A.
General powers. The Council shall have the power to
pass all such ordinances not contrary to the Constitution and laws
of the State of Maryland or this Charter as it may deem necessary
for the good government of the Town; for the protection and preservation
of the Town's property rights and privileges; for the preservation
of peace and good order; for securing persons and property from violence,
danger or destruction; and for the protection and promotion of the
health, safety, comfort convenience, welfare and happiness of the
residents of and visitors in the Town.
B.
Specific powers. In addition to, but not in substitution
of, the powers which have been, or may hereafter be, granted to it,
the Council also shall have the following express ordinance-making
powers:
(1)
Advertising. To provide for municipal advertising,
for the printing and publication of statements of the receipts and
expenditures of the municipality, and the publication and codification
of all laws, ordinances, resolutions or regulations adopted by or
affecting the municipality.
(2)
Aisles and doors. To regulate and prevent the obstruction
of aisles in public halls, churches and places of amusement, and to
regulate the construction and operation of the doors and means of
egress therefrom.
(4)
Appropriations. To appropriate municipal moneys for
any purpose within the powers of the Council.
(5)
Auctioneers. To regulate the sale of all kinds of
property at auction within the Town and to license auctioneers.
(6)
Band. To establish a municipal band, symphony orchestra
or other musical organization, and to regulate by ordinance the conduct
and policies thereof.
(7)
Billboards. To license, tax and regulate, restrain
or prohibit the erection or maintenance of billboards within the city,
the placing of signs, bills and posters of every kind and description
on any building, fence, post, billboard, pole or other place within
the Town.
(8)
Bridges. To erect and maintain bridges.
(9)
Buildings.[2] To make reasonable regulations in regard to buildings
to be erected in the Town and to grant building permits for the same;
to formulate a building code and a plumbing code and to appoint a
Building Inspector and a Plumbing Inspector and to require reasonable
charges for permits and inspections; to regulate and restrict the
height, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures,
the size of yards, courts and open spaces and the location and use
of buildings, structures and land for trade, industry or residence;
to establish the distance buildings or any part thereof, fences or
walls shall be erected from inner curb of street line; to direct in
what part of the Town wooden buildings shall not be erected or constructed;
to authorize and require the inspection of all buildings and structures
and to authorize the condemnation thereof in whole or in part when
dangerous or insecure and to require that such buildings and structures
be made safe or taken down; to remove or cause to be removed buildings
or other structures that may be dangerous to persons passing along
or over any of the public ways or sidewalks of the Town.
(10)
Cemeteries. To regulate the interment of bodies and
to control the location and establishment of cemeteries.
(11)
Community services. To provide, maintain and operate
such community and social services for the preservation and promotion
of the health, recreation, welfare and enlightenment of the inhabitants
of the municipality as the legislative body may determine.
(12)
Cooperative activities. To make agreements with other
municipalities, counties, districts, bureaus, commissions and governmental
authorities for the joint performance of or for cooperation in the
performance of any governmental functions.
(13)
Corporate name. To change the corporate name of the
municipality, provided that no such change shall affect any rights,
duties or obligations held by the municipality, and provided further
that such ordinance shall first be submitted to and approved by the
qualified voters of the municipality at a regular or special municipal
election.
(15)
Dangerous improvements. To compel persons about to
undertake dangerous improvements to execute bonds with sufficient
sureties conditioned that the owner or contractor will pay all damages
resulting from such work which may be sustained by any persons or
property.
(16)
Departments. To create, change and abolish offices,
departments or agencies, other than the offices, departments and agencies
established by this Charter; to assign additional functions or duties
to offices, departments or agencies established by this Charter, but
not including the power to discontinue or assign to any other office,
department or agency any function or duty assigned by this Charter
to a particular office, department or agency.
(18)
Explosives. To regulate or prevent the storage of
gunpowder, oil or any other explosive or combustible matter; to regulate
or prevent the use of firearms, fireworks, bonfires, explosives or
any other similar things tending to endanger persons or property.[5]
(19)
Filth. To compel the occupant of any premises, building
or outhouse situated in the Town, if it has become filthy or unwholesome,
to abate or cleanse the condition; and after reasonable notice to
the owners or occupants to authorize such work to be done by the proper
officers and to assess the expense thereof against the property, making
it collectible by taxes or against the occupant or occupants.
(20)
Finances. To levy, assess and collect taxes and to
borrow money within the limits provided by this Charter; to expend
municipal funds for any purpose deemed to be public and to affect
the safety, health and general welfare of the Town and its inhabitants;
to have general management and control of the finances of the Town.
(21)
Fire. To suppress fires and prevent the dangers thereof
and to establish and maintain a fire department; to inspect buildings
for the purpose of reducing fire hazards, to issue regulations concerning
fire hazards and to forbid and prohibit the use of fire hazardous
buildings and structures permanently or until the conditions of Town
fire hazard regulations are met; and to take all other measures necessary
to control and prevent fires in the Town.[6]
(22)
Food. To inspect and to require the condemnation of,
if unwholesome, and to regulate the sale of any food products.
(23)
Franchises. To grant and regulate franchises to water
companies, electric light companies, gas companies, telegraph and
telephone companies, transit companies, taxicab companies and any
others which may be deemed advantageous and beneficial to the Town,
subject to the limitations and provisions of state law. No franchise
shall be granted for a longer period than 50 years.
(24)
Garbage. To require, regulate and/or provide for the
collection and removal of filth, garbage or any matter or thing that
is or may become injurious to the health or comfort of the inhabitants
of the Town of Mount Airy and to provide whether the expense, if any,
shall be borne by individual property owners or tenants or shall be
paid for in whole or in part by the Town.[7]
(25)
Grants-in-aid. To accept gifts and grants of federal
or state funds from the federal or state governments or any agency
thereof and to expend the same for any lawful public purpose, agreeable
to the conditions under which the gift or grant was made.
(26)
Hawkers. To regulate and provide for the issuing of
licenses or permits for hawking, peddling and vending of wares and
merchandise of every description upon the public ways in the Town
and to regulate and provide for the issuing of licenses or permits
to all persons who may go from house to house to vend or sell any
wares or merchandise; to regulate and provide for the issuing of licenses
to all traveling persons who dispense medicines or medical advice.
(27)
Health. To protect and preserve the health of the
Town and its inhabitants; to appoint a public health officer and to
define and regulate his powers and duties; to prevent the introduction
of contagious diseases into the Town; to establish quarantine regulations
and to authorize the removal and confinement of persons having contagious
or infectious diseases; to prevent and remove all nuisances; to inspect,
regulate and abate any buildings, structures, places or conditions
which cause or may cause unsanitary conditions or conditions detrimental
to health; provided, that nothing herein shall be construed to affect
in any manner any of the powers and duties of the State Board of Health,
the County Board of Health or any public general or local law relating
to the subject of health.
(28)
House numbers. To regulate the numbering of houses
and lots and to compel owners to renumber them or in default thereof
to authorize and require the work to be done by the Town at the owner's
expense, such expense to constitute a lien upon the property collectible
as tax moneys.
(29)
Inspections. To authorize and require the inspection
of gas pipes, water pipes, plumbing apparatus, electric lines and
wires and drainage and sewage systems on private property and to compel
repairs thereon.
(30)
Jail. To establish and regulate a station house or
lockup for temporary confinement of violators of the laws and ordinances
of the Town and to make provision for the use of the Carroll County
Jail and the Frederick County Jail.
(31)
Licenses. To issue licenses to any and all persons
entering into or beginning transient business in the Town for the
sale of any goods, wares or merchandise; to license and regulate all
restaurants, pawnbrokers, junk dealers, fire and slaughter sales,
auctioneers and auction sales; to license and regulate any business
or calling or place of amusement; to establish and collect fees and
charges for all licenses and permits issued under the authority of
this Charter.
(32)
Liens. To provide that any valid charges, taxes or
assessments made against any real property within the municipality
shall be liens upon such property to be collected in the same manner
as municipal taxes are collected.
(33)
Lights. To provide for the lighting of the Town.
(34)
Livestock. To regulate and prohibit the running at
large of cattle, horses, swine, fowl, sheep, goats, dogs or other
animals; to authorize the impounding, keeping, sale and redemption
of such animals when found in violation of the ordinance in such cases
provided.
(35)
Markets. To obtain by lease or rent, own, construct,
purchase, operate and maintain public markets within the Town.
(36)
Merit system. To establish a merit system in connection
with the appointment of all municipal officials and employees not
elected or appointed under the Constitution or public general or public
locals laws of the state, and to request and avail themselves of the
facilities of the Commissioner of State Employment and Registration
for the administration of such merit system without unnecessary expense.
(37)
Minor privileges. To regulate or prevent the use of
public ways, sidewalks and public places for signs, awnings, posts,
steps, railings, entrances, racks, posting handbills and advertisements
and display of goods, wares and merchandise.
(38)
Noise. To regulate or prohibit unreasonable ringing
of bells, crying of goods or sounding of whistles and horns.
(39)
Nuisances. To prevent or abate by appropriate ordinance
all nuisances in the Town which are so defined at common law, by this
Charter or by the laws of the State of Maryland, whether the same
be herein specifically named or not; to regulate, restrain or prohibit
the keeping or running at large in the Town of all animals and fowl;
to regulate, to prohibit, to control the location of or to require
the removal from the Town of all trading in, handling of, or manufacture
of any commodity which is or may become offensive, obnoxious or injurious
to the public comfort or health. In this connection the Town may regulate,
prohibit, control the location of or require the removal from the
Town of such things as stockyards, slaughterhouses, cattle or hog
pens, tanneries, renderies and livery stables. This listing is by
way of enumeration, not limitation.
(40)
Obstructions. To remove all nuisances and obstructions
from the streets, lanes and alleys and from any lots adjoining thereto
or any other places within the limits of the Town.
(41)
Parking facilities. To license and regulate and to
establish, obtain by purchase, by lease or by rent, own, construct,
operate and maintain parking lots and other facilities for off-street
parking.
(42)
Parking meters. To install parking meters on the streets
and public places of the Town in such places as by ordinance they
determine, and by ordinance to prescribe rates and provisions for
the use thereof; but the installation of parking meters on any street
or road maintained by the State Highway Administration shall be subject
to its approval.
(43)
Parks. To establish and maintain such parks, gardens,
playgrounds and recreational facilities as, in the discretion of the
legislative body, are deemed to be for the health and welfare of the
municipality and its inhabitants.
(44)
Pensions. To provide a retirement or pension system
or a group insurance plan for its officers or employees or for including
its officers and employees in any retirement or pension system operated
by or in conjunction with the state, on such terms and conditions
as state laws may prescribe.
(45)
Police force. To establish, operate and maintain a
police force. All Town policemen shall have the powers and authority
of constables in this state.
(46)
Police powers.
(a)
To prohibit, suppress and punish within the
Town all vice, gambling and games of chance; streetwalkers and the
keeping of bawdy houses and houses of ill fame; all tramps and vagrants;
all disorder, disturbances, annoyances, disorderly conduct and drunkenness.
(b)
To enforce all ordinances relating to disorderly
conduct and the suppression of nuisances equally within the limits
of the municipality and beyond those limits for 1/2 mile or for so
much of this distance as does not conflict with the powers of another
municipal corporation.
(47)
Public property.
(a)
To acquire property, real or personal, within
or without the boundaries of the Town for any public purpose by purchase,
gift, bequest, devise, lease, condemnation or otherwise; to construct
and maintain all buildings necessary for the operation of the Town
government; to control and protect the public grounds and property
of the Town; and to convey any real or leasehold property when no
longer needed for the public use, after having given at least 20 days'
public notice of the proposed conveyance; to control, protect and
maintain public buildings, grounds and property of the Town.
(b)
To take by gift, grant, bequest or devise and
to hold real and personal property absolutely or in trust for parks
or gardens or for the erection of statues, monuments, buildings or
structures or for any public use, upon such terms and conditions as
may be prescribed by the grantor or donor and accepted by the municipality;
to provide for the proper administration of the same; and to convey
the same when such legislative body determines that it is no longer
needed for public purposes, subject to the terms and conditions of
the original grants.
(48)
Public utilities. To establish, construct, own, purchase,
control, operate, maintain, manage or regulate any utilities, including
a water supply system and a sewage disposal system.
(49)
Purchases through Purchasing Bureau. To provide for
the purchase of materials, supplies and equipment through the Purchasing
Bureau of the State Department of General Services whenever desirable.
(50)
Quarantine. To establish quarantine regulations in
the interests of the public health.
(51)
Regulations. To adopt and enforce within the corporate
limits police, health, sanitary, fire, building, plumbing, traffic,
speed, parking and other similar regulations not in conflict with
the laws of the State of Maryland.
(52)
Removals and suspensions. To remove or temporarily
suspend from office any person who has been appointed to any municipal
office and who after due notice and hearing is adjudged to have been
guilty of inefficiency, malfeasance, misfeasance, nonfeasance, misconduct
in office or insubordination; and to fill the vacancy caused by such
removal or suspension.
(53)
Seal. To make, have and use, and from time to time,
alter a common Seal.
(54)
Sidewalks. To regulate the use of sidewalks and all
structures in, under or above them; to require the owner or occupant
of premises to keep the sidewalks in front thereof free from snow
or other obstructions; to prescribe hours for cleaning sidewalks.
(56)
Sweepings. To regulate and prevent the throwing of
sweepings, dust, ashes, offal, garbage, paper, handbills, dirty liquids
or other unwholesome materials into any public way or onto any public
or private property in the Town.
(58)
Weights and measures. To inspect and regulate all
weights and measures used within the Town.
The enumeration contained in § C3-1 is not to be construed as limiting the powers of the Town to the several subjects mentioned.
For the purpose of carrying out the powers enumerated in § C3-1 of this Charter, for the preservation of cleanliness, health, peace and good order of the Town, for the protection of the lives and property of the citizens, and to suppress, abate and discontinue or cause to be suppressed, abated or discontinued all nuisances within the corporate and sanitary limits of the Town, the Council may pass all ordinances which shall from time to time be deemed necessary. To ensure the observance of these ordinances, in addition to the usual action of debt or such other civil remedies as may exist in such cases by law for the recovery of the penalties thereto affixed, the Council may affix thereto penalties of a fine not exceeding $500 or imprisonment for not exceeding 90 days or both. The Council may also make provision for municipal infractions as set forth in § C12-5.
All the powers of the Town shall be exercised
in the manner prescribed by this Charter, or, if the manner be not
prescribed, then in such manner as may be prescribed by ordinance.
