The Council shall have all the general powers vested in it by
the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth, and it shall have power
to enact ordinances providing for the exercise within its jurisdiction
of all police powers which the Commonwealth itself may exercise under
the Constitution, and shall further have power:
A.
To
levy, assess and collect taxes, and to borrow money within the limits
provided by the Constitution of Virginia and by the statute laws of
the Commonwealth;
B.
To
establish a market in and for the city, provide for the appointment
of proper officers therefor, prescribe the time and place for holding
market, provide suitable grounds and buildings therefor, and enforce
such regulations as shall be necessary and proper to prevent huckstering,
forestalling, or regrading;
C.
To
establish, maintain, and operate waterworks and sewer systems and
other public utility works, within and without the city; and to contract
and agree with the owners of any land for the use of and purchase
thereof, or have same condemned according to law, for the location,
extension, or enlargement of such works, the pipes, wires, and other
appurtenances connected therewith and the fixtures or appurtenances
thereof; and to protect from injury, by ordinance, prescribing penalties,
the works, pipes, wires, appurtenances, fixtures and land, or anything
connected therewith, whether within or without the limits of the city;
D.
To
establish or change the grade or open, extend, construct, widen or
narrow, lay out, graduate, curb, pave, gutter, and otherwise improve,
maintain, repair, clean, and close streets including, but not limited
to, limited access or express highways, roads, sidewalks, and public
alleys in the city, and have them kept in good order and properly
lighted; in order to properly light the streets of the city, the Council
may erect and operate such number of lamps and fixtures thereto belonging
as they may deem necessary, either on the outer side of the sidewalks,
or in the center of the streets; and over any street or alley in the
city, which may be ceded or conveyed to the city by proper deed, they
shall have like power and authority as over other streets and alleys;
they may build bridges in and culverts under such streets, viaducts,
subways, and underpasses, and may prevent or remove any structure,
obstruction, or encroachment over, or under, or in any street, sidewalk,
or alley in the city, plant and maintain and may permit shade trees
to be planted along the streets; but no person, firm, company, or
corporation shall occupy with its works or any appurtenances thereof,
the streets, sidewalks, or alleys of the city, without the consent
of the Council, duly entered upon its records. In the meantime, no
order shall be made, and no injunction shall be awarded by any court
or judge, to stay proceedings of the City Council in the prosecution
of its work, unless it is manifest that it, its officers or servants,
are transcending the authority given by law, and that the interposition
of the court is necessary to prevent injury that cannot be adequately
compensated in damages;
E.
To
determine and designate the route and grade of any railroad to be
laid out in the city;
F.
To
make provision for and regulate the weighing, measuring, or testing
of all products and articles offered for sale and barter in the city;
G.
To
secure the inhabitants from contagious infection, or other dangerous
disease, by quarantine or otherwise; to establish, erect, and regulate
hospitals; to provide for and enforce the removal of patients to such
hospitals; to appoint and organize a board of health for the city,
with the authority necessary for the prompt and efficient performance
of its duties;
H.
If
any ground in the city, or within one mile of its corporate limits,
shall be subject to be covered with stagnant water, or if the owner
or owners, occupier or occupiers thereof, shall permit upon any such
land or upon any building or structure thereon any offensive, unwholesome,
unsanitary, or unhealthy substances to remain or accumulate thereon
or therein, the Council may cause such ground to be filled, raised,
or drained or may cause such substance to be covered or to be removed,
and may require the razing or repair of all unsafe, dangerous, or
unsanitary public or private buildings, walls, or structures within
the city, which constitute a menace to the health and safety of the
occupants or the public, and may collect the expense of so doing from
the owner or owners, occupier or occupiers, or any of them, except
in cases where such nuisance is caused by the action of the city authorities,
or their agents, in which case the city shall pay the expense of abating
the same, by distress and sale in the same manner in which taxes levied
upon real estate for the benefit of the city are authorized to be
collected, or by another legal proceeding, provided that reasonable
notice shall be first given to the owners or their agents. In case
of nonresident owners who have no agent in the city, such notice shall
be given by publication once a week for not less than four consecutive
weeks in any newspaper published in the city;
I.
To
regulate and direct the location and construction of all buildings
for the storage of gunpowder, explosives, and combustible substances;
to regulate the sale and use of explosives, firecrackers, fireworks,
gasoline, kerosene, oil, or other combustible material; to regulate
the exhibition of fireworks, and the discharge of firearms; and to
restrain the making of bonfires within the city;
J.
To
prevent the throwing of stones or engaging in any employment or sport
on the streets, sidewalks, or public alleys dangerous or annoying
to persons;
K.
Where,
by provision of this charter, the Council has authority to pass ordinances
on any subject, they may prescribe any penalty imposed not exceeding
the penalty imposed under state law for a similar offense; and may
provide that the offender on failing to pay the penalty imposed shall
be imprisoned in the jail of the city for a term not exceeding the
term permitted by state law for failure to pay such penalty;
L.
The
Council may prevent any unlawful obstruction of or encroachment over,
under, or in any street, highway, road, alley, bridge, viaduct, subway,
underpass, or other public way or place in the city; may provide penalties
for maintaining any such unlawful obstruction or encroachment; may
remove the same and charge the cost thereof to the owner or owners,
occupant or occupants of the property so obstructing or encroaching
to remove the same; pending such removal, may charge the owner or
owners of the property so obstructing or encroaching compensation
for the use of such portion of the street, highway, road, alley, bridge,
viaduct, subway, underpass, or other public way or place obstructed
or encroached upon the equivalent of what would be the tax upon the
land so occupied if it were owned by the owner or owners of the property
so obstructing or encroaching, and, if such removal shall not be made
within the time ordered, impose penalties for each and every day that
such obstruction or encroachment is allowed to continue thereafter;
may authorize encroachments upon the public ways and places subject
to the terms and conditions as the Council may prescribe, but the
owner or owners, occupant or occupants shall be liable for negligence
on account of such encroachment; and may institute and prosecute a
suit or action in ejectment or other appropriate proceeding to recover
possession of any such public way or place or any other property of
the city unlawfully occupied or encroached upon. No encroachment upon
such public way or place, however long continued, shall constitute
any adverse possession to or confer any rights upon the persons claiming
thereunder as against the city;
M.
Whenever
any street, alley or lane in the city shall have been opened and used
as such by the public for a period of five years, the same shall thereby
become a street, alley, or land [lane] for public purposes, and the
Council shall have the same authority and jurisdiction over and right
and interest therein as it has by law over the streets, alleys, and
lanes laid out by them. Any street or alley reserved in the division
or subdivision into lots of any portion of the territory within the
corporate limits of the city, by plan or plot of record, shall be
deemed and held to be dedicated to public use unless it appears by
the record that the street or alley so reserved is designated for
private use. Upon a petition of a majority of the persons interested,
the Council shall have the power to open the same for the use of the
public. The Council shall have the right to elect, by resolution entered
of record, whether it will or will not accept the dedication of any
street or alley and shall also have the right to supervise all plotting
and planning and any and all other activities for the beautification
of the city;
N.
The
Council shall grant and pay to all city officers such salaries or
compensation as the Council may from time to time deem just and proper,
or shall be fixed by this charter; provided the Council may permit
the city manager to fix the salaries or compensation of any officer
which he may see fit;
O.
Whenever,
by an act of assembly or ordinance of the Council, the necessity of
collecting, maintaining and handling a sinking fund for the retirement
of city obligations may arise, the Mayor, the city manager and the
treasurer of the city shall be, and the same are hereby constituted[,]
a board of sinking fund commissioners, who are authorized to invest
such sinking fund in bonds of the Commonwealth of Virginia, those
of the United States Government, and those of the City of Fredericksburg,
and to collect, care for and reinvest the interest or income accruing
from the same as may be directed by the Council by resolution or ordinance.
No fees or commission shall be paid to any officer for the handling
and control of the sinking funds;
P.
If
any person, having been an officer of the city, shall not within ten
days after he shall have vacated or been removed from office, and
upon notification or request of the clerk of the Council, or within
such time thereafter as the Council shall allow, deliver over to his
successor in office, all property, books and papers belonging to the
city, or appertaining to such office in his possession or under his
control, he shall forfeit and pay to the city the sum of $100, to
be sued for and recovered, with costs. All books, records and documents
used in such office by virtue of any provision of this charter, or
of any ordinance or order of the city Council, or any superior officer
of the city, shall be deemed the property of the city and appertaining
to the office and the chief officer thereof shall be responsible therefor;
and
Q.
The
Council shall have the authority to provide for the construction of
public buildings by means of design-build and construction management
contracts, provided such contracts are competitively awarded in accordance
with state law.
