The City Council shall have power and authority to levy and
collect taxes upon all taxable property, real, personal, and mixed,
within the City, not exceeding 1/2% per annum upon the assessed value
thereof, which value shall be ascertained by the Assessor of said
City; to provide, by ordinance, the time for taking such assessment;
when the same shall be returned to the City Clerk; and also provide
for the assessing of property that may have been omitted or overlooked,
or otherwise not returned by said Assessor; also, the time when said
Clerk shall make out and deliver to the Marshal of said City a copy
of said assessment, together with the tax due or assessed, which said
copy shall be sealed with the common seal of said City, with warrant
for the collection of the taxes so assessed, signed by the Mayor and
Clerk of said City. The City Council shall have power to correct or
equalize any erroneous or injudicious assessment. The Marshal shall
be the collector of all taxes assessed as aforesaid; he shall, upon
receiving a copy of such assessment and warrant, as aforesaid make
personal demand of every resident charged with tax, if to be found
within said City, or leave a written notice of the amount of such
tax at his or her place of abode, and shall put up at least one written
notice in each ward of said City, that, if the taxes are not paid
within 20 days thereafter, the same will be collected by sale of property
of delinquents; at the expiration of which 20 days said Marshal may,
and he is hereby authorized, by distress and sale of personal property
of such delinquent or delinquents, as constables on executions, to
collect said tax; or, he may, after the expiration of the said 20
days, if said tax shall remain unpaid, give notice by publication
in one of the newspapers published in said City, for six consecutive
weeks, stating the amount of tax, costs, and printer's fee, and
the number of the lot, or the description of the piece of land or
property on which the same are due, and the owner's name, if
known, and that the said lot, piece of land, or property, will be
sold on the day and at the place to be mentioned in said notice, unless
payment be made of the taxes, costs, and printer's fee on or
before said day of sale; and if such payment should not be made according
to said notice, then said Marshal shall proceed and sell the same
in accordance with said notice, for said amount due, to the bidder
who will take the least quantity of the lot or piece of land, or property,
off from the side which said Marshal shall designate, or the whole,
if no bid for a less quantity; and he shall give to the purchaser
thereof a certificate stating the description of the piece of land,
or the number of the lot, or the portion thereof, or the property
purchased, and price paid therefor, and the day of sale; and, at the
expiration of two years thereafter, if the owner or claimant shall
not redeem the same by paying the amount for which the same was sold,
together with 25% per annum to the purchaser, or to the City Treasurer
for said purchaser's benefit, said purchaser, or his heirs or
assigns, shall be entitled to a deed therefor, and the Mayor of said
City shall, on demand and the presentation of said certificate, make,
execute, and deliver to the holder or owner of such certificate a
deed for said property in the said certificate mentioned, which, when
acknowledged or proven and recorded, as other deeds are acknowledged
and proven, shall be good and valid in law and equity, to pass a valid
title to such lot, piece, ground, or property, and shall be prima
facie evidence, in all courts, that all things have been complied
with; nor shall the same ever be inquired into, until the amount for
which said property or real estate, together with the interest aforesaid,
shall have been tendered to the holder thereof, or deposited in the
City treasury for his or their benefit.
The City Council shall have power to provide by ordinance, from
time to time, for the election of a Clerk, Treasurer, Assessor, Marshal,
and one or more Street Commissioners, by the electors of said town,
by causing one or more polls to be opened in said City for said purpose;
and they may appoint such other officers as they may deem necessary,
or provide for their election by the voters of said City at the same
time and place that the above officers are elected; their tenure of
office shall be one year, and said City Council, before the election
or appointment of any officer aforesaid, shall have power to require
of any, or all of them, bonds, with penalty and security, for the
faithful performance of their respective duties, as may be deemed
expedient, and to take an oath for the faithful performance of the
duties required of them in their respective offices, before entering
upon the discharge of the same; to establish, support, and regulate
common schools; to appropriate money, and provide for the payment
of the debts and expenses of the City; to borrow money on the credit
of the City, to be used for such purposes as they may think conducive
to the welfare thereof. In all cases where the City Council may borrow
money, they shall provide for the payment of the interest thereof
by setting a part a portion of the ordinance revenue and collecting
it for that purpose. The question of borrowing money shall be submitted
and approved by a majority of the tax-payers of said City; provided,
that no debt shall be contracted that the interest per annum, in any
one year, due thereon shall exceed one-half the revenue derived from
tax on the real estate and personal property within said City. To
make regulations to prevent the introduction of contagious diseases
into the City, to make quarantine laws for that purpose, and enforce
the same within five miles of the City; to establish hospitals, and
make regulations for the government of the same; to make regulations
to secure the general health of the inhabitants; to declare what shall
be a nuisance, and to prevent, remove, or abate the same; to tax dogs,
or prevent them going at large; to provide the City with water; to
erect hydrants and pumps in the streets for the convenience of the
inhabitants; to open, alter, abolish, widen, extend, establish, grade,
pave, or otherwise improve and keep in repair streets, avenues, lanes,
and alleys; to establish, erect, and keep in repair bridges; to divide
the City into wards, alter the boundaries thereof, and erect additional
wards as the occasion may require; to provide for lighting the streets
and erecting lamp-posts; to establish, support, and regulate night-watches;
to erect market houses, to establish markets and market places, and
to provide for the government and regulation thereof; to provide for
the erection of all needful buildings for the use of the City; to
provide for the enclosing, improving, and regulating all public grounds
belonging to the City; to improve and preserve the navigation of Mississippi
river within the limits of the City; to erect, repair and regulate
public wharves and docks; to regulate the erection and repair of private
wharves, and the rates of warfage thereat; to license, tax and regulate
auctioneers, transient merchants, retailers, and grocers, taverns,
ordinaries, hawkers, peddlers, brokers, pawnbrokers and money-changers;
to license, tax, and regulate hackney-carriages, wagons, carts, and
drays, and fix the rates to be charged for the carriage of persons,
and for the wagonage, cartage, and drayage of property; to license
and regulate porters, and fix the rates of porterage; to license,
tax, and regulate theatrical and other exhibitions, shows, and amusements;
to tax billiard tables, restrain, prohibit, and suppress tippling
houses, dram shops, gaming houses, bawdy and other disorderly houses;
to provide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires, and to
organize and establish fire companies; to regulate or prohibit the
erection of wooden buildings in any part of the City: to regulate
the fixing of chimneys, and fix the flues thereof: to regulate the
storage of gunpowder, tar, pitch, resin, and other combustible materials;
to regulate and order parapet walls and fences; to establish standard
weights and measures, and to regulate the weights and measures to
be used in the City, in all cases not otherwise provided for by law;
to provide for the inspection and measurement of lumber, and other
building materials, and for the measurement of all kinds of mechanical
works; to provide for the inspection and weighing of hay and stone-coal,
the measuring of charcoal, fire-wood, and other fuel to be sold or
used in the City; to provide for and regulate the inspection of tobacco,
beef, pork, flour, meal, and whiskey in barrels; to regulate the weight,
quality and price of bread to be sold and used in the City; to provide
for taking the enumeration of the inhabitants of the City; to regulate
the election of City officers, and to provide for the removing from
office any person holding an office created by ordinance; to fix the
compensation of all City officers, and regulate the fees of jurors,
witnesses, and others, for services rendered under this act or ordinance;
to prohibit the discharging of firearms, and the racing and immoderate
running or driving of horses, drays, carts, carriages, wagons, or
other vehicles in said City; to regulate the police of the City; to
impose fines forfeitures, and penalties for the breach of any ordinance,
and provide for the recovery and appropriation of such fines and forfeitures,
and the enforcement of such penalties: and the licensing and regulating
retailers of spirituous and vinous liquors in said City. The City
Council shall have power to provide for the punishment of offenders
by imprisonment in the county jail, or workhouse, or City prison,
in all cases where such offenders shall fail or refuse to pay the
fines and forfeitures which may be recovered against he, she, or them.
The City Council shall cause to be published or posted up in each
ward of said City, annually, 20 days before each annual election for
Mayor, a full and complete statement of all moneys received and expended
by the corporation during the preceding year, and on what account
received and expended; showing the entire indebtedness of said City,
and also the amount of road work, from whom received, money paid instead
of work, the disposition of said work and money. The City Council
shall have power to provide by ordinance for filling of temporary
vacancies in any subordinate office, where the same shall occur from
sickness, absence from the City, or inability on the part of any officer,
or sudden death, until the same can be filled as is provided by ordinance,
or another elected.
The City Council shall have power to make all ordinances which
shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the power
specified in this act, so that such ordinances be not repugnant to
or inconsistent with, the constitution of the United States and of
the state of Iowa.
The style of the ordinances of the City shall be: "Be it enacted
by the City Council of the City of Davenport."
All ordinances passed by the City Council shall, within one
month after they shall have been passed, be published in some newspaper
published in said City, or a certified copy thereof, signed by the
Clerk, posted up at one or more public places in each ward of said
City, and shall not take effect until 10 days after publication or
posting up as above provided for. All ordinances, by-laws, rules and
regulations shall be recorded by the Clerk of the City, in a book
to be kept for that purpose, with a certificate to each, that the
same has been published in some newspaper published in said City,
or a copy thereof posted in each ward thereof, and that the same is
a correct copy of the original, as passed by the City Council; and
the said book, or a copy of any by-law, ordinance, rule, or regulation,
with the certificate of the Clerk of the publication aforesaid, certified
by the said Clerk to be a true copy of such by-law, ordinance, rule,
or regulation, shall be sufficient authentication to allow the same
to be read or received in evidence in all actions and suits in any
court in this state; or when said by-laws, ordinances, rules and regulations
shall be published in book or pamphlet form, and purporting to be
printed and published by authority of the corporation, the same shall
be received in evidence in all courts and places, without further
proof.
The Mayor and Clerk shall sign all by-laws and ordinances passed
by said corporation, and the same shall be carefully filed and preserved
by the Clerk. All bills, bonds, notes, drafts or contracts ordered
by said corporation shall be signed by the Mayor and attested by the
Clerk; and all bills, bonds, notes, drafts, or contracts so signed
or attested — and in case of bonds or contracts under
seal, sealed with their common seal - shall be valid and binding on
said corporation in law and equity in every court in Iowa.
Amendment of 1855. — The debts heretofore created,
and bonds issued, by the City of Davenport, amounting to the sum of
$125,000, are hereby declared legal and binding upon the said City,
and the City Council shall have the right to borrow money and issue
bonds, which shall be binding upon the City; provided, that no debt
shall be created, the yearly interest upon which together with the
yearly interest upon any debt before created, shall exceed three-
fourths of the ordinary yearly revenue, unless the contracting of
said debt shall be approved by a majority of the voters of said City
who may vote upon the question, to be submitted by the City Council
in such manner as said City Council may direct.
Amendment of 1855. — Whenever there is a deficiency
in the ordinary revenue of the City after the payment of the ordinary
City expenses, to pay the semi-annual interest on the debt already
created, the City Council shall levy a specific tax upon the assessment
roll of the current year to pay said interest.
(The original charter — Article V., Sec. 2 -
gives to the City Council unrestricted power to "abolish" streets,
alleys, etc. By the amendatory act - Sec. 23 - of January 23, 1857,
it is provided):
Sec. (23) 7. Nothing herein contained, or in the acts to which
this is amendatory, shall authorize the City Council to discontinue
or contract any street, lane, alley, or highway, or any part thereof,
without the consent, in writing of all persons owning land adjoining
said street, lane, alley, or highway.