20. If, in the boroughs referred to in section 38, the members of a borough council are unable to designate the borough chair at the latest at the first regular meeting of the borough council following a general election, the city council may make that designation. As long as the city council has not designated the borough chair, the members of the borough council may do so.
The person designated to act as borough chair shall hold office until the end of the person’s term of office as city councillor in effect at the time of the designation.
If the chair of a borough referred to in the first or second paragraph of section 39 resigns as borough chair or refuses to take office, he or she shall be replaced by the city councillor who, of all the city councillors, obtained the greatest number of votes at the last general election. This paragraph applies to any other resignation as borough chair or refusal to take office as borough chair.
If the person who resigned or refused to hold office as borough chair cannot be replaced pursuant to the third paragraph, the city council may designate the borough chair from among the city councillors who sit on the borough council.
2000, c. 56, Sch. I, s. 20; 2001, c. 25, s. 246.