The boundaries of the City of Hereford shall be the corporate
limits as now established or as may hereinafter [hereafter] be established
in the manner provided by this Charter, it being the intention to
adopt the provisions of Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. art. 971A as
amended, with reference to the map showing the boundaries of the City
of Hereford, Texas as now existing or as may hereafter exist.
Whenever a majority of the qualified voters who are citizens
of the State of Texas and inhabitants of any territory adjoining Hereford,
as said territory may be designated by the City Commission or in case
there are no qualified voters in said territory, then when persons
owning a majority of the land in area in said territory desires the
annexation of such territory to Hereford, they may present a written
petition to that effect to the City Commission and shall attach to
said petition the affidavit of one or more of their number to the
effect that said petition is signed by a majority of such qualified
voters, or in case there are no qualified voters in said territory
said affidavit shall be to the effect that there are no qualified
voters in said territory and that the persons signing said petition
own a majority of the land in area in said territory; and thereupon
the City Commission at regular session held not sooner than twenty
days after the presentation of said petition may by ordinance annex
such territory to Hereford and thenceforth the said territory shall
be a part of Hereford, and the inhabitants thereof shall be entitled
to all of the rights and privileges of other citizens and shall be
bound by the acts, ordinances, resolutions and regulations of said
City.
The City Commission shall have power by ordinance to fix the
boundary limits of Hereford; and to provide for the extension of said
boundary limits and the annexation of additional territory lying adjacent
to said City, with or without the consent of the territory and inhabitants
annexed. Upon the introduction of such an ordinance in the City Commission,
it shall be published in the official newspaper in Hereford one time,
and shall not thereafter be finally acted upon until at least thirty
days have elapsed after the first publication thereof. Any citizen
of Hereford, or of the territory to be annexed, shall have the right
to contest said annexation by filing with the City Commission a written
petition setting out their reasons for said contest, and after such
citizen or citizens shall have been given an opportunity to be heard,
said ordinance, in original or amended form, as said City Commission
in its judgment may determine, shall be finally passed, and the territory
so annexed shall be a part of Hereford and the inhabitants thereof
shall be entitled to all rights and privileges of other citizens and
shall be bound by the acts, ordinances, resolutions and regulations
of said City.
Should any property lying within or adjacent to or within five
miles of the City Limits be hereafter platted into blocks and lots,
the owner of said property shall prepare or cause to be prepared a
plat of said property and show on said plat all blocks, lots, streets,
alleys and easements, showing the dimensions on said plat of all blocks,
lots, streets, alleys and easements and all streets, alleys and easements
shall be so laid out on said plat as to conform with and intersect
all streets, alleys and easements abutting the property platted; if
said plat is accepted and approved by the City Commission, a copy
of same shall be filed with the City Secretary, and the original filed
in the Deed Records of Deaf Smith County, Texas, and in the event
said property is annexed to the City of Hereford all streets, alleys
and easements shown on said plat shall become the property of the
City of Hereford to be used by the public for the purposes for which
they were dedicated by the owner of the land platted.