the schedule is a constitutional provision provi-sion common to almost every state constitution con-stitution of the United States The com sttuton mittee well knowing that this common constitutional provision would be inserted in the constitution deemed it superfluous to say anything on that subject which would be more appropriately stated in another part of the constitution Jhe schedule Section 10 of the schedule provides All officers civil and military now holding their offices and appointments In this territory by authority of law shall continue con-tinue to hold and exercise their respective offices and appointments until superseded super-seded under this constitution This section sec-tion does not refer to officers that may lie elected on the 5th day of November 1E95 and entitled to take their seats on the 1st day of January 189g Suppose the president of theTJnited States issues nis proclamation on the 10th day of December Decem-ber 1893 does this section mean that the present city officers shall remain in office until the state legislature saw fit to call an election to elect their successors No it means nothing more than that thos offices which should become vacant by a change from a territorial government to a state government should be filled by the present incumbents until superseded under the constitution consttuton Section 15 of the schedule provides The legislature at Its first session shall provide for tho election of all officers whose election is not provided for elsewhere else-where in this constitution and fix the time for the commincernent and duration of their term This section Is In harmony har-mony with section 0 of article 4 t of elections elec-tions and rights of suffrage These two sections simply provide that the legislature legisla-ture shall the the time for election and in what manner municipal and school officers shall be elected Construing the different sections relating to the question submitted it is my opinion that if Salt Lake city elects city officers in November next they will take weir seatsand hold their respective offices until their successors succes-sors are elected according to law |