The inhabitants of the Village of Hazelwood within the corporate
boundaries as they now are or may hereafter be established, shall
be and continue to be a municipal body politic and corporate in perpetuity
under the name of the "City of Hazelwood."
[Ord. No. 4457-16 §1, 1-20-2016 passed in election of
4-5-2016]
The municipal government provided for under this Charter shall
be known as a Home Rule Council-Manager government. Pursuant to the
provisions of this Charter and subject only to the limitations imposed
hereby and by the Constitution of the State of Missouri, all powers
of the City shall be vested in an elective Council, except as hereinafter
otherwise qualified.
The City shall have all powers of local self-government and
home rule and all powers possible for any City to have under the Constitution
and laws of the State of Missouri or which the General Assembly would
be competent to grant to any City of any class or population group,
and except as prohibited by the Constitution, the City may exercise
all municipal powers, functions, rights, privileges, and immunities
of every name and nature. Such powers shall be exercised in the manner
prescribed in this Charter, or if not prescribed herein, in such manner
as may be prescribed by the Council.
The enumeration of particular powers in this Charter is not
exclusive of others, nor restrictive of general words or phrases granting
powers, nor shall a grant or failure to grant power in this Article
impair a power granted in any other part of this Charter and whether
powers, objects, or purposes are expressed conjunctively or disjunctively,
they shall be construed so as to permit the City to exercise freely
any one or more such powers as to any one or more such objects for
any one or more such purposes.
[Ord. No. 2706-95, 12-13-1995 passed in election of 4-2-1996]
The City is hereby divided into eight (8) Wards, bounded and
numbered as shown on the map and descriptions which are attached hereto
and made a part of this Charter. On or before the first day of September,
1971, and every tenth (10th) year thereafter, the Council shall appoint
a Redistricting Commission, consisting of eight (8) registered voters
of the City, one (1) from each Ward, who have been residents of the
City, or territory annexed to the City, for at least three (3) years
immediately prior to their appointment, and who shall not be officers
or employees of the City. The Commission shall ascertain and recommend
whether the Wards contain approximately an equal number of residents
and shall, if it finds substantial inequalities, recommend changes
in Ward boundaries so that the Wards shall be compact and contiguous
and contain an approximately equal number of residents. The Commission
shall make its recommendation in writing to the Council not later
than the first day of June following the date of appointment of its
members. The Council, after a public hearing, shall take final action
on the recommendation of the Commission not later than the first day
of September following receipt of the Commission's recommendations.
The Council may adopt, reject or modify the recommendations of the
Commission. If the Council fails to take final action on the recommendations
of the Commission by the first day of September, such recommendations
shall become effective without Council action. Any change in Ward
boundaries made pursuant to this section shall be effective for the
following regular election and for each succeeding election until
changed in accordance with the provisions of this Charter. The Council
may also, by Ordinance, enact new Ward boundaries when and if it determines
that annexations or other substantial population changes have rendered
the populations of the existing Wards to be substantially unequal.
