ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: It is considered better budgetary practice for the fiscal year to commence on or about July 1. This was not practicable for the City because real estate tax assessment and payment requirements, specified by statute, produce most of the City's revenue in the months of March, April and May. However, Council is empowered to change the fiscal year when modification of statutory provisions permits it and the problem of changing the taxing period has been thoroughly studied.

1. All payments out of the City Treasury shall be by the check of the City Treasurer issued upon order of the Auditing Department.

2. All checks shall be prepared in the office of the City Treasurer, unless the Director of Finance shall by rule otherwise prescribe.

3. The Auditing Department shall issue orders for payments out of the City Treasury only upon requisition of the officer or of the department, board, commission or other agency to which the appropriation was made against which payment is requested.

4. All requisitions shall be prepared in triplicate. One copy shall be retained by the requisitioning officer, department, board, commission or agency, and two copies shall be delivered to the Director of Finance.

5. If the Director of Finance approves a requisition, he shall deliver the original to the Auditing Department.

6. If the Auditing Department approves the requisition, it shall issue its order for payment and shall deliver it to the City Treasurer. If it disapproves the requisition, it shall attach a memorandum thereto detailing its objections and return the requisition through the office of the Director of Finance to the requisitioning officer, department, board, commission or agency.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: See Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XI, Section 4, Article XII, Section 3, as amended; the Fiscal Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 343, Article XV, as amended.

• Purposes:
  1. The procedure detailed for the payment of moneys out of the City Treasury is intended to prevent improper disbursements and to assure the strictest accountability for such funds as are disbursed. The safeguards provided for include requirements that funds shall be disbursed only by checks of the City Treasurer, only upon proper requisitions approved by the Director of Finance, and only upon approval and the order of the Auditing Department.
  2. Flexibility is provided in the procedure for preparing checks so that the most economical and efficient method may be employed under varying circumstances.
  3. Requisitions for payment are to originate in the agency having the appropriation against which the payment is to be charged since it should know all the facts justifying the requisition and the state of its funds.
  4. Requisitions are to be prepared in triplicate so that the agency requesting payment and the Director of Finance may each have a copy for record and accounting purposes and so that the Auditing Department may have a copy to enable it to approve or disapprove the payment and to submit it to the City Treasurer.
  5. The Director of Finance may disapprove a requisition if it fails to conform to current budgeting orders or if appropriations are unavailable to meet it. See Section 6-106. Approval of the Auditing Department is required to determine if the requisition is for a purpose comprehended by the appropriation against which it is drawn, in a proper amount and the amount stated is justly due. See Sections 6-400 and 6-402.

After the approval of any such estimate, it shall be unlawful for the Director of Finance to approve the expenditure or encumbrance of any appropriation or part thereof except in accordance with such estimate, unless the same be revised with the approval of the Mayor.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 604, as amended.

• Purposes:
  1. Although certain appropriations may have been made to various officers and agencies, the Mayor may order, with exceptions noted hereafter, that the full amount of an authorized appropriation shall not be expended. Such an order would be appropriate if it should appear that revenues will not equal expenditures. To enable the Mayor to decide when an order reducing expenditures is necessary, officers and agencies are required to submit, when requested, estimates of proposed expenditures for stated future periods. The City Council and the Auditing Department are excepted from any order reducing expenditures unless they agree to such an order. See Annotation to Section 2-300. Estimates of the Personnel Director and Civil Service Commission may not be reduced below one-half of one percent of funds to be expended for compensation to civil service employees (see Annotation to Section 2-300), but since an order reducing expenditures of other offices and agencies may reduce the total amount of such compensation, the minimum assured to the Director and Commission may be reduced proportionately.
  2. Orders of the Mayor are made enforceable by prohibiting the Director of Finance from approving requisitions which do not conform with such orders. See Sections 6-106 and 8-101.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 606.

• Purposes: This section is necessary to enable the Director of Finance to prepare the annual operating budget for the Mayor. See Section 6-105.

Each month thereafter the heads of the several departments, boards and commissions, and the several agencies shall certify to the City Controller, the Director of Finance and the Personnel Director any changes in the annual list of employees last transmitted to them which shall have occurred during the preceding month.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 603.

• Purposes: Personnel information required from each agency receiving any appropriation from the City Treasury will enable the Personnel Director to maintain his personnel records (see Section 7-100), will be necessary for payroll payments (see Sections 6-106, 6-301, 6-400 and 8-101), will facilitate checking on compliance with civil service requirements (see Section 7-302), and will aid budgeting and accounting (see Sections 6-101, 6-105 and 8-102).

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: The City owns many valuable securities and this section makes provision for their safekeeping an for the accounting for them.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 216.

• Purposes: Officers and employees are entitled to traveling and other necessary expenses actually incurred in the performance of their public duties but to prevent abuses the Administrative Board is to promulgate rules governing the circumstances under which such payments are to be made. See Section 4-300(3)(a).

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 215.

• Purposes: Additional compensation for extra services has been known to be resorted to at times to increase the compensation of officers and employees when in fact there is no need for extra services. To prevent such abuses, additional compensation must be authorized by the pay plan in the case of civil service employees and in all other cases by the Administrative Board before the services are rendered. Authorization must be certified to the City Controller as a further check. See Annotation to Section 4-300(1)(d).

1. Except in the purchase of unique articles or articles which for any other reason cannot be obtained in the open market , competitive bids shall be secured before any purchase, by contract or otherwise, is made or before any contract is awarded for construction, alterations, repairs or maintenance or for rendering any services to the City other than professional services and the purchase shall be made from or the contract shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.

2. If any purchase or contract for which competitive bidding is required involves an expenditure of more than ten thousand ($10,000) dollars, which amount shall be adjusted every five (5) fiscal years as rounded to the nearest one thousand ($1,000) dollars to reflect the percentage change in the most recently published Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) All Items Index, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the following procedure shall be applicable:
   1. The Procurement Department shall advertise for sealed bids at least once a week for two weeks in one of the three newspapers having the largest paid circulation in the City and in such other newspapers as it deems necessary. The Department shall require a certified check in an appropriate amount which shall be stated in the specifications to accompany all bids unless a bidder has filed an annual bid bond in excess of such amount;
   2. Bids shall publicly be opened and tabulated in the presence of a representative of the City Controller at the time specified for their opening. The Department may reject all bids if it shall deem it in the interest of the City so to do. Otherwise the contract shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder;
   3. Within ten days after the award of a contract, the successful bidder shall substitute for his certified check a performance bond, and where appropriate, a labor and materials bond containing such terms as the Department and the City Solicitor shall require and in such amount as the Department may determine;
   4. The contract shall be in writing and shall be executed in behalf of the City by the Procurement Department but only after it has been approved as to form by the City Solicitor and as to availability of funds under the budget and appropriations by the City Controller and the Direct of Finance. It shall contain a provision that in the performance of the contract the contractor will not discriminate nor permit discrimination against any person because of his race, color, religion or national origin;
   5. The Procurement Department may in its discretion, permit a bidder to file an annual bond to cover bids that may be made by, or the performance of contracts that may be awarded to, such bidder during an annual period. Such bond shall be in such an amount as the Department may determine and may be increased from time to time, as the Department may require, in order to keep it commensurate with the bids made or contracts awarded during the annual period.

3. Contracts may be made for the leasing of real estate and for personal property to be supplied or services to be rendered over a period of more than one year only when permitted by ordinance. Otherwise no contract shall be binding upon the City unless there is an appropriation available for its payment. When the term of a contract exceeds four years, there shall be inserted a clause reserving to the City the right to terminate it at the option of the City at any time after the expiration of four years without liability to the other party for damages or loss of profits which would have been realized had the contract not been terminated. The limitations of this paragraph shall not apply to any contract entered into between the City and any authority.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: See Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XX; the Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Sections 2408-2410, as amended; Purchasing Laws for State, County and City Governments (1941) pp. 26 et seq.

• Purposes:
  1. Competitive bidding is required as a rule to assure the City's obtaining its purchases and letting its contracts at the lowest prices. However, since the bidder submitting the lowest bid may by experience, reputation or resources not be capable of the performance required, the lowest bidder must also be a "responsible" bidder within the meaning of that term as established by many judicial decisions.
  2. Unique articles and other articles which cannot be obtained in the open market are not subject to the requirement of competitive bidding. Obviously they are not articles as to which a best competitive price may be obtained. Nor are contracts for professional services subject to the competitive bidding requirement for there is a personal, intangible quality involved in the rendition of such services which would be lost sight of if such contracts had to be awarded to the lowest bidder.
  3. Although purchases and contracts are as a rule subject to the requirement of competitive bidding, only contracts in an amount above $2,000.00 are subject to the procedure detailed in subsection (2). Contracts below this amount bulk so large in number that to make them subject to subsection (2) would be economically prohibitive.
  4. Subsection (2) seeks to obtain by the requirement for newspaper advertising the widest practicable solicitation of bids; to protect the interests of the City through requirements for certified checks accompanying bids, bid, performance, labor and materials bonds written contracts and the right of the City to reject all bids; to protect the interests of bidders and of the City through sealed bids and the opening and tabulation of such bids publicly and in the presence of a representative of the City Controller; and by requiring a non-discriminatory practices provision in all contracts, to effectuate the policy of the Charter, that City funds shall not be used to promote practices of discrimination because of race, color, religion or national origin.
  5. Long term contracts may at times be advantageous to the City. However, appropriations are made only for periods of one year. Accordingly contracts to run beyond a year must be authorized by Council and thereafter Council is bound to make appropriations for payment (see Section 2-309); in all other cases, a contract is not binding on the City unless there are funds appropriated in advance for its payment.
  6. With the stated exception, in contracts extending beyond four years, a right in the City to terminate without liability after four years must be reserved so that the next administration will at some point during its four year term be able to terminate, should there be a sound reason for such action.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: City concessions may be valuable contract rights and to protect the interests of the City, competitive bidding and the following of the procedure detailed in Section 8-200(2) are required in the making of awards of such concessions. This section applies to City officers and agencies, including boards and commissions such as the Board of Trade and Conventions and the Fairmount Park Commission. But such officers or agencies may specify the qualifications a bidder must meet for as a rule they are primarily responsible for the management of the premises on which the concession is to be let.

It shall likewise be unlawful for any such officer, department, board, commission or agency to contract for the services of a public utility company, or for bonds or insurance of any kind or description, or to subscribe to publications except through the Procurement Department, or to erect, remodel, alter or add to any building except through the Department of Public Property.

This section shall not apply to the purchase of books, prints, manuscripts, curios and specialties for libraries and museums, and animal and plant-life for aquariums, zoological and horticultural gardens.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Sections 507 and 508, as amended, and 509.

• Purposes: This section implements the provisions of this Charter centralizing building, construction and procurement functions. See Sections 5-900 and 6-500. It applies to City agencies, Council, County agencies and any other governmental agency whose building, construction, or procurement requirements are paid for with funds from the City Treasury.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 510.

• Purposes: This section implements Section 6-500(d). As to agencies to which it applies, see preceding Annotation.

A department, board or commission shall not accept any gift of real estate or any interest in real estate without specific authority from the Council so to do.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 513.

• Purposes: The acceptance of gifts or donations by City agencies on behalf of the City is authorized so that offers of gifts may be readily accepted. The consent of Council is required in the case of gifts of interests in real estate for such offers may involve extensive obligations upon the part of the City, once they are accepted.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 514, as amended; Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article II, Section 11(e).

• Purposes: The consent of Council is required before any interest in land may be transferred because of the value of such interests. The power of the City to impose restrictions in deeds of land made by it is intended as a means for facilitating planned City development, extending the powers of the Art Commission in appropriate circumstances, and for enabling the City to impose deed restrictions of any kind when otherwise appropriate or desirable.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Model City Charter (1941), Section 132; New York City Charter, 1938, Section 199.

• Purposes: This section gives effect to the Physical Development Plan of the City. See Annotation to Section 4-600.

1. No work of art shall be acquired by any department, board or commission, or erected or placed in or upon or allowed to extend over any building, street, stream, lake, park, or other public place belonging to or under the control of the City, or removed, relocated or altered in any way without approval first obtained from the Art Commission.

2. No construction or erection requiring the approval of the Art Commission shall be contracted for by any officer, department, board or commission without approval first obtained from the Art Commission.
3. Nothing requiring the approval of the Art Commission shall be changed in design or location without its approval.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article II, Section 11(d) and (e).

• Purposes: Provisions of the 1919 Charter are continued. See Section 5-903.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177. Section 515.

• Purposes: This section implements Sections 5-900(b) and 4-300(3)(b).

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: This section implements Section 5-900(a).

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 521.

• Purposes: This section implements Section 6-500(b).

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 524, as amended.

• Purposes: To maintain all old City records entails the wasteful expenditure of money and facilities. However, they should not be disposed of except pursuant to an orderly procedure which will safeguard the interest of the City in records which may be needed for current or anticipated future work and which may be of archival value. See Annotations to Sections 4-300(1)(f), 5-1101(a)(5) and (d), 6-500(d) and 8-203.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 525, as amended.

• Purposes: Reproducing records by microfilming or other reproduction scale-reducing methods is a means for conserving record storage space and preserving original records of value. However, expert advice and uniform practices are desirable for such purposes. See Annotations to Sections 5-1101(a)(4) and 8-211.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Loyalty to the Constitutions of the national, state, and local governments is a reasonable condition to exact for City office-holding or employment.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 155, Article IV, Section 3.

• Purposes: The provision as to dual office-holding of the 1919 Charter is continued with minor modifications, primarily of language.

All such bonds and sureties thereon shall, before being accepted by the Department of Records, be approved by the Law Department.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 219, as amended; see the Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 155, Article IV, Section 6.

• Purposes: The principal officers of the City named in this section are required to execute and file corporate surety bonds conditioned for the faithful performance of their duties to protect the interests of the City. Since officers and employees not named in this section may also hold special positions of trust or may handle City or other public funds in the custody of the City, the Administrative Board may require them to be bonded. The amounts of bonds will depend on the duties of particular offices and positions. The Administrative Board is empowered to determine such amounts but a minimum standard of protection of $5,000 is fixed by the Charter. See Section 4-300 (2) (b). Approval by the Law Department of all bonds and sureties is required to assure their meeting all legal requirements so that legal inadequacy of the obligation cannot be later put forward as a defense.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Certain provisions of this Charter apply generally to all department heads and to the principal officers of the executive and administrative branch. To avoid listing in each such section the offices of the Mayor, the Managing Director, the Director of Finance, the City Treasurer, the City Representative and the Personnel Director, reference is made generally to department heads, or departments, boards and commissions and such a reference includes the particular officers listed in this section. See, for example, Sections 8-405 and 8-406. The City Controller is regarded as a department head since he is the head of the Auditing Department.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Sections 501 and 502.

• Purposes:
  1. Cooperation among the various City agencies and the coordination of their work are necessary for the effective execution of their functions and to effect economies in the cost of their operations.
  2. Occasions may frequently arise where economies may be effected by one agency using an employee of another agency on a temporary basis or where a specific task committed to a given agency may be more effectively performed by a particular employee of another agency. In such instances an employee of another agency may be empowered or required to perform such duties as an agency head could require of his own employee, if the head of the other agency consents to his employee's performing the task in question.
  3. All agencies are required to furnish information or assistance to other agencies empowered to obtain such information or to request such assistance so that such powers, granted by this Charter, will not be frustrated by the denial of an obligation to comply.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: In a number of instances adequate and complete execution of functions may call for cooperation with other governmental or private agencies. Examples include cooperation in public health and police work with state and federal health and police agencies. In such cases City agencies are empowered and required so to cooperate.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 503.

• Purposes: Certain boards and commissions are connected with various departments for purposes of fiscal administration where a functional relationship exists between them. See Section 3-100 and the Annotation thereto. Unless other provisions of the Charter provide otherwise [e.g. see Section 5-700 (c)], the head of a department with which a board or commission is connected is not to direct how the board or commission shall perform its functions. Such a board or commission must account to the department for the expenditure of money, report periodically to the department on its activities (see Section 8-404), submit all requests for appropriations through the department (see Section 8-103), make available to the department for examination its books, records and accounts, and generally submit all administrative matters requiring action at a higher administrative level (e.g. at the level of the Managing Director or Director of Finance) through the department.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 504.

• Purposes: Annual reports are required of all officers and agencies of the City so that the Mayor and the public may be kept informed on a current basis of the operations of all phases of the City government. Such reports are to be channeled up through the administrative structure of the City government to the Mayor. They are to be filed with the Department of Records where they are to be available for public inspection. See Section 5-1104.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 505.

• Purposes: An agency seal may serve many useful purposes in the designation of documents as authentic and official.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Cf. the Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 506.

• Purposes: The Charter distinguishes between rules and regulations. The term rules is used to designate standards for intra-governmental administration. The term regulations denotes standards applicable to private persons and organizations. See Section 8-407. This section authorizes City agencies to prescribe rules for their internal government subject to the approval of the Administrative Board. See Section 4-300(1)(a).

1. The department, board or commission promulgating the regulations shall first submit them for approval to the Law Department and upon receiving such approval file them with the Department of Records where they shall be available for public inspection for thirty days;
2. The Department of Records shall give public notice of such filing by advertising in the three daily newspapers of the City having the largest paid circulation the fact that regulations relating to a particular subject have been filed with it, and that any person affected thereby may request a hearing;
3. If any person affected shall present to the Department of Records a written request therefor, he shall be afforded a public hearing before the department, board or commission promulgating the regulations and the City Solicitor. A report of the hearing reaffirming the regulations or modifying them with the approval of the Law Department shall be filed by the department, board or commission with the Department of Records.

The regulations shall become effective at midnight of the thirtieth day after their filing when no hearing has been requested and at midnight of the tenth day after a report has been filed when a hearing was requested and held.

All regulations shall be published and made available for distribution.

Amendments to regulations shall be adopted under the same procedure as the regulations which they amend.

The requirements of this section may be suspended by the Mayor in writing and temporary regulations promulgated in emergencies affecting the public health or safety but any regulations so put into force shall not remain effective unless the procedures otherwise required by this section are complied with forthwith.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Cf. the Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 506.

• Purposes:
  1. See Annotation to Section 8-406.
  2. Administrative agencies may not legislate. However, they may when appropriately authorized by this Charter, or by statute or ordinance, define and apply through administrative regulations standards established by this Charter or by legislation. Thus regulations afford a means for an administrative agency to exercise powers and to perform duties of law administration and enforcement imposed upon and vested in it by this Charter or by statute or ordinance.
  3. Since members of the public will be the ones who will be affected by regulations, fairness to them prompts the requirement that they be afforded, as a rule, an opportunity to be heard on proposed regulations. Such hearings are intended to protect persons who will be affected from arbitrary administrative action. They should also serve to bring to the attention of administrative officials facts necessary for the exercise of informed judgment in the promulgation of regulations.
  4. Approval by the Law Department of all proposed regulations is required to assure that they are authorized, comply with basic legislation, and do not exceed constitutional limits.
  5. Filing with the Department of Records is required since this is the central depository for public documents and the agency where all public records are to be kept available for public use and inspection. See Article 5, Chapter 11.
  6. The purpose of the advertising requirement of subsection (b) is to assure adequate notice to members of the public of proposed regulations and of the fact that persons who may be affected may request a hearing.
  7. Persons affected by any proposed regulation are entitled upon written request to a public hearing before a representative of the agency promulgating the regulation and a member of the Law Department who will pass on any questions of law raised. After such a hearing the regulation in question may be reaffirmed or modified. A report of the action taken is to be filed with the Department of Records for purposes of public notice.
  8. With the exception hereafter noted, regulations can in no event take effect earlier than thirty days after their filing. This period of time should afford affected persons an adequate opportunity to request public hearings should they desire to do so.
  9. All regulations must be published and made available for distribution so that members of the public and City officers and employees may obtain copies.
  10. The procedure for amending regulations is the same as that for new regulations since amendments may impose new requirements affecting members of the public.
  11. Emergencies affecting the public health or safety may require immediate administrative action through regulations. In such instances disaster may be courted if it were required that the regular procedure of this section be followed before regulations become operative. Therefore, this section permits regulations in such emergencies to be put into force immediately by the Mayor suspending in writing the requirements specified. However, for such temporary regulations to remain effective, the steps normally required by this section must immediately be initiated and followed. If they are, the temporary regulations continue in effect while the filing, advertising, waiting period, hearings, etc. take place.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 518.

• Purposes: This section establishes minimum uniform requirements for all boards and commissions to follow in the holding of meetings so that all members will be apprised of the time and place of meetings, at least a majority of members will be required for business to be transacted, and a record will be kept of proceedings.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XVI, Section 8.

• Purposes: Administrative hearing or investigatory process may at times require the compulsion of a subpoena to be effective. Officers and agencies authorized to hold hearings or conduct investigations are thus empowered to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents and other evidence within the geographical limits of the City, the jurisdiction over which this Charter extends. Since subpoenas for this purpose may be disobeyed and since such disobedience is not punishable by imprisonment and fine unless it continues after a court has ordered compliance, City officers and agencies are authorized to resort through the Law Department (see Section 8-410) to the courts. However, the Charter Commission did not possess any power to require courts to enforce such administrative process or to specify the usual penalty of commitment for contempt until compliance. Cf. Annotation to Section 2-401. Accordingly, the action a court is to take is a matter for its discretion and subject to its customary powers.

It shall be the duty of any officer, department, board or commission having requested and received legal advice from the Law Department regarding his or its official duty, to follow the same; and when any officer shall follow the advice given him in writing by the Law Department he shall not be liable in any way for so doing upon his official bond or otherwise

Before the Law Department shall render any opinion interpreting any appropriation ordinance or ordinance authorizing the expenditure of money, it shall notify the City Controller of the question upon which its opinion has been requested and afford him an opportunity to present his views upon the question.

It shall be unlawful for any officer, department, board or commission to engage any attorney to represent him or it in any matter or thing relating to his or its public business without the approval in writing of the City Solicitor.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: The Administrative Code of 1929, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 177, Section 512; Act of June 25, 1919, P.L. 581, Article XIII, Section 5.

• Purposes:
  1. This section implements Section 4-400. It seeks to prevent the practice of each officer and agency having its own counsel. It thereby makes possible an effective and well organized, central law agency.
  2. Officers and agencies requesting and receiving legal advice from the Law Department must follow it. Resort may not be had to other counsel, except with the consent of the City Solicitor, for other advice nor may such other advice even if obtained be followed except at personal risk, a consequence from which an officer or agency is absolved if the advice of the Law Department is followed.
  3. Questions involving the interpretation of appropriation ordinances or other ordinances authorizing the expenditure of money must be referred to the City Controller for his views since he is the City's auditor and will ultimately be required to pass upon the propriety of all expenditures of City funds.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: Certain officers and employees of the City, such as police officers and hospital employees, are required to or may in the performance of their duties receive for custodial purposes private personal property. This section requires complete accountability for any such property and its return, as soon as it is authorized or required, to the person entitled to it.

ANNOTATION

• Sources: No specific source.

• Purposes: See Annotation to Section 5-1002.