2013 Vermont Statutes
Title 24 Appendix Municipal Charters
Chapter 257 VILLAGE OF NORTHFIELD
§ 305 Powers
[Section 305 repealed effective June 30, 2014.]

[Section 305 repealed effective June 30, 2014.] 257-305. Powers

The Village of Northfield shall have power, by the Board of Trustees, by ordinances, resolution, or otherwise:

(1) To acquire by gift or purchase, hold, convey, and lease any real or personal estate, within or without the Village limits.

(2) To erect and keep in repair any buildings necessary or convenient for Village purposes.

(3) To establish, amend, dissolve, and prescribe the duties of a Police Department, Fire Department, Street Department, Water Department, Sewage Department, Electric Department, and any other department deemed necessary or convenient for the government or administration of the Village; and to appoint, prescribe the duties of, and remove at its pleasure boards and officers as it deems necessary or convenient for the government or administration of the Village. The trustees may consolidate two or more departments, and may establish, amend, dissolve, and prescribe the duties of a Public Works Department to supervise and control one or more departments.

(4) To provide a penalty for, and the enforcement of penalties for violation or nonperformance of any ordinance, bylaw, rule, or regulation.

(5) To build and maintain streets and sidewalks.

(6) To establish and regulate a market, and to regulate and license the selling or peddling of meat, fish, and other provisions for vehicles about the Village.

(7) To regulate, license, tax, or prohibit itinerant vendors, peddlers, street musicians, and transient auctioneers, but not including farmers selling produce raised by them.

(8) To direct, regulate, and inspect the location and management of all slaughter houses, markets, blacksmith shops, sewers, and private drains within the limits of the Village.

(9) To regulate, license, inspect, restrain, or prohibit saloons, victualing houses, billiard saloons, bowling alleys, places of amusement, yard sales, drive-in theaters, motels, hotels, and auctioneers.

(10) 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, lime, lumber, and coal; and to appoint suitable persons to superintend and conduct the same.

(11) To license porters, carters, truckmen, livery stable keepers, and owners and drivers of hackney coaches, automobile cabs, or carriages.

(12) To regulate and license the selling, supplying, and delivering of milk, cream, and milk products within the Village, in addition to the regulations and license imposed by State law.

(13) To regulate, prohibit, or license the suspending or putting up of any sign, billboard, or other outdoor advertising, or awning in or over any street, lane, alley, common, or other public place in the Village, and whenever the public good may require to order and direct that signs, billboards, or other outdoor advertising, and awnings heretofore erected or suspended as aforesaid shall be changed, taken down, or removed.

(14) To restrain and prohibit all descriptions of gaming and to destroy or provide for the destruction of all instruments and devices used for such purpose.

(15) To regulate, license, tax, or prohibit the exhibitions of common showmen, circuses, menageries, and shows of every kind not prohibited by law, and all plays, exhibitions, or entertainments for money.

(16) To restrain and punish vagrants and common prostitutes and to make regulations respecting paupers.

(17) To define and determine what shall constitute a nuisance within the Village as a public health and interest may require, and to provide for prohibiting, abating, and removing same.

(18) To compel the owners or occupant of any unwholesome, noisome, or offensive house or place to remove or cleanse the same from time to time, as may be necessary; for health or comfort of the inhabitants of the Village.

(19) To compel the cleaning and repair of any premises, when in such condition as to seriously impair the general appearance of the Village and to be seriously injurious to other property in the vicinity, and to control the removal of rubbish, waste, and objectionable material therefrom.

(20) To regulate the inspection, material, size, height, construction, alteration, repair, removal, and use of buildings throughout the whole or any defined part of the Village.

(21) 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 Village to cut and remove from the street or sidewalk in front of such land or premises all grass, brush, and weeds growing or being thereon.

(22) To regulate and license the storing of old iron, rags, junk, and waste material and to prohibit the storing thereof in such sections of the Village as the Board of Trustees shall deem reasonable.

(23) To regulate and prohibit the moving of buildings in the streets or public ways in the Village.

(24) To regulate, license, or prohibit of the storage, accumulation, removal, and disposal of garbage, ashes, rubbish, and waste materials, and to collect and remove such materials by the Village or by contract or by municipal employees, and to establish rates to be paid for such services.

(25) To prevent riots, noises, disturbances, and disorderly assemblies.

(26) To regulate or prohibit the holding of public meetings in the streets or highways of the Village.

(27) To regulate the manufacture and keeping of gunpowder, ashes, lime, matches, fireworks, and other dangerous and combustible or explosive material.

(28) To regulate or restrain the use of rockets, squibs, firecrackers, or other fireworks in the streets or commons, and to prevent the practicing therein of any amusement having a tendency to injure or annoy persons passing therein, or to endanger the security of property.

(29) To regulate or prohibit the possession and use of dangerous objects and substances, and of firearms, air rifles, and other devices having a capacity to inflict personal injury.

(30) To regulate the making of alterations and repairs of stove pipes, furnaces, fireplaces, and other things from which damage by fire may be apprehended; to regulate the use of buildings in crowded localities for hazardous purposes; and to provide for preservation of buildings from fire by precautionary measures and inspection.

(31) To regulate and determine the time and place of bathing in any of the public waters within the Village and to prevent the same.

(32) To control and regulate the parking, operation, and speed of vehicles and pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the public highways of the Village.

(33) To remove and impound as a public nuisance at the expense of the owner any vehicle found parked on a public highway in violation of any Village ordinance, and to prescribe the terms and conditions under which the owner may redeem such vehicle from the pound.

(34) To regulate and prevent encumbering the streets, sidewalks, and public alleys with firewood, lumber, boxes, or other articles.

(35) To provide for the care, preservation, and improvement of public grounds.

(36) To provide for the lighting of streets and public buildings of the Village.

(37) To provide for the planting, trimming, and removing of shade, ornamental, and fruit trees, shrubs, or bushes standing on public or private land.

(38) To prevent and punish trespasses or injuries to or upon public buildings, squares, commons, cemeteries, fountains, statues, or other public property.

(39) To manage and control parks, commons, and other public places in the Village and to regulate the use of the same by the public.

(40) To establish, maintain, and conduct a system of public recreation, including playgrounds.

(41) To impose and collect a fee for the issuance of any license.

(42) To prevent cruelty to animals; restrain and regulate the running at large of animals; and impose a tax or license for the keeping of dogs upon the owner or keeper thereof.

(43) To regulate the burial of the dead.

(44) To regulate the time and manner in which examination of public documents and records shall be made.

(45) To prevent the corruption of and protect the water supply of the Village, and protect from injury any dam, reservoir, aqueduct, pipe, hydrant, or source of water supply connected with any water system now owned or hereafter acquired by the Village.

(46) To provide a supply of water for the protection of the Village against fire and for other purposes, including distribution and sale of water for public and private purposes to persons and corporations both within and without the Village, and to regulate the use of the same; and to establish and maintain reservoirs, dams, aqueducts, water pipes, hydrants, water purification facilities, water towers, or any other apparatus and equipment necessary or useful for such purposes, upon, in, and through the lands of individuals and corporations, both within and without the Village, on making compensation therefore; and to acquire such land and other property adjoining any source of supply, reservoir, or other water system facility as may be necessary to control or to prevent contamination or injury to such water supply on making compensation therefor.

(47) To establish, maintain, and repair such common sewers, drains, sewage disposal systems, and sewage disposal plants both within and without the Village as the public health shall require, and to take land or other property necessary or useful to accomplish such purposes on making compensation for the same.

(48) To fix, demand, impose, and enforce such terms, conditions, and regulations for the use or occupation of any street or highway in the Village by any street railroad, traction, telegraph, telephone, electric, gas, electric lighting, electric power, water, or other company, or by any persons enjoying the privileges or exercising the functions of any such company aforesaid, as shall be just and reasonable, and to prohibit the use of such street or highway by any such company or person until such terms have been complied with.

(49) To regulate the placing of poles, wires, and electric conduits in, over, or under the streets of the Village.

(50) To establish a building code, to appoint and prescribe the duties and powers of building inspectors, and to provide penalties for refusal or neglect to comply with the orders of said inspectors, made by virtue of any resolution or ordinance passed by the Board of Trustees.

(51) To establish an electrical code, as a standard for all electrical wiring, to provide for supervision of the installation and maintenance of all inside and outside wiring in certain sections of the Village or throughout the entire Village, to appoint and prescribe the duties and powers of a wire inspector, and to provide penalties for any refusal or neglect to comply with the orders of said wire inspector, made by virtue of any resolution or ordinance passed by the Board of Trustees.

(52) To establish a plumbing code for all plumbing and drainage of buildings, to provide for supervision of the installation and maintenance of all plumbing and drainage of buildings in certain sections of the Village or throughout the entire Village, to license plumbers, to appoint a plumbing inspector, and prescribe penalties for any refusal or neglect to comply with said code or with the orders of said plumbing inspector made by virtue of any resolution or ordinance passed by the Board of Trustees.

(53) To appoint a tree warden, and prescribe his or her duties and powers.

(54) To provide for forestation of lands of the Village connected with the water supply and water system of the Village, and to establish and manage Village forests.

(55) To establish schedule of reasonable fees for inspectors made under authority of this charter and ordinances of the Village, and to demand and receive the same.

(56) To provide for and regulate the civilian defense of the Village in event of emergency.

(57) To appoint a Planning Commission and to specify its duties, functions, objectives, composition, organization and duration.

(58) To authorize by resolution that the Village may become a party plaintiff under all ejectment statutes of this State for the purpose of implementing enforcement of its housing, building, health, and fire prevention codes.

(59) To provide and establish by resolution, procedures of accounting and separation of Village moneys by the Treasurer.

(60) To perform all powers granted to Villages and municipalities by the Constitution and laws of this state.