(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 80; Sp. Laws 1921, No.
400, § 3; Sp. Laws 1929, No. 82, § 3.)
The Council shall have power to make, alter, repeal and enforce
ordinances, to pass and rescind resolutions, rules, votes and orders
and to take such action as may be necessary or expedient not inconsistent
with this act or with the laws of this state or of the United States,
for the following purposes: to manage and control the finances and
property, real and personal, of the city; to authorize the Mayor,
upon the vote of the Council, to borrow in the name of the city, and
upon the responsibility of the Fourth or Fifth District, as the case
may be, for the purpose of paying the running expenses of the city,
money in anticipation of the collection of taxes;[1] to define, designate and specify additional territory
situated in the Fourth or Fifth Wards of said city to be included
at any time hereafter in the Fourth Taxing District thereof; to regulate
the construction, erection and maintenance of billboards, advertising
signs and other structures; to establish building lines beyond which
no building, step, stoop, veranda, billboard, advertising sign or
other structure may be erected;[2] to regulate the sale, conveyance and transfer of city
property; to regulate the mode of assessment and collection of taxes;
to provide for the due execution of contracts and of evidences of
indebtedness issued by said city; to provide the mode for keeping
and auditing the accounts of said city and adjusting claims against
said city, to fix the salaries and the compensation of all officers
and employees of said city, and to prescribe the duties of said officers
and employees; to maintain an efficient police force in the Fourth
Taxing District at the expense of said district; to regulate and prescribe
the duties of the police force in respect to criminal matters within
said district; to establish and maintain suitable prisons or lockups
within the limits of said city for confinement of all persons arrested,
and such prisons shall be under such rules and regulations as the
Council shall ordain; to preserve order, to prevent and quell riots
and disorderly assemblages, to suppress gambling houses, houses of
ill-fame and disorderly houses; to prevent persons loitering on the
streets, sidewalks and spaces between sidewalks and buildings, and
in and about the entrance of buildings to the hindrance or annoyance
of the public; to compel the closing of saloons and other places where
spirituous and intoxicating liquors are kept and sold at such suitable
hours during the night season as said Council may designate, and at
such times and on such occasions as may be required by the public
good; to protect said city from fire; to maintain a Fire Department
in the Fourth Taxing District and to provide apparatus therefor; to
erect and keep in repair all buildings necessary for the Fire Departments
of the city; to purchase necessary fire engines, hose carriages, horses,
and other fire apparatus at the expense of said Fourth District; to
make rules and regulations for the safekeeping and preservation of
all apparatus connected with and used by said Fire Departments; to
establish fire limits; to regulate the mode of building, and determine
materials to be used for building or altering of buildings; to grant
permits for the moving, erection, addition to, repair, and enlargement
of buildings; to regulate the heating of buildings, and cleaning of
chimneys; to establish districts of said city within which it shall
be unlawful to erect, elevate, enlarge, repair, or remove any wooden
building, except by permission of said Council or a committee thereof;
to regulate the erection, construction, repair, or use within said
city of any building which by reason of its structure is or may become
unsafe; to enforce the disuse, removal, or demolition of any such
building or part thereof which may become unsafe; to provide safe
and convenient means of egress in case of emergency from any building
used by the public, and to prohibit the use of any building which
may become unsafe by reason of insufficient facilities for egress
or other causes; to regulate the use and occupation of all the city
buildings; to license, regulate, or prohibit the manufacture, keeping,
sale, or use of fireworks, torpedoes, fire crackers, gun powder, petroleum,
or other explosive or inflammable substances, and the conveyance thereof;
to regulate the discharge of fire arms; to regulate the storing and
hiring of lumber; to regulate the erection and maintenance of lamp
posts, telegraph, telephone, and electric light poles and conduits,
wires, and fixtures; to provide for public lighting of streets and
to protect the same from injury; to regulate parades, processions,
public assemblages, shows, and music in the public streets; to regulate
the speed of animals, vehicles, and cars in the streets; to provide
for raising, filling, and draining low lands and places in which mosquitoes
breed, and the widening, deepening, or straightening of any streams
within said city; to prescribe the form of proceeding and mode of
assessing benefits and appraising damages in taking land for public
use, and the time when and manner which all benefits assessed shall
be collected; to make, repair, clean, light, and keep open and safe
for public use and travel, and free from encroachment and obstruction,
the streets, highways, sidewalks, gutters, and public grounds;[3] to sprinkle the streets of the city with water, oil, or
other substance at the expense of the city, or by assessment as hereinafter
provided; to compel the owners or occupants of land and buildings
to remove the snow and ice from the sidewalks in front of such land
and buildings; to regulate the width of all highways, streets, sidewalks,
and gutters; to regulate excavations in streets, highways, and public
grounds and the location of any work thereon, or the depositing of
building materials on any sidewalk or highway, or the removal of buildings
upon or through the same; to prohibit, regulate, or license the selling
of wares and merchandise upon said streets, sidewalks, or public places;
to regulate the blowing of whistles and horns, and the ringing of
bells; to regulate or prohibit the placing of signs or awnings over
sidewalks, to regulate or prohibit the running at large of all animals
in said city; to license and regulate public hacks, automobiles, and
carriages, and the charges of hackmen, chauffeurs, public drivers,
carmen and truckmen; to regulate the laying of conduits, gas pipes,
water pipes, and drains in the streets and highways; to regulate the
planting, removal, care and preservation of trees in the public streets
and parks; to prohibit the sale of newspapers upon the streets; to
provide for the health of the city; to prevent and abate every kind
of nuisance; to regulate the location, construction, and use of sinks,
cesspools, pigpens, drains, sewers, and privies; to compel the removal
of nuisances injurious to health, or offensive or annoying to the
public it the expense of the owners of the premises upon which said
nuisances exist; to provide for the collection, removal, and disposal
of garbage, ashes, and refuse in the Fourth Taxing District at the
expense of said district; to regulate the moving of any manure, swill,
night soil, or dead animals; to regulate the carrying on of any trade,
manufacture, or business prejudicial to public health or unreasonably
annoying to those living or owning property within the vicinity; to
provide for the inspection of meat, vegetables, fish, produce, fruits,
milk, and food of any kind exposed for sale in said city, and to prohibit
the sale thereof when in such condition as to endanger public health;
to regulate the naming of public streets, the numbering of lots thereon,
and the erection of banners or flags; to regulate weights and measures;
to license and regulate peddling and auctions upon the streets and
sidewalks; to license and regulate sports, exhibitions, public amusements,
and billiard and bowling rooms; to regulate coasting, sliding, and
use of velocipedes, bicycles, and tricycles on the sidewalks; to protect
public buildings, property, and structures from injury; to prohibit
the depositing of any filth, garbage, or rubbish in any stream or
on any highway or public or private grounds; to preserve and care
for public burial grounds and regulate the burial of the dead; to
regulate bathing in places exposed to public view; to prevent cruelty
to animals and inhuman sports; to provide a public seal; to regulate
and prescribe the mode of conducting all elections not regulated by
this act; to regulate the manner of warning city elections and meetings
of the Common Council, and the times and places of holding the same;
to provide for the removal of any officer for cause; to provide places
for holding elections in said city and in the wards thereof; to prescribe
the amount of bonds to be given by city officers or employees and
to confer upon the officers of said city all proper authority to enable
them to discharge their duties; to prescribe fines; penalties, and
forfeitures for the violation of any ordinances, which penalties and
forfeitures may be recovered by the Corporation Counsel in an action
brought for that purpose in the name of the city before the town court
or any other court having jurisdiction for the use of said city.
[2]
Editor's Note: A resolution adopted 10-10-1989 reads
as follows:
Whereas Article IV, § 1-189, of the Code of the City of Norwalk authorizes the Common Council "to establish building lines beyond which no building, step, stoop, veranda, billboard, advertising sign or other structure may be erected," and over time the Council has established such setbacks; and
Whereas these setbacks are in conflict with those that are
established by the Zoning Regulations, the following resolution is
recommended:
Resolved by the Common Council that all building setback lines
established by the Common Council are hereby repealed and the setback
lines as defined in the Zoning Regulations, as amended, be adopted;
and
Be it further resolved that all structures that conform to
the Council setback lines as they exist on this date are declared
to be conforming and may be rebuilt in accordance with the Council
setback should they be damaged by accident or natural disaster.
(Added by Charter Amendment 11-3-1970.)
A.
The Council shall have the power to establish, reorganize and consolidate
departments, agencies, commissions, authorities and boards of the
city, hereinafter referred to as administrative departments. Provided,
however, there shall be a Department of Health, a Department of Public
Works and a Department of Public Welfare. The Council shall have the
power to establish and amend by ordinance such rules, regulations,
policies and procedures as it may deem necessary or appropriate to
define and govern the powers, duties, responsibilities and operations
of such administrative departments. Said powers of the Council shall
apply to all administrative departments, including but not limited
to all administrative departments in existence at the effective date
of this section, whether established by Charter, Special Act, or ordinance;
and ordinances enacted by the Council pursuant to this section shall
supersede any prior inconsistent provisions of this Charter, Special
Acts or ordinances.
B.
This section shall not apply to (1) any elected departments, agencies,
commissions, authorities or boards, including those elected by taxing
districts; (2) the Police Department or its boards or commissions;
(3) the Fire Department or its boards or commissions; (4) the Planning
Commission; (5) the Zoning Commission; (6) the Board of Estimate and
Taxation; (7) the Comptroller; (8) the Corporation Counsel.
C.
In taking action under this section, the Council shall adopt appropriate
provisions protecting the interests of any holders of debt which may
have been issued by any administrative department affected by such
action of the Council, prior to any ordinance enacted pursuant to
this section, and the Council shall also adopt appropriate provisions
regarding future issuance of debt instruments.
D.
A vote of a majority of the entire membership of the Council shall be necessary to take any action authorized by this section, and said action shall be subject to the approval of the Mayor as set forth in Section 191 of the Charter (1956 Edition), Section 1-197 (1970 Edition). This section shall take effect on January 1, 1971.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 1-189.3, Authorization
of Council to establish Purchasing Department, added by Charter Amendment
11-3-1970, was repealed by Charter Amendment 8-29-1978.
(Added by Charter Amendment 11-3-1970.)
The Council shall have the power to establish a Law Department. The Corporation Counsel shall be the administrative head of any such Law Department. In establishing a Law Department, the Council may determine the number of attorneys, their qualifications, their respective terms of office and their compensation subject to the approval of the Board of Estimate and Taxation. Any such ordinance shall not be inconsistent with Section 219 (1956 Edition); Section 1-230 (1970 Edition), relative to the employment of attorneys, or with Section 212 (1956 Edition); Section 1-223 (1970 Edition), relative to the appointment of the Corporation Counsel. A vote of a majority of the entire membership of the Council shall be necessary to take any action authorized by this section, and said action shall be subject to the approval of the Mayor as set forth in Section 191 of the Charter (1956 Edition), Section 1-197 (1970 Edition). This section shall take effect on January 1, 1971.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 124; Sp. Laws 1915,
No. 367, § 8.)
Said Council is also hereby authorized to enact ordinances or
bylaws concerning plumbing, sanitation, and electrical work, and to
provide for the examination and licensing of master or journeymen
plumbers or electricians by such committee of persons as the Council
shall designate, and for the revocation of such licenses with power
to forbid any unlicensed person doing any plumbing or repairing of
plumbing, or doing any electrical work, under such penalties as said
Council shall prescribe; to provide for a Building, Plumbing, and
Electrical Inspector, define his powers and duties, and determine
the fees to be paid for permits; to provide for the licensing of dealers
in milk, fix the fees for such licenses, prescribe the conditions
under which milk shall be kept, offered for sale, and sold in said
city, and prohibit the bringing into said city of milk which is not
pure, or which has been exposed to contamination, and to provide penalties
for the violation of any of the ordinances of said city.
(Sp. Laws of 1913, No. 352, § 81)
Said Council shall have power to make, alter, repeal, and enforce
any ordinance which it may deem conducive to the general health, peace,
good order, welfare, and safety of the inhabitants of said city, and
for the protection of the property therein, and may prescribe fines,
penalties and forfeitures for the violation of any such ordinances.
A.
Before the Common Council shall adopt any ordinance, the Council
or a committee thereof shall hold a public hearing in relation thereto,
at which all persons shall have an opportunity to be heard. Notice
of the time and place of such hearings, together with a copy of the
ordinance proposed, shall be published in the form of a legal advertisement
appearing in a newspaper having a substantial circulation in the City
of Norwalk. Said publication shall be not more than 15 nor less than
seven days prior to the date of such public hearing.
(Amended by Charter Amendment 9-2-1980.[1])
[1]
Editor's Note: Approved by the electorate at the general election
held 11-4-1980.
B.
The Common Council as aforesaid or its committee may after the public
hearing make such changes or alterations in the form or content of
the proposed ordinance as seems appropriate or necessary as a result
of the public hearing held in connection therewith. Such changes,
additions or alterations shall not require further public notice.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 82.)
The Council of said city shall have power to make, alter and
repeal ordinances and bylaws relative to the care and support of the
poor and filling of vacancies which may occur in any town office.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 83.)
No ordinance shall take effect until the same has been published
in a newspaper published in said city, nor until 10 days after its
passage.
(Sp. Laws 1957, No. 111; Charter Amendment 9-2-1980.[1])
The City of Norwalk will cause to be prepared, under the direction
of its Corporation Counsel, a codification of all city ordinances
in force and effect in said city. A competent legal publishing company
may be employed by the city for that purpose and said codification
may rephrase, alter, repeal or eliminate all obsolete and conflicting
ordinances. Said codification shall be published in book form and
any ordinances contained therein shall not require publication in
a newspaper.[2] The city shall provide sufficient quantities of said codification
in book form to make available copies for the use of members of the
Common Council, the office of the Corporation Counsel, all other city
offices, including the Norwalk Public Libraries, the members of the
Charter Revision Commission, and sufficient additional quantities
for sale to the public.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 84.)
All grants and leases of real estate belonging to said city
authorized by the Council shall be signed by the Mayor and sealed
with the city seal.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 85; Charter Amendment 9-2-1980.[1])
The Mayor and Council shall meet on the second Tuesday following
their election for the purpose of making and confirming appointments.
The Mayor shall preside at the meetings of the Council, and shall
vote only in case of a tie. The City Clerk shall be Clerk of said
Council. At the beginning of each municipal year the Council shall
elect from its members a President who shall preside in the absence
of the Mayor, and, in case of the death, resignation, absence or inability
of the Mayor, shall possess all powers and perform all duties of the
Mayor until said Mayor shall return or be able to act or until another
is elected and qualified in his stead. In case of the death, resignation,
absence or inability to act of both the Mayor and President of the
Council, the Council shall elect from its members a temporary Chairman
who shall possess all powers and perform all duties of the Mayor until
the Mayor or President shall return or until another is elected or
qualified in place of the Mayor or of the President of the Council.
[1]
Editor's Note: Approved by the electorate at the general
election held 11-4-1980.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 86; Sp. Laws 1921, No.
400, § 4.)
Said Council may be specially convened at any time by the Mayor
on notice of at least 24 hours and regular meetings of said body shall
be held at the times fixed by the ordinances of the city.[1] The Council may determine the rules of its proceedings.
A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction
of business, but a smaller number may adjourn.[2] Whenever a regular or special meeting has been called
and no quorum shall be present, those present may, by vote, request
the Mayor or Presiding Officer to, and said Mayor or Presiding Officer
shall, upon such request, issue a warrant signed by him directed to
the Sheriff of Fairfield County, his Deputy, the Sheriff of the City
of Norwalk or either Constable of the Town of Norwalk to arrest and
bring into such meeting a sufficient number of said Councilmen to
constitute a quorum. Any member who shall, while holding office, directly
or indirectly take or bargain for any fee or pecuniary consideration
to influence his vote or action upon any resolution or ordinance pending
in said Council shall pay to said city a penalty equal in amount to
said fee or pecuniary consideration so directly or indirectly taken
or bargained for and shall be expelled from said office, after notice
and hearing, by a vote of not less than 2/3 of the Council. Every
vote, resolution, order or ordinance, except such as relates to the
organization of the Council, to its own officers or employees and
to the removal of the Mayor or to the declaration of a vacancy in
the office of Mayor shall be transmitted to the Mayor, who shall either
approve it within six days, in which case it shall become operative
and effectual, or disapprove it and return it to said body at its
regular meeting with a statement of his objections in writing. After
such statement has been read, said Council shall proceed to reconsider
its former vote on such measure. If, after such reconsideration, the
Council shall again pass it by a vote of not less than 2/3 of all
its members, such vote being determined by yeas and nays, it shall
become operative and effectual without the approval of the Mayor.
If the Mayor shall refuse or neglect to signify his approval or disapproval
of any such measure transmitted to him within six days after its reception,
such measure shall become operative and effectual as though approved
by him.
(Sp. Laws 1947, No. 211, § 3; Charter Amendment 8-29-1978.[1])
The first meeting of each newly elected Common Council shall
be held on the second Tuesday following each town and city election
in the Town and City of Norwalk. Thereafter, the Common Council shall
hold at least one regular meeting each month on the second Tuesday
of each month and such additional regular meetings as it shall, by
resolution or ordinance, determine.
[1]
Editor's Note: Approved by the electorate at the general
election held 11-7-1978.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 87; Sp. Laws 1921, No.
400, § 5.)
At any meeting of the Council any member may give written notice, seconded in writing by a majority of all the members, of his intention to propose at the next meeting a resolution removing the Mayor from office for official misconduct or neglect of duty. Such notice shall specify particularly the acts of misconduct or the neglect of duty complained of and shall be entered in the records of the Council, and the Clerk shall serve a copy thereof upon the Mayor and mail a copy to each member of the Council. At the next meeting of the Council the Mayor shall have the right to be heard with his witnesses, and said meeting may be adjourned from time to time as said Council may direct. The vote on the resolution shall be by roll call. If the resolution fails to receive the votes of 2/3 of the members of the Council, if shall have no effect. If it receives the affirmative votes of 2/3 of the members of the Council, it shall become operative upon the service of a copy thereof upon the Mayor personally or by leaving the same at his residence, and the office of Mayor shall be vacant. The Council shall fill such vacancy as provided in § 1-174. Said Council meetings shall be public, and the journal of its proceedings shall be open to public inspection. The vote of the Council shall be taken by yeas and nays whenever the same is requested by any members. The Council may elect, appoint or discharge any officer, except the Mayor, in executive session, but no business other than that relating to appointments or removals from office shall be considered in executive session.
(Sp. Laws 1929, No. 101, § 1.)
The Mayor and Council of the City of Norwalk are empowered to
borrow upon the credit of said city, during any fiscal year of said
city, by note or notes of said city, signed by the Mayor thereof,
such sum or sums of money as may be necessary to pay any judgment
tendered against said city and all expenses incurred by said city
in connection with any such judgment.
(Sp. Laws 1929, No. 101, § 2.)
No such borrowing shall be made by the Mayor and Council, nor
shall any note or notes be issued as aforesaid, until the amount and
purpose thereof shall be approved by the Board of Estimate and Taxation
of said city at a meeting duly called and held therefor.
[1]
Editor's Note: See also Art. VI.
(Sp. Laws 1929, No. 101, § 3.)
Said Board of Estimate and Taxation, at its regular meeting
held in the fiscal year in which such note or notes are issued, shall
make a sufficient appropriation to pay all notes so issued during
such fiscal year, and such notes shall be paid from such appropriation
when it shall become available.
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 135.)
The Council is hereby authorized, whenever in its opinion public
health shall require, to take, occupy, and appropriate, as may be
deemed expedient, any stream or part thereof running in or through
the city, and to straighten, deepen, or lower the same, or lower and
remove any or all walls, dams, or other obstructions to the flow of
any part of such stream, or cause to be enlarged, lowered, or altered
any culvert which causes the accumulation of stagnant water or interrupts
in any manner the flow of any part of said stream, and shall notify
all parties in interest.[1]
(Sp. Laws 1913, No. 352, § 136.)
Whenever said Council shall exercise the powers conferred in
the foregoing section it shall appoint a Committee to prepare a descriptive
survey of the improvement contemplated, with a careful estimate of
the cost of completing the same, and to confer and agree with the
parties interested as to the damages and special benefits on account
of said improvements,[1] and the report of said Committee having been accepted
and recorded, and said agreement having been ratified, and the damages
having been paid to the parties entitled thereto or deposited to their
credit in the City Treasury, said Council may proceed with the completion
of said improvement and with all acts incident to that purpose, without
further liability. If said Council by its Committee shall be unable
to agree with the parties interested as to the damages or benefits
on account of any such improvements, any Judge of the Superior Court
may, upon application of said city, after causing such notice of the
pendency of said application as he shall deem reasonable, appoint
three judicious and disinterested freeholders to estimate such damages
and benefits, which Committee having been duly sworn, and having given
such notice of the time and place of their meeting for the purposes
aforesaid as such Judge shall direct, shall meet at the time and place
designated, and, having heard all the parties in interest who shall
appear before it, shall proceed to appraise the damages to and assess
the benefits against the proper persons, land, or other property specially
benefited or damaged. Thereupon said Committee shall report in writing
to said Judge who may confirm, correct, or set aside said report as
he may deem just, in which latter case a Committee to be appointed
by said Judge, after notice as hereinbefore prescribed, shall proceed
as before, and their report, being finally accepted by said Judge,
shall be recorded by the Clerk of the Superior Court for Fairfield
County, and the award of damages and benefits therein contained shall
be final between the parties, and all papers connected with the case
shall be delivered to the Clerk of the Town Court of Norwalk who shall
keep the same on file for public inspection. Such damages having been
paid or deposited as hereinbefore provided, said Council may complete
said public improvements and do all acts incident to that purpose
without further liability in the premises.
(Sp. Laws 1957, No. 368, § 1.)
Within the area bounded on the east by the line separating the
City of Norwalk from the Town of Westport; on the south by a line
commencing at the intersection of said town line with a straight line
running in a southwesterly direction to number 24B off Hiding Rocks,
said intersection being at Copps Rocks just east of Copps Island,
thence in a due westerly direction to Green Ledge light; on the west
by a line running northerly from Green Ledge light to the flashing
light at the entrance of the Five Mile River, thence northerly along
the line separating the City of Norwalk from the Town of Darien; and,
on the north by the shore line of the City of Norwalk, the Common
Council of the City of Norwalk shall have authority to pass ordinances
and otherwise regulate the mooring of all vessels, boats and craft
and the use of the water, so that they shall not interfere with the
free use of the channels and other navigable waters included within
said area hereinbefore described, and, subject to the provisions of
Section 4768 of the General Statutes, may make such other reasonable
rules, regulations, ordinances or orders respecting the use of said
waters by all vessels, boats and craft as may be necessary to protect
persons and all other vessels, boats and craft in such waters and
other property thereon.
(Sp. Laws 1957, No. 368, § 2.)
Such ordinances, rules, regulations and orders, when determined
and fixed, shall be published at least once in a newspaper having
a circulation in the City of Norwalk and shall be filed in the office
of the City Clerk of said city and shall become effective 10 days
after such publication and filing.
(Sp. Laws 1957, No. 368, § 3; Charter Amendment 9-2-1980.[1])
Any person who violates any such ordinance, rule, regulation or order, when determined or fixed as provided in §§ 1-205 and 1-206, shall be fined not less than $25 nor more than $100 or as the Council may otherwise provide for each offense.
[1]
Editor's Note: Approved by the electorate at the general
election held 11-4-1980.
(Sp. Laws 1957, No. 368, § 4.)
Any police or peace officer of the City of Norwalk shall have
authority to enforce the provisions of this act. The City Court of
Norwalk shall have jurisdiction over all violations of this act.
(Sp. Laws 1957, No. 368, § 5.)
The Harbormaster of the Harbor of Norwalk, and his deputies,
if any, shall, from time to time, advise the Common Council with respect
to the matters hereinbefore described or provided for and shall, upon
the request of the Common Council, confer with the latter and make
such reports to said Common Council as they shall from time to time
require with respect to any matter hereinbefore referred to.
