§ 19-304. General powers and duties

(a) General powers. All powers of the City shall be vested in the Council, except as otherwise provided by law or this charter, and the Council shall provide for the exercise thereof for the performance of all duties and obligations imposed on the City by law.

(b) Additional powers. In addition to powers otherwise conferred upon it by law, the City, by the action of the Council or, if specifically required by law or this charter, by the action of its voters, has the following powers and rights, including:

(1) To acquire property within or outside its corporate limits for any lawful purpose, including urban renewal and by any lawful means, including condemnation, in fee simple or any lesser interest or estate, by purchase, gift device, lease, or other means of transfer, and may sell, lease, mortgage, hold, manage, and control such property, as its interest may require, in the manner provided by general law.

(A) In addition to and not in limitation of the powers set forth in subdivision (1) of this subsection, the power to acquire lands for the purpose of eventual rental, lease, or resale to industrial or to commercial users or purchasers, or for the purpose of erecting thereon and with the further right and power by the City to erect thereon one or more speculative industrial or commercial buildings and to rent, sell, or lease the same to others, with or without option to purchase, as the City Council may find to be necessary in the public interest and to issue its bonds or other evidence of debt therefor in an amount as the City Council shall establish by a majority of the entire Council. However, no such indebtedness shall be authorized unless the City Council shall determine first that the value of such lands and buildings together with the amount of the sale agreement if sold or the rents accruing therefrom if rented and the purchase option (if any) thereto appertaining will be reasonably sufficient from time to time to cover the payment of bonds or other debt outstanding issued to defray the cost of any such lands or buildings; and provided further no such expenditure shall be made or indebtedness incurred unless authorized by a majority vote of the legal voters voting on such question at an annual or at a special meeting duly warned and held for that purpose.

(B) All monies received from the sale, rental, or lease of any such lands and buildings shall be kept in a separate fund to be used solely to pay any such expenditure or indebtedness as the same becomes due and payable. In the event the amount in the fund shall have become more than sufficient to meet such expenditures or indebtedness, the City Council may transfer any surplus to the general fund of the City.

(C) Any speculative commercial or industrial building or urban renewal improvement authorized herein shall be exempt from local, county, and State taxes.

(2) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce ordinances relating to the construction of improvements, including curbs, sidewalks, street lighting, and storm drains; to the installation of curbs, sidewalks, street lighting, and storm drains; in a manner specified under the ordinance as a condition precedent to the issuance of a building permit, to the assessment of part or all of the expenses of such improvements against property owners benefited thereby in proportion to respective frontage upon highways or to respective values of property or by such standard, as determined from time to time by the City Council, and to provide for violation or nonperformance.

(3) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce civil and criminal ordinances relating to the regulation or prohibition of any condition, activity, enterprise, public nuisance, or matter concerning the promotion of public health, safety, and welfare, as permitted by the general law of the State.

(4) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce in accordance with the general laws of the State ordinances relating to the regulation or prohibition of the possession and use of dangerous objects and substances; the discharge of firearms and air rifles; and the possession and use of other weapons and devices having a capacity to inflict personal injury.

(5) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce ordinances relating to the licensing of any activity or enterprise, as permitted by the general law of the State.

(6) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce personnel and other policies relating to any activity or enterprise that does not require adoption of an ordinance under this charter.

(7) To provide for citizen participation in appropriate departments.

(8) To fix, demand, impose, and enforce such items, conditions, and regulations for the excavation of any street or highway by any person, as shall be just and reasonably related to the City's reconstruction and maintenance costs, including any sum or sums of money to be paid to the City for the damages resulting from excavation of any street or highway, or for the purpose of therein erecting and maintaining any poles, wires, or any other apparatus in or under the surface of the street; and to prohibit the use of any street by any such person until such terms have been complied with.

(9) To be responsible for the financial affairs of the City.

(10) To appoint and, when deemed necessary for the good of the service, suspend or remove the following, who shall hold office at the will of the City Council:

(A) a City Treasurer;

(B) a City Attorney or firm;

(C) an Auditor or firm; and

(D) a Health Officer and his or her deputies.

(11) In consultation with the City Manager to establish, alter, and abolish City departments for the purpose of budgeting and managing all operations of the City.

(12) To serve as, and exercise the powers of, the local Board of Health, the local Liquor Control Board, and the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners, and serve as members of the Board of Civil Authority. (Added 2013, No. M-9, § 3, eff. June 4, 2013; amended 2015, No. M-19 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 17, 2016.)