[Acts of 2008, ch. 346; amended 3-4-2008]
The inhabitants of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia, within
the boundaries as now established or hereafter established in the
manner provided by law, shall continue to be a body corporate and
politic by name, the City of Fredericksburg, and under that name shall
have perpetual succession; may use a corporate seal; contract and
be contracted with; may sue and be sued; may acquire from any source
real and personal property within or without its boundaries for any
municipal purpose set forth in this charter, and if not set forth
in this charter for any purpose permitted by the laws of the Commonwealth
of Virginia, in fee simple or lesser interest or estate, by purchase,
grant, gift, donation, devise, bequest, lease, or condemnation and
may sell, lease, mortgage, pledge, hold, manage, regulate the use
and management of, control, and dispose of such property as its interests
may require and, except as prohibited by the Constitution of Virginia
or restricted by this charter, the City of Fredericksburg shall have
all municipal powers, functions, rights, privileges, and immunities
of every name and nature whatsoever.
The City of Fredericksburg may lease as lessee all or a portion
of the lands, buildings, and improvements utilized for courthouses,
including suitable space and facilities to accommodate the various
courts and officials thereof, clerk's office and record room, and
appurtenant facilities such as parking facilities.
The city shall have the power to furnish all local public service,
to purchase, hire, construct, maintain, and operate or lease public
utilities and to acquire by condemnation or otherwise, within or without
the city limits, land and property necessary for such purpose. The
city shall have full and complete powers to operate any public utility
it now owns or may hereafter acquire, so as to enjoy for its citizens
fully and completely, all benefits to be derived therefrom.
The powers of eminent domain set forth in Tit. 33.1, Tit. 15.1
[15.2], and Ch. 1.1 (§ 25-46.1 et seq.) of Tit. 25 of the
Code of Virginia and all acts amendatory thereof and supplemental
thereto, mutatis mutandis, are hereby conferred upon the City of Fredericksburg. Certificates issued pursuant to such sections may be issued
by the City Council, signed by the city manager and countersigned
by the city treasurer. Such certificates shall have the same effect
as certificates issued by the Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner
pursuant to his authority and may be issued in any case in which the
city proposes to acquire property of any kind by the exercise of its
power of eminent domain for any lawful purpose.
The enumeration of particular powers by this charter shall not
be held or deemed to be exclusive but, in addition to the powers enumerated
herein, implied hereby or appropriate to the exercise hereof, it is
intended that the City of Fredericksburg shall have, and may exercise,
all powers which, under the Constitution of Virginia, it would be
competent for this charter specifically to enumerate. All powers of
the city, whether express or implied, shall be exercised in the manner
prescribed by this charter, or if not prescribed herein, then in the
manner provided by ordinances of the Council.
The city shall have and may exercise all the powers granted
to cities and set forth in Tit. 15.1 [15.2] of the Code of Virginia,
specifically including but not limited to §§ 15.1-837
[15.2-1100] through 15.1-907 [15.2-1126], as in force on the effective
date of this charter and as hereafter amended. In addition thereto,
the city shall have and may exercise all other powers which it now
has or may hereafter be conferred upon or delegated to cities under
the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth and all other powers
pertinent to the conduct of the city government, the exercise of which
is not expressly prohibited by the Constitution and the laws of the
Commonwealth and which in the opinion of the Council are necessary
or desirable to promote the general welfare of the city and the safety,
health, peace, order, comfort, convenience, morals, trade, commerce,
and industry of the city or its inhabitants. No enumeration of particular
powers in this charter shall be held exclusive or a limitation upon
any general grant of power, but shall be construed and held to be
in addition to any general grant of powers.
The boundaries of the City of Fredericksburg shall be as defined
in Chapter 481 of the Acts of Assembly of 1942, and as defined in
Chapter 624 of the Acts of Assembly of 1952, and as enlarged by court
orders or decrees recorded in Book 182, page 537 and following in
the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the City of Fredericksburg.