The city council shall have the management and control of the finances and property, real, personal and mixed, belonging to the city; provided that no suit of any nature, with the exception of suits for personal injuries or wrongful death which are administered by other provisions of this code, shall be instituted or maintained against the city unless the plaintiff therein shall aver and prove that, prior to the filing of his original petition, he applied to the city council for redress, satisfaction, compensation or relief, as the case may be, and that the same was by the city council refused.
(1997 Code, art. 1.500)