2011 Vermont Code
Title 24 Appendix Municipal Charters
Chapter 17 CITY OF WINOOSKI
§ 2.04 General powers and duties

§ 17-2.4. General powers and duties

(a) General powers. All powers of the city shall be vested in the council, except as otherwise provided by law or this charter, and the council shall provide for the exercise thereof for the performance of all duties and obligations imposed on the city by law.

(b) Additional powers. In addition to powers otherwise conferred upon it by law, the city, by the action of its legislative body (council) or, if specifically required by law or this charter, by the action of its voters, has the following powers and rights, including but not limited to:

(1) To acquire property within or without its corporate limits for any lawful purpose, and by any lawful means including condemnation when such power exists under the Constitution and laws of this state, in fee simple or any lesser interest or estate, by purchase, gift device, lease, or other means of transfer, and may sell, lease, mortgage, hold, manage and control such property as its interest may require.

(A) In addition to and not in limitation of the powers set forth in subdivision (1) of this subsection, the power to acquire lands for the purpose of eventual rental, lease or resale to industrial or to commercial users or purchasers, or for the purpose of erecting thereon and with the further right and power by the city to erect thereon one or more speculative industrial or commercial buildings and to rent, sell or lease the same to others, with or without option to purchase, as the city council may find to be necessary in the public interest and to issue its bonds or other evidence of debt therefor in an amount not to exceed one million dollars and not to exceed the city's authorized bonded limit. However, no such indebtedness shall be authorized unless the city council by two-thirds vote shall determine first that the value of such lands and buildings together with the amount of the sale agreement if sold or the rents accruing therefrom if rented and the purchase opti

on (if any) thereto appertaining will be reasonably sufficient from time to time to cover the payment of bonds or other debt outstanding issued to defray the cost of any such lands or buildings; and provided further no such expenditure shall be made or indebtedness incurred unless authorized by a majority vote of the legal voters voting on such question at an annual or at a special meeting duly warned and held for that purpose.

(B) All monies received from the sale, rental or lease of any such lands and buildings shall be kept in a separate fund to be used solely to pay any such expenditure or indebtedness as the same becomes due and payable. In the event the amount in the fund shall have become more than sufficient to meet such expenditures or indebtedness, the legal voters may authorize the transfer of any surplus to the general fund of the city.

(C) The city of Winooski shall be exempt from the provisions of 32 V.S.A. chapter 233 in the erection of any speculative commercial or industrial building authorized herein.

(2) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce ordinances relating to the construction of improvements, including without limitation, curbs, sidewalks, and storm drains; to the installation of curbs, sidewalks, and storm drains; in a manner specified under the ordinance as a condition precedent to the issuance of a building permit, to the assessment of part or all of the expenses of such improvements against property owners benefited thereby in proportion to respective frontage upon highways or to respective values of property or by such standard, as determined from time to time by the city council, and to provide for violation or nonperformance.

(3) To adopt, amend, repeal and enforce ordinances relating to the regulation or prohibition of the location, construction, and appearance of signs, billboards, and other outdoor advertising, and to provide for the enforcement of penalties for violation or nonperformance.

(4) To adopt, amend, repeal and enforce ordinances relating to the regulation or prohibition of the possession and use of dangerous objects and substances, and of firearms, air rifles, and other weapons and devices having a capacity to inflict personal injury, and to provide for the enforcement of penalties for violation or nonperformance.

(5) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce ordinances relating to the regulation of traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian including, but not limited to, parking, operating, and speed of motor vehicles within the city, the operation and regulation of skateboards, bicycles, and other recreational vehicles, and to provide for the enforcement of penalties for violation or nonperformance.

(6) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce ordinances relating to the regulation, licensing, or prohibition of the storage, accumulation, removal and disposal of garbage, ashes, rubbish, refuse, and waste materials, and to the collection and removal of such materials by the city either by contract or as a municipal service, and to the establishment of rates to be paid for such services, and to provide for the enforcement of penalties for violation or nonperformance.

(7) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce ordinances relating to the construction, alteration, maintenance, improvement and repair of public and private buildings, structures, and premises, and to the use thereof, including without limitation, the establishment of minimum standards for plumbing, heating, ventilation, wiring, and dwellings and dwelling premises, so as to make the same safe, sanitary, and fit for human habitation and use, and to provide for the enforcement of penalties for violation or nonperformance.

(8) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce ordinances relating to the regulation or prohibition of the pollution of water or air, and to provide for the enforcement of penalties for violation and nonperformance.

(9) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce ordinances relating to the regulation, licensing or prohibition of eating or drinking establishments, and of taxis and to provide for the enforcement of penalties for violation or nonperformance.

(10) To adopt, amend, repeal, and enforce ordinances relating to the prevention of riots, noises, nuisances, disturbances, and disorderly assembly, and to provide for the enforcement of penalties for violation and nonperformance.

(11) To establish, maintain, merge or discontinue departments and divisions within departments.

(12) To establish and maintain an electric power system and/or control power line installations to the extent authorized under applicable law.

(13) To adopt and amend an administrative code.

(14) To provide for citizen participation in appropriate departments, and especially in the parks and recreation department.

(15) To fix, demand, impose and enforce such items, conditions and regulations for the excavation of any street or highway in the City of Winooski by any street railroad, traction, telegraph, telephone, electric, gas, electric lighting, electric power, cable television, utility or private contractor, or other company or any person representing the company, or exercising the functions of any such company aforesaid, as shall be just and reasonably related to the city's reconstruction and maintenance costs, including any sum or sums of money to be paid to the city for the damages resulting from excavation of any street or highway by any or all of said companies for the purpose of laying, maintaining and operating any street railway therein, or for the purpose of therein erecting and maintaining any poles, wires or any other apparatus in or under the surface of said street; and to prohibit the use of any above-described street by any such company or person until such terms have be

en complied with. However, any utility subject to regulation under the provisions of 30 V.S.A. § 203 shall have the right to appeal such ordinance or any fee levied hereunder to the public service board which shall determine, de novo, if the ordinance or fee is reasonably and in the public interest as to that utility and its ratepayers. Any other party performing excavations shall have the right to appeal such ordinance or any fee levied hereunder to the superior court, which shall determine, de novo, if the ordinance or fee is reasonably and in the public interest.