a. 
The Commission 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. The Commission shall have, in addition, the power to pass ordinances not contrary to the Constitution and laws 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) 
Amusements. To provide in the interest of the public welfare for licensing, regulating, or restraining, theatrical or other public amusements.
3) 
Appropriations. To appropriate municipal monies for any purpose within the powers of the Commission.
4) 
Billboards. To license, 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 any other place within the Town.
5) 
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 to appoint a building 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.
6) 
Codification. To provide for the codification of all ordinances which have been or may hereafter be passed.
7) 
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.
8) 
Dangerous Conditions. 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.
9) 
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 which may endanger persons or property.
10) 
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; to appropriate municipal monies for any purpose within the powers of the Commission, to borrow money in accordance with the provisions of this Charter.
11) 
Fire. To contribute funds to volunteer fire companies serving the Town; to inspect buildings for the purpose of reducing fire hazards; to forbid and prohibit use of fire-hazardous buildings and structures; to regulate or prevent the use of bonfires, explosives, or any other similar matters which may endanger persons or property; to take all other measures necessary to control and prevent fire in the Town.
12) 
Franchises. To grant and regulate franchises to water companies, electric light companies, gas companies, transit companies, taxicab companies, and any others which may be deemed advantageous and beneficial to the Town, subject, however, to the limitations and provisions of Articles 23 and 78 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 edition, as amended).[1] No franchise shall be granted for a longer period than fifty (50) years.
[1]
Editor's Note: Articles 23 and 78 of the Annotated Code of Maryland have been repealed. See now the Public Utilities Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland.
13) 
Grants-in-Aid. To accept gifts and grants of federal or state funds, and to expend the same for any lawful public purpose, agreeably to the conditions under which the grants or gifts were made.
14) 
Hawkers. To license, 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 cause.
15) 
Health. To protect and preserve the health of the Town and its inhabitants; to regulate, inspect, and abate any buildings, structures, or places which cause or may cause any unsanitary conditions or conditions detrimental to health. To compel the occupant of any premises, building or outhouse situated in the Town, when the same 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 such property. Provided, however, that the exercise of these powers shall not 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.
16) 
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 monies.
17) 
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.
18) 
Liens. To provide that any valid charges, taxes or assessments made against any real property within the Town shall be liens upon such property, to be collected as municipal taxes are collected.
19) 
Livestock. To regulate and prohibit the running at large of cattle, horses, swine, fowl, sheep, goats, and other animals; to authorize the impounding, keeping, sale, and redemption of such animals when found in violation of any such ordinance in effect concerning this matter.
20) 
Noise. To regulate or prohibit unreasonable ringing of bells, crying of goods, or sounding of whistles and horns.
21) 
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, to prohibit, to control 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.
22) 
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.
23) 
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.
24) 
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.
25) 
Planning and Zoning. To exercise the power as to planning and zoning, conferred upon municipal corporations generally in Article 66B of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 edition, as amended) subject however to the limitations and provisions of said article.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: Article 66B of the Annotated Code of Maryland was repealed by Acts 2012, c. 426. See now the Land Use Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland.
26) 
Police Force. To establish, operate, and maintain a police force.
27) 
Police Powers. To prohibit, punish, and suppress vagrancy, vice, gambling and the owning or keeping of houses of ill fame within the limits of the Town. 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 one-half mile, or for so much of this distance as does not conflict with the powers of another municipal corporation.
28) 
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 lease twenty days' public notice of the proposed conveyance; to control, protect and maintain public buildings, grounds and property of the Town.
29) 
Regulations. To adopt by ordinance and enforce within the corporate limits, police, traffic, speed, parking, and other similar regulations not in conflict with the laws of the State of Maryland or with this Charter.
30) 
Sidewalks. To construct, maintain, and improve sidewalks and regulate the use of sidewalks and all structures in, under or above the same; 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 clearing and cleaning sidewalks.
31) 
Streets. To construct, maintain and improve the streets and to control the public ways of the Town; to erect and maintain bridges; to provide for the lighting of the Town.
32) 
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 sub-title or elsewhere in this Charter, the Commission 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.
The Mayor and Commissioners of Westernport shall have the general and exclusive control and supervision over all of the departments concerned with the Town's affairs, and shall have power to make and enforce such rules and regulations as they may see fit and proper for the organization, management, and operation of all departments of said Town and over whatever agencies may be created for the administration of its affairs. The Mayor may appoint from among the four Commissioners one who shall be known as "Police and Fire Commissioners," and who shall have under special charge the enforcement of all police regulations of said Town and general supervision over the fire department thereof: One Commissioner to be known as "The Commissioner of Streets and Public Property," who shall have under his special charge the supervision of streets, sewers, alleys, public grounds and property of the Town, and be charged with the duty of keeping them in a clean and sanitary condition and with the enforcement of all rules and regulations to these ends, and who shall also have under his special charge the supervision of all public improvements except as may be otherwise provided; one Commissioner to be known as "The Water and Light Commissioner," who shall have under his special charge the construction, maintenance and operation of the water and lighting systems of said Town and shall see to the enforcement of all rules and regulations with respect to said systems; One Commissioner, who shall be known as the "Commissioner of Finance and Revenue," who shall under his special charge the enforcement of all laws for the assessment and collection of taxes of every kind and collection of all revenues belonging to said Town from whatever source the same be derived and who shall examine and keep informed as to the finances of said Town.