The City of Lubbock, made a body politic and corporate by the legal adoption of this Charter, shall have perpetual succession, may use a common seal, may sue and be sued, may contract and be contracted with, plead and be impleaded in all courts and places and in all matters whatever; may take, hold and purchase lands and any character of lands, within or without the city limits as may be needed for the corporate purposes of said city and may sell any real estate or personal property owned by it; perform and render all public services and when deemed expedient, may condemn property for corporate use, and hold, manage and control the same, and shall be subject to all the duties and obligations now pertaining to or incumbent upon said city as a corporation, not in conflict with the provisions of this Charter, and shall enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers, privileges and franchises now possessed by said City and herein conferred and granted.
The City of Lubbock shall have the power to enact and enforce all ordinances necessary to protect health, life and property, and to prevent and summarily abate and remove all nuisances and to preserve and enforce the good government, order and security of the city and its inhabitants, and to enact and enforce ordinances on any and all subjects; provided, that no ordinance shall be enacted inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter, or the Constitution of the State of Texas.
The style of all ordinances of the City of Lubbock shall be “Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Lubbock”; but the same may be omitted when published in books or pamphlet form under authority or by direction of the governing authority of the City of Lubbock.
(Amended 4/1/1930)
All real estate owned in fee simple title, or held by lease, sufferance, easement, or otherwise, and all public buildings, fire stations, parks, streets, avenues and alleys, and all property, whether real or personal of whatever kind, character or description now owned or controlled by the City of Lubbock, shall vest in, inure to, remain and be the property of said City of Lubbock.
The City of Lubbock shall have the power and authority to acquire and hold, by purchase, gift, devise, deed, condemnation or otherwise, any character of property, including any charitable or trust fund.
No public property or any other character of property owned or held by said city, shall be subject to any execution of any kind or nature.
No funds of the City shall be subject to garnishment, and the City shall never be required to answer in any garnishment proceedings.
The City shall not be liable on account of any claim for specific performance, breach of contract or damages to the person or to any property, or for any character of tort, unless the person asserting such claim shall give the City written notice of such claim and of the facts upon which it is based within six (6) months from the time it is claimed such cause of action arose, and no such suit shall be instituted or maintained on any such claim until the expiration of ninety (90) days from the time such notice shall have been given.
Case law annotations–Minor was excused from the notice requirement in section 8, above. Lubbock v. Onley, 498 S.W. 2d 429 (1973). Section 8 does not apply to damages for breach of contract. Geo. L. Simpson & Co. v. Lubbock, 17 S.W. 2d 163 (1928).
(Amended 4/1/1930; 5/7/1988)
Said City shall have the right of eminent domain and the power to appropriate private property for public purposes whenever the governing body deems it necessary; and to take any private property, within or without the city limits for any of the following purposes to wit: City halls, fire stations, police stations, jails, calaboose, fire alarm systems, libraries, hospitals, sanitariums, auditoriums, market houses, reformatories, abattoirs, streets, alleys, parks, highways, boulevards, speedways, playgrounds, sewer systems, storm sewers, sewage disposal plants, filtering beds and emptying grounds for sewage systems, drainage[,] water supply systems, wells, water and electrical light power systems, streetcar systems, telephone and telegraph systems, gas plants, gas systems, cemeteries, crematories, prison farms, rest houses, and to acquire lands within or without the city for any other municipal purpose that may be deemed advisable. The power herein granted for the purpose of acquiring private property shall include the right of improvement and enlargement of waterworks, including water supply, riparian rights, standpipes, watersheds and the construction of supply reservoirs, parks and squares, and for the purpose of straightening, widening or extension of any street, alley, avenue or boulevard. In all cases wherein the City exercises its powers of eminent domain, it shall be controlled by the laws applicable to Home Rule Cities. The power of eminent domain hereby conferred shall include the right of the governing authority, when so expressed, to take the fee in the land so condemned, and such power and authority shall include the right to condemn public property for such purposes.
(Amended 1/24/1967)
Said City shall have the power to buy, own or construct, and to maintain and operate within or without the city limits, complete water system or systems, gas or electric lighting power plant or power plants, telephone or telegraph systems, street railways, sewer systems, sewage plants, fertilizing plants, abattoirs, municipal railway terminals, or any other public service utility, and to demand and receive compensation for services furnished by the City for private purposes or otherwise, and to have the power to regulate, by ordinance, the collection of compensation for such services. Said City shall have the power to acquire by lease, purchase or condemnation, the property of any person, firm or corporation now or hereafter conducting such business, for the purpose of operating such public utility or utilities and for the purpose of distributing such service within or without the City, or any portion thereof.
Should the City determine to acquire any public utility by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, as herein provided, said City shall have the power to obtain funds for the purpose of acquiring said public utility and paying the compensation therefor, by issuing bonds or notes, or other evidence of indebtedness, and may secure the same by fixing a lien upon the property constituting the public utility so acquired, and said security shall apply alone to said property so acquired.
Said City shall have the authority to manufacture its own electricity, gas or anything else that may be needed or used by it or the public; to make contracts with any person, firm or corporation for the purchase of gas, water, electricity or any other commodity or articles used by it or the public, and to sell same to the public as may be determined by the governing authorities.
In the event said City shall acquire by purchase, gift, devise, deed, condemnation or otherwise, any waterworks system, electric light or power system, gas system, street railway system, telephone system or other public service utility to operate and maintain for the purpose of serving the inhabitants of said City, the right to operate and maintain such public service utility, so acquired, shall be exclusive.
Said City shall have the power to determine, fix and regulate the charges, fares and rates of any person, firm or corporation now exercising, or that may hereafter exercise, any right of franchise or public privilege in said City, and to prescribe the kind of service to be furnished and the equipment to be used, and the manner in which service shall be rendered, and to change such regulations from time to time. In order to ascertain all of the facts necessary for a proper understanding of what is or should be a reasonable rate or regulation, the governing authority shall have full power to inspect the books and other records of such person, firm or corporation and compel the attendance of witness[es] for such purpose; provided, that in adopting such regulations, and in fixing or changing such compensation, no stock or bonds authorized or issued by any person, firm or corporation exercising such franchise or privilege, shall be considered unless proof be made that the same have been actually issued by such person, firm or corporation for money or its equivalent, paid and used for the purchase [and] development of the property under investigation.
Editor’s note–The Charter Comparative Table, which was initially prepared with the publication of the 1983 Code of Ordinances, indicated section 14 was amended at an election held on December 10, 1925.
(a) 
The City of Lubbock shall have exclusive dominion, control and jurisdiction in, over and under the public streets, avenues, alleys, highways and boulevards and public places and grounds of said City, and shall have power to provide for the improvements of any public streets, avenues, alleys, highways, boulevards, public places and grounds by paving, widening, raising, grading, filling, re-paving or re-surfacing, or otherwise improving same, and by the construction of sewers and drains and curbs, gutters and sidewalks, and by and all other matters incidental to any of such improvements. The word “Highway,” as used herein shall include all streets, alleys, avenues, boulevards, squares, public places and grounds in said City. The Governing Body of the City shall have the right and power to assess against property abutting upon highways or sections thereof improved, and against the owners thereof, the whole costs of constructing curbs and sidewalks, and 90% of the remaining costs of any such improvements, subject to the terms hereof, the Governing Body of the City shall have the power to apportion the cost payable by the respective parcels of abutting property and owners thereof, and to fix a lien against such abutting property therefor, which lien shall be superior to all other claims, liens, or interests, except city, county and state taxes and to fix a charge and personal liability against the owners of such property.
Terms of payment. The portion of cost assessed against abutting property and owners thereof may be payable in installments, and the Governing Body of the City shall have power to fix time and terms of payment, and to provide that such assessments shall bear interest at any rate permitted by the laws of the State of Texas, and to provide that such assessments shall include reasonable attorney’s fees and cost of collection, if incurred, and to provide that default in the payment of any installment shall, at the option of the owner of any assessment or certificate issued in evidence thereof[,] mature the entire assessments upon which default is made. The Governing Body shall have full authority to issue assignable certificates in evidence of any and all such assessments.
Case law annotation–City may collect fees for parking vehicles on streets. Ex parte Harrison, 122 S.W. 2d 314 (Ct. Crim. App. 1938).
(b) 
Assessment lien.
The Governing Body of the City shall have power to assess and shall assess against the owners of street railways, steam railways and other railways occupying or crossing any highway or portion thereof improved, the entire cost of making such improvements in the area between and under the rails, tracks, switches, double-tracks or turnouts of any such railways and for two feet on each side thereof, which sums when assessed shall be paid by the owners of such railways and shall be a lien upon the roadbed, rails, ties, tracks, franchises, and other property, real, personal or mixed, used in the operation of such railways, and which lien shall be superior to all other liens, claims or interests except city, state and county taxes and the Governing Body shall have full power to make and levy any and all such assessments and to provide therein for reasonable attorney’s fees and costs of collection if incurred, and to prescribe the time and terms of payment, and for interest not to exceed the rate of 8% per annum upon any deferred payments, and for accelerated maturity at the option of the holder of any such assessment or certificate issued in evidence thereof in case default be made in the payment of any installment.
(c) 
Notice and hearing.
No assessment shall be made against any abutting property or owner thereof, or against any railroad or street railway or owner thereof, until after opportunity for hearing to such owners and to all others interested or to be affected before the Governing Body of the City preceded by notice of the time and place of such hearing addressed generally to such owners and others affected, without the necessity of specifically describing the property to be assessed or naming the owners thereof, which notice shall be published in some newspaper published in and of general circulation in the City of Lubbock, Texas, at least three times before the date fixed for such hearing, the first of which publication shall be at least ten days before the date of such hearing, and it shall not be necessary to the validity of such notice that it do more than state generally the time, place and purpose of such hearing, with a general designation of the highways or portion or portions thereof, to be improved, and with reference to which the hearing is to be held.
Additional notice. The Governing Body shall have power to provide for additional notice in its discretion, but said published notice shall be sufficient and binding upon all owners and others interested or to be affected notwithstanding that other and additional notice may be provided for and not given, or if given should be faulty, erroneous or defective for any reason.
Hearing; right to contest. At such hearing the owners of abutting property and of said street railways, steam railways and other railways and all other parties interested or to be affected, shall have the right to contest such assessments either as to the benefits to abutting property or as to the amounts of assessments, or as to any error herein [therein], or any error or invalidity in any proceeding with reference thereto or with reference to the appointment [apportionment] of the cost of any improvement, or with reference to the regularity, sufficiency, validity or accuracy of any step or proceeding in connection with such improvements or assessments therefor and shall have the right to produce testimony and summon witnesses in support of any contest, protest or objection made, and the Governing Body shall, at or after such hearing, determine the amounts, if any, to be assessed, and shall make such assessments by ordinance. At such hearing, any errors, invalidities, irregularities, inaccuracies or deficiencies in connection with any proceeding or step may be corrected or supplied.
Assessment; special benefits. No assessment shall be made against any abutting property or the owner thereof in excess of the special benefits to such property in the enhanced value thereof by means of the improvements for which assessments are levied as determined at such hearing. Such assessments when levied may be enforced either by suit in any Court having jurisdiction brought by the City for the benefits of the owner and holder of any such assessments or of certificate issued in evidence thereof, or brought by such owner and holder, or by the sale of the property assessed in the same manner, as near as possible, as is provided for the sale of real estate for municipal ad valorem taxes. The lien of all such assessments when levied, as well as any re-assessments which may be made, shall relate back and take effect as of the date of the ordinance, resolution or other proceeding ordering the improvement for which such assessment or re-assessment is levied.
(d) 
Personal liability of owners.
Nothing herein contained shall empower the city to fix an assessment lien against any property exempt by law from the lien or special assessment for street improvements, but the owners of such property shall nevertheless be personally liable for the portion of the cost of such improvements which would be a lien on such property where it is not exempt, and such sums shall be assessed against such owners and not become a personal liability and charge and be enforced, all in the same manner as hereinbefore provided for other assessments. The fact that any improvement is omitted in front of any property so exempt shall not invalidate or impair assessments against other property or the owners thereof.
(e) 
Certificates of assessments.
The Governing Body shall have the power to cause to be issued in the name of the City assignable certificates in writing declaring the liability of abutting property and the owners thereof, and of any steam railway, street railways or other railways, for the payment of assessments levied reciting the time and terms of payment, the rate of interest, and other matters appropriate thereto.
Certificates as evidence. If any such certificate shall recite substantially that all proceedings with reference to the improvement therein referred to an assessment evidenced thereby have been regularly had in compliance with law and charter, and that all prerequisites to the fixing of the assessment lien against the property therein referred to and the personal liability of its owners have been performed, such recitals shall be prima facie evidence of such matters and all other pertinent facts recited, and no further proof thereof shall be required in any court.
(f) 
Apportionment of costs.
Subject to the terms hereof, the Governing Body of the City shall apportion the costs of improvements among the parcels of property abutting the highways, or sections thereof improved, and the owners thereof, in accordance with the Front Rule or Plan, but if in particular cases the application of this rule would in the opinion of the Governing Body, result in injustice or inequality, then such Body shall adopt such rule as shall effect substantial justice and equality having in view the benefits received and burdens imposed, and the proportion of costs to be assessed against the abutting property and owners thereof, shall be all the costs of constructing sidewalks and curbs, and 90% of the remaining costs of such improvement, exclusive of the cost of the improvements in the area between rails, tracks, double tracks, turnouts, and switches and two feet on each side thereof, of any steam railways, street railway or other railway unless it shall appear that the special benefits to such abutting property in the enhanced value thereof by means of such improvements will not aggregate such proportion of costs, in which event the amount to be assessed against such abutting property and owners thereof shall be the amount of such benefits.
(g) 
Validity of assessments.
No error or mistake in the ordinance levying assessments or in any proceeding prerequisite thereto shall invalidate any assessment levied, and no error in describing any parcel of abutting property, or in giving the name of the owner thereof, shall invalidate any such assessment, but same shall have full force and be in effect against the premises and against the real and true owners thereof and the Governing Body may at any time by ordinance make corrections of any error or mistake in the description of any property or in the name of any owner in any preceding ordinance, and the fact that more than one parcel of property may be included in one assessment, or that property assessed may be jointly owned and assessed jointly, shall not effect [affect] or impair the validity of any assessment. No assessment shall be made nor certificate issued which shall cover more than one vacant or unimproved tract and no vacant property shall be included in an assessment or certificate with other property.
Power to correct errors; re-assessment. Whenever, in the opinion of the Governing Body, an error, mistake or invalidity exists in any proceeding with reference to any such improvement or assessment, it may correct the same, and shall have power to make re-assessments against any such property and the owners thereof, and it shall be its duty to do so when requested by anyone entitled to compensation for making such improvements or by the holder of any assignable certificates issued in evidence thereof. Such re-assessment shall be made after notice and hearing in the manner and for the length of time herein provided for original assessment and not in excess of the benefits in enhanced value to the property assessed, and otherwise as near as possible in accordance with the provisions hereof with reference to original assessments, and the Governing Body shall have full power by ordinance to make any and all rules and regulations necessary to carry into effect the provisions hereof relative to assessments and re-assessments.
Certificates after re-assessment. After such re-assessments, the City shall have the power to issue assignable certificates evidencing the same as hereinbefore provided, and the conditions of said certificates and the recitals shall as near as possible, comply with the provisions hereof relating to, and have the same force and effect as certificates in evidence of original assessments.
Limitation on re-assessment. No such re-assessment shall be made unless proceedings therefor are begun within three years from the date of completion of the improvements and acceptance thereof by the City for which original assessments has [have] been or should have been levied, but if the validity of any assessment shall be involved in litigation, then the period of litigation shall not be considered in computing said three years.
(h) 
Assessment ordinance required.
The Governing Body shall have power to take any step or proceeding in connection with or prerequisite to any such improvement or assessment or re-assessment either by order, motion, resolution or ordinance, except that the actual final levy of assessment or re-assessment either by order, motion, resolution or ordinance, except that the actual final levy of assessment or re-assessment shall be by ordinance [sic].
(i) 
Contest by owner.
Any property owner, or railway or street railway, or anyone else interested or affected and against whom or whose property an assessment or re-assessment has been made, shall have the right within the period of time provided by law of the State of Texas to bring suit in any court having jurisdiction, to set aside or correct the same either in whole or in part for or on account of any error, irregularity or invalidity in the amount thereof or in any proceeding with reference thereto, but thereafter such owner and all others in anywise interested or affected shall be barred and stopped from any such action and from in anywise contesting the validity or enforcement of any such assessment or re-assessment in any action in which the same may be brought in question. If such suit be brought, the construction of the improvements may be suspended until the final determination thereof.
(j) 
Governing Body to determine improvements.
The Governing Body shall have the right to determine the nature and extent of the improvements to be made, and the materials, methods, plans and specifications under which the same shall be constructed, and shall have the right to let the work of making same by contract, and shall have the right to specify different or alternative materials, methods or plans.
(k) 
Power not exclusive.
The power hereby granted shall exist as alternative to any powers elsewhere or otherwise derived.
(Amended 12/10/1925; 11/7/1961; 5/7/1988)
Said City shall have the power to provide for the construction and building of sidewalks and curbs and to charge the entire cost of the construction of said sidewalks, including the curbs, against the owner of the abutting property and to make a special charge against the owner for such cost, and to provide, by special assessments, a lien against such property for such cost.
Said City shall have the power to provide for the construction, improvement or repair of any sidewalk or curb by penal ordinance and to declare defective sidewalks or curbs public nuisances.
Said City shall have the power and authority to grant franchises for the use and occupancy of streets, avenues, alleys, and any and all public grounds belonging to or under the control of the City. No telephone, telegraph, electric light or power, street railway, interurban railway, steam railway, gas company, waterworks, water systems, or any other character of public utility shall be granted any franchise or be permitted the use of any street, avenue, alley, highway or grounds of the City without first making application to, and obtaining the consent of the governing authority thereto, expressed by ordinance, and upon paying such compensation as may be prescribed and upon such condition as may be provided for by such ordinance and before such ordinance proposing to make any grant or franchise or privilege to any applicant to use or occupy any street, avenue, alley or any other public grounds, belonging to or under control of the City, shall become effective, publication of said ordinance, as finally proposed to be passed, shall be made in a newspaper published in the City of Lubbock, once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks; which publication shall be made at the expense of the applicant desiring said grant and said proposed ordinance shall not be thereafter changed unless republished as in the first instance, nor shall any such ordinance take effect or become a law or contract or vest any rights in the applicant therefor, until after the expiration of thirty days from the last publication of said ordinance, as aforesaid.
Election may be required. Pending the time such ordinance may become effective, it is hereby made the duty of the governing authority of the City to order an election if requested to do so by written petition, signed by at least ten (10) percent of the legally qualified voters, as determined by the number of votes cast in the last regular municipal election, at which election the qualified voters of said City shall vote for or against the proposed grant, as set forth in detail by the ordinance conferring the right and privilege upon the applicant therefor. Such election shall be ordered not less than thirty (30) days nor more than ninety (90) days from the date of filing said petition, and if at said election the majority of the votes cast shall be for granting such franchise or privilege, said ordinance and the making of said proposed grant shall thereupon become effective, but if a majority of the votes cast at said election shall be against the granting of such franchise or privilege, such ordinance shall be ineffective and the making of such proposed grant be null and void.
Franchise limitations. No franchise shall ever be granted by the Council other than an indeterminate franchise or a franchise for a period of years not exceeding twenty, except in cases where an election is held, as above provided, to determine whether or not a franchise shall be granted, and no franchise granted as the result of any election shall ever be for a period of time exceeding forty years.
(Amended 5/7/1988)
Said City shall have the power to open, extend, straighten, or widen any public street, avenue, or alley and for such purpose to acquire the necessary land, by purchase or condemnation, and to provide that the cost of improving any such street, avenue or alley by opening, extending, straightening or widening the same shall be paid by the owner of property lying in the territory of such improvement and which is specially benefited thereby, and to be provided that the cost shall be charged by special assessment against such owner and made a lien against his said property for the amount due by him, and three (3) Special Commissioners shall be appointed by the County Judge of the County of Lubbock, Texas, for the purpose of condemning said land and apportioning said cost, and said apportionment shall be specially assessed by the governing authority of said City against the owners and their property lying in the territory so found by said Special Commissioners to be specially benefited in enhanced value, and said City may issue assignable certificates for the payment of any such cost against such property owner and his property and may provide for the payment thereof in deferred payments, which deferred payments shall bear interest at any rate permitted by the laws of the State of Texas. Said City shall pay such portion of such cost as may be determined by said Special Commissioners to be due it; provided the cost paid by the City shall never exceed one-third (1/3) of the cost of such improvement.
(Amended 5/7/1988)
Said City shall have the power to control, regulate and remove all obstructions, encroachments and incumbrances on any public street, avenue or alley, and to narrow, alter, widen, straighten, vacate, abandon and close same; to provide for sprinkling and cleaning same, and to regulate and control the moving of buildings and structures of every kind and character upon and along the same.
Said City shall have the exclusive control over all City Parks and municipal playgrounds and the right to control, regulate and remove all obstructions and prevent all encroachments thereupon; and to provide for raising, grading, filling, terracing, landscape gardening, erecting buildings, providing amusements therein, for establishing walks and paving driveways around, in and through said parks, playgrounds and other public grounds.
The City Council shall by Ordinance create and establish a Park and Recreation Board, and may from time to time delegate all or any part of the general control and supervision of the parks within the City of Lubbock, now or hereafter to be acquired, to said Park and Recreation Board, but the exercise of any such delegated authority shall be subject to the final approval of the City Council.
(Amended 6/28/1932; 11/7/1961)
Said City shall have the power to define all nuisances, prohibit the same within the City and outside the City limits for a distance of 5,000 feet, to police all parks, grounds, speedways, streets, avenues and alleys owned by said City within or without the City limits; to prohibit the pollution of all sources of water supply of said City and to provide for the protection of watersheds.
Inspection of foods. To provide for the inspection of dairies, cows and dairy herds, slaughter pens and slaughterhouses and abattoirs, within or without the City limits, from which meat, milk, butter or eggs are furnished to the inhabitants of said City, and to provide for the inspection of meat markets, grocery stores, drugstores, confectioneries, fruit stands, ice cream factories, laundries, bottling plants, hotels, restaurants, creameries and bakeries; the source, storage and distribution of water, and all other places where food or drinks for human consumption are manufactured, handled, sold or exposed for sale, and to regulate and inspect the quality, and sanitary condition of such articles of food and drinks so sold or offered for sale.
Sanitation; garbage; liens for costs. To provide for the inspection and regulation of the sanitary condition of all premises and vacant lots within the City limits; for the removal of garbage, night soil, refuse, weeds, trash, unsightly objects and unsanitary vegetation; to provide for the establishing of a lien against the property for any expenses incurred by the City in enforcing this provision, and further, to provide for the making and enforcing of all proper and reasonable regulations for the health and sanitation of said City and its inhabitants.
Health department; powers. To provide for a health department and the establishment of rules and regulations protecting the health of the City; the establishment of quarantine stations, pest houses and hospitals and to provide for the adoption of necessary quarantine laws to protect the inhabitants against contagious and infectious diseases.
Sanitary sewers; connection by property owners and costs thereof. To provide for the purchase, extension, construction and maintenance of a sanitary sewer system; to require owners of property to connect such property to said sewer, and to provide for charging the cost of such connection to property owners, and the fixing of a lien against the property to cover the cost of such connection. The Council also may, by ordinance, fix penalties for failure to make such connections.
Driving animals on streets. To prohibit or regulate the driving of herds of horses, mules, cattle, hogs, sheep, goats and all herds of domestic animals along or upon the streets, avenues, alleys, parks or public grounds of said City.
Animals running at large. To establish and regulate public pounds and to regulate, restrain and prohibit the running at large of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, swine, goats, geese, chickens, pigeons, ducks and all other domesticated animals and fowls and to authorize the restraining, impounding and sale of the same for the cost of the proceedings and the penalty incurred, and to order their disposal or destruction when they cannot be sold, and to impose penalties upon the owner thereof for the violation of any ordinance regulating or prohibiting the same, and to tax, regulate, restrain and prohibit the running at large of dogs and to authorize their disposal or destruction, and impose penalties on the owners or keepers thereof.
Mistreatment of animals. To prohibit the inhumane treatment of animals and provide punishment therefor.
Regulation of use of streets and sidewalks. To prohibit and restrain the flying of kites, firing firearms, firecrackers, or exploding of explosives, rolling of hoops, and the use of velocipedes, bicycles, and skates, or the use and practice of any amusement on the streets, or sidewalks, to the annoyance of pedestrians or persons using such streets or sidewalks, and to restrain, regulate and prohibit the ringing of bells, or blowing of horns, bugles and whistles, crying of goods, and all other noises, practices and performances tending to the collection of persons in the streets or tending, unnecessarily, to interfere with the peace and quietude of the inhabitants of said City; and to suppress and regulate all unnecessary noises.
License of occupations; prohibition of signs. To license any lawful business, occupation or calling susceptible to the control of the police power, and to license and regulate, control or prohibit the erections of awnings, signs or billboards on either public or private property within the City limits.
Peddlers; regulation; license. To license, tax and regulate hawkers, peddlers and pawnbrokers.
Regulation of vehicles for hire. To license, tax and regulate the operation of all vehicles operated within the City limits for the carriage of passengers or freight for hire on the public streets of said City, and to regulate and prescribe the charges of fares made by any person, firm or corporation, owning, operating or controlling any such vehicle.
Regulation of operation of trains, streetcars, etc. To regulate the operation of railway trains, streetcars and jitney cars operated on, along, or across the streets, avenues or alleys of said City; to license and control the operation of automobiles, motorcycles, taxicabs, buses, cabs and carriages and all character of vehicles using the public streets, and to prescribe the qualifications of drivers thereof, and to regulate the use and occupancy of the streets by any such vehicles.
Plumbing regulation. To provide for the regulation and control of plumbers and plumbing works and to secure efficiency in the same.
Weights, measures; standards. To provide for the inspection of weights, measures and meters and fix a standard of such weights, measures and meters and require conformity to such standards, and to provide penalties for failure to use or conform to the same, and to provide for inspection fees.
Buildings; electricity; sewer; gas; plumbing. To provide for the issuance of permits for the erection of all buildings; for the inspection of the construction of all buildings in respect to proper wiring for electric lights and other electric appliances as well as piping for gas, flues, chimneys, plumbing and sewer connections, and to make and enforce proper regulations in regard thereto.
Keeping of statistics. To provide for the gathering within the City, the filing, the recording and keeping of any character of public statistics; to prescribe the forms of blank reports and books that shall be used in connection therewith; to determine who shall make and file any such report, and to provide a penalty for failure to do so.
Buildings; fire limits; condemnation of, etc. To provide for the establishment and designation of fire limits; to prescribe the kind and character of structures to be erected therein; to provide for the erection of fireproof buildings within said limits and for the condemnation of dangerous or dilapidated structures which are calculated to increase the fire hazard, and to prohibit the repair of wooden or ironclad buildings in the fire limits which have been damaged by fire to within fifty percent of the sound value thereof and may prescribe the manner of ascertaining such damages and direct the removal and abatement thereof.
Fire escapes; exits; buildings. To require the construction and determine the sufficiency and regulate the safety of all exists [exits] and fire escapes on and in all public buildings, office buildings, hotels, apartment houses, rooming houses, hospitals, theatres and store buildings within said City, and to enact and enforce all ordinances and resolutions necessary to regulate the safety thereof.
Public amusements; sale of liquor. To provide for the establishment of districts and limits within said City, wherein saloons for the sale of spirituous, vinous and malt liquors may be located and maintained, and to prohibit the sale of such liquors, or the location of such saloons within such defined districts or limits, to regulate the location and control the conduct of theatres, moving picture shows, vaudeville shows, dance halls, ten-pin alleys, pool halls, and all other public amusements.
Vagrants; drugs, etc. To restrain and punish vagrants, mendicants, beggars and prostitutes, and to regulate, control or prohibit the sale, gift, barter or exchange, of cocaine, opium, morphine and the salts thereof.
Disorderly houses; vagrancy. To prohibit and punish keepers and inmates of bawdy, assignation and disorderly houses, and to prevent and suppress such bawdy, assignation and disorderly houses, and to punish such keepers, inmates and owners, or agents of such owners of such houses knowingly permitting such houses to be occupied as such bawdy, assignation or disorderly houses, and to determine such inmates and keepers to be vagrants.
Police department. To establish and maintain the City Police Department, prescribe the qualifications and duties of policemen and regulate their conduct.
Fire department. To provide for the establishment of and maintaining the Fire Department of the City.
Public utility extensions. To require waterworks corporations, gas companies, streetcar companies, telephone and telegraph companies, or other companies, or individuals exercising franchises now or hereafter from the City, to make and furnish extension of their service to such territory as may be required by ordinance.
Plats of streets occupied by public utilities. To require that the holder of any right or franchise, heretofore or hereafter granted, by this City for the use or occupancy of any of its streets, avenues, alleys or public grounds, shall, at their own expense, make and furnish to said City correct and complete maps or plats, showing the location, extent and such other general information as may be desired of all their respective improvements and uses of whatsoever nature or character located on the streets, avenues, alleys or public grounds of said City.
Penal ordinances; penalty. To provide for the enforcement of all ordinances enacted by it, by a fine not to exceed the maximum fine permitted by applicable State law, provided that no ordinance shall prescribe a greater or less penalty than is indicated for a like offense by the laws of the State.
Punishment; remission; collection of fines. To provide for the suspension and remission of punishment and the commutation of fines imposed by labor in a workhouse or on the public streets and grounds of the City, and for the collection of any fine imposed execution may be enforced as execution in civil cases, provided that the punishment imposed for a violation of any offense denounced by the State law or which the municipal court of record has jurisdiction may not be suspended or remitted, unless provision therefor is made by the general laws of the State.
(Amended 11/7/1961; 5/7/1988)
Sale of Electric Light System and Water System and Plant and also 81 acres of land, to be voted on by people. The City of Lubbock shall not sell the municipal electric light system, or water system and plant, or the 81 acre tract of land purchased by the City from J. A. Wilson out of Survey Eighteen (18), Block A, Lubbock County, Texas, unless such sale is authorized by a two-thirds vote of the qualified tax-paying voters at a general or special election held in accordance with law.
(Amended 4/1/1930)
The City of Lubbock shall not permanently abandon the land, or buildings used and known as the Lubbock Municipal Auditorium-Coliseum, unless such abandonment is authorized by a majority vote of the qualified tax-paying voters at a general or special election held in accordance with law; provided, however, that no election shall be required prior to the sale or other disposition of fixtures, equipment, furnishings or appurtenant structures which have become obsolete or which are no longer necessary or desirable to the continued operation of such Lubbock Municipal Auditorium-Coliseum.
(Amended 11/7/1961)