§ 3. Powers of the town council.

In addition to the powers enumerated elsewhere in this Charter, and the powers conferred by general law and the constitution, the town council of the Town of Damascus shall have the following powers:

(1)

Acquisition, sale, etc., of property. To acquire by purchase, gift, devise, condemnation, or otherwise, property, real or personal, or any estate therein within or without the town for any of the legal purposes of the town; and to hold, improve, lease, sell or dispose of the same or any part thereof, including any property now owned by the town.

(2)

Water supply. To own, operate and maintain waterworks, and to acquire in any lawful manner, in any county of the state, such water, lands, property rights, and riparian rights as the council of said town may deem necessary for the purpose of providing an adequate water supply for the said town, and of piping and conducting the same; to lay, erect and maintain all necessary mains and service lines, either within or without the corporate limits of said town, for the distribution of water to its customers and consumers, both within and without the corporate limits of said town, and to charge and collect water rents thereon; to erect and maintain all necessary dams, pumping stations and other works in connection therewith; to make reasonable rules and regulations for promoting the purity of its water supply and for protecting the same from pollution; and for this purpose to exercise full police powers and sanitary control over all land comprised within the limits of the watershed tributary to any such water supply wherever such land may be located in this state; to impose and enforce adequate penalties for the violation of any such rules and regulations; and to prevent by injunction any pollution, or threatened pollution of such water supply, and any and all acts liable to impair the purity thereof; and to carry out the powers herein granted, the said town may exercise within the state all powers of eminent domain provided by the laws of this state.

(3)

Collection and disposition of sewage, garbage, etc. To collect and dispose of sewage, offal, ashes, garbage, carcasses of dead animals and other refuse, and to make reasonable charges therefor; to acquire and operate reduction of any other plants for the utilization or destruction of such materials, or any of them; to contract or regulate the collection and disposal thereof and to require and regulate the collection and disposal thereof.

(4)

Inspection, etc., of commodities; weights and measures. To inspect, test, measure and weigh any commodities or articles of consumption or use within the town; to establish, regulate, license and inspect weights, meters, measures and scales.

(5)

Shows, carnivals, etc. To license and regulate the holding and location of shows, circuses, public exhibitions, carnivals, or other similar shows or fairs, or prohibit the holding of same, or any of them within the town, or within one mile thereof.

(6)

Public improvements; roads to town property outside town. To construct, maintain, regulate, and operate public improvements of all kinds, including municipal and other buildings, armories, sewage disposal plants, jails, comfort stations, markets and all buildings and structures necessary or appropriate for the use of proper operation of the various departments of the town; and to acquire by condemnation or otherwise all lands, riparian and other rights and easements necessary for such improvements, or any of them; and, either within or without the town, to construct, maintain, or aid therein, roads and bridges to any property owned by the said town, and situated beyond the corporate limits thereof, and to acquire land necessary for the aforesaid uses by condemnation or otherwise.

(7)

Rates and charges for water and sewer service, public utilities, etc. To establish, impose and enforce the collection of water and sewage rates, and rates and charges for public utilities or other service, products or convenience operated, rented or furnished by the town; and to assess or cause to be assessed, after reasonable notice to the owner or owners, water and sewage rates and charges directly against the owner or owners of the buildings, or against the tenant or tenants, and in event such rates and charges shall be assessed against a tenant, then the council may require of such tenant a deposit of such reasonable amount as it may prescribe before furnishing such service to such tenant.

(8)

Sewer system. To establish, construct, regulate, control and maintain satisfactory sewers, necessary lines and systems, and to require the abutting property owners to connect therewith, and to establish, construct, maintain and operate sewage disposal plants and to acquire by condemnation, or otherwise, within or without the town, all lands, rights-of-way, riparian or other rights and assessments [easements] necessary for the purposes aforesaid, and to charge, assess and collect reasonable fees, rentals, assessments, or costs of service for connection with and using same.

(9)

Franchises; public utilities. To grant franchises for public utilities in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and general laws; provided, however, the town shall at any time have the power to construct, own, operate, manage, sell, encumber, or otherwise dispose of, either within or without the town, any and all public utilities for the town, and to sell the services thereof, any existing franchises to the contrary notwithstanding.

(10)

Nuisances; condition of premises; slaughterhouses, etc.; keeping animals; dangerous, etc., businesses; transportation through streets; smoke and dust; noise; billboards, etc.; things detrimental to public health, morals, etc.; cleaning sidewalk. To compel the abatement and removal of nuisances within the town, or upon property owned by the town beyond its limits, at the expense of the person or persons causing the same, or of the owner or occupant of the grounds or premises whereon the same may be, and to collect said expenses by suit or motion, or by distress and sale; to require all lands, lots and other premises within the town to be kept clean and sanitary and free from stagnant water, weeds, filth and unsightly deposits, or to make them so at the expense of the owners and occupants thereof, and to collect said expenses of the owners and occupants thereof, and to collect said expenses by suit or motion, or by distress and sale; to regulate or prevent slaughterhouses, or other noisome or offensive businesses within the said town, the keeping of hogs, or other animals, poultry or fowl therein, or the exercise of any dangerous or unwholesome business, trade or employment therein; to regulate the transportation of all articles through the streets of the town; to compel the abatement of smoke and dust and prevent unnecessary noise; to regulate the location of stables and the manner in which they shall be constructed and kept; to regulate the location, construction, operation, and maintenance of billboards, signs, advertising and generally to define, prohibit, abate, suppress and prevent all things detrimental to the health, morals, aesthetic sensibilities, safety, convenience and welfare of the inhabitants of the town; and to require all owners or occupants of property having sidewalks in front thereof to keep the same clean and sanitary and free from all weeds, filth, unsightly deposits, ice and snow, and any obstruction.

(11)

Explosives, etc.; firearms; bonfires. To direct the location of all buildings for storing explosives or combustible substance; to regulate the sale and use of gunpowder, nitroglycerine, fireworks, kerosene oil or other like material; and to regulate the exhibition of fireworks, the discharge of firearms and the making of bonfires within the said town.

(12)

Public health; food; disease; board of health; quarantine. To provide for the preservation of the general health of the inhabitants of said town, make regulations to secure same, inspect all foodstuffs offered for sale and prevent the introduction and sale in said town of any articles or things intended for human consumption which is adulterated, impure or otherwise dangerous to health, and to condemn, seize and destroy, or dispose of such articles or things without liability to the owner thereof, and to require said owner to destroy such article or thing, or to cause it to be destroyed, at the expense of the owner or possessor; to prevent and suppress disease generally; to enforce the removal of persons afflicted with contagious and infectious disease to hospitals for treatment; to provide for the organization of a department of [or] board of health with the authority necessary for the prompt and efficient performance of its duties, with the power to invest any or all the officials or employees of such department of health with such powers as the police officers of the town have; to establish quarantine grounds within or without the town and establish such quarantine regulations against infectious and contagious diseases as are appropriate under the laws of the state or nation.

(13)

Animals and fowl. To prevent fowls and animals being kept, or running at large, in the town, or any portion thereof.

(14)

Dangerous sports; cruelty to animals. To prevent the flying of kites, throwing of stones or engaging in any sort of employment or amusement in the public streets which is dangerous or annoying to passersby, and to prohibit the abuse of animals and to punish the abuse thereof.

(15)

Aircraft landing fields. To acquire by condemnation, purchase or otherwise, provide for, maintain, operate and protect aircraft landing fields within or without the corporate limits of the town.

(16)

Drunkards, vagrants and beggars; reckless driving; riots, etc.; houses of ill fame and gambling houses; lewd, etc., exhibitions; expulsion of certain persons from town. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants and street beggars; to prevent drunken and reckless driving within town limits, and within one mile outside the town limits; to prevent and quell riots, disturbance and disorderly assemblages; to suppress houses of ill fame and gambling houses; to prevent and punish lewd, indecent and disorderly exhibitions in said town; and to expel therefrom persons guilty of such misconduct who have not resided therein as much as one year.

(17)

Alcoholic beverages. To make and enforce ordinances, insofar as not prohibited by the general laws of this state, to regulate, control, license and tax the manufacture, bottling, sale, distribution, transportation, handling, advertising, possessing, dispensing, drinking and use of alcohol, brandy, rum, whiskey, gin, wine, beer, ale, porter, stout and all liquids and beverages and articles containing alcohol by distillation, fermentation or otherwise.

(18)

Damage to property. To prohibit and punish for mischievous, wanton or malicious damage to school and public property as well as private property.

(19)

Rewards. To offer and pay rewards for the apprehension and conviction of criminals.

(20)

Ordinances; penalty for violation of ordinances, etc. To put into force and effect by ordinances any and all the foregoing powers, and any other powers and authority of the said council given by this Charter, or any state law, or any amendments thereto; and to prescribe punishment for the violation of any town ordinance, rule or regulation, or of any provision of this Charter, said penalty not to exceed five hundred dollars fine or twelve months imprisonment in jail, or both.

(21)

Municipal supply of electricity and gas. To own, operate and maintain electric lights and gas works, either within or without the corporate limits of the town, and to supply electricity and gas, whether the same be generated or purchased by said town, to its customers and consumers both within and without the corporate limits of the said town, at such price and upon such terms as it may prescribe, and to that end it may contract and purchase electricity and gas from the owners thereof upon such terms as it may deem expedient.

(22)

Stadium, swimming pools, gymnasia, etc. To construct in any parks, playgrounds or public grounds that it may maintain, or upon any town property, stadium, swimming pools, gymnasia, and recreation or amusement buildings, structures, or enclosures of every character, refreshment stands, restaurants, etc.; to charge admission for use of same, and to rent out or lease the privilege of construction or use of such stadiums, swimming pools, recreation or amusement buildings, structures or enclosures of every character, refreshment stand or restaurants, etc.

(23)

Injunction for violation of ordinance. To enjoin and restrain the violation of any town ordinance or ordinances, although a penalty is provided upon conviction of such violation.

(24)

Eminent domain as to lands, machinery, etc. To exercise the power of eminent domain within this state with respect to lands and improvements thereon, machinery and equipment for any lawful purpose of the said town.

(25)

Minors in poolrooms, etc. To prohibit minors from frequenting, playing in, and loitering in any public poolroom, billiard parlor or bowling alley, and to punish such minor for so doing and any proprietor or agent thereof for permitting the same.

(26)

Fires; fire department. To extinguish and prevent fires and to establish, operate, regulate and control a fire department or division.

(27)

Party walls and fences. To authorize and regulate the erection of party walls and fences, and to prescribe how the cost thereof shall be borne by coterminous owners.

State law reference— Powers of cities and towns, Code of Virginia, § 15.2-1100 et seq.

State law reference

Powers of cities and towns, Code of Virginia, § 15.2-1100 et seq.