The City of Mexia made a body politic and corporate by the adoption of this Charter, shall have perpetual succession, may use a common seal, may sue and be sued, may contract and be contracted with, implead and be impleaded in all courts and places and in all matters whatsoever; may take, hold and purchase land, within or without the city limits, as may be needed for the corporate purposes of said city, and may sell any real estates or personal property owned by it; perform and render all public services and when deemed expedient may condemn property for corporate use, and may hold and manage and control the same, and shall be subject to all the duties and obligations now pertaining 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 Mexia 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 general laws or constitution of the State of Texas.
The style of all ordinances of the City of Mexia shall be: “BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF MEXIA:” but the same may be omitted when published in book or pamphlet form purporting to be published by the City of Mexia.
All real estate owned in fee simple title, or held by lease, sufferance, easement, or otherwise; all public buildings, fire stations, parks, streets, alleys, and all property whether real or personal, whatever kind, character or description now owned or controlled by the City of Mexia, shall vest in, inure to, remain and be the property of the City of Mexia.
The City of Mexia shall have the power and authority to acquire by purchase, gift, devise, deed, condemnation or otherwise, any character of property, including any charitable or trust funds.
It is hereby provided that no public property, or any other character of property owned or held by the City of Mexia, shall be subject to any execution of any kind or nature, and no fund of said City of Mexia, shall be subject to garnishment and said city shall never be required to answer in any garnishment proceedings.
Said City of Mexia is hereby exempt from liability on account of any claims for damage to any person or property, unless such liability shall hereafter be provided for by ordinances prescribing regulations with respect thereto.
Said city shall have the right of eminent domain and the power to appropriate private property for public purposes whenever the governing authority shall deem it necessary; and to take any private property, within or without the city limits, for any of the following purposes, to-wit: City halls, police stations, calaboose, fire stations and fire alarm houses, reformatories, abattoirs, streets, alleys, parks, highways, playgrounds, sewer systems, storm sewer, sewerage disposal plants, filtering beds and emptying grounds for sewer systems, drainage, water supply source, wells, water and electric light and power system, street car systems, telephone and telegraph systems, gas plants or gas systems, cemeteries, crematories, prison farms, pest houses, and to acquire lands, within or without the city, for any other municipal purpose that may be deemed advisable. That the power herein granted for the purpose of acquiring private property shall include the power of improvement and enlargement of water works, including water supply, riparian rights, stand pipes, watersheds, and the construction of supply reservoirs. That in all cases wherein the city exercises the power of eminent domain it shall be controlled, as nearly as practicable, by the laws governing the condemnation of property by railroad corporations in this state; the city taking the position of the railroad corporation in any such case.
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 or power plant or plants, telephone systems, street railways, sewer systems, sewerage 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. That 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 any such business, for the purpose of operating such public utility or utilities and for the purpose of distributing such service throughout the city, or any portion thereof.
That 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 shall 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 pledged; provided, however, that the governing authority of the City of Mexia, as hereinafter created, by this Charter, shall not have the power to issue warrants or other evidence of indebtedness of the city for such purpose unless same is first submitted to a vote of the people as provided herein, except in cases of strictest emergency, arising from epidemics, storms, fires or similar calamities.
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 authority.
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 any 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 utility, so acquired, shall be exclusive.
Said City of Mexia shall have the right and power to determine, fix and regulate the charges, fares and rates of any person, firm or corporation, exercising or that may hereafter exercise, any right of franchise or public privilege in said City of Mexia, and to prescribe the kind of services to be furnished, the equipment to be used, the manner in which said services shall be rendered, and to change such regulations, from time to time; and to promulgate, establish and enforce such rules and regulations as may be necessary in order to ascertain all the facts necessary for 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 witnesses for such purpose, providing that in adopting such regulations and in fixing or changing such compensation no stock or bond authorized or issued by any person, firm or corporation exercising such franchise or privilege shall be considered, unless proof be made that the same has been actually issued by such person, firm or corporation for money or its equivalent, paid and used for the development of the property under investigation; to prescribe and enforce such regulations as may be necessary and adequate for collecting from all public utilities in the city, their fair and just proportion of expense of grading, paving, constructing, repairing, maintaining and lighting such portion of streets, alleys, bridges, culverts, viaducts and other public places of the city as may be occupied or used in whole or in part by such utilities, or to compel such public utilities to perform, at its own expense, their just share of such grading, paving, construction, repairing, maintaining and lighting; to promulgate and enforce every other regulation and requirement which may be reasonably necessary or expedient for the protection or enforcement of the interest of the public, in public utilities, operated either in whole or in part in the city, or for securing adequate services from them, or for the exercise by the city of its control over its public traffic, streets, alleys and other public places. To enforce by reasonable and appropriate penalties all requirements and rules lawfully enacted, for the regulation of public utilities, or for carrying into effect and enforcing any other powers over public utilities herein granted to the city, and to require any person, firm or corporation exercising, or that may hereafter exercise any right of franchise or public privilege, in said city, that operates, or that may hereafter operate a public utility, to make and furnish extension of their services to such territory as may be required by the governing authority of the city, by ordinance or resolution.