(a)
General. The Mayor shall see that the ordinances of the Town are
faithfully executed and shall be the chief executive officer and the
head of the administrative branch of the Town government.
(b)
Appointments. The Mayor with the approval of the Common Council,
shall appoint the head of all offices, departments and agencies of
the Town government as established by this Charter, or by Ordinance.
All office, department and agency heads shall serve at the pleasure
of the Mayor. The Police Chief shall serve at the pleasure of the
Mayor and Common Council. All subordinate officers and employees of
the offices, departments, and agencies of the town government shall
be appointed and removed by the Mayor in accordance with the rules
and regulations which may be adopted by the Common Council. Each officer,
holding appointment on the effective date of this Charter, shall continue
to hold office for such term as the Mayor and Common Council shall
designate or until a successor is duly appointed.
(c)
Council Meetings. The Mayor shall serve as a non voting presiding
officer at all meetings of the Mayor and Common Council, but may participate
in debate or discussion on any matter on the agenda. In the event
of an evenly divided vote on any matter before the Common Council,
the Mayor may cast the deciding vote thereon.
(d)
Vetoes. The Mayor shall have the power to veto ordinances, resolutions,
rules regulations and orders passed by the Common Council as provided
in Section 311.
(e)
Finances. The Mayor and Common Council shall supervise the financial administration of the Town government in accordance with the provisions of Article VI. The Mayor shall also supervise the administration of the budget as adopted by the Common Council to assure that budget appropriations are not exceeded.
(f)
Other. The Mayor shall have such other powers and perform such other
duties as may be prescribed by this Charter or as required by the
Common Council through Ordinance or otherwise, but not inconsistent
with this Charter.
(a)
General Powers. The Common Council shall have the power to pass all
such ordinances and resolutions not contrary to the constitution,
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 Council 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 subparagraphs
of this subsection.
(i)
Advertising. To provide for advertising for the purposes of
the Town, for printing and publishing statements as to the business
of the Town.
(ii)
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.
(iii)
Amusements. To provide in the interest of public welfare for
licensing, regulating, or restraining theatrical or other public amusements.
(iv)
Appropriations. To appropriate municipal moneys for any purpose
within the powers of the Council.
(v)
Auctioneers. To regulate the sale of all kinds of property at
auction within the Town and to license auctioneers.
(vi)
Band. To establish a municipal band, symphony orchestra or other
musical organization, and to regulate by Ordinance the conduct and
policies thereof.
(vii)
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.
(viii)
Bridges. To erect and maintain bridges.
(ix)
Buildings. To make reasonable regulations in regard to buildings,
walls, fences 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 inspecting 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.
(x)
Cemeteries. To regulate or prohibit the interment of bodies
within the municipality and to regulate cemeteries.
(xi)
Codification of Ordinances. To provide for the codification
of all ordinances.
(xii)
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.
(xiii)
Cooperative Activities. To make agreements with other municipalities,
counties, districts, bureaus, commissions, and governmental authorities
for the joint performance of and for cooperation in the performance
of any governmental functions.
(xiv)
Curfew. To prohibit the youth of the Town from being in the
streets, lanes, alleys, or public places at unreasonable hours of
the night.
(xv)
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.
(xvi)
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.
(xvii)
Elevators. To require the inspection and licensing of elevators
and to prohibit their use when unsafe or dangerous or without a license.
(xviii)
Explosions 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.
(xix)
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.
(xx)
Finances. To levy 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.
(xxi)
Fire. To suppress fires and prevent the dangers thereof and
to establish and maintain a fire department; to contribute fiends
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.
(xxii)
Food. To inspect and to require the condemnation of; if unwholesome,
and to regulate the sale of, any food products.
(xxiii)
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 Article 23 of the
Annotated Code of Maryland. No franchise shall be granted for a longer
period than fifty (50) years.
(xxiv)
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.
(xxv)
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, agreeable to the conditions
under which the gifts or grants were made.
(xxvi)
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 harm or injury
to inhabitants of the Town or to their welfare or happiness.
(xxvii)
Health.
(A)
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 Department of Health,, the County
Department of Health, or any public general or local law relating
to the subject of health.
(B)
To adopt and provide an efficient system of drainage
and suitable measures for the removal of garbage and trash, and to
fix the amount to be paid therefore. Except as otherwise prohibited
by State law, the Town shall have the same power as the State Board
15 of Health, within the corporate limits of the Town.
(xxviii)
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 expenses to constitute a lien upon the property
collectible as tax moneys.
(xxix)
Household Pets. To regulate the keeping of household pets in
the Town, and to provide, wherever the County does not license such
pets, for the licensing and taxing of household pets, and to provide
for the disposition of homeless household pets for which no license
had issued nor fees or taxes paid.
(xxx)
Jail. To establish and regulate a station house or lockup for
temporary confinement of violators or the law and ordinances of the
Town or to use the County jail for such purposes.
(xxxi)
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.
(xxxii)
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.
(xxxiii)
Lights. To provide for the lighting of the
Town.
(xxxiv)
Livestock. To regulate and/or prohibit the
keeping or running at large of cattle, horses, swine, fowl, pigeons,
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.
(xxxv)
Markets. To obtain by lease or rent, own, construct, purchase,
operate and maintain public markets within the Town.
(xxxvi)
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.
(xxxvii)
Noise. To regulate or prohibit unreasonable
ringing of bells, crying of goods, sounding of whistles and horns,
or amplification of music and other sounds.
(xxxviii)
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
or renderies. This listing is by way of enumeration, not limitation.
(xxxix)
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.
(xl)
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.
(xli)
Parking Meters. To install parking meters on the streets and
public spaces 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.
(xlii)
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.
(xliii)
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.
(xliv)
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
disorder, disturbances, annoyances, disorderly conduct, obscenity
public profanity and drunkenness.
(xlv)
Property. To acquire by conveyance, purchase, gift or condemnation
real or leasehold property needed 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 public use, after twenty (20) days public notice
of the proposed conveyance; to control, protect, and maintain buildings,
grounds, and property of the Town.
(xlvi)
Regulations. To adopt by Ordinance and enforce within the corporate
limits police, health, sanitary, fire, building, plumbing, traffic,
speed, parking, conveyance storage, and other similar regulations
not in conflict with the laws of the State of Maryland or with this
Charter.
(xlvii)
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.
(xlviii)
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.
(xlix)
Taxicabs. To license, tax and regulate public hackmen, taxicabmen,
draymen, cabmen, porters and expressmen, and all other persons pursuing
like occupations.
(l)
Vehicles. To regulate and license wagons and other vehicles
not subject to the licensing powers of the State of Maryland.
(li)
Voting Machines. To purchase, lease, borrow, install and maintain
voting machines for use in Town elections.
(lii)
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.
(liii)
Town Newsletter. To publish and distribute a Town newsletter
to provide information to the residents of the Town relating to governmental
activities of the Town, to provide official notices as required by
Charter or Ordinance, provided, however, that publication of such
notices in the Town newsletter shall not be considered a substitute
for any requirement for advertisement, in a newspaper of general circulation
in the Town or the posting of notice in a public place.
[Amended 7-1-2019 by Res. No. 19-CR-01]
(liv)
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.
