DAPHNE, Ala. — Daphne Mayor Fred Small today vetoed an ordinance outlining who may sign checks and issue bonds for the city.

Small vetoed an ordinance the city council adopted Feb. 7 that repealed laws passed in 2005 and 1996. Small cannot vote during council meetings; he may only veto. The most recent ordinance requires the mayor, finance director, revenue officer and municipal-court magistrate to maintain surety bonds. The ordinance from 2005 also required the city-council president and city-council president pro tempore to maintain surety bonds; Small contended the individuals in these positions still should hold surety bonds.

“Without the council president or the council pro tempore not carrying any surety bonding, (it) could leave the city in a situation to where there was no avenue to re-collect funds that at some point in time may have been mismanaged. There again, too, the council president and the president pro tempore, if for some reason I was incapacitated, they would take my place. It would be very hard to run the city without someone that was in my position who was bonded,” Small said.

Councilman John Lake said that in his 20 years on the council he has never been asked to sign a check — including when he was vice president (or president pro tempore) of the council for eight years.

Small said in his veto of ordinance 2011-05 that an ordinance from 1991 was never repealed and still stands; it includes the council president and president pro tempore among the list of those required to hold bonds.

“We need an ordinance to address those council members who are alternate check-signers and Ordinance 2011-05 does not address them,” Small said in his veto. “As council president and council president pro tempore they receive additional compensation — are they not responsible for the duties of check-signing?”

The 2005 ordinance raised the amount of bonds required by the city’s employees from $100,000 to $500,000. The increase caused a $15,722 hike in the blanket employees-dishonesty-insurance policy, which covers losses caused by forgery, alterations, computer fraud and robbery. The bonds are an insurance and safety measure to account for all funds received on behalf of the city by employees or members of the council.

Surety bonds were raised because the city’s budget had doubled in size between 1996 and 2005.

The city council will vote on the ordinance at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the regularly scheduled meeting in town hall. To overturn Small’s veto there must be a supermajority — five votes — in favor of the ordinance. The vote on the Feb. 5 ordinance was 5-1 with one abstention.

Lake said he favors keeping the ordinance, as written, intact because it will save the city money.

“It is really technically a money-saving issue. How much does it cost for a bond for a person who doesn’t need to have one? The mayor is always talking about trying to save money,” Lake said.