The Mayor and Town Council of Oakland is hereby authorized and
empowered to construct and erect water works and sewerage, and to
contract for the purchase in fee simple or lease for a term of years,
renewable at its pleasure, any land, real estate, springs, brooks,
watercourses or streams, and to use and occupy forever or for a term
of years any land, real estate, springs, brooks, watercourses or streams,
which it may deem expedient and necessary for the purposes of furnishing
said Town with water and maintaining said sewerage, and it is hereby
invested with all the rights and powers necessary for the induction
of water into the said Town, and the maintenance of said sewerage
system. If for any cause the said Mayor and Town Council of Oakland
shall be unable to agree with any owner of real or leasehold property,
springs, brooks, water streams or watercourses, or any other material
which partakes of or is a necessary part of realty, or for any right-of-way
which it may find necessary for the conduct of said water and sewerage
in its entry into or in said Town, or if such owner is under any disability
or incapacity to contract or absent out of the county or unknown,
the said Mayor and Town Council of Oakland is hereby clothed with
the power of condemnation under the right of eminent domain as provided
in § 2(b)(24) of Article 23A of the Annotated Code of Maryland,
as fully as if said section had been herein. The said Mayor and Town
Council of Oakland shall have full power to fix schedules of rates
for furnishing water and sewerage to private residences and other
buildings, and the said Mayor and Town Council shall have power to
collect the same as other taxes are collected, and the income thereof
shall be applied for expenses and maintenance and for the payment
of the interest and principal on the bonds, notes or other indebtedness
therefor, and a sinking fund for the upkeep and eventual replacement
thereof.
