Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 169 of the acts of 1881 is hereby amended by striking out section 7 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 7. The mayor shall be chosen by the qualified voters of the city at large, voting in their respective wards and shall hold office for the four municipal years next following his election and until another has been chosen and qualified in his place. The municipal year shall commence on the first Monday in January.

SECTION 2. Section 9 of said chapter 169, as most recently amended by chapter 374 of the acts of 1959, is hereby further amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following two sentences:- On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each odd numbered year the qualified voters of the several wards shall give in their votes by ballot for city councillors and school committee in accordance with the provisions of law. On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in each alternate odd numbered year the qualified voters of the several wards shall give in their votes by ballot for mayor in accordance with the provisions of law.

SECTION 3. Section 1 of chapter 155 of the acts of 1933, as most recently amended by chapter 85 of the acts of 1952, is hereby further amended by striking out, in line 3, the word "mayor".

SECTION 4. Section 2 of said chapter 155 is hereby repealed.

SECTION 5. This act shall be submitted to the voters of the city of Malden at the regular municipal election to be held in the year 1999 in the form of the following question which shall be placed on the official ballot to be used for the election of city officers at said election: "Shall an act passed by the general court in the year 1998, entitled 'An Act providing for a four year term for the office of mayor of the city of Malden commencing in the year 2000', be accepted?"

If a majority of the votes cast in answer to said question is in the affirmative, this act shall take effect, but not otherwise.