(A) 
The City of Hereford made a body politic and corporate by the legal adoption of this Charter, shall have perpetual succession; may use a common seal; may sue and be sued, may contract and be contracted with; may implead and be impleaded in all courts having jurisdiction of the subject matter involved; may take, hold and purchase such lands, within or without the City Limits, as may be needed for corporate purposes of said City, and may sell real estate 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, manage and control the same; and shall be subject to all the duties and obligations now pertaining to or incumbent upon said City as a corporation, not in conflict with the provisions of this Charter; and shall enjoy all rights, immunities, powers, privileges and franchises now possessed by said City and herein conferred and granted; and except as prohibited by the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas or restricted by this Charter, the City of Hereford shall have and may exercise all municipal powers, functions, rights, privileges and immunities of every name and nature whatsoever. In addition to the powers herein otherwise granted, the City of Hereford shall have the powers enumerated in Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. art. 1175, as heretofore amended and as it may hereafter be amended, as though such Statute were fully set forth herein.
(B) 
The enumeration of particular powers by this Charter shall not be held or deemed to be exclusive, but, in addition to the powers enumerated therein or implied thereby, or appropriate to the exercise of such powers, it is intended that the City of Hereford shall have, and may exercise, all powers which under the Constitution and Statutes of Texas it would be competent for this Charter specifically to enumerate. All powers of the City, whether expressed or implied, shall be exercised in the manner prescribed by this Charter or, if not prescribed therein, then in the manner provided by ordinance or resolution of the City Commission.
The City of Hereford shall have the power to enact and enforce all lawful ordinances necessary to protect health, life and property, and to prevent and summarily abate and remove all nuisances, and preserve and enforce good government and order and security of the City of Hereford and its inhabitants; and to enact and enforce lawful ordinances on any and all subjects; provided that no ordinance shall be enacted, inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter, Laws and the Constitution of the State of Texas; it being the intention to obtain, by the adoption of this Charter, full powers of local self-government, and the City of Hereford shall have and exercise all the powers of local self-government granted to cities having more than 5,000 inhabitants by what is known as the Home Rule Amendment to the Constitution of the State of Texas, and to the Home Rule Enabling Act, passed by the Legislature of Texas and now known as Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. art. 1174f et seq., and the amendments thereto.
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 Hereford, shall vest in, inure to, remain and be the property of said City of Hereford, 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 and is now held, controlled or used by the said City of Hereford for public use or in trust for the public, shall vest in and remain and inure to the City of Hereford under this Charter, and all suits and pending actions to which the City of Hereford 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.
The City of Hereford 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.
All property of every kind and character owned or held by the City of Hereford shall not be subject to execution of any kind or character.
No fund or property of any kind or character owned by the City of Hereford shall ever be subject to garnishment, and the City of Hereford shall never be required to answer in any garnishment proceedings.
City of Hereford shall not be liable on account of any claim for specific performance, breach of contract, or damages to the person or to any property, or for any tort, unless the person, firm or corporation asserting such claim shall file with the City Secretary a written notice of such claim and a brief statement of facts upon which it is based within thirty (30) days from the date it is claimed such cause of action arose; and no suit shall be instituted in any court on any such claim until the expiration of ninety (90) days from the time such notice shall have been given.
It shall never be necessary in any suit or proceedings in which the City of Hereford is a party for any bond or other security to be demanded or executed by or on behalf of the City of Hereford 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 Hereford shall be liable as if the security or bond had been duly executed.
The City of Hereford 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 systems, libraries, welfare buildings, hospitals, sanitoriums, auditoriums, market houses, abattoirs, warehouses, streets, alleys, parks, airports, highways, boulevards, play grounds, dumping grounds, sewer systems, sewage disposal plants, drains, filtering beds and emptying grounds for sewage systems[,] reservoirs, water supply sources, wells, water, electric light and power systems; and to acquire lands, within or without the City for any other municipal purposes that may be deemed advisable. The power herein granted for purpose of acquiring private property shall include the power of improvement and enlargement of water works, including water supply, riparian rights, stand pipes, water sheds, dams, the construction of supply reservoirs, wells, parks, squares and pleasure grounds, or the straightening or widening or extension 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 governing authority of the City, when so expressed, to take the fee in the lands so condemned, and such power and authority shall include the right to condemn public property for such purposes.
The City of Hereford 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 and require the removal from streets, sidewalks, alleys and other public property or places, [of] all obstructions, trees, telegraph, telephone or other poles, carrying electric wires or signs, and all fruit stands, show cases and encroachments of every nature or character upon any of said streets or sidewalks and to vacate and close private ways.
Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. arts. 1086–1105 and 1105b, as amended, are hereby adopted, and the City of Hereford shall have the power to improve any street or highway within its limits by filling, grading, razing, paving or re-paving 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 by Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. art. 1105b and the other Articles of the Statutes hereinbefore referred to, and in the adoption of this Charter herein adopted, the conflicting methods or procedures shall be deemed optional methods, and the City Commission of the City of Hereford may legally pursue either of said methods in making such improvements.
The City Commission shall have the power by ordinance or otherwise to control the operation of all character of vehicles using public streets, including motorcycles, bicycles, automobiles, trucks, trailers, buses, or light vehicles; and to prescribe the speed of the same, the qualification of the operators of same, the routing of same, and the lighting of same by night; and to provide for the giving of bond or other security for those who own and operate such vehicles for hire.
The City Commission shall have the power by ordinance or otherwise to direct and control, within the City Limits, the speed of engines, locomotives, and motor cars operating on railroad tracks, the construction of railroad tracks, turn outs and switches, and the regulation of the grade thereof and the use of streets.
The City shall have the 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, and any other public service or utility; power to mortgage and encumber such systems in the manner provided in Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. arts. 1111 and 1118, both inclusive, as amended, and any other 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 Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. art. 1175, and any amendments thereto, now or hereafter in effect, as well as under any other 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 projects.
(A) 
The City Commission shall have the power by ordinance to fix and regulate the prices, fares, tolls and charges of water, gas, electric lights, telephone, telegraph and public carriers, whether transporting passengers, freight or baggage, and generally to supervise and regulate the rates, tolls or charges of all public utilities and common carriers of every kind. The City Commission shall have power by ordinance to prescribe the character, quality and efficiency of service to be rendered, given and performed and furnished, and the kind and design of material used in improvements by all public utilities engaged in the business of furnishing any commodity or service or in the operation of any public utility of any kind in the City of Hereford, together with the power to regulate and require the extension of the lines or services of any such public utility within the City of Hereford, or prohibit same.
(B) 
Any Company, corporation or person who may be engaged in furnishing to the inhabitants of the City of Hereford any light or gas service, telephone or other utility shall, on or before the first day of March of each year, file with the Mayor of the City of Hereford a sworn written report, including all the information set forth in Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. art. 1121, as amended, it being the intention of this section to require said company, corporation or person to file such reports pertaining to their operation insofar as same pertains to their operations within the City Limits of the City of Hereford.
The City shall have power to purchase electricity, gas, oil or any other article of service essential to a proper conduct of the affairs of the City and of its inhabitants on such terms as the City Commission may deem proper for sale, and distribution to the inhabitants of the City and adjacent territory, provided that no contract or purchase binding the City for more than a period of two (2) years shall be valid, unless authorized by an election at which a majority of those voting shall favor the making of such contract.
(A) 
The right of control, easement, use and ownership and title to the streets, highways, public thoroughfares and property of the City, its avenues, parks, bridges and all other Public places and property, are hereby declared to be inalienable, except by ordinance duly passed by a majority of all members of the City Commission; and no grant of any franchise, or lease, or right to use the same, either on, thereto, along, across, under or over the same, by any private corporation, association, or individual, shall be granted by the City Commission for a longer period than ten (10) years, unless submitted to the vote of the legally qualified voters of the City; provided, however, that when application is made for any grant or [of] franchise, lease, right or privilege by any person or corporation, if applicant so requests, the Commission shall submit the same at an election called for said purpose, the expenses of which shall be borne by the applicant, and, if a majority of the votes cast at said election shall be in favor of making the grant as applied for, said grant shall be made for a term of years as specified in the ordinance calling said election; provided, however, that no grant shall be made or authorized for a period longer than fifteen (15) years.
(B) 
The City Commission may of its own motion submit all such applications to an election upon which the people shall vote upon the proposition submitted, the expenses of such election to be paid by the applicant.
(C) 
No franchise shall ever be granted until it has been approved by a majority vote of the City Commission, after having been read in full at three (3) regular meetings of the City Commission, nor shall any such franchise, grant or privilege ever be made unless it provides for adequate compensation or consideration therefor, to be paid to the City, and in addition to any other compensation, grantee shall pay annually such fixed charge as may be prescribed in the franchise. Such franchise and any contract in pursuance thereof shall provide that, upon termination of the grant, the franchise, as well as any other property of the grantee within said city, shall, upon payment of a fair valuation therefor (the mode to determine which shall be specified in the grant), become the property of the City; provided that the grantee shall never be entitled to any payment of valuation because of any value derived from franchise or the fact that it is or may be a going concern, duly installed and operated.
(D) 
Such franchise or grant shall make adequate provisions, by way of forfeiture of the franchise, or otherwise, to secure efficiency of public service at reasonable rates and to maintain the property in good order throughout the life of the grant.
(E) 
The City Commission may cause to be inspected or examined at all reasonable hours, any books of account or papers of any such grantee, which account shall be kept and reports made in accordance with forms and methods prescribed by the City Commission, which, so far as practicable, shall be uniform with all such grantees. All such grantees shall furnish all such invoices, reports, costs, books and papers as may be required by the City Commission in determining any rates or charges of such grantees for their services to the patrons of such grantees.
The City Commission shall have power to establish, maintain and operate an airport or airports independent of or jointly with the Federal, State or County governments, within or without the City Limits, and landing fields, radio beams, beacons and other apparatuses, buildings, equipment and appurtenances necessary and convenient therefor, and to make suitable charges for their use.
The City of Hereford 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 thereon; to provide for razing, grading, filling, terracing, landscaping, gardening, erecting buildings, swimming pools and wading pools, and other structures providing amusement therein, for establishing walks, and paved driveways around, in and through said parks, playgrounds, and other public grounds, speedways or boulevards owned by it, and lighting, both outside and inside the municipal boundaries.
The City Commission may require the placing of all wires or overhead construction of public utilities, or other part thereof, as may be deemed best, from time to time, under the surface of the grounds, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the City Commission from time to time; and may provide for such construction or change thereof in any franchise hereinafter [hereafter] granted.
The City Commission shall have power by ordinance or otherwise to provide lanes 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 of construction of buildings within such fire limits, regulate or prohibit the erection, building, replacing or repairing of wooden buildings within such limits; may prescribe that the buildings within such fire limits be made or constructed of fire-proof materials; and may prohibit the repairing of wooden buildings within such limits when the same has [have] been damaged with [to the extent of] 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 Commission 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 storage of lumber, building material 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; may require all premises within or without the fire zone to be kept clean of all weeds, trash and debris and to charge the owner thereof for the cost of cleaning the premises.
The City Commission 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 disease or diseases. Such general powers shall include, but not to the exclusion of other powers, the following powers:
(A) 
The City Commission 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, or 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; and shall have the power to inspect, license and regulate the sanitary conditions of said places and vehicles, and to condemn all articles not wholesome or fit for human consumption.
(B) 
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 Limits; to prohibit the pollution of any stream, draw, drain or tributaries thereof, water deposit and reservoir, whether above or below the 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 water sheds and the policing of same; to inspect, license and regulate dairies, livestock feeding pens, slaughter pens and slaughter houses, inside or outside the City Limits, from which meat or milk is furnished to the inhabitants of the City; to require property owners to make connection to the sewer system with their premises, and to provide for fixing a lien against the property or 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; and to regulate and/or prohibit the keeping or maintaining [of] chickens, hogs, cattle, horses, sheep, goats and rabbits, within the City Limits.
(C) 
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 Commission under the provisions of this section; it being the intention to vest in the City Commission not only the powers expressly enumerated in this section, but all other powers reasonably necessary to protect the health of the City of Hereford and its inhabitants.
(D) 
The City Commission shall further have the right, by ordinance, to adopt and prescribe rules and regulations for the handling and disposition of all garbage, trash and rubbish within the City of Hereford, and shall further have the right to prescribe that the City alone shall remove all garbage, trash and rubbish, and shall have the right to fix charges and compensation to be charged by the City for the removal of garbage, trash and rubbish.
The City of Hereford 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 and conduct and fix the salaries or fees of office or both, of such members of said Department. The head of the Police Department of said City shall be known and designated as “Chief-of-Police,” to be selected by the City Manager with the consent of the City Commission, and the other members thereof shall be known as “policemen”; all of whom shall be employed by the Chief of Police with the consent and advice of the City Manager.
The City Commission of the City of Hereford 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.
(A) 
No contract shall ever be made which binds the City to pay for personal services to be rendered by any stated period of time; but all contracts for personal services shall be restricted to the doing of some particular act or thing and upon its completion, no further liability shall exist on the part of the City, with the exception of officers and heads of departments specifically mentioned herein.
(B) 
Nor shall the City or anyone acting for it make any contracts for goods, materials, services or supplies for the current use of the municipality for more than one year, except as in this Charter provided, until included in the budget an [and] appropriation has been made therefor, and no contract or purchase shall exceed the amount appropriated. All contracts except for professional services, shall be made upon specifications, and no contract shall be binding until it has been signed by the Mayor. Whenever the contracts charged to any appropriation equal the amount of the appropriation, the Mayor shall sign no additional contract chargeable to such appropriation. Any contract for current expenditures exceeding the budget or the appropriation therefor shall be void.
(C) 
After approval of specifications by the Mayor and City Commission, advertisement shall be published in the official newspaper, to be named by the City Commission, at least once in each week for two consecutive weeks, inviting competitive bids for labor and materials embraced in the proposed contract. If deemed advisable by the City Commission, advertisements for competitive bids for labor and materials may be made in other newspapers. All bids submitted shall be sealed and delivered to the City Secretary. At the time announced in such notice, the bids shall be opened in the presence of the majority of the City Commission and no award shall be made except to one of such bidders. The Commission shall determine the most advantageous bid for the City, and shall award the contract to such bidder, but the Commission shall always have the right to reject any and all bids, and, in the event all bids are rejected, may call for new bids which shall be advertised in like manner as the original bids. Pending advertisement of such proposed contracts, the specifications shall be on file in the Office of the City Secretary, subject to the inspection of all persons desiring to bid. No contract shall ever be authorized except by approval of a majority of the City Commission; provided, however, that contracts for less than $2,000.00 may be awarded without advertisement and bid as herein required, if in the opinion of the City Commission such advertisement and bid should be waived.
The City Commission shall have full power and authority to zone the City of Hereford, 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 Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. arts. 1011a–1011j, as amended, being Acts of 1927, 40th Legislature, page 422, Chapter 283, and all amendments thereto, and amendments which may hereafter be made thereto.
In addition to the powers hereinbefore specifically enumerated, the City Commission of the City of Hereford 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 the City; to provide for a public library and the maintenance thereof; to provide for the regulation 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, measures and meters and fix a standard of such weights, measures and meters, and to require conformity to such standards, and to provide for inspection fees; to provide for the issuance of permits for erecting all buildings, for the inspection of the construction of buildings in respect to proper wiring for 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 a fine not to exceed One Hundred and no/100 Dollars ($100.00) provided that no ordinance shall prescribe a greater or less penalty than is prescribed for a like offense by the laws of the State of Texas.