No franchise relating to any street, alley or public place of
the said city shall be granted except upon the vote of the registered
electors, and the question of its being granted shall be submitted
to such vote upon deposit with the city manager of the expense (to
be determined by said city manager) of such submission by the applicant
for said franchise, and no such franchise shall be granted unless
a majority of such electors voting thereon vote in favor thereof.
All contracts for service between the city and the owner or
manager of any such franchise shall be made by ordinance, the terms
of which shall be agreed to in writing by said owner or manager prior
to the passage of such ordinance. No contract for service shall be
made by the city for a longer period than two years unless such contract
be submitted to a vote of the registered electors of the city, and
approved by a majority of those voting on said question.
All franchises or privileges hereafter granted for the use of
streets, alleys, avenues, or other public property or right-of-way,
shall state the bounds of the district or districts in which it shall
be exercised; and no franchise or privilege shall hereafter be granted
by the city in general terms or to apply to the city generally.
All power to regulate the rates, rentals and charges for service
by public utility corporations or any other franchisee or user of
any public property, streets, alleys and rights-of-way is hereby reserved
to the people to be exercised by them by ordinance of the council,
or in the manner herein provided for initiating or referring an ordinance.
Any right of regulation shall further include the right to require
uniform, convenient, and adequate service to the public and reasonable
extensions of such service, works and facilities. The granting of
a franchise or other permission to use public property shall not be
deemed to confer any right to include in the charge for service any
return upon the value of the franchise or grant of permission.
No franchise, right, privilege, or license shall be considered
as granted by any ordinance except when granted therein in plain and
unambiguous terms, and any and every ambiguity therein shall be construed
in favor of the city and against the claimant under said ordinance.
Every ordinance granting any franchise shall prohibit the issuing
of any stock on account thereof by any corporation holding or doing
business thereunder.
The city shall have the right to license or tax street cars,
telephones, gas meters, electric meters, water meters, or any other
similar device for measuring service; also telephone, telegraph, electric
light, and power poles, subways and wires. The said license or tax
shall be exclusive of and in addition to all other lawful taxes upon
the property of the holder thereof.
The council shall, by ordinance, require under proper penalties,
any railroad company, whether steam or electric, to elevate or lower
any of its tracks running over, along, or across any of the streets
or alleys of the city, whenever in the opinion of the council the
public safety or convenience requires.
The grant of every franchise or privilege shall be subject to
the right of the city, whether in terms reserved or not, to make any
regulations for the safety, welfare, and accommodation of the public,
including among other things, the right to require proper and adequate
extensions of the service of such grant, the right to require any
or all wires, cables, conduits, and other like appliances, to be placed
under ground, and the right to protect the public from danger or inconvenience
in the operation of any work or business authorized by the grant of
the franchise.
Every franchise, right or privilege which has been, or which
may hereafter be granted, conveying any right, permission or privilege
to the use of the water belonging to the city, or to its water system,
shall always be subject to the most comprehensive oversight, management,
and control in every particular by the city; and such control is retained
by the city in order that nothing shall ever be done by any grantee
or assignee of any such franchise, right or privilege which shall
in any way interfere with the successful operation of the waterworks
of the city, or which shall divert, impair, or render the same inadequate
for the complete performance of the trust for the people under which
such waterworks are held by the city, or which shall tend so to do.
No exclusive franchise shall ever be granted, and no franchise
shall be renewed before one year prior to its expiration.
No franchise granted by the city shall ever be leased, assigned,
or otherwise alienated without the express consent of the city, and
no dealing with the lessee or assignee on the part of the city to
require the performance of any act or payment of any compensation
by the lessee or assignee, shall be deemed to operate as such consent.
Any assignment or sale of such franchise to any foreign corporation
shall operate as a forfeiture to the city of such franchise.
No amendment, renewal, extension or enlargement of any franchise,
or grant of rights or powers previously or heretofore granted to any
corporation, persons, or association of persons, shall be made except
in the manner and subject to all conditions provided in this article
for the making of original grants and franchises, except that renewal
of any cable television franchise shall not be subject to a vote of
the registered electors, but shall be made in accordance with applicable
federal law. The city shall require as a condition of any amendment,
alteration, or enlargement of a franchise or grant, unless otherwise
expressly determined by a majority vote of the registered electors
of the city, that the person, association, or corporation owning the
original franchise or grant, shall, as a prior condition to, and in
consideration for such amendment, alteration, or enlargement, covenant
and agree, as a part thereof, that such original franchise shall be
brought within all the conditions provided in this article for the
exercise and enjoyment of franchises hereafter granted, including
the right of the city to purchase the plant and physical property,
whether within or without the city limits, or both, at a fair valuation,
which valuation shall not include any franchise value, or any earning
power of such property. (Approved by the voters at a regular election
held 4-2-19.)
The city may, by ordinance, require any person or corporation
holding a franchise from the city for any public utility, to allow
the use of any of its poles, tracks, wires, conduits or electric current
by any other person or corporation to which the city shall grant a
franchise, upon the payment of a reasonable rental therefor; and any
franchise or right which may hereafter be granted to any person or
corporation to operate a street railway, or other public service,
within the city or its suburbs, shall be subject to the condition
that the city shall have the right to grant to any other person or
corporation desiring to build or operate a street railway, interurban
railway, or other public service, within or into the city, the right
to operate its cars over the tracks of said street railway, or to
utilize its poles, wires, conduits, or electric current, insofar as
may be necessary to enter the city and to reach any section thereof;
provided, that the person or corporation desiring to operate its cars
over the lines of said street railway, or to use such other public
service, shall first agree in writing with the owner thereof to pay
it a reasonable compensation for such operation or use. And if the
person or corporation desiring to use the same cannot agree with said
owner as to said compensation, within sixty days from offering in
writing to do so, and as to terms and conditions for such use, then
the council shall, by resolution, after a fair hearing to the parties
concerned, fix the terms and conditions of such use and compensation
to be paid therefor, which award of the council when so made, shall
be final and binding on the parties concerned.
The city shall maintain general supervision and police control
over all public utility companies insofar as they are subject to municipal
control. It shall cause to be instituted such actions or proceedings
as may be necessary to prosecute public utility companies for violations
of law.
It shall require every person or corporation operating under
a franchise or grant from the city, to submit to the council within
sixty days after the first day of January of each year, an annual
report verified by the oath of the president, the treasurer, or the
general manager thereof.
Such reports shall be in the form, contain such detailed information,
and cover the period prescribed by the council, or by ordinance; and
the council shall have the power, either through its members or by
experts or employees duly authorized by it, to examine the books and
affairs of any such person, persons or corporation, and to compel
the production before them of books and papers pertaining to such
report or other matters. Any such person, persons, or corporations
which shall fail to make any such report, shall be liable to a penalty
of one hundred dollars and an additional penalty of one hundred dollars
for each and every day thereafter, during which he shall fail to file
such report, to be sued for and recovered in any court of record having
jurisdiction.
The city, when owning any public utility, shall keep the books
of accounts for such public utility, and in such a manner as to show
the true and complete financial result of such city ownership, or
ownership and operation, as the case may be. Such accounts shall be
so kept as to show the actual cost to the city of the public utility
owned; all cost of maintenance, extension and improvement, all operating
expenses of every description, in case of such city operation; if
water or other service shall be furnished for the use of any department
of the city without charge, the accounts shall show, as nearly as
possible, the value of such service, such accounts shall also show
reasonable allowance for interest, depreciation, and insurance, and
also estimates of the amount of taxes that would be chargeable against
such property if owned by a private corporation.
No franchise, lease or right to use the streets or the public
places, or property of the city, shall be granted by the city, except
as in this Charter provided, for a longer period than twenty-five
years; provided however, the City may lease, for a term not to exceed
99 years, all or a portion(s) of property in or adjacent to the Las
Colonias Business Park some of which is North of the Riverside Parkway
including the property at 1441 Winters Avenue, all as described in
Ordinance No. 4874. The City may lease, for a term not to exceed
99 years, approximately 1.1169 acres of property located at 599/601
Struthers Avenue, Grand Junction, Colorado in or near the Las Colonias
Park to Colorado Discover Ability, all as described in and for the
purposes as stated in Ordinance No. 5116. The City may, by and with
adoption of an ordinance, lease certain City property, now owned or
after acquired, for affordable housing and/or workforce housing, as
those terms may be defined by the City Council from time to time,
for a term not to exceed ninety-nine years. Every grant of a franchise
shall fix the amount and manner of the payment of the compensation
to be paid by the grantee, for the use of the same, and no other compensation
of any kind shall be exacted for such use during the life of the franchise,
but this provision shall not exempt the grantee from any lawful taxation
upon his or its property, nor from any licenses, charges, or impositions
not levied on account of such use. (Last approved by the voters at
a regular election held 11-7-23.)
(a) Every
grant, extension, or renewal of a franchise or right shall provide
that the city may upon the payment therefor of its fair valuation,
purchase, and take over the property and plant of the grantee in whole
or in part; such valuation shall be made as provided in the grant,
but shall not include any value of the franchise or right of way through
the streets, or any earning power of such property. The valuation
may include, as part of the cost of the plant, interest on actual
investment during the period of construction, and prior to operation.
Such grant may provide that if the purchase is made within five years
of the time when the franchise is granted, the city shall pay an additional
sum or bonus of not to exceed ten per centum (10%) on the actual value
of the tangible property, exclusive of the franchise value, which
additional sum or bonus shall be reduced proportionately from such
five-year period to the end of the franchise period when no bonus
shall be given.
The procedure to effect such purchase shall be as follows:
When the council shall, by resolution, direct that the mayor
shall ascertain whether any such property or part thereof, should
be acquired by the city, or in the absence of such action of the council,
when a petition subscribed by registered electors of the city, equal
in number to at least ten per centum (10%) of the last preceding vote
cast in the city for all candidates for Governor of the State of Colorado
requesting that the mayor shall ascertain whether any such property
or part thereof, should be acquired by the city, shall be filed with
the clerk, the mayor shall forthwith carefully investigate said property
and report to the council--
(1) At what probable cost said property may be acquired;
(2) What, if any, probable additional outlays would be necessary to operate
the same;
(3) Whether, if acquired, it could be operated by city at a profit or
advantage in quality or cost of service, stating wherein such profit
or advantage consists;
(4) Whether, if granted, it could be paid out of its net earnings, and,
if so, within what time; and
(5) Such other information touching the same as he shall have acquired.
Such report shall be made in writing, shall include a statement
of facts in relation thereto with such particularity as will enable
the council to judge the correctness of his findings and immediately
after submission to the council, shall be filed with the city clerk,
recorded in the public utility record, and published once in each
of two daily newspapers of general circulation published in the city,
or printed and distributed in pamphlet form, as the council may determine.
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If a petition subscribed by registered electors of the city,
equal in number to at least ten per centum (10%) of the last preceding
vote cast in the city for all candidates for Governor of the State
of Colorado, requesting that the question whether or not the city
shall acquire said property, shall be submitted to a vote of the people,
shall within sixty days after the filing of said report be filed with
the clerk, the council shall provide by ordinance for the submission
of the question to a vote of the registered electors.
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(b) Every
grant reserving to the city the right to acquire the plant as well
as the property, if any, of the grantee situated in, on, above, or
under the public places of the city, or elsewhere, used in connection
therewith, shall in terms specify the method of arriving at the valuation
therein provided for, and shall further provide that upon the payment
by the city of such valuation, the plant and property so valued, purchased
and paid for, shall become the property of the city by virtue of the
grant and payment thereunder, and without the execution of any instrument
of conveyance and every such grant shall make adequate provision by
way of forfeiture of the grant, or otherwise, for the effectual securing
of efficient service and for the continued maintenance of the property
in good order and repair and its continuous use throughout the entire
term of the grant. The grant may also provide that in case such reserved
right to operate or to take over such plant or property is not exercised
by the city, and it shall, prior to payment for the same secure a
bid for the property, and grant a new franchise for the same service
or utility, as provided in Paragraph c of this section, or grant the
right to another person or corporation to operate said utility, so
occupied and used by its grantor, under the former grant, that the
title to and possession of the plant and property so taken away be
transferred directly to the new grantee upon the terms upon which
the city may have purchased it.
(c) Whenever
any plant or property shall become the property of the City of Grand
Junction, the city shall have the option at any time, then or thereafter,
either to operate the same on its own account, or by ordinance to
lease the same or any part thereof, together with the franchise or
right to use the streets or other public property in connection therewith,
for periods not exceeding twenty-five years, under such rules and
regulations as it may prescribe, or by ordinance to sell the same;
provided, however, that no such ordinance shall be adopted except
by a majority vote of the registered electors of the city.
The enumeration and specification of particular matters in this
charter which must be included in every franchise or grant, shall
never be construed as impairing the right of the city to insert in
such franchise or grant, such other and further conditions, covenants,
terms, restrictions, limitations, burdens, taxes, assessments, rates,
fares, rentals, charges, control, forfeiture, or any other provisions
whatever, as the city shall deem proper to protect the interests of
the people.
The Council may grant a permit at any time, in or upon any street,
alley, or public place, provided such permit may be revocable by the
Council at its pleasure at any time, whether such right to revoke
be expressly reserved in such permit or not; provided, however, that
no such permit shall be granted for the use of any such street, alley
or other public place for the installation or maintenance of a cable
system TV, otherwise known as C.A.T.V. system, until the granting
of such permit shall be approved by a majority vote of the registered
electors of the City.