SHELBY – The Shelby City Council is set to consider Resolution No. 57-2022 accepting three documents discovered in renovating attorney Jonathon “JC” Elgin’s law office situated at 6 Water Street in Shelby.
The documents include an original printing of the 1923 Charter and Codified Ordinances of the City of Shelby, commissioned shortly after the adoption of the Shelby City Charter, two copies of the second printing of the Charter, issued April 1, 1941, and a handheld Charter and General Ordinances of the City of Shelby, effective July 1, 1958, containing the personal notes and impressions of the former, late Director of Law F. Herbert Poland.
Attorney Elgin acquired 6 Water Street over the summer which included the law library of the former Poland, Depler and Shepherd, LPA law firm, a firm that served the Shelby community for over 90 years. Both the late F. Herbert Poland and retired R. Lee Shepherd, firm shareholders, were City law directors for the City of Shelby.
A century ago, on Jan. 1, 1922, the Village of Shelby became the City of Shelby under a voter-ratified charter. The charter was approved at a special election Aug. 9, 1921 with 275 of the 460 votes cast favoring a charter form of government. The first director of law of the newly formed City was C.J. Anderson, the grandfather of local retired attorney and Poland, Depler, and Shepherd, LPA shareholder Tom Depler. The 1923 printing was commissioned by the City’s second law director, William D. Hood.
The year 2022 as the centennial of the City Charter serves as a fitting backdrop for the donations. Elgin hopes the documents will be preserved as a lasting record of legal history in Shelby: “These are, in all likelihood, the last existing copies of the 1923 printing,” Elgin said. “Not only do they contain the Charter and Ordinances from when our City became a city, but also contain history as to the passage of the charter and the elected officials that constituted our first City government.”
Councilman Garland Gates sponsored legislation to accept the contributions.
