In addition to the City’s power to buy, construct, lease, maintain, operate and regulate public utilities and to manufacture, distribute and sell the output of such utility operations, the City shall have such further powers as may now or hereafter be granted under the Constitution and Laws of the State of Texas.
The Council shall have power to grant, amend, renew or extend by ordinance all franchises of all public utilities of every character, including cable television, operating within the City of Midlothian, and for such purposes is granted full power. All ordinances granting, amending, renewing or extending franchises for public utilities shall be read at two separate regular meetings of the Council and shall not be finally passed until thirty (30) days after the first reading; and no such ordinance shall take effect until sixty (60) days after its final passage; and pending such time, the full text of such ordinance shall be published once each week for four (4) consecutive weeks in the official newspaper of the City of Midlothian, and the expense of such publication shall be borne by the proponent of the franchise. No public utility franchise shall be transferable except to persons, firms or corporations taking all or substantially all of the holder’s business in the City of Midlothian and except with the approval of the Council expressed by ordinance. No franchise shall be granted for an indeterminate term nor for a term of more than twenty-five (25) years. No exclusive franchise shall ever be granted.
In fixing reasonable rates and charges for utility service within the City and in determining the just compensation to be paid by the City for public utility property which the City may acquire by condemnation or otherwise, nothing shall be included as the value of any franchise granted by the City under this Charter.
All grants, renewal, extensions or amendments to public utility franchises, whether it be so provided in the ordinance or not, shall be subject to the right of the City:
(a) 
To repeal the same by ordinance at any time for failure to begin construction or operation within the time prescribed or for failure otherwise to comply with the terms of the franchise, such power to be exercised only after due notice and hearing.
(b) 
To require an adequate and reasonable extension of plant and service, and the maintenance of the plant and fixtures at the standard necessary to render the highest reasonable quality of utility service to the public.
(c) 
To establish reasonable standards of service and quality of products and prevent unjust discrimination in service and rates.
(d) 
To prescribe the form of accounts kept by each such utility. If the franchise or ordinance does not prescribe the form of accounts kept by each utility, then it shall keep its accounts in accordance with the utility system of accounts for said utility prescribed by the National Association of Railroad and Public Utility Commissioners, the State Railroad Commission of Texas, or their successors or other State or Federal utility regulating agencies.
(e) 
To examine and audit the accounts and other records of any such utility at any time and to require annual and other reports, including reports on local operations by each such public utility.
(f) 
To impose such reasonable regulations and restrictions as may be deemed desirable or conducive to the safety, welfare and accommodation of the public.
The consent of abutting and adjacent property owners shall not be required for the construction, extension, maintenance, or operation of any public utility, but nothing in this Charter or in any franchise granted thereunder shall ever be construed to deprive any such property owners of any right of action for damage or injury to his property as now or hereafter provided by law.
All extensions of public utilities within the City limits shall become a part of the aggregate property of the public utility, shall be operated as such, and shall be subject to all the obligations and reserved rights contained in this Charter and in any original grant hereafter made. The right to use and maintain any extension of public utility operated under a franchise hereafter granted, such right shall be terminable at the same time under the same conditions as the original grant.
Permits for minor or temporary privileges in the streets, public ways and public places of the City may be granted and revoked from time to time, provided they are unconditionally revocable at the will of the governing body. Such permits shall not be deemed franchises as the term is used in this Charter.
All franchises heretofore granted are recognized as contracts between the City of Midlothian and the grantee, and the contractual rights as contained in any such franchises shall not be impaired by the provisions of this Charter, except that the power of the City of Midlothian to exercise the right of eminent domain in the acquisition of any utility property is in all things reserved, and except the general power of the City heretofore existing and herein provided for to regulate the rates and services of a utility, which shall include the right to require adequate and reasonable extension of plant and service and the maintenance of the plant fixtures at the standard necessary to render the highest reasonable quality of service to the public. Every public utility franchise hereafter granted shall be held subject to all the terms and conditions contained in the various sections of this Article whether or not such terms are specifically mentioned in the franchise. Nothing in this Charter shall operate to limit in any way, as specifically stated, the discretion of the Council or the voters of the City in imposing terms and conditions as may be reasonable in connection with any franchise grant, including the right to require such compensation or rental as may be permitted by the laws of the State of Texas.
Within six (6) months after this Charter takes effect, every public utility and every owner of public utility franchises shall file with the City certified copies of all franchises owned or claimed, or under which such utility is operated in the City of Midlothian. The City shall compile and maintain a public record of public utility franchises.
The City Council shall have the power by ordinance to fix and regulate, after public hearing and reasonable notice, the price of water, gas, electric lights, electric power, steam heat and cable television, and charges of all public transportation of every kind, whether transporting passengers, freight, or baggage, and generally to fix and regulate the rates and charges of all public utilities of every kind operating within the corporate limits of the City of Midlothian.