The City of Odessa shall have all powers possible for a city to have under the Constitution and law of the State of Texas as fully and completely as if they were specifically enumerated in this charter. Such power shall specifically include all powers enumerated in Article 1175, Texas Revised Civil Statutes.
(Char. art. III, sec. 1; Ordinance 69-85, sec. 3, adopted 12/23/69)
The City of Odessa 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 good government and 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; it being the intention to obtain, by the adoption of this Charter, full power of local self government, and the City of Odessa shall have and exercise all the powers of local self government granted to cities having more than five thousand inhabitants by what is known as the Home Rule Amendment to the Constitution of the State of Texas, and to state law.
(Char. art. III, sec. 2; Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted 5/6/97)
The style of all ordinances of the City of Odessa shall be: “Be it Ordained by the City Council of the City of Odessa,” but the same shall be omitted when the ordinances of the city are codified and published in book or pamphlet form by the City of Odessa, or under the authority of its governing body.
(Char. art. III, sec. 3)
All real estate owned in fee simple title, or held by lease, sufferance, easement or otherwise; all public buildings, fire stations, parks, airports, streets, and alleys; and all property, whether real or personal, of whatever kind, character or description now owned or controlled by the City of Odessa shall vest in, inure to, remain and be the property of said City of Odessa under this Charter; and all causes of action, choses in action, rights or privileges of every kind and character and all property of whatsoever character or description which may have been held and is now held, controlled or used by said City of Odessa for public uses or in trust for the public, shall vest in, and remain [and] inure to the City of Odessa under this Charter, and all suits and pending actions to which the City of Odessa heretofore was or now is a party, plaintiff or defendant, shall in no wise be affected or terminated by the adoption of this Charter, but shall continue unabated.
(Char. art. III, sec. 4)
The City of Odessa shall have the power and authority to acquire by purchase, gift, devise, deed, condemnation or otherwise any character of property within or without its municipal boundaries, including any charitable or trust funds.
(Char. art. III, sec. 5)
(a) 
The City of Odessa shall not be liable to any person for damages caused from streets, ways, crossings, bridges, culverts or sidewalks being out of repair because of negligence of said corporation unless the same shall have remained so for ten days after special notice in writing is given to the mayor and city council.
(b) 
The City of Odessa shall not be liable to any person for damages sustained in any park, playground or public building belonging to said city or because of any apparatus, furnishings, fixtures or improvements thereon or thereupon situated being defective or out of repair unless the same shall have remained so for ten days after special notice in writing is given to the mayor and city council.
(c) 
Before the City of Odessa shall be liable for damages for personal injuries of any kind or for injuries to or destruction or damage to property of any kind, the person injured or the owner of the property so injured, damaged or destroyed, or someone in his behalf, shall give the mayor and city council notice in writing of such injury, damage or destruction, duly verified, within sixty days after the same has been sustained, stating in such written notice when, where and how the injury, damage or destruction occurred, the apparent extent thereof, the amount for which the claimant will settle, the street and residence number of the claimant at the time and date claim was presented and the actual residence of such claimant for the six months immediately preceding the occurrence of such injuries, damage or destruction, and the names and addresses of the witnesses upon whom he relies to establish his claim; and a failure to so notify the mayor and city council within the time and manner provided therein shall exonerate, excuse and exempt the city from any liability whatsoever.
(d) 
Civil process may be served on the city secretary or mayor.
(Char. art. III, sec. 8; Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted 5/6/97)
It shall not be necessary in any suit or proceeding, in which the City of Odessa is a party, for any bond, undertaking or other security to be demanded or executed by or on behalf of the city in any of the state courts but all such actions, suits, appeals or proceedings shall be conducted in the same manner as if such bond had been given, and the City of Odessa shall be liable as if the security or bond had been duly executed.
(Char. art. III, sec. 9)
The City of Odessa shall have the right of eminent domain 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, jails, calabooses, fire stations and fire-alarm systems, police-alarm systems, radio stations, libraries, welfare buildings, hospitals, sanitariums, auditoriums, market houses, abattoirs, warehouses, streets, alleys, parks, airports, highways, boulevards, subways, playgrounds, dumping grounds, sewer systems, sewage disposal plants, drains, filtering beds and emptying grounds for sewer systems, reservoirs, water supply sources, wells, water, electric light and power systems, cemeteries and crematories; and to acquire lands, within or without the city for any other municipal purposes that may be deemed advisable. The power herein granted for the purpose of acquiring property shall include the power of improvement and enlargement of waterworks, including water supply, riparian rights, standpipes, water sheds, dams, the construction of supply reservoirs, wells, parks, squares, and pleasure grounds, and for the purpose of straightening or improving the channel of any stream, branch, draw or drain, or the straightening or widening of any street, alley, avenue, boulevard or other public highway. In all cases where the city seeks to exercise 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 cases. The power of eminent domain hereby conferred shall include the right of the governing authority of the city, 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.
(Char. art. III, sec. 10)
The City of Odessa shall have the power to lay out, establish, open, alter, widen, lower, extend, grade, abandon, discontinue, abolish, close, care for, sell, pave, supervise, maintain and improve streets, alleys, sidewalks, squares, parks, public places and bridges and regulate the use thereof, with authority to establish loading and unloading zones, and require the removal from streets, sidewalks, alleys and other public property or places all obstructions, telegraph, telephone or other poles carrying electric wires or signs, and all fruit stands, showcases and encroachments of every nature or character upon any of said streets and sidewalks, and to vacate and close private ways.
(Char. art. III, sec. 11)
The City of Odessa shall have the power to improve any street or highway within its limits by filling, grading, raising, paving or repaving the same in a permanent manner or by the construction or reconstruction of sidewalks, curbs and gutters or by necessary appurtenances thereto, including sewers and drains. In the event there be any conflict between the method of improving streets, etc., as provided for by state law, the conflicting methods of procedure shall be deemed optional methods, and the city council of the City of Odessa may legally pursue either of said methods in making such improvements.
(Char. art. III, sec. 12; Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted 5/6/97)
The city council shall have the power by ordinance or otherwise to license, operate and control the operation of all character of vehicles using public streets, including motorcycles, bicycles, automobiles, trucks, trailers, buses, or like vehicles; and to prescribe the speed for same, the qualifications of the operators of the same, the routing of the same, and the lighting of same by night; and to provide for the giving of bond or other security for the operation of same.
(Char. art. III, sec. 13)
The city council shall have the power by ordinance or otherwise to direct and control, within the city limits, the speed of engines, locomotives and motorcars operating on railroad tracks, the construction of railroad tracks, turnouts and switches, and the regulation of the grade thereof and the use of streets.
(Char. art. III, sec. 14)
The city shall have power to build, construct, purchase, own, lease, maintain and operate within or without the city limits, light and power systems, water systems, sewer systems, or sanitary disposal equipment and appliances, natural gas systems, parks and swimming pools, fertilizer plants, abattoirs and any other public service or utility; power to mortgage and encumber such system or systems in the manner provided in the laws of the State of Texas applicable thereto; and all the powers which the city might exercise in connection with such public utilities and public services under the general laws of the State of Texas pertinent or applicable thereto, including the power to demand and receive compensation for service furnished for private purposes, or otherwise, and with full and complete power and right of eminent domain proper and necessary, efficiently to carry out said objects.
(Char. art. III, sec. 15; Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted 5/6/97)
(a) 
The city council shall have the power by ordinance to determine, fix and regulate the charges, fares or rates of compensation to be charged by any person, firm or corporation enjoying a franchise in the City of Odessa, and shall in determining, fixing and regulating such charges, fares or rates of compensation, base the same upon the fair value of the property of such person, firm or corporation devoted to furnishing service to such city or the inhabitants thereof. The city council may prescribe the character, quality and efficiency of service to be rendered and shall have the power to regulate and require the extension of lines or services of such public utilities within such city by such person, firm or corporation and from time to time may alter or change such rules, regulations and compensation, provided that, in adopting such regulations and in fixing or changing such compensation or determining the reasonableness thereof, no stock or bonds authorized or issued by any corporation enjoying such franchise shall be considered unless on proof that the same have been actually issued by the corporation for money paid and used for the development of the corporate property, labor done or property actually received, in accordance with the laws and Constitution of this state applicable thereto. In order to ascertain all facts necessary for a proper understanding of what is or should be a reasonable rate of regulation, the city council shall have full power to inspect the books of such franchise-holder and compel the attendance of witnesses for such purposes.
(Char. art. III, sec. 16; Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted 5/6/97)
The city shall have the power to purchase electricity, gas, oil, or any other article or service essential to a proper conduct of the affairs of the city and of its inhabitants on such terms as the city council may deem proper, for sale and distribution to the inhabitants of the city and adjacent territory.
(Char. art. III, sec. 17; Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted 5/6/97)
The city council shall have the power by ordinance to grant, renew or amend a franchise to any public utility operating within the City of Odessa to use the streets, alleys and public ways of the city. Any such franchise ordinance shall not be finally adopted at the same meeting at which it is passed on first reading.
(Char. art. III, sec. 18; Ordinance 69-85, sec. 3, adopted 12/23/69)
The city council shall have power to establish, maintain and operate an airport or airports, within or without the city limits, and landing fields, radio beams, beacons and other apparatus, buildings, equipment and appurtenances necessary or convenient therefor, and to make suitable charges for their use.
(Char. art. III, sec. 19)
The City of Odessa shall have exclusive control of all city parks and playgrounds, whether within or without the city limits, and to control, regulate and remove all obstructions and prevent all encroachments thereupon; to provide for raising, grading, filling, terracing, landscaping, gardening, erecting buildings, swimming pools and wading pools, and other structures, providing amusements therein, for establishing walks and paving driveways around, in and through said parks, playgrounds and other public grounds, speedways or boulevards owned by it, and lying both outside and inside the municipal boundaries.
(Char. art. III, sec. 20)
Editor’s note–Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted May 6, 1997, amended the charter by repealing section 25. Former section 25 was derived from Charter art. III, sec. 21.
The city council shall have power by ordinance or otherwise to provide means for protection against conflagrations and for the establishment, maintenance, support and regulation of a fire department and for the guarding against fires. It may prescribe fire limits, stipulate and provide for minimum requirements for construction of buildings within such fire limits, regulate or prohibit the erection, building, replacing or repairing of wooden buildings within such fire limits; may prescribe that the buildings within such fire limits be made or constructed of fireproof material; and may prohibit the repairing of wooden buildings within such limits when the same have been damaged to within fifty per cent (50%) of the value thereof; and may declare all dilapidated buildings to be nuisances and direct the same to be repaired, removed or abated in such manner as the city council may prescribe; and may further prescribe limits within which only fireproof roofing may be used; it may also by ordinance regulate, prescribe, govern or forbid the storage of lumber, building materials of any kind or inflammable or explosive goods, wares and merchandise of any and every kind within certain limits and prescribe limits within which such materials may be stored, housed or carried.
(Char. art. III, sec. 22)
The city council shall have the power to provide for a health department and to establish all necessary rules and regulations protecting the health of the city and for the establishment of quarantine stations, pest houses, emergency hospitals, and hospitals, and to provide for the adoption of necessary quarantine laws to protect the inhabitants against contagious or infectious diseases. Such general powers shall include, but not to the exclusion of other powers, the following powers:
(a) 
Food and drink handlers.
The city council shall have the power by ordinance or otherwise to regulate, license and inspect persons, firms, corporations, common carriers, or associations operating, managing, or conducting any hotel or any other public sleeping or eating place, or any place or vehicle where food or drink, or containers therefor, of any kind is manufactured, prepared, stored, packed, served, sold or otherwise handled within the city limits of said city, and of any manufacturer or vendor of candies or manufactured sweets; and shall have the power to prescribe health regulations with reference to any and all workers or employees hired or used in any of said places or vehicles, or about said places or vehicles, or who deliver products to and from said places and vehicles; and shall have the power to inspect, license and regulate the sanitary condition of said places and vehicles and to condemn all articles not wholesome or fit for human consumption.
(b) 
Barbers, etc.
The city council of the City of Odessa shall have the power to license barbers and beauticians and to prescribe health regulations with respect to their places of business, their persons and their workers and employees and shall have the power to prescribe health regulations with respect to porters, hotel maids and domestic servants.
(c) 
Nuisances, etc.
To define all nuisances and prohibit the same within the city and outside the city limits for a distance of 5,000 feet; to have power to police all parks or grounds, speedways, or boulevards owned by said city and lying both outside and inside said city; to prohibit the pollution of any stream, draw, drain or tributaries thereof, water deposit and reservoir, whether above or below ground, which may constitute the source or storage of water supply, and to provide for policing the same, as well as to provide for the protection of any watersheds and the policing of same; to inspect, license and regulate dairies, slaughter pens and slaughterhouses inside or outside the limits of the city from which meat or milk is furnished to the inhabitants of the city; to require property owners to make connection to the sewer systems with their premises, and to provide for fixing a lien against the property of property owners who fail or refuse to make sanitary sewer connections, and to charge the cost against said owner and make it a personal liability.
(d) 
Penalties.
To provide for the fixing of penalties for failure of any person, firm, corporation or association to comply with any such rules and regulations so prescribed by the city council under the provisions of this section: it being the intention to vest in the city council not only the powers expressly enumerated in this section but all other powers reasonably necessary for the protection of the health of the City of Odessa and its inhabitants.
(Char. art. III, sec. 23)
The City of Odessa shall have power by ordinance to establish and maintain a police department and to prescribe the duties of the members of said department, and regulate their conduct and fix their salaries or fees of office or both. The head of the police department of said city shall be known and designated as “chief of police,” and other members thereof shall be known as “police officers.”
(Char. art. III, sec. 24; Ordinance 69-85, sec. 3, adopted 12/23/69; Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted 5/6/97)
The city council of the City of Odessa shall have the power and authority to compromise and settle any and all claims and lawsuits of every kind and character in favor of or against the said city, including suits by said city to recover delinquent taxes.
(Char. art. III, sec. 25)
The city council, or its designated city officer or officers, shall have such power to enter into and make contracts in behalf of the City of Odessa as is given by the laws of the State of Texas, and such laws shall control and govern the formation and substance of any such contracts, including the submission of contracts to competitive bids and public notice thereof.
In cases of emergency caused by a natural disaster or public calamity, where it becomes necessary to act at once to appropriate money to relieve the necessity of the citizens, or to preserve the property of the city, or when it is necessary to preserve or protect the public health of the citizens of the city, or in case of unforeseen damage to public property, machinery or equipment, state laws which exempt a city from bidding requirements and posting of notice may be followed.
The city council by ordinance shall establish whether bids shall be opened by the governing body at a public meeting or by an officer or employee of the City of Odessa, at a place opened to the public, after notice has been posted, and the results reported to the city council for final approval.
The city council may by ordinance or resolution designate the officer or officers who are authorized to sign contracts. The mayor shall sign all authorized conveyances and bonds and contracts for which signing authority has not otherwise been delegated or authorized.
(Char. art. III, sec. 26; Ordinance 69-85, sec. 3, adopted 12/23/69; Ordinance 83-39, sec. 4, adopted 4/12/83; Ordinance 85-28, sec. 4, adopted 4/9/85; Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted 5/6/97)
The city council shall have full power and authority to zone the City of Odessa and to pass all necessary ordinances, rules and regulations governing the same under and by virtue of the authority given to cities and legislative bodies thereof by state law.
(Char. art. III, sec. 27; Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted 5/6/97)
In addition to the powers hereinbefore specifically enumerated, the city council of the City of Odessa shall have the power to license any lawful business, occupation or calling that is susceptible to the control of the police power; to license, regulate, control, or prohibit the erection of signs or billboards within the corporate limits of said city; to provide for a public library and maintenance thereof; to provide for the regulations and control of electricians, plumbers, and gas fitters and electrical and plumbing works, and to require efficiency in the same; to provide for the inspection of weights and meters and fix a standard of such weight, measures and meters, and to require conformity to such standards, and to provide penalties for failure to use or conform to the same; and to provide for inspection fees; to provide for the issuance of permits for erecting all buildings, for the inspection of the electric lights and other electrical appliances, piping for gas, flues, chimneys, plumbing and sewer connections; and to enforce proper regulations in regard thereto; to require the construction of fire escapes for all public buildings, and to determine the sufficiency and regulate the safety of all exits and fire escapes provided for public buildings of every kind and character; and to provide for the enforcement of all ordinances enacted by the city by fine not to exceed the maximum amounts specified by state law.
(Char. art. III, sec. 28; Ordinance 69-85, sec. 3, adopted 12/23/69; Ordinance 85-28, sec. 4, adopted 4/9/85; Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted 5/6/97)