Every ordinance or resolution, upon its becoming effective, shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose, and shall be authenticated by the signature of the Mayor or Mayor Pro Tem and attested by the City Secretary, as herein provided, which book and a duplicate copy thereof shall be kept in a fire proof City depository. All public records of every office, department, or agency of the City shall be open to inspection by any citizen at all reasonable times, provided that police records and vital statistics records, and any other records closed to the public by law, shall not be considered public records for the purposes of this Section.
No officer or employee of the City of Coleman shall have a financial interest, direct or indirect, in any contract with the City, or be financially interested, directly or indirectly, in the sale to the City of any land, materials, supplies, or services, except on behalf of the City as an officer or employee. Any knowing and willful violation of this Section shall constitute malfeasance in office and any officer or employee guilty thereof shall be removed from office or position. Any violation of this Section with the knowledge, expressed or implied, of the person or corporation contracting with the governing body of the City shall render void the contract involved.
No person related within the second degree by affinity, or the third degree of 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, however, to any person who shall have been employed by the City prior to, and at the time of, the election of the Council Members, or appointment of the City Manager, so related to them.
No officer or employee of the City of Coleman 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 Coleman 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 an account of, any public works of said City.
The City of Coleman 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 ninety (90) days 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. If it be for personal injuries, give a list of the witnesses, if any known to affiant, who witnessed such accident.
The property, real and personal, belonging to said City, shall not be liable to be sold or appropriated under a 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. Neither shall any of its officers or agents be required to answer any writ on 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 Coleman 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 Coleman.
The City of Coleman shall have the 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 $25,000 for the Tax Collector, and may require any City official, department director or City employee, before entering upon their 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 shall be in such amount as Council may demand, payable to the City of Coleman, and conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of their office; premium of such bond to be paid by the City.
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 Coleman in the same manner as the Constitution of Texas is construed as a limitation on the powers of the Legislature. Except where expressly prohibited by this Charter, each and every power under Article 11, Section 5 of the Constitution of Texas, which it would be competent for the Citizens of the City of Coleman to grant expressly to the City, shall be construed to be granted to the City by the Charter.
No property of any kind, church, school, or otherwise, in the City shall be exempt from any of the special taxes and assessments authorized by this Charter for local improvements unless the exemption is required by State law.
No member of the City Council shall be individually liable or accountable for damages as a result of any actions taken by the member in performance of official duties.
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. Upon passage of any such ordinance, a copy thereof certified by the City Secretary, shall be forwarded to the Secretary of State for filing.
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.