§ 23 — City Council powers

The City Council shall have power to make, establish, alter, amend, or repeal ordinances, regulations, and bylaws not inconsistent with this charter or with the Constitution or laws of the United States or of this State for the following purposes and to inflict penalties for the breach thereof:
(1) To establish and regulate a market, and to regulate the selling or peddling of meat, fish, or other provisions for vehicles or otherwise within the City.
(2) To restrain and prohibit all descriptions of gambling and for the destruction of all instruments and devices used for that purpose.
(3) To regulate the exhibitions of common showmen and shows of every kind not interdicted by law, and to regulate, restrain, or license itinerant vendors and peddlers.
(4) To prevent riots, noises, disturbances, or disorderly assemblages.
(5) To abate and remove nuisances, and to restrain and suppress houses of ill fame and disorderly houses.
(6) To compel the owner or occupants of any unwholesome, noisome, or offensive house or place, to remove or clean the same from time to time, as may be necessary for the health or comfort of the inhabitants of said City, and to remove and dispose of garbage, otherwise known as household swill and kitchen refuse, and to control the disposal of ashes, rubbish, and all kinds of refuse.
(7) To direct the location and control of all slaughterhouses, markets, manufactories, blacksmith shops, sewers, and all private drains, and to compel the construction of drains within the limits of the City, under such inspection regulations as the City Council may adopt.
(8) To regulate the manufacture and keeping of gunpowder, ashes and all other combustible and dangerous material.
(9) To regulate the making of alterations and repairs of stovepipes, furnaces, fireplaces, and other things from which danger of fire may be apprehended, and also to regulate the use of buildings in crowded localities for hazardous purposes; to provide for the preservation of buildings from fires by precautionary measures and inspections; to regulate the size, height, and material of new buildings to be constructed in the City or in certain prescribed localities therein, and to establish and regulate a fire department and fire companies, and to make regulations concerning the management and the conduct of all persons present at fires, the removal and protection of property, the examination of any building or place where combustible material or substances are supposed to be kept or deposited, the removal of such material and substances, and the adoption of other suitable safeguards against fires and the loss or destruction of property by reason of the same.
(10) To prevent immoderate riding or driving and to regulate the management, operation, use, and speed of automobiles, motor, and other vehicles in the streets, and to prevent cruelty to animals.
(11) To regulate the erection of buildings and prevent encumbering the streets, sidewalks, and public alleys with firewood, lumber, carriages, boxes, or other things, and provide for the care, preservation, and improvement of public grounds.
(12) To restrain and punish vagrants, mendicants, and common prostitutes, and to make regulations respecting paupers.
(13) To restrain or regulate the keeping and running at large of cattle, horses, swine, sheep, goats, fowls, and dogs. And, in addition to the tax now imposed by law upon the owners or keepers of dogs, to require the owner or keeper of any dog or dogs to pay such additional tax or license fee for the keeping thereof as they may impose, and prescribe such penalties in default thereof as may be deemed necessary. All monies received hereunder shall be paid into the City Treasury.
(14) To regulate and determine the time or place of bathing in any of the public waters within said City, or adjacent thereto, and to prevent the same.
(15) To compel all persons to remove from the sidewalks and gutters in front of the premises owned or occupied by them all snow, ice, dirt, and garbage, and to keep such sidewalks and gutters clean, and to compel the owners or occupants of any land or premises in the City to cut and remove from the streets and sidewalks in front of such land or premises all grass, thistles, and weeds growing or being thereon, under such regulations as may be prescribed therefor.
(16) To license innkeepers, keepers of saloons, victualing houses, billiard and pool rooms, and bowling alleys, and auctioneers, under such regulations as shall be prescribed therefor; and all monies paid for such licenses shall belong to the City and be paid into the City Treasury.
(17) To regulate or restrain the use of rockets, squibs, fire crackers, and other fireworks in the streets or commons, and to prevent the practicing therein of any amusements having a tendency to injure or annoy persons passing therein or to endanger the security of property.
(18) To regulate gauging, the place and manner of selling and weighing hay, packing, inspecting and branding beef, pork, and produce, and of selling and measuring wood, lumber, ice, lime, and coal, and to appoint suitable persons to superintend and conduct the same.
(19) To license porters, cartmen and owners and drivers of hacks, coaches, cabs, carriages, and other public vehicles, and to regulate their fees and prescribe their duties.
(20) To prescribe the powers and duties of watchmen and police officers of said City.
(21) To provide for lighting public streets, places, and highways.
(22) To prohibit and punish willful injuries to trees, shrubs, and plants planted for shade, ornament, convenience, or use, public or private, and to prevent and punish trespasses or willful injuries to or upon public buildings, squares, commons, cemeteries, or other property.
(23) To regulate the burial of the dead, the keeping, returning and preserving of statistics of deaths and burials, also the returning, and keeping of a record of all births and marriages.
(24) To regulate the examination of the land and other public records and documents of the City, by individuals, as may be necessary for the security and preservation of the same.
(25) To manage and control the public places, parks, and commons in said City, to regulate the use of the same by the public, and to prevent and punish trespasses or willful injuries to or upon any fountain, shade or ornamental tree, plant or shrub, building or structure placed therein by or under the order of the City Council, in such a manner as shall not be inconsistent with the laws of this State.
(26) To regulate or prohibit the suspending or putting up of any sign, awning, or other structure in, upon/or over any street, sidewalk, lane, alley, common, or any other public place in the City; and, whenever the public good may require, to order and direct that any sign, awning, or other structure heretofore erected or suspended as aforesaid shall be taken down or removed; and, after 10 days’ delay in complying with said order, to remove the same at the expense of the owner thereof.
(27) To compel reports from physicians, surgeons, and others of contagious and infectious diseases and those of a pestilential nature.
(28) To compel the registration of physicians or others practicing medicine, surgery, or midwifery.
(29) To prescribe standard rules for the placing of poles, wires, and electrical conduits in, over, and under the streets of the City, and to regulate their use. And said City Council may make and establish, amend, or repeal bylaws, rules and ordinances that they may deem necessary for the well being of said City, and not repugnant to the Constitution or laws of this State; all of which bylaws, regulations, and ordinances shall be duly published in one or more newspapers of this City, to be prescribed by the City Council, at least 20 days before they take effect.
(30) To license the owners of billboards and regulate the erection thereof.
(31) To control the erection of buildings and other structures on the shore of Lake Memphremagog, within City limits, and to prescribe regulations as to the use of said shores not inconsistent with the rights of private owners or the rights of navigation in the waters of said lake vested in the public.
(32) To establish curfew regulations and prescribe rules governing the presence of children on the streets or in public places at night, and fix penalties for the violation of such rules and regulations.