Every ordinance or resolution, upon its becoming effective,
shall be recorded in a manner permitted by law and shall be authenticated
by the signature of the Mayor or Councilmember and attested by the
City Secretary as herein provided, and a duplicate copy thereof shall
be kept in a safe and secure location. All public records of every
office, department or agency of the City shall be open for inspection
by a citizen at all reasonable times, subject only to the provisions
and limitations of the Texas Public Information Act as now exists
or hereafter amended.
Chapter 171 of the Texas Local Government Code, as amended from
time to time, being the State law which regulates conflicts of interest
of local public officials, is hereby adopted and made a part of this
Charter for all purposes.
No person related within the second degree by affinity, or the
third degree consanguinity to the Mayor, any member of the City Council,
or the city Manager shall be appointed to any paid office, position,
clerkship, or other service of the City. This prohibition shall not
apply, if the person has been continuously employed in the position
for at least six (6) months immediately before the election of the
related member of the Mayor or Councilmember, or has been continuously
employed in the position for at least thirty (30) days before the
appointment of the City Manager, if related to the City Manager.
No officer or employee of the City of DeSoto shall accept, directly
or indirectly, any gift, favor, privilege or employment from any public
utility corporation enjoying a grant of any franchise privilege or
easement from said City, during the term of office of such officer
or during the employment of such employee of the City, except as may
be authorized by law or ordinance. Any employee or officer of the
City who shall violate the provisions of this Section shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by such fine as may be prescribed
by ordinance for this offense, and may be forthwith removed from office.
All subcontractors, materialmen, mechanics and laborers upon
any public works of the City of DeSoto are hereby required to notify
the City of all claims they may have against the contractor on account
of such work, subject to proof of payments by the said contractor,
and when such notice has been given, the City shall retain an amount
from any funds due the contractors, sufficient to satisfy such claims;
provided that such notice must be given at any time after such indebtedness
becomes due and before the City’s final settlement with the
contractor; and provided further, that no contractor or subcontractor
shall issue any checks on, or on account of, any public works of said
City.
The City of DeSoto shall not be held responsible on account
of any claim for damages to any person unless the person making such
complaint or claiming such damages shall, within six (6) months after
the time at which it is claimed such damages were inflicted upon such
person, file with the City Secretary, a true statement under oath,
as to the nature and character of such damages or injuries, the extent
of the same, and the place where same happened, the circumstances
under which same happened, the conditions causing same, with a detailed
statement of each item of damages and the amount thereof, and if it
be for personal injuries, giving a list of the witnesses, if they
are known to affiants, who witnessed such accident.
The property, real and personal, belonging to said City shall
not be liable to be sold or appropriated under any writ of execution
or cost bill, nor shall the funds belonging to said City, in the hands
of any person, be liable to garnishment on account of any debt the
City may owe or funds the City may have on hand due any person, nor
any of its officers or agents shall be required to answer any writ
of garnishment on any account whatsoever, nor shall said City be liable
to the assignee of any wages of any officer, agent or employee of
said City, whether earned or unearned, upon any claim or account whatsoever,
and any such attempted assignment shall be absolutely void as to the
City.
The governing body of the City of DeSoto shall require sufficient
payment and performance bonds of all contractors, with a good corporate
surety thereon, acceptable to the governing body of the City of DeSoto.
Whenever, in the opinion of the governing body of the City or
DeSoto, or appropriate city official, any building, fence, shed, awning,
cave, excavation, structure, object or thing of any kind or part thereof
may fall or collapse and injure persons or property, the City may
order the owner or agent of the same or occupant of the premises to
take such corrective measures as the governing body may direct, and
may punish by fine all persons failing to do so. Upon his failure
to comply, the governing body shall have the additional power to remove
the same on account of the owner of the property and assess the expenses
thereof, including condemnation proceedings, as a special tax against
the land or improvements, and the same may be collected as other special
taxes provided for in this Charter, or by suit in any court of competent
jurisdiction.
The City of DeSoto shall have the power to prohibit the erection
or construction of any building or structure of any kind within the
City of DeSoto without a permit first having been issued by the City
for the construction or erection of such building or structure, and
may authorize a fee to be charged for such permit, and in pursuance
of said authority may authorize the inspection by the City of all
buildings or structures during the progress of their construction
and may require that all buildings shall be constructed in conformity
with the building code which exists in said City or shall hereafter
be passed.
The City of DeSoto shall have power to control or prohibit construction
of pools, ponds, or lakes, receiving water from a recognizable stream,
creek, branch, or natural drainage. The City may control location,
construction, height of structure, depth and size of body of water
to be impounded. No pool, pond, or lake, receiving water from a recognizable
stream, creek, branch, or natural drainage, shall be constructed without
first obtaining a permit issued by the City.
In addition to any bonding provisions herein provided, the Council
shall require not less than $50,000 for the Tax Assessor and Collector,
and may require any city official, department director or city employee
before entering upon his duties, to execute a good and sufficient
bond with a surety company doing business in the State of Texas, and
approved by the Council, as surety thereon, said bond to be in such
amount as Council may demand, payable to the City of DeSoto, and conditioned
for the faithful performance of the duties of his office; premium
of such bond to be paid by the City.
(a) This
Charter may be amended no more than once every two (2) years as provided
by the laws of the State of Texas. The City Council shall appoint
a twenty-one (21) member Citizens Charter Review Commission at least
every five (5) years.
Every Charter Amendment Proposition shall include as part of
the ballot language a complete cost summary and authority for the
City to increase revenue accordingly if the proposition requires the
expenditure of funds.
No Charter Amendment Proposition or implementation of such proposition
by the City of DeSoto shall exceed one-half (1/2) of the state mandated
limit for the rollback of a property tax increase as calculated for
the current municipal budget year if the amendment requires the expenditure
of funds.
If any Section or part of a Section of this Charter is held
to be invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction,
such invalidity shall not invalidate or impair the validity, force,
or effect of any other Section or part of a Section of this Charter.
In the wording of the Charter, the use of the singular number
shall include the plural, and the plural shall include the singular.
Words used in the masculine gender shall include the feminine also
unless by reasonable construction, it appears that such was not the
intention of this Charter.
This Charter shall not be construed as a mere grant of enumerated powers, but shall be construed as a general grant of power and as a limitation of power on the government of the City of DeSoto in the same manner as the Constitution of Texas is construed as a limitation on the power of the Legislature. Except where expressly prohibited by this Charter, each and every power under Article
XI, Section 5, of the Constitution of Texas, which it would be competent for the people of the City of DeSoto to grant expressly to the City, shall be construed to be granted to the City by the Charter.
This Charter, if adopted, shall become effective from and after
the votes cast at the election at which it is submitted to the voters
shall have been counted and the result of said election declared and
an order or ordinance shall have been entered upon the records of
the City Council declaring it adopted.
The Council shall have the power, by ordinance, to renumber
and rearrange all Articles, Sections, and paragraphs of the Charter
or any amendments thereto, as it shall deem appropriate, and upon
the passage of any such ordinance, a copy thereof certified by the
City Secretary, shall be forwarded to the Secretary of State for filing.
No member of the City Council shall be liable for damages arising
from actions taken while in the performance of his official duties.
All appointees to boards and commissions of the City of DeSoto
shall be residents of the City of DeSoto prior to their appointment
and during their tenure.