A.
General powers. The Commissioners 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 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. The Commission shall have, in addition, the power
to pass ordinances not contrary to the laws and Constitution of this
State, for the specific purposes provided in the remaining subsections
of this section:
(1)
Advertising. To provide for advertising for the purposes of the town,
for printing and publishing statements as to the business of the town.
(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.
(3)
Amusements. To provide in the interest of the public welfare for
licensing, regulating or restraining theatrical or other public amusements.
(4)
Appropriations. To appropriate municipal moneys for any purpose within
the powers of the Commission.
(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 town, 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. To make reasonable regulations in regard to buildings
and signs to be erected, constructed or reconstructed in the town
and to grant building permits for them; 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 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 be taken down.
(10)
Cemeteries. To regulate or prohibit the interment of bodies
within the municipality and to regulate cemeteries.
(11)
Codification of ordinances. To provide for the codification
of all ordinances.
(12)
Community services. To provide, maintain and operate community
and social services for the preservation and promotion of the health,
recreation, welfare and enlightenment of the inhabitants of the town.
(13)
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.
(14)
Curfew. To prohibit the youth of the town from being in the
streets, lanes, alleys or public places at unreasonable hours of the
night.
(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.
(17)
Dogs. To regulate the keeping of dogs in the town and to provide,
wherever the county does not license or tax dogs, for the licensing
and taxing of them; to provide for the disposition of homeless dogs
and of dogs on which no license fee or taxes are paid.
(18)
Elevators. To require the inspection and licensing of elevators
and escalators and to prohibit their use when unsafe or dangerous
or without a license.
(19)
Explosives and combustibles. 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 which may endanger persons or property.
(20)
Fifth. 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.
(21)
Finances. To levy, assess and collect ad valorem property taxes;
to expend municipal funds for any public purpose; to have general
management and control of the finances of the town.
(22)
Fire. To suppress fires and prevent the dangers thereof and
to establish and maintain a Fire Department; to contribute funds to
volunteer fire companies serving the town; 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; to install and maintain fireplugs
where and as necessary and to regulate their use; and to take all
other measures necessary to control and prevent fires in the town.
(23)
Food. To inspect and to require the condemnation of, if unwholesome,
and to regulate the sale of, any food products.
(24)
Franchises. To grant and regulate franchises to 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 Article 23 of the Annotated Code of Maryland. No franchise shall
be granted for a longer period than fifty (50) years.
(25)
Garbage. To prevent the deposit of any unwholesome substance
either on private or public property and to compel its removal to
designated points; to require slops, garbage, ashes and other waste
or other unwholesome materials to be removed to designated points
or to require the occupants of the premises to place them conveniently
for removal.
(26)
Grants-in-aid. To accept gifts and grants of federal or of state
funds from the federal or state governments or any agency thereof
and to expend the funds for any lawful purpose, agreeably to the conditions
under which the gifts or grants were made.
(27)
Hawkers. To license, tax, regulate, suppress and prohibit hawkers
and itinerant dealers, peddlers, pawnbrokers and all other persons
selling any articles on the streets of the town and to revoke such
licenses for any action or threat of action by such a licensee in
the course of his occupation which causes or threatens harm or injury
to inhabitants of the town or to their welfare of happiness.
(28)
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 or places which cause
or may cause unsanitary conditions or conditions detrimental to health;
but 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.
(29)
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.
(30)
Jail. To establish and regulate a station house or lockup for
temporary confinement of violators of the laws and ordinances of the
town or to use the county jail for such purpose.
(31)
Licenses. Subject to any restrictions imposed by the public
general laws of the state, to license and regulate all persons beginning
or conducting transient or permanent business in the town for the
sale of any goods, wares, merchandise or services; to license and
regulate any business, occupation, trade, calling or place of amusement
or business; 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 town shall be liens upon
the property, to be collected 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)
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.
(37)
Noise. To regulate or prohibit unreasonable ringing of bells,
crying of goods or sounding of whistles and horns.
(38)
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 they be herein
specifically named or not; 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 and renderies. This
listing is by way of enumeration, not limitation.
(39)
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.
(40)
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 facilities for off-street parking.
(41)
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 Roads Commission of Maryland must first be approved by
the Commission.
(42)
Parks and recreation. To establish and maintain public parks,
gardens, playgrounds and other recreational facilities and programs
to promote the health, welfare and enjoyment of the inhabitants of
the town.
(43)
Police force. To establish, operate and maintain a police force.
All town policemen, within the municipality, shall have the powers
and authority of constables in this state.
(44)
Police powers. To prohibit, suppress and punish within the town
all vice, gambling and games of chance; prostitution and solicitation
therefor and the keeping of bawdy houses and houses of ill fame; all
tramps and vagrants; all disorder, disturbances, annoyances, disorderly
conduct, obscenity, public profanity and drunkenness.
(45)
Property. To acquire by conveyance, purchase or gift, real or
leasable property for any public purposes; to erect buildings and
structures thereon for the benefit of the town and its inhabitants;
and to convey any real or leasehold property when no longer needed
for the public use, after having given at least twenty (20) days'
public notice of the proposed conveyance; to control, protect and
maintain public buildings, grounds and property of the town.
(46)
Quarantine. To establish quarantine regulations in the interests
of the public health.
(47)
Regulations. To adopt by ordinance 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 or with this Charter.
(48)
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.
(49)
Sweepings. To regulate or prevent the throwing or depositing
of sweepings, dust, ashes, offal, garbage, paper, handbills, dirty
liquids or other unwholesome materials into any public way or on any
public or private property in the town.
(50)
Taxicabs. To license, tax and regulate public hackman, taxicabmen,
draymen, drivers, cabmen, porters and expressman and all other persons
pursuing like occupations.
(51)
Vehicles. To regulate and license wagons and other vehicles
not subject to the licensing powers of the State of Maryland.
(52)
Voting machines. To purchase, lease, borrow, install and maintain
voting machines for use in town elections.
(53)
Zoning. To exercise the powers as to planning and zoning conferred
upon municipal corporations generally in Article 66B of the Annotated
Code of Maryland, subject to the limitations and provisions of said
Article.
(54)
Saving clause. The enumeration of powers in this section 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 granted in this Charter,
the Commissioners may pass all necessary ordinances. 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.
To assure the observance of the ordinances of the town, the
Commission has the power to provide that violation thereof shall be
a misdemeanor and has the power to affix thereto penalties of a fine
not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.) or imprisonment for not
exceeding thirty (30) days, or both such fine and imprisonment. Any
person subject to any fine, forfeiture or penalty by virtue of any
ordinance passed under the authority of this Chapter has the right
of appeal from any conviction in the District Court within thirty
(30) days to the Circuit Court for Wicomico County. The Commission
may provide that, if the violation is of a continuing nature and is
persisted in, a conviction for one (1) violation shall not be a bar
to a conviction for a continuation of the offense subsequent to the
first or any succeeding conviction.
[Amended 8-6-1990]
Every person who is a citizen of the United States and is at
least eighteen (18) years of age who has resided in the State of Maryland
and the Town of Sharptown for thirty (30) days next preceding any
town election and is registered to vote in the State of Maryland is
a qualified voter of the town. Every qualified voter of the town is
entitled to vote in all town elections.
There shall be a Board of Supervisors of Elections, consisting
of three (3) members who shall be nominated by the President and approved
by the Commission to serve for a term of four (4) years beginning
on the first Monday in September in the year they are appointed. Members
of the Board shall be chosen from among those qualified to vote at
town elections and shall not be candidates for Commissioner during
their term of office. The Board shall appoint one (1) of its members
as Chairman. Vacancies shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired
term. The compensation of the members of the Board shall be determined
by the Commission. The Board of Supervisors of Elections shall be
in charge of nominations and all town elections. The Board shall give
notice in some newspaper of general circulation in the municipality
at least thirty (30) days before the last registration day for registration
to vote in any regular state or congressional election that registration
to vote in such election is required in order to be a qualified voter
in the Town of Sharptown.
The Board of Supervisors of Elections shall give at least two
(2) weeks' notice of the last day for filing for Commissioner
and of the date and hours of every election by an advertisement published
in at least one (1) newspaper of general circulation in the town and
by posting a notice thereof in the Town Hall and at least one (1)
other public place within the town.
[Amended 11-5-1990]
Any qualified person desiring to run for Commissioner shall
file a certificate of nomination with the Board of Supervisors of
Elections at least twenty-one (21) days before the date of election,
which certificate shall state that he possesses all the qualifications
for office required by this Charter. After the filing date has passed,
the Board of Supervisors of Elections shall prepare a ballot to be
used in the election, which ballot shall contain the names of all
qualified candidates for Commissioner. Space shall be provided for
write-in candidates. No candidate's name shall be printed on
the ballot unless his certificate of candidacy was properly filed
and his qualifications checked by the Board. The Board of Supervisors
of Elections, upon approval by the Commissioners, may contract with
Wicomico County for use of voting machines.
[Amended 8-6-1990]
Elections shall be held on the first Saturday of December during
any election year. The Board of Supervisors of Elections shall provide
for a suitable place for voting and ballot boxes or voting machines.
The Board of Election Supervisors shall keep the polls open from 2:00
p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on election days or for longer hours if the Commissioners
require it. Within forty-eight (48) hours after the closing of the
polls, the Board of Supervisors of Elections shall determine the vote
cast for each candidate or question and shall certify the results
of the election to the Clerk-Treasurer, who shall record the results
on a page of the journal and in the minutes of the next meeting of
Commissioners. The candidates receiving the highest number of votes
for the number of vacancies to be filled shall be declared elected
as Commissioners.
In case of a vacancy among the Commissioners for any reason,
the remaining Commissioners shall elect some qualified person to fill
the vacancy for the unexpired term. The results of such voting shall
be recorded in the minutes of the Commissioners.
The Commissioners shall have the power to provide by ordinance
in every respect not covered by the provisions of this Charter for
the conduct of nomination and town elections and for the prevention
of fraud in connection therewith, and for a recount of ballots in
case of doubt or fraud. The Commissioners may provide penalties for
the violation of any ordinance and may provide that any town officer
or employee, upon conviction of any violation of an election ordinance,
shall cease to hold such office or employment.