Neither the Mayor nor any member of the Town Council shall during
the term of his or her office hold or be interested in any other office,
for which compensation is paid, under the corporation, except as may
be allowed by general law, nor shall be or she be a party directly
or indirectly to or interested in any contract in which the corporation
is interested, unless the said office or interest is fully disclosed
and approved pursuant to the applicable ethics laws of the Mayor and
Town Council of Oakland or the State of Maryland.
Whenever it shall, in the judgment of the Mayor and Town Council,
become necessary to condemn land for the purpose of opening or widening
any street or alley, in pursuance of any water or sewerage project,
or for any other purpose which the Mayor and Town Council may deem
necessary in the pursuance of its duties under this Charter, the Mayor
and Town Council of Oakland is hereby clothed with the power of condemnation
under the right of eminent domain as provided for in § 2(b)(24)
of Article 23A of the Annotated Code of Maryland as fully as if said
section had been herein incorporated.
It shall be the duty of the owner or possessor of property abutting
on any street, or wherever in the discretion of the Mayor and Town
Council they deem it necessary for the safety and use of the public,
to construct the sidewalk adjacent to said street upon which the said
property so abuts and to keep it in good repair at his or her own
expense. If the owner, possessor or other person responsible shall
fail to construct, repair or maintain any sidewalk after due notice,
according to the ordinance of the Town, the corporation shall construct,
repair or maintain the same and charge the same to the owner, possessor
or other person responsible for such construction, repair or maintenance,
and the cost and expense of the construction, repair or maintenance
of any such sidewalk after the failure of the owner, possessor or
other person responsible to do so, shall be a lien upon the said abutting
property, in the same manner and to the same extent as taxes are now
made a lien by law. The Mayor and Town Council shall have the same
rights and remedies to enforce payment of the same as is now given
to them by law to enforce the payment of taxes, but the Mayor and
Town Council shall not be responsible for any damage which may be
occasioned by reason of a failure on the part of the lot owner to
keep his or her sidewalks in proper repair.
The Mayor and Town Council shall have the power to require licenses
from all exhibitors, theatricals, concerts, block parties or for any
event or function which requires a temporary beer, wine or liquor
license operating within the Town. The Mayor and Town Council shall
also have the right to require licenses from all traveling salespersons,
door-to-door salespersons, hackers, carts or carriages operated within
the Town for profit or hire. Further, they shall have the right to
require licenses for all auctions, hawkers, peddlers and temporary
sales establishments of whatever nature operating within the Town.
The fees for such licenses and the terms thereof shall be established
by ordinance or resolution of the Mayor and Town Council of Oakland.
The Mayor and Town Council may provide for codification of all
ordinances which have been or may be passed by it, and for the printing
of such codifications thereof, and the ordinances so issued by the
authority of the Mayor and Town Council may be read in evidence from
the printed codification.
The Mayor and Town Council of Oakland shall have the power and
authority to contract with or grant unto any other corporate body,
individual or partnership for any franchise to be granted by the Town
for its operation within the corporate boundaries of the Town of Oakland.
The Mayor and Town Council are empowered to pass all such ordinances
as may be necessary to put into operation the provisions of this section
and also to grant, by ordinances or otherwise, the right to lay conduits,
electrical lines, cable lines, telephone lines or any other such thing
through the streets from the Town of Oakland.
No action shall be maintained and no claim shall be allowed
against the Mayor and Town Council of Oakland, or its officers or
employees, for unliquidated damages for any injury or damage to person
or property, unless, within 90 days after the injury or damage was
sustained, written notice thereof setting forth the time, place and
cause of the alleged damage, loss, injury or death shall be presented
in person or by registered mail by the claimant, his or her agent
or attorney, or, in case of death, by his or her executor or administrator,
to the Mayor, the President of the Town Council or the Town Clerk,
as the case may be.
The Mayor and Town Council of Oakland shall have power, in its
discretion, to provide for retirement pensions for employees and officers
whose compensation is paid by the Town, and may, in its discretion,
establish and maintain a general retirement or pension system for
such employees and officers, and appropriate and expend such sums
as may be necessary to pay said pensions and all expenses in connection
with said pensions or pension system.
This Charter shall become effective on the 10th day of June,
2000.